Retirement? What Retirment?

Jersey Shore Kick Off Sprint Tri Race Report

So, maybe ‘retirement’ didn’t take. At the end of last season I hung up my wetsuit, racked the race wheels and left my TT bike in its bag for almost 3 months. With the newest Groban record due out in early spring, I figured I’d be on a tour bus by now (or at least traipsing around Europe doing all the weird chat shows you do on promotional runs...) BUT, I still managed to get in rides when I could, have enjoyed running on the boardwalk (the Shore definitely beats PA here!) and even go to the pool. Well, occasionally…

However, with the album released postponed…why not try a quick little sprint tri? And so Sunday morning found me wandering through mud and muck just past sunrise in the Barnegat Bay and thinking: Here I am. Again.

Surprisingly I wasn’t all that nervous. Despite just getting my Achilles back from a bout of tendonitis and not even approaching last year’s spring training volume, I seem to have maintained a bit of fitness. Also, I wasn’t even chilly as the good folks at Xterra were kind enough to give me a great deal on a new Vendetta FULL SLEEVE wetsuit. Yup, I finally took the plunge. I’m not sure I had it snugged up quite right, as it felt a little strange and baggy around the shoulders, but it was fast enough to get me out of the water in 3^rd behind a pro who outswam me at Lums Pond last year and another guy who used to swim (much faster) against me in high school.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite used to the new wetsuit’s zipper and had an unusually sloppy transition, but I still managed to get out on the bike course just behind the leaders. At only ten miles before a 5K run, the distance hardly suited my strengths, but this season is all about fun competition, right? It didn’t take too long to ride into second place and the lead swimmer and I traded positions a few times during the bike. He’s improved! I put almost three minutes into him on the Lums Pond bike course last year, but this year only had him by about 20 seconds. Hmmm… Or maybe I’m just a little slower without a multitude of PA hills to train on?

Still we both managed to hit T2 simultaneously and my idea to put toe warmers on my cycling shoes paid off when I was able to get my shoes on just a bit faster and make it out onto the run course first. I wouldn’t hold the lead for very long, but it was nice to be out there for the first quarter mile.

Of course, as most know, my best races have always come when I’ve been able to sneak away on the bike and not be a carrot dangling off the front for the fleet-footed among us. Such was not the case on Sunday and I was soundly passed less than a mile in by two guys, dropping me to third where I remained to the finish. Still, not the worst way to start a summer. Don’t know how much I’ll be racing, but it’s nice know I’ll have at least one podium finish in 2010! Ended up with 3^rd fastest swim split, 2^nd fastest bike and, believe it or not, 6^th best run, so I guess I’ll take that…it’s almost enough to tempt a drive out to Pinchot on one of these race weekends… Keep your eyes peeled!