Pat Griskus Olympic Triathlon Race Report

If you're reading this, you've most likely seen the article on our effort in the Friday, June 20th edition of The Southington Citizen, so first and foremost, thanks for visiting. Please sign my guestbook. I will be updating this blog on a regular basis. Jared's parents asked that I document this whole process: race reports, training days, Ironman preparations....the whole gamut, and I am happy to do that. You can scroll down and read about how this idea was born in my first post.

This past Saturday, I competed in my first triathlon of the season, the Pat Griskus Olympic Triathlon in Middlebury, at Lake Quassapaug. It was at Quassy Amusement park. The swim was one mile, the bike was 25 miles and the run was a 10k (6.2 miles). I got up at about 5 AM, and my father picked me up soon after. I put my ipod on and got my bike and gear to the transition area, set up all my stuff, ate, and pretty much just focused on the task at hand. The water was a warm 75 degrees, but the race was wetsuit legal, and I wore a sleeveless wetsuit. Seeing how far a mile is in open water is quite intimidating and I had never swam that long a distance in a race, but the horn went off and off I went. I tried to settle into my stroke early, but I was getting kicked, punched and overall, just annoyed with the hundred or so other swimmers in my wave. I finally got halfway through and got dialed in and comfortable. It was a bit disheartening to take about 15 minutes to finally get comfortable, but when I did, it felt good. 37 minutes and change after the horn blew, I was out of the water, peeling my wetsuit off and running to the transition. I sat down, put on socks, and my cycling shoes, put my sunglasses on, and finally my helmet. I was wearing my tri suit under my wetsuit so that was convenient. I took off like a bat out of hell, and strapped on my gloves during the first mile, and then settled into the aero position. The first 7 miles or so were fast, lots of flats and downhills. I must have been averaging well over 21 mph when the hills hit. The rest of the bike course was a lot of climbing and not many flats or downhills. With about 5 miles left on the bike, I caught up to one of my teammates, and when i saw him, I knew I was killin' it on the bike. Come to find out, Rob was 4th overall out of the water, and over 10 minutes ahead of me, which meant I had made up over 10 minutes on the bike. He saw me and pulled away, but not a big deal, he's in the age group under me. This was a great thing though, because Rob is an absolute animal, and he's already done Ironman New Zealand and a half ironman in New Hampshire. He's a serious athlete and to know I was right there with him was satisfying. I finished up on the bike, and had a fast transition into my running shoes, and also put on my visor. Then I was out for a 6.2 mile run and my legs felt fresh. I took off again, planning to negatively split the run, in other words, run faster as I got further into the run. Turned out nobody passed me on the run, and i was seeing people going the other way, on their way back and I was picking them off, one by one. The one hill on the course was quite brutal, but I knew I could make up time on it, so I pushed hard up that hill. I really was negative splitting, and before I knew it, i was crossing the finish line. I did the run at a 6:37 per mile pace, which is 7 seconds slower than what I wanted, but that's ok. I simply ran out of race. Had that run been 10 miles, it would have been a different story, but I ended up placing fourth, with a time of 2 hours and 37 minutes. A very respectable effort for the longest triathlon I've done thus far.
This weekend I will be racing with my team at the HealthNet Connecticut Club Championships in Shelton, CT. It's the same distance, but not as hilly of a course. It's a sure bet that all of the best in CT will be there and I'll be ready. On Sunday, I am running in the Fairfield Half Marathon, and I'm not sure if I want to take that easy or try and set a personal record for that distance. The only reason why I'm even thinking about blasting that race is because of how flat that course is, I think it'll make for some fast times. All and all, I'm extremely happy that it's officially race season. I can now see the results of the past year of training. Have a great week and weekend everyone. Thanks for stoppin by!