What a tough and fun race this turned out to be. This was my first time here in St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. The half-Ironman race here is legendary in the sport and is a favorite among those who have done it. It attracts one of the best professional fields in the sport and has been challenging athletes for around twenty years. Almost every legendary pro triathlete has suffered on this course at some point. It’s for these very reasons I had St. Croix on my “to do list” of races.

     Yesterday was a great day. There were many positives that came out of the day, but also some things where I identified areas for improvement. As with every race, it didn’t go perfectly, there were several issues that popped up that required management, but at the end of the day I was very happy with the result of by sticking with it during the entire race.

     There were so many positives that came through in this race. First, I got to go to a new and fun destination and meet a lot of great people. This is really important, because if you’re not having fun in your racing and training, then what’s the point? We put our bodies, minds, and emotions through utter hell and agony in every race. So the fact that we can have these joys in racing and training makes it all worth while. And I did have a load of fun…..for most of the race anyway.

     I was very pleased with my result. I finished 10^th in the pro field, which after seeing the starting list of male pros before the race, I had determined that cracking the top 10 amongst this group was a challenging and worthy goal. This was by far the toughest field of athletes I’ve faced thus far. This stout group was filled with some of the biggest and most and athletes in the sport; some of whom are on their way to becoming future legends. So I felt honored that I was able to race with the best on one of the toughest courses in the sport.

     In addition to my final placement, I was able to pick up a qualifying slot to the Ironnman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida in November. I had yet to qualify for this race as a pro and because the qualifying slots were turned down by the top several places, I was able to pick up my slot which takes some pressure off my performance going into my next two Ironman 70.3 races.

     I also was really happy to be racing again. I hadn’t raced in a triathlon at all since August 31^st of last year. I had gotten sick at Ironman Florida last November and wasn’t able to race. This year, my early season racing plans were shifted because of injury issues in the spring. So I was just happy to be out there racing; suffering with the best. At the same time, I also found several areas for improvement where I need to dedicate some effort as I move further into this season.

     My buddy, Richie Cunningham and I have been staying with an amazingly nice and accommodating host family here on the island. They’ve been very kind to open up their home and their lives for Richie and I to be able to stay and compete here. Richard and Lori have a beautiful home perched on a hill overlooking the Caribbean; complete with a guest house, pool, and a black and yellow lab who were convinced that Richie and I were here to give them attention rather than racing. It’s been really fun staying with them and I am very appreciative of their hospitality. Richie has stayed with them now for seven years in a row and has become an extension of their family. So those pros reading this now, hands off!! They are our host family!

     Race day started off well. Richie and I rode our bikes to the race start. It was only about 2 miles and pretty much all down hill. It gets light in St. Croix at about 5:30 in the morning so it doesn’t have that looming dark feeling in transition you often feel before races. Transition closed at 6am and our wave of male pros went off at 6:30. The race starts on an island about 200 yards from the dock in Christanstead Harbor. The swim over was a nice and easy warm up. We all felt the wind and looked out past the harbor onto the swim course and could see it was going to be a very choppy swim. The sheltered back side of the small starting island gave one a false sense of security. Right before we started, Michael Lovato said jokingly (although after the race he said he wasn’t joking) “It’s calm here, but when we make that first turn in 100 meters we’re going to hit a wall of chop.” And he was right.

     My goal was to swim on Michael’s feet. He had a different colored swim cap for the media crew to be able to find and film him in the swim. This, I thought would also make it eaier for me to find him and follow him in the messy start. This is a true statement, it made it easier to see him, but in no way did it make me able to stay on his feet. When the gun went, the 23 or so male pros went off. There were a lot of talented swimmers in this group so everyone knew it was going to be a fast swim. I got in behind Michael, oh….for about 10 meters then he was gone. He jumped up in with the front group. Everyone was massed together for the first 45 seconds and then BAM, we passed the edge of the island and got slammed with the chop. At the same time, the sun hit right into our eyes. So here I am, swimming completely too fast to try to stay with the group, then I’m blinded, get slammed by waves, while choking in sea water crammed in with the other guys. At that moment, I lasted another minute or so in that very uncomfortable position and then I was jettisoned like a piece of trash. I found a couple guys swimming my speed and stuck pretty close to them the rest of the way.

     It’s pretty frustrating seeing the front group pulling further away every time you went to sight for the next buoy, but at that point, you just do what you can. With the mixture of the chop and swells, it was one of those swims where you try to feel the rhythm of the swell to time your breathing and sighting. If you look up while you’re in a trough, all you see is a wall of water in front. If you can time it to the crest, then you can see to the next buoy. As we rounded the half way point, the going got much easier because the waves were to our backs, but we had lost a ton of time to the front group. About half way back in to the harbot, the lead pro women caught us. There were two, who I knew by their swim caps, both very talented swimmers who had started a couple minutes behind the men. Of course I jumped on their feet as they came by to get a draft. I lasted an entire 30 seconds before I was completely lactic and breathing through every part of my body……then I got dropped. I did that for the next group of girls who came by to the same result. The guy I swam with and I came to the exit ramp and I looked down at my watch….31 minutes, OUCH! Two days earlier, I swam the same loop at a moderate cruise during a warm-up workout and had swam it 2 minutes faster. I think the chop, excitement of the race, and the conditions in general caused me to let my swimming form completely collapse. Of the 23 male pros to start,  my bike and two others were left on the rack when I got out. At that point, I just shook it off. It’s a long race and you can’t let it get into your head too much (although it does). At least I knew where I stood in the pro field; 21^st place.

      The first 10 miles of the bike were uncomfortable. I really didn’t pass anyone. Everyone seemed to hammer the first 10-15 miles like it was a sprint race. As a side note, the only criticism I have of the race course is that the roads are the roughest I’ve ever ridden. There are potholes and cracks EVERYWHERE and the pavement is chewed up for the vast majority of the route. The race organizers do a great job of minimizing safety hazards with markings and they actually re-pave sections every year just for the race. But the roads are just gnarled. In less than a half mile of the bike course, a bump in the road launched my gel flask (which normally stays on my bike with velcro without issue) like it was going into orbit. “Wow, there goes 450 calories I was planning on eating during the bike. Note for next year, no flask, tape individual gels to the top tube.”

     It’s an issue, but far from a race ender. I just figured I’d take in more Gatorade and I remembered from reading in the race literature that they would be handing up gels at mile 42 of the bike. So I just upped my calories from those other sources and I was fine for the day. I did make sure that I slowed down more than normal going through the aid stations so I could really grab the fluids and gels I needed. Side note: a factor that I didn’t anticipate as a challenge, but was…in the Virgin Islands, they drive on the left side of the road. Not an issue in the race, except when I found it difficult to pick up the water bottle hand ups with my left hand. When we ride on the right, the volunteers are on the right side of the road and you grab a water bottle from them as you come by at a 15-20 mph. I found this a little more challenging on the left side as I’m right handed. I probably dropped two or three water bottle hand ups on the bike and a gel, and a couple cups on the run. Again, just a minor difference, but also a minor unanticipated annoyance. I’ll practice with my left hand before next year. 

     At mile 18 you hit "The Beast", probably the most infamous hill in triathlon. It’s a short, steep hill, that always reduces a good portion of the age group athletes to walking up it. I had borrowed a cassette of gears from a friend with an easier low end to aid on the beast. The hill is about 0.7 of a mile, but horribly torn up surface, steep, with a couple little super steep pitches. Of course, someone has spray painted on the road the percentage incline about every 100ft of the climb you know how nasty is the section you're on. One short pitch you hit for about 50 ft is 27%. I had caught about six guys by then and each person climbed The Beast at his own pace. I think everyone knows that it’s not worth suffering later to try to gain 30 seconds on such a step hill. As soon as we crested the hill and started the descent it started raining. It poured rain on us the entire time we were on the west side of the island. So the dangerous roads just got a whole lot slicker. One guy in the front group overshot the turn on a downhill, went off the road, wrecked, and broke his arm. I decided to take all the turns and downhills with extra caution because I figured a few seconds per turn wasn’t worth the risk of ending the day and maybe the year in a pointless crash. I heard later that the rain made the roads on the Beast so wet that peoples' tires were slipping as they were standing to climb, so many more than normal had to walk. I’m glad I was already over when the rain started.

     I’m not sure how long we rode in the rain. Maybe 30 minutes, maybe 45, maybe an hour?  I lost track of time while watching the winding sections of road. Eventually, the rain let up and the sun came out. Then you could feel the humidity skyrocket. But hot and humid is my preference over rain any day. The wind is particularly nasty in this race. Like many island races, the trade winds can really beat you up. The second half of the bike I felt better, although I didn’t feel like I had the “punch” I normally have on the bike. I think a few weeks of certain bike workouts can probably remedy that feeling. The interesting part about this course, is that everyone talks about "The Beast", but it's the 40 miles after the Beast that are the hardest. It's a constant battle of wind, corners, and hills.

     As I came in off the bike, I could see the lead group on the run and knew I was a ways back. I had passed a fair number of guys so I knew I was in a much better position than after the swim. It wasn’t my best bike I’ve had in a half Ironman, but I can't complain. This was a great introduction to the bike course here in St. Croix.

     As I threw my bike into the rack in transition and put on my shoes, I surprisingly was really excited to run. Within the first 50 steps I felt really strong. As I got further in the run, I got to a place of “comfortable pain” I didn’t feel like I could move my legs faster, but I felt like I could hold that pace. It turns out I my second loop of the run wasn’t that much slower than the first and felt like I held off the inevitable slowing in the latter parts of the run pretty well. That run course is tough, no doubt about it. There are far more sections up and down than there are flat. The first two miles out of town are up a hill, but the last two miles back into town you can really motor. You make a two mile loop through a golf course that seems to slow you to a crawl as you run over gravel, grass, and hill after hill. The British guy, Toby Jameson, who I had swum with, passed me at about mile three. We ran together for a few minutes. He said to me “save some for the second loop [of the run] because a lot of people will crater who went out too hard on the first.” Then he pulled ahead and put about 100 meters into me over the next mile and a half. 
 

     As we made it back to town to the turn-around, I noticed I was catching back up to him. The run was getting hot and humid! The tropical sun seems to pierce your skin. On the tailwind sections of the run, it felt like you were running in dead hot, wet air. I was feeling stronger than I did at the start. I came by him a mile later and he smiled and said “I guess I should have heeded my own advice.” He hung on pretty well, but I was putting seconds here and there into him. By the time we hit the twists and turns of the golf course, I probably had 100 meters on him. Every time I went around a turn where he’d lose sight of me for a few seconds, I’d put in a little surge to try to look farther away every time he saw me. In the last 3 miles, there were no pros within striking distance in front of me, so it became a game of the proverbial “don’t slow down and let the guys behind catch you.”

     I crossed the finish line 10^th pro. Of course I had deep down wanted to place a little higher, but looking at the names of the super talented guys in the results, I’m really happy with the result. It was funny, on the run, I never had the negative thoughts that seem to creep in every race. My brain was pretty blank. I was in pain of course, but I was just executing. It was nothing but a matter of execution. At least ten different times, someone would yell “Pizza Pizza” as I ran by in my Little Caesars gear. That’s always fun for me. It was also really fun to be out there on the course watching my friends race well. Amanda Lovato, despite an early crash on the bike, turned out a great day with an 8^th place finish in the pro women’s field. She looked really strong when I saw her running. Her husband, Michael had a great day as well and took 7^th in the mens’ field. Richie turned out a 3^rd place finish while mixing it up with the tough boys in the front. I think we all had a fun time. I also enjoyed the island atmosphere of the race. Many of the islanders were out cheering, volunteering, and supporting the race.

     I want to thank Little Caesars for helping to support me in my training and racing, Richard and Lori for hosting Richie and I for the week, and Richie for helping to show me the ropes in St. Croix. I’d also like to thank Patrick McGrath who has helped me with my traveling, Guru bicycles for my fast machine, and of course Jack and Adams Bicycles for all of their unending support. Also, thank you to Ramon Serrano, a photographer and cool guy who I met and the race and has provided the race photos to post on my website. Without the entire team, I would not be able to train to race against the best in the sport. This was a great experience and I hope to come back here in the future.

Pat