Spirit of Morgantown race report

Following the service for Patrick Saturday, we loaded the car and headed for Morgantown. I rode down with Brendon, AJ, and Ericson. All three are in their early 20's and all are very gifted and dedicated athletes. The ride was a lot of fun.
We got into town around 5:30, grabbed our race packets, racked the bikes and joined the CTC party for dinner. CTC is one of the rare groups where I genuinely like and admire everybody. I may disagree with some of them from time to time, But I still consider them all good and fun folk.
Needless to say, We had fun. After dinner we headed to the hotel and got some rest.

Race morning we headed down to the race site and joined the transition pre-race festivities of pumping tires, body marking and last minute repairs. USAT watches this race closely as it is a national qualifier. The officials had picked my bike out as a possible bar end violation with my aero bars. I duct taped pennies on and was ready to race.

We had so many Clevelander's present. My rack alone included Rob Reddy, Jack Carney, and John Telich. It was a very social affair.

After waiting for the first few waves start, I entered the water, The first thing I noticed was a reasonably strong current that was pulling us all forward. This made for a slow swim. For me it was very slow. 44 minutes. This is getting annoying. My pool work outs have been much stronger then my race results.

After exiting the water I stripped off the wet suit quickly and ran the 1/4 mile back to T1. Transition took :05 including the run and strip. I was happy as I it felt very smooth.

The bike began poorly. I was not mentally in a good spot. I was working hard, but I was questioning my self and my desire far more then I like to. The first loop also included some heavy rain at times. Most of the first loop I spent monitoring Jack as he was gaining ground on me. We are closely matched, so he is a good race target for me. By the end of the first loop I looked back and saw Jack within 50 yards. I tried to use this as motivation. Part of me wanted to slow down and ride with him. But this was a race, so race I would try.
As we headed over the bridge out of town a car pulled in front of me to escape the backed up race congestion.
I yelled "YO!YO!YO!".
The driver acknowledged my presence and I shot around him cursing to myself. My anger provoked a much more focused second loop. I dropped Jack and was out on my own saying hello to Jack and JT after the turn arounds. My bike split was 3:08.52. With the rain, hairpin turns, and poor surface, I am satisfied. Mostly I was happy to regain my focus. Next time I need to do this with out a negative trigger.
T2 went by quickly. I washed my feet of the debris from the rain and got going.
Results don't show T2 time.
The run began well. I went out at about a :09 minute pace and held it till devils hill. I was a bit smiley and was having fun with all the CTCers on the course. At devils hill I bopped up the first section and pushed my self past the second.
After passing through the campus I took a couple salt tabs. I had not been drinking anything but water and taking in gel. HFP is serving HEED. I don't like it. So I tried to compensate.
The next 6 miles were ugly. I watched my group start to pull ahead as my stomach went bad. At mile 10 I went into a walk run. Jack passed me by. Now the chore was to cross the finish line. If I could do it with out a personal worst I would be happy.
In 6hrs25minutes and :03 seconds I got across the finish having run most of the final mile.
Goal two accomplished.
The rain was beyond my control. Nutrition I should have taken better control of. My plan was to rely on what was provided on course. I should now remember that HFP serves Hammer products. I don't like Heed. The remainder of my races are WTC events.Powerbar/gel and Gatorade. That works for me. except the non vegan bar. I will carry and leave Cliff and Lara bars in my special needs bag.

My biggest concern during this race was the "I don't care" attitude that lasted through 25 bike miles. If this feeling had hit me on the run, I might have just walked off the course. I have a lot to figure out this month. I can not take this attitude into Ironman.

CTC as a group took home a ton of hardware. Congrats to you all.
I took home a hard lesson. Don't screw with race day nutrition and get your head in the game.