Race Report #1: Bassman -- 6 May 2012

Well, I guess it's about time that I start documenting some of my races for the year.

This year I decided that I needed to get back into my habit of an early-season Half Ironman to dust off the cobwebs. Bassman was just that. It's a small, local race run down in Tuckerton, NJ. It's actually slightly longer than a 70.3--on top of the usual 1.2-mile swim, there is a 58-mile bike and a 14-mile run.

I drove down the night before with my racing buddy Dave. We crashed at a small seaside motel out on Long Beach Island... To call it a little run-down would be an understatement. But it served the purpose and was easy to line up. Dave and I were pretty beat from the trip down and some heavy training volume so after race registration, we grabbed an early bite to eat and were passed out by 9am.

On Sunday the road at 4:30am to get to the race on time. With such a small roster, transition was a simple in-out experience. Saw my buddy Glenn as we both prepped our new bikes--he and I both picked up Shivs this spring. Also had the chance to meet Logan Franks in person. (His story is pretty amazing and worth checking out... just a small spoiler: he learned how to swim in a pool in one of Saddam's palaces.)

The swim kicked off without my hooplah. Having put on a good (well, bad) amount of weight over the weekend, my wetsuit was definitely tight and that created some problems for me in the swim. Slow and tired shoulders... In any case, was out of the water in a mediocre but reasonable amount of time.

Hit the bike. It was my first real long ride on Shiv... and it showed. It's a phenomenal bike and very fast, but my position on race day certainly was not dialed in. Shoulder pain, saddle pain, stiffness, no power. It was a disaster. Lesson learned.... time to get a new fit on the bike. Definitely had taken for granted that I had tuned my position on my old Cervelo P2 to fit like a glove.

Off the bike, I hit the run. Banged out two 6:45 miles and felt great. Then things fell apart. I hadn't been doing any long running yet, leading up to the race and it showed. The run turned into a slog and I just scraped together a bunch of 7:30- and 8-minute miles. Nutrition was definitely out-of-whack, too.

Finished the race in a respectable place but nothing to write home about. One upside, Glenn crushed it and took 2nd overall. Great for him.

All in all, the race served its purpose. Test out my new gear (and realize that it really needed adjustment) and dust off the cobwebs.