Trifitness Fairfield Triathlon

I raced the Trifitness Fairfield Triathlon this past Sunday, a race that is in it's second year and that i think has a bright future. Sold out for the 2nd consectutive time, 500 athletes set out from Jennings beach this year. Despite the 2-loop bike format and starting in the 3rd wave (of 5), the course was not all that crowded and I even managed the fastest bike time on the day even though i had to weave my way through the field.

The transition area is at Jennings Beach, the same spot they hold the gigantic Fairfield Half Marathon every year. Plenty of parking on-site, plenty of space in transition, a short run up the beach & over the dune, perfect roads to ride & run on (if you like flat courses, of course) - a perfect venue all around.

I was 3rd wave and decided to start front & center and make people swim around me. I'm typically cautious on swim starts but i've been working hard in the water this summer and i've seen my swim times coming down in relation to the field. Historically i've been a 60-to-70th percentile swimmer, which means i swim faster than 60-70% of the people in the races in which i compete. In July this year I had two races where i was high-70s, and then two weeks ago in Westport i was 85th percentile, so things are looking up. I had a combative swim this time in Fairfield, lots of contact, i was in a group the whole time but came out in about 13:30. With the run up the beach and over the dune to T1 my time to the mat was 14:09, which was 85th percentile for the second week in a row. Great news but still lots of work to do since at that moment I was behind the race leader Ian Ray by over 3 and a half minutes.

After an uncharacteristically slow transition (trouble stepping out of my wetsuit?!) i was on the road. Going into the race I had ridden nothing but the P2C for almost 2 months, i've never felt so comfortable on it. My position was dialed and my tactic was to really push the pace, take back as many people as I could to put myself in a position to run down Ian. I stood up at all the corners to get back up to speed, then i would tuck in and crank. Keep the cadence high, keep momentum high, go go go.

I rolled into t2 with a 35:03 split (25mph), 20 seconds slower than last year but on a longer course by about 1/2-mile. The next closest ride was my friend Mark Foster, who is an absolute beast on the bike and who i've never beaten on a bike or in a triathlon.

T1 was fast. I had a perfect dismount and ran into the corral, the announcer Don Stuart was heckling me over the mic since I hesitated once and it appeared that i couldnt find my racking spot. By the time he had finished his sentence, i had found it & already pulled on my running shoes and was running out... so his sentence was something like "here comes Don Gustavson off the bike with a nice dismount, uh-oh looks like Don has lost his spot and WHOAH there he goes off & running!!"

That was a nice little boost, i was in race-rage mode and was out for blood, nobody was going to heckle me (even though it was very good-natured heckling and Don Stuart is an awesome guy.)

There was a huge crowd at the race, and everyone was right around transition and I blew out of transition at what felt like a suicidal pace. I focused on my keys to having a good run - relax the shoulders, lean forward, get up on the toes and keep a fast turnover. As I exited the parking lot I knew there were guys up the road, one of which was Mark Foster. I concentrated on running as fast as I could at each given moment without blowing up. The side stitch i had off the bike in Westport never appeared and i was able to increase my pace as the run went along. I picked off 5-6 guys, including Mark, but Ian was in the 2nd wave and way out of reach so there would be no catching him. With about 3/4 of a mile left there was noone behind or in front of me, but knowing i was in the 3rd wave i knew i had to keep up the effort, since i might virtually be neck & neck with someone from the under-35 wave or the over 45-wave (like Maneesh Shanbag or Bryan French or Chris Woods or Joe Whelan...) I kept up the effort and had a great run. Coming toward the bridge I started my sprint to go over the dune and into the finish chute on the beach, just as my 3.5yo son Jack leaped out of the crowd to run with me. I slowed down so he could run with me and we coasted across the line for an 18:10 5k.

In the end, Ian finished 82 seconds ahead of me to win and Shane Meehan (who won Westport last week) finished 50 seconds ahead of me for 2nd place. I had my second consecutive 3rd place finish and managed the top bike time & 2nd fastest run (behind the #1 woman Amy Bevliacqua, who ran 18:02!!) Because I like to rub my nose in my own swimming deficiencies, i did the math and could see that if you got rid of the swim i would have won the race by over 2 minutes... I'm very happy with my performance and look forward to taking my 85th percentile up to 95th by next June so i can be in the hunt for some wins.

Next up is the ITPman Triathlon in Darien on Saturday, a .5-mile swim, 15-mile bike and 5-mile run. I'm hoping for a good result based on how i rode & ran this past week.