Team Member: Sam Morgan

Race Name: West Point Lake Olympic

Race Date: 6/14/10

Race Placement/Time/Qualification: 1st OA 1:57:44

Tell us about your race (limit 500 words)…: Heat management was the name of the game today. 89 degree water is the hottest water I’ve raced in so far. From my years of swimming experience I know how extremely draining hot water can be, so I took the swim out VERY conservatively. I was also paranoid about swimming off course again this year so I took a little extra time to sight each buoy. I even took a few strokes of backstroke (a first for me) to make sure people behind me were on the same trajectory as me.

I had a pretty solid T1 (way better than Macon) and I was off on the bike course. I was pretty displeased with how I biked last year. . . average speed of 24.4, but this year I really crushed it with an average (according to my Garmin) just under 26.0. It’s amazing what training will do heh. The freshly paved roads and lack of wind probably had a bit to do with it as well. I had just won one of the gigantic AquaCell water bottles at Rock’n'Roll Man (been trying a year to get one) and I was glad I had it because I drank nearly all of it on the bike.

I knew after a hard bike the run would be tough. I knew I had a huge lead off the bike so there was no point in taking the run out crazy hard. My only concern was to get as much water on my body at each aide station and some water / Gatorade in my mouth. After about 4 miles I really felt the heat catching up with me. I decided to walk the aide station (again another first) after the dam, as well as walk that short steep little hill. My pace dropped off a lot that mile, but it actually recovered a bit on the last 1.2 miles to the finish (although it’s mostly downhill). I finished this year about 7 minutes faster than last year, and 9 minutes faster than the year before.

I think this year I will go to the best of the US race. I have to fly my bike to a race at some point. . . might as well do it this year. It was fun seeing the big TSF crowd out there, as well as a bunch of the south east collegiate conference triathletes.