Driving through the NJ pine barrens in the wee hours of the morning to find the Bassman Tri I was wondering of I was nuts to try and get one more race in for the season. I had been sick since the beginning of September and had only been feeling better for a few days so I hadn't really trained in about 3 weeks. My other races this year had been 1/4 mile swim, 11-15 mile bike, and 3 mile runs. This was going to be 1/2 mile swim, 29 mile bike, and 4 mile run. I wanted to do one race longer than the others to get me mentally set for concentrating on Olympic distances next year.

As the sun finally rose and I found the park I stopped second guessing myself. The weather was great, I felt good, and the park looked like an awesome place for a race. Training in pine barrens lakes I am used to the cedar water with about 6 inches visibility, so I was shocked that this lake had crystal clear water. The swim was an out and back starting from the beach. Everyone spread out enough that there was less kicking and shoving than in my other races. For my wetsuit I had just cut the arms off an old surfer suit, it worked great, but is a little harder to get off (despite practice) than I'd like so T1 was a little slow. The bike was mostly flat and shaded with just one real climb followed by a downhill at about 19 miles. There were, however, a few wooden bridges coming in and out of the park that were rough. I saw one flat and heard of someone else knocking their aerobars out of position going over one of the bridges. Having only done shorter bike races, it was hard to pace myself so I went out fast. That, and the headwind on the way back, made miles 25-29 rough, but I just kept the fluids coming so I'd have enough for the run and kept motoring. T2 was very fast with the lace locks allowing for a very fast shoe change and on aching legs I hit the run. The run was flat and all shaded, they really should run this course in the summer as it is the most shaded I've ever seen. Passing the 3 mile mark I felt good and picked the pace up some. Before I knew it I was at the finish, shocked at the speed of my last mile, something had to be wrong. Turns out the first few runners ran into a swarm of hornets so they eliminated a 1/4 mile loop in the last mile so the rest of us could avoid the hornets. My last mile seemed fast because it was only about 3/4 of a mile.

All in all a great day and a great way to end the season. I ended up 3rd in my age group and I'm feeling very good about doing olympic distances next year. I also know that maybe its good not to be all the way in the front, let the speedsters find the hornets and protect the rest of us turtles. Time to take a day off and begin off season training tomorrow.