Azalea Festival Triathlon (Saturday race)

This weekend I raced Azalea, my first triathlon of the 2010 season. I came in to this week really fatigued from a really hard training block, so I knew that recovery leading up to the race would be critical- however, at first I didn't accept it. I cut my volume but did some very intense workouts in all three sports on Monday and Tuesday. By Tuesday afternoon, I was absolutely cooked. I had gone just a couple days too far with the hard training and seemed to have fallen over the edge. This, along with my dad's persistence that I needed to have a real recovery week, finally convinced me to back off. And so Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were low volume, low intensity days with some brief pickups which left me feeling fresh again and excited to race on Saturday morning.

It had been raining sporadically all week, as Wilmington rain tends to come in brief, frequent bouts. Fortunately the skies stayed clear all morning and it turned out to be the perfect weather for a triathlon: about sixty degrees with partial clouds. Once I got to the race site, I met up with fellow IOS elite multisport team members Mr. and Mrs. Younts, who had brought me my race gear. I am very lucky to be a part of such a fantastic team and to have the support of companies as great as Inside Out Sports and Triangle Multisport, so I was looking forward to racing in the team uniform.

My warmup went smoothly, though I finished about twenty minutes before I was set to start. Several times I hopped into the pool and swam a few laps to keep loose before jumping back on to the deck and pulling on a jacket. My number was ten, meaning that I started at 8:02:15. When the time came, I pushed off of the wall and immediately found a smooth rhythm. Considering the current state of my swimming (atrocious at best) I was happy with how the first leg went; I was almost able to catch #9, who had started 15 seconds before me. Going down the stairs from the pool, I slipped and fell. It took me a couple of tries before I could get up, but I managed to make the other two flights without incident. The run to T1 was a couple hundred yards, which helped to get the blood flow going back to my legs before the bike. After a quick transition, I was out onto the bike course. One guy passed me right away and I stuck with him for a couple miles before he gradually gapped me. I passed IOS teammate Chris Tommerdahl about three miles in as we were going down Eastwood Road. I wasn't feeling very strong during the bike leg and didn't pass or get passed by anyone until I was on the run. In fact, about halfway through I began to wonder whether I had a flat tire (which I didn't). However, I kept thinking positively and just did the best that I could, thanking God for this opportunity to give my best effort. I finished the bike and was in and out of T2 in a flash.

At this point, I was feeling very dizzy and lightheaded. I have no clue why, but I was very unsteady on my feet and had tunnel vision from the late stages of the bike on. This wasn't goint to stop me, though. I just settled into a fast cadence and focused on running with grace and power. By the turnaround I had reeled in four guys and was in third position. I dug deep and tried to get all of the speed that I could from my stride. I finished in 45:40, 44 seconds behind the winner, Matthew Wistoff, and 1:02 ahead of third place overall finisher and IOS team member Brad Perry. I was gunning for Mr. Wistoff, but he is a fantastic athlete who has won many races in his career. Even though I didn't get him, I dropped 2:53 from last year and felt like I performed well for this time in the season.

The two major triathlon series in North Carolina, FS Series and Inside Out Sports North Carolina Triathlon Series, offer an unparalleled race experience. I am truly lucky to live in a state with such a thriving triathlon community and strive to never take their service for granted. In short, FS Series and Setup Events are awesome!

Another great thing I took away from this race was meeting my fellow Inside Out Sports teammates. We nearly swept the race, with team members earning 2nd and 3rd overall male, (myself and Brad Perry, respectively), and taking 1st (Chris Tommerdahl), 2nd (Tara Flint), third (Joanna Younts) overall on the women's side. Kenneth Younts placed 10th overall and 3rd in for masters open males.

My other 'team' also had great showings. My dad and brother both won their age groups, my dad placing 12th overall in a time of 50:24, and my twelve year old brother finishing in 1:02:48. As for my mom, she definately won the biggest fan award. I love it when we all go to race. It makes for a really exciting day. Now I get to look forward to Cool Breeze Triathlon on March 28, where all of the Boyles Boyz will toe the line together once again! After that, its all about Duathlon Nationals at the end of April.

My splits today were: swim-3:54; T1-1:19; bike-23:38; T2- :42; run-16:10, for a 45:40 finish.

Train hard and race smart!

Mason Boyles