Beast of the East Half Ironman Spring Tuneup Race Report BY Ken Mantei Beast of the East, that is how the race director was pushing the course. And to be honest it is a very fair assessment. Wow, this bike course is relentless. Some very nasty elevation changes, very few times when you could catch a breath, I had no idea what I was getting into. By 20 miles or so I realized that hitting my goals were not going to be possible, so I tried to settle in and pass all the racers I could. This place is absolutely gorgeous. The swim is nestled in between the mountains, smooth and quiet. Bike goes thru miles and miles of valleys with incredible views. Before the race I met Felipe Bustos, we talked quite a bit. found out he had done the Miami Half Ironman last year in 4:09.. new I was in trouble. Started thinking how cool second overall was going to be:) Then at the swim start I heard him talking to a guy named Bruce.. thought it was Gennari but turned out to be Urskin (sp?)... either way I was now relegated to third place if everything went well.. Swim: 33 minutes Started out right behind Felipe. That lasted all of 2 seconds, was a great draft while it lasted. The swim basically just heads straight out, go past a small island about 300 yards then come back on the other side, again very unique. I took a wide angle around the island and lost a bit of time, I saw Dougie hit the cement structure we were supposed to swim around before me, took a better angle coming back. Was a decent swim, felt good and comfortable the entire time. Felipe normally swims in the low 26's, he finished in 28:25 so my 33 minute swim was good for me. I was 11th out of the water. T1: 1 minute Only about 50 yards out of the water, hard to take much time.
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			Bike: 2:38:54, for an incredibly fast 21.1 mph Trust me, that was the hardest 21 mph I have ever worked for. By far the hardest Half Im bike course I have ever seen or finished. Ridiculous:) The first trouble came at about the 10 mile mark, steep climb that lasted for just under 2 miles and the best part was with 200 yards to go... had a 27 on the back and still had to stand to grind it out. At the top of the hill the aid station told me I was in 5th overall. Onward.. The course did not get easier, constantly up and down, up and down. the worst part was that the ups were rarely just subtle climbs, they always seemed to be climbs that beat you down to 12-15 mph. For 56 miles it really wore on me. I was told that at around mile 36 that things got easy. Well they might of except the last 20 miles were for the most part into the wind. While 6-10 mph winds are not terrible, they are after going thru 36 miles of hell. Even on some of the long stretches that went slightly downhill I was still grinding out 19 mph and when it went up slightly I was spinning at 16 mph, and this was supposed to be the easy part. By mile 30 I passed another guy (51 years old) and by mile 40 I passed the last guy that was within reach, he stayed about 100 yards behind me all the way to the finish of the bike course. So off the bike I was in 3rd. T2: another minute I guess. Run: 1:34:56 for 7:15/mile Heading out the announcer said I was about 10 minutes behind the 2nd place runner and I new I had at least one racer about 30 seconds behind me. Fortunately the course is and out and back done twice. The out portion has one little stick out and back that is about half a mile long. The first two miles went by in 13 minutes.. way too stinking fast. I eased up on the pedal. At the first little out and back portion at about mile 2.5 I had a little over a minute on the guy behind me. Then at the 3.5 mile turn around I had raised it to 2 minutes on him. at mile four is where the crappy part starts. For those of you that live out here, imagine the steepest part of Rocky Gap hill, this climb was that steep and was at least 3 times as long. Luckily we got to do that twice. I just baby stepped up the hill trying to keep my Hr under 6000!! After that climb you get a nice long flat section to catch you breath before you go up some more. I came to the end of lap one and felt good, right around 45 minutes, excellent. At that out and back I had raised the gap to 6 minutes on the guy behind me, the next closest guy was 10 minutes, then Doug at 18 minutes. At mile 7.5 I saw Doug, I was going up and was starting to feel the climbing. I crossed the damn again, looked back and saw no one. I knew then that the guy behind me was done. I kind of relaxed at that point and put it in cruise control, I knew I had no chance to catch the guys in front of me so I just decided to shut it down, no sense in killing myself. At the last turn around I had 10 minutes on the he next closest guy, so that race was over. Climbing the hill again I just cruised up, tried to help motivate all the people still doing their first lap with some words of encouragement or pats on the back. Hit the tape with a half marathon PR even with going into cruise control with 5 miles to go. Excellent sign.Finish Time: 4:49, 3r overall, 1st in my age group. I know I was no where near my goal times, but I am still ecstatic. Both of these speedy guys in front of me came in at 4:28:30, since they both can go 4:10 at a normal course I am very very pleased with being 15 minutes off the time I was hoping for.... Next stop, Sylvania in a month.. different end of the spectrum.. no hills at all:) Sundance out!!