Bryan Brosious: Big Finale: Race 2 of 5

"Sometimes it's about keeping a positive attitude and putting yourself in a position to win."

*Yeeeeeeaah boy!

I sent a text on Saturday night after the Lake Sammamish Tri that said, "Second place today at Sammamish, tomorrow I get to get up at 4am and do it all over again."

*Saturday I wore my red Hammer Nutrition 53x11 kit

*Sunday was the alter ego version, the black kit...see what I did there?

My cousin, Bill, was elected to City Council for Kent this past year so he was endearingly pressuring me to “come represent” at the Kent based triathlon. I looked at the dates and distances etc. and found it to be a challenging “double” when paired with Lake Sammamish the day before. The Kent race attracted some high level competition in the past, and has quickly became one of the best triathlons (as voted by WA triathletes) in the NW. I am always up for a challenge so I entered, and told Bill, “I am coming to represent the family’s good name.”

When it comes to triathlon there are two versions of me. When it’s a single-race weekend, or a race I have been to a couple times, I am very talkative and like to joke before the race. I am really relaxed and people probably think I can talk their ear off. I don’t need caffeine to be that way at 6am, it’s just me and my personality. The second version can come out when I know I have unfinished business with the race, know that I am in for a total sufferfest, or racing a new race. I get quiet, I don’t joke, I don’t talk, and I don’t waste any effort. My actions are all business, all focus, and all efficiency. I brought the second version to Lake Meridian because I knew I was in for a tough race, on a tough course, with tough competition. On top of that, I had that hard run battle less than 24 hours prior.

I was at the lake at 4:53am (I beat most of the volunteers there) got set up, said hello to my family and was in the water warming up in what seemed like no time. Before long, the gun went off and our swim started. I held good position the entire swim and exited the water in 3^rd place. I left for the bike course in second place, about 45 seconds behind a super swimmer who put a minute into me during the swim.

Once on the bike course my legs felt great, even after a hard race the day before, I had great power and my muscles felt very thick. I am a little hesitant to say this, but during this bike ride I was talking to myself…a lot. The first thing I said to myself after getting out on the bike course was, “Come on now, let’s dig in!”

This is a hard bike course with a lot of short steep climbs and twisting descents, I liked it. At about two miles into the bike I had the leader of the race marked and made the pass. I told him “Great swim, dude!” as I passed him and took over the leader’s motorcycle.

I have done my fair share of complaining about motorcycle escorts and the annoyance they bring to me, but this one was by far the best I have ever had. For one, the bike was a super sweet BMW that was whisper quiet, not a thundering Harley. Second, the escort kept a constant distance that allowed me to follow him, but the bike was sporty enough to handle the fast downhill corners and avoid jamming me up as we sped down the hills at 40+ mph. The rider even used his side markers to let me know we would be turning. The bike ride was effortless to navigate. I very much appreciated the lead motorcycle as it led me through the challenging course.

One hill on the bike course was particularly challenging, so much so that they had a volunteer designated to stand at the bottom and tell all the cyclists to “downshift to your easier gears here.” The hill was short but steep and I had to stand and really crank my pedals, rock my bike from side to side, and shift my weight while riding my easiest gear to get to the top of it. It was great. J

*Sorry, no action shots of the bike :/

I continued to ride and continued to talk to myself…. I looked back at about mile 13 and noticed I had a bit of company. In the past I would have been scared and told myself that I had to go for broke. In the past if I were caught on the bike I knew my chances of winning went down significantly. This year however, I turned my head back around nonchalantly and said to myself, “Let them come, I’m ready for a run-war.”

At 15.5 miles of the 15.8 mile bike segment two chasers had caught up. I rode into transition in second place sandwiched by 1^st and 3^rd. I joked with the guys after the race that they let me lead the race for 15.5 miles only to steal my thunder in front of the crowd in the last .3 miles. We all had a good laugh about it after.

The three of us blew into transition together, I knew I was going to be in for another dog fight. Bring it on. I quickly changed my shoes and took off my helmet. I made five steps towards the exit before realizing I forgot my number belt, I retreated and picked it up.

*Lil' Dust Buster!

I exited transition in second place with the leader about 5 seconds ahead. Third place was right on my heels. I continued to talk to myself as I put on my visor and race number. “Stay relaxed, don’t start too fast here,” I audibly said. Our group navigated the flagging tape escorting us to the run course as a ridiculously loud crowd overwhelmed us. I am not sure what happened to third place but he quickly faded from our group. Once on the run course it was another racer and I running for the lead and the win. Once we left the park, things became quiet, eerily quiet. The only two things I could hear were our footsteps and breathing. We continued running.

*Making my break for the win

I loved every second of this, I said in the previous post that deep down I like to race like this. This is what it is about. The moments when you get to see who wants it more are the most special moments in racing. I fairly quickly got the sense that the other guy was breathing pretty heavily. I knew that he rode really hard to get the lead on the bike and get the big cheers as the bike leader. I thought I might be able to make a break if I upped our tempo before he recovered from his big bike effort.

*We were set to fight it out like dogs...

*...and cats! lol

I waited for the first (of many) inclines on the run to make the move. I went and second place slipped a step behind. Then two steps, then he slipped in behind me to work the draft. I knew this was my chance and upped the tempo again as we slammed downhill with shin and quad busting speed. I knew I had about 5 minutes to the turnaround and decided to run for all I was worth until I got there. No looking back, no resting, nothing but running.

When I neared the turnaround I listened for feet or breathing…nothing, just my own. I made the turnaround and the gap had busted wide open. I knew I had the race won. My feet floated over the pavement after being freed from the pressures of my chasers. I cruised back to the finish receiving some amazing cheers, feeling great, breaking the course record , and hearing “Ladies and gentleman here is our first place finisher, Bryan Brosious!”

*Floating to the finish

*Coming to the finish with no one in sight, just like I like it.

*Fist pump, it's all mine.

*After I finished I hit one of the sickest robot sequences ever with dream precision

Trying to describe how great I felt and how great of a race I had might come off as boastful. I’d like to avoid that because just the day before I was on the other end of it finishing 2^nd. I truly believe that if you keep a good attitude, train hard, and put yourself in a position to win, good things will happen. Sometimes you have to take risks to be successful, it was my victory today, but all of the racers had their own respective victories.

*The best part about winning is being the first to have a shot at the pancake breakfast

I secretly suspect that I have been subconsciously telling my muscles to either lighten up, or dog it late in the bike because people keep catching me. I think it is because I love to run with people now. I am very happy to say, that after months of hard work, it was my RUN that won me this race. Lil Dust Buster, bay bay!!! Lol.

After the race I had a great chat with Stuart and his wife Renee. They are really nice folks. Stuart is a real character; Renee was very generous to take pictures of me during the race. It was nice to spend time with them after the race. Stuart and I have showdown next week, which will be fun.

*Stuart telling me "Next week I will be number 1."

A BIG thank you to Hammer Nutrition for the kits, and for supplying me with the products that are crucial to training, recovering, and succeeding in adventures like my double.

Thanks for reading.