A New Arch Nemesis

In 2008 Matt Payne and I formed a friendly feud. Without even knowing each other we seemed to post nearly the exact same times in every race. That year I only got the best of Matt once at Mankato sprint. What isn't posted in the results is that Matt raced a Half IM the weekend prior. I'll take my single victory regardless. Since then Matt has been improving even faster than myself and has gone on to be one of the premier triathletes in the state if not country. Now I have found a new nice guy to hate.

Todd Landgraff has been dinking around in triathlons for a few years but has never taken them too seriously... until now. Todd's times while always fast but were nothing spectacular except for his run. Come to find out this speedy runner used to run for the U of M. This year Todd has gotten serious in a big way. Wisconsin Ironman is his motivation and there is no doubt that Todd is possibly the most improved athlete in the state this year. At Liberty Half in June I bested Todd by nearly five minutes (before a penalty). Yesterday was a different story.

I started the day with a later than normal wake up and ended up getting to the race a good 30 mins than I would normally like. Since it was a half I wasn't concerned since most of the warming up is done on the course. The water was posted at 76 deg however it was more like 83. This pissed me off a little because I had brought my sleeveless wet suit in case the water was warm. I wore my full sleeve because of the information and posted on the swim. Luckily I didn't push it too hard and was able to recover on the bike in the first 15 miles. I moved my seat post up a mm to see if that could help me run better off the bike. It didn't hurt me too bad but I'm going to move it back down. The bike felt good but was much longer and hillier than I heard it was. Apparently they changed the course and therefore making it a legit half IM.

I came off the bike in 4th and soon got passed by the Pro Justin Henkel who must have had something go wrong in the water as his swim was four minutes slower than mine. It was hot and I knew Todd was coming for me. I was in fifth and the last money spot for the race is fifth. I won't lie, $250 is a great motivator but I didn't want to blow up like I did at Square Lake last year against Rhett Bonner. There was a loop at the turn around for the course that was about 3/4 of a mile around. I just caught a glimpse of someone who looked to be at nearly a dead sprint going into the loop as I was coming out. I knew in the back of my head that it was probably Todd but all I could do was worry about me at this point. I kept checking my rear on the way back and never saw Todd. With about a half mile left a checked for the last time and didn't see him and thought I was good to go. Then it happened.

All of a sudden With about a quarter mile left I heard someone coming up hard from behind. When I turned Todd passed me like I was going backwards. As he passed I let out a friendly"you bastard." I tried to kick with him but could only hang on for about 150 yards. Todd kept the jets on and ended up gapping me by over 22 seconds in the last 250 yards of the race.

At the finish we congratulated each other and went down to the lake for a cool down. Todd is ultra nice and he said he was sorry for taking the $250 from me. My response was. "Why? That is what racing is all about." I would do it to him and I expect him to do it to me. There is no hard feelings and I'm not happy he passed me but not mad at anyone who finishes ahead of me. What I am concerned about is that Todd is in my age division and we are both going to be fighting for a spot to Kona at Wisconsin IM. I hoping that we both can get a slot and the way we both have been racing that is entirely possible. However, as much as I like Todd I want that slot. I just pray I can stay ahead of him at Madison.