Rumpus in the Bumpass Race Report

The race didn't turn out how I had hoped but it was a spectacular weekend weather wise and from a relaxation stand point.  Let's get to it.

My buddy John and I headed down to Lake Anna on Saturday afternoon.  We have a neighbor/friend/swim buddy who owns a lake house and was kind enough to offer us a place to crash a day early.  This would make the logistics of race day that much more laid back.  We hit up the race site for packet pick-up and to walk down to the water to check things out.  Had to make sure there was really some water down there.  My neighbors lake house was 4.5 miles away and on the same road as the race, MONEY!

After we arrived at the house we unpacked and went to lounge by the lake for a bit before starting dinner.  John likes to cook so I left him in charge while I put the my race numbers on my helmet and bike.  After our steak dinner we watched some "No Country for Old Men" before turning in around 11:00 p.m.  These are important details people!

Race day - Didn't sleep amazingly but felt rested enough.  Finally rolled out of bed at 7:30 a.m.  John is a clown and had already swam in the lake without a wetsuit.  He was yelling at me to go warm-up in the lake.  Yeah right!  After a light breakfast we headed to the race site.

We had plenty of time to set-up, over an hour, which was very nice!

A busy transition area.

 Here's my area almost ready to go.



Anyway, with my transition area set-up it was down to the swim start I went.  It was about a half mile walk down a rocky path through the woods.  It was not pleasant in barefeet as I found out.  I didn't bring flip flops or anything aside from running shoes with me.  Obviously I wasn't about to leave them at the swim start since that would be an issue later on when I went to run.  There were 5 swim waves with between 80-100 people per wave spaced 3 min. apart.  I was in wave 2, fun stuff!  I got in a few minutes early to get acclimated to the cool/cold water.  It really wasn't that bad for 65 degree water. 

Swim - My swim wasn't all that great.  There were a lot of people that got in my way, plenty of people not swimming straight or not paying attention.  Unfortunately for me there were a few guys who were about my speed and my mind wouldn't stop worrying about them and where they were.  This interferred with me getting into a groove and slowed me down.  Whenever I would put in an effort to pass them, it seemed like they did the same.  I need to not worry about other people until I run into them :).  Truly, this is what a lot of people do.  I worry way too much about who I might run into and who's around me.  I learned a good bit from this swim.

Bike - Didn't happen.  I ran out of the water, more like staggered.  I'm always off balance after the swim portion, it takes a few minutes for the blood to get back to where it's supposed to be in the body.  I ditched the wetsuit, put on my helmet, shades, downed a gel and grabbed my bike.  I quickly noticed that my back tire was not rolling but was dragging.  Upon further inspection I found that my back tire was flat, the tube had blown and forced the tire off the rim and it was hung up in the brake caliper.  Since I was being slick today, I had no spare tube nearby.  I was running without an underseat tire repair kit in an effort to save weight / make me 5 seconds faster! :-)  It was in the car and I had difficulty putting the last tube in because the tires are so new and tight.  So, I didn't even attempt to fix it.  It would have added 10-15 minutes onto my time and I was just deflated at this point, just like my tire.  I wandered off to talk to the race director about still running the run leg of the race even though I wouldn't be doing the bike leg.  He said "Of course, just let maybe 10 people start the run first and then jump in".  Cool.

Run - I put on my race number belt, set my watch for running and took off after about 10 guys passed.  Now keep in mind, these are the top 10 guys in the race, they're cooking!  I quickly started out too fast trying to keep up which worked until about mile 1.  The first mile was all over the map 6:07, 6:13, 6:46, 6:33 coming up the hill at the half mile point, etc.  The run course was VERY rolling and varied from all grassy field, gravel, bigger stones, dirt, nothing paved.  Even with the high output I managed to pass a guy in the first half mile and he never caught back up.  He was a big guy, muscular and such.  All that muscle wasn't serving him well at this point, not so tough now are you!?  Poor guy must have spent everything he had out on the bike course.  After about 1.25 miles the guy in front of me started leaving me and two guys passed me.  I thought nothing of it since written on their calves were 21 and 22.  These were young guns and more power to them.  That's another cool thing about triathlons, they write your age on your calf.  So, it's easy to see who you need to keep up with or pass in order to do well in your age group.  It's also easy to say, eh, they're 20 years younger than me and still make yourself feel good like I just did there!  Anyway, I saw my buddy at the half mile mark and I know I gave him added incentive to keep at it.  He finally passed me with about a half mile left in the race.  He went on to win his age group, very impressive stuff.  By the end I was cramping, it was hot, hard, my heart rate was 12 beats from my absolute max the entire time.  It was a sufferfest, just what a 5k is supposed to be.  I finished strong and ran a good race considering the weather and course.

While the race wasn't what I had hoped for it was a learning experience.  Thankfully this was the first race of the season and not my "A" race that I have been building up for.  If this is the worst that happens to me for a few years then I'll take it.  I learned a lot on the swim, I need to keep my head down and do my thing, tune others out, that I will be out of breath no matter what stroke I do so why not stick with freestyle since it will get it all over with faster.  I will showcase my improved biking at the next race! :-)  And my run, it was 10th in my AG (age group) which is right where I want to be.  My next race is in a month and during that time I will continue to follow the training plan and see where I end up.

Thanks for reading!