I thought I would do better in this race than how it turned out. Such is life. I make no excuses.
My 4:00 a.m. alarm wasn't required because I woke up at 3:00 a.m. to use the facilities. I laid back down until 3:26 a.m. to finally get up since sleeping just wasn't happening. As usual, I dilly dallied around and left a little later than planned. No big deal because the roads were deserted and I got there with plenty of time to spare. There was a parking garage about 1/4 mile from the race start so it was perfect. I rode my bike with all my gear in a mesh swim bag over my shoulder, down to the transition area. I was one of the only people doing this, everyone else was walking their bikes. Silly people!
This race was very well run and there were a lot of small things that made the athlete feel "special". From the race number tattoos, finisher's chute with the red carpet, the carpeted walkway to the swim start, etc. Anyway, I picked up my race packet as soon as I got there. For those of you that don't know, a packet for a triathlon has a swim cap (color designated), race numbers for your bike, helmet, gear bag, etc. Normally you go to get "body marked" which means some volunteer writes your race number on your arms and a leg. It usually looks crappy and rubs off soon thereafter. This race was different, we got Tritats, serious race number tattoos that look legit. Everyone loved them and like I said, made us feel special. These numbers aid the race officials in keeping track of you at the finish, if you get in trouble while out on the course and they help the photographers know who you are so they can try to sell you pics of yourself later on. I checked my bike into transition and talked to a few other age groupers before getting ready for the swim leg. As prepared as I always think I am, I always forget something. This time it was a rubber band for my shoe so that they stay horizontal and don't dangle upside down when I'm running out of transition. It just makes it easier to get on and start pedaling. Oh well. I put my wet suit on and headed down the dock to the water.
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| Just a few people in transition. |
Swim - The swim was short (500m), which is why I wanted to do this race in the first place. A good tune-up before the race that I really care about. I was in the first wave of the day which meant no waiting around, bonus! We had a really big wave in my opinion, maybe 100 people. Little did I know that these were the fastest swimmers. When you registered they asked you for your swim time per 100m. I transferred into this race so they never got my time, whoops. The horn went off, I got kicked a little bit and swam. The next time I looked up almost everyone was gone, ha! These guys were fast! I'm used to swimming in the back of the pack but I always have a group of guys around me. This time there were only 4-5 people which was nice, open water, but a little deflating. The swim was straight into the sun, it was very hard to see where I was going. I picked it up at the end but it was no record swim for me. As usual, I stumbled my way out of the water very disoriented. It was a long walk/jog to transition so that helped make me feel even slower when the times came out.
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| On the dock before the swim start. |
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| Everyone trying to find some space, heading DIRECTLY toward the low rising sun. |
Bike - My transition from swim to bike was pretty good even though I didn't feel exceptionally fast, 10th fastest. I hopped on my bike and away I went. The course was A LOT hillier than I expected. My heart rate was high from the get go and took a while to become normal. The course was out 2 miles, then two 4 mile loops and back 2 miles. There were two 180 degree turnarounds that we passed twice. That along with a nasty calf cramp, multiple hills to contend without specifically training for them made me feel like this wasn't a great ride for me. I didn't attack the up or down hills hard enough (even though my cramp would indicate otherwise), just wasn't aggressive enough overall and my time reflected it. I was 24th in my Age Group on the bike. I thought I was better than this, we all had the same hills and narrow roads to contend with so it was me. Disappointed but I learned from it so I won't dwell... past this week.
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| One day I'll have a tri bike, race wheels and aero helmet! Needless to say , this ain't me. |
Run - I didn't know where the "Run Out" chute was so I had to ask a volunteer :). I know, I should have scoped it out before the race. The first 1/2 mile was uphill, a decent hill, as if my heart rate wasn't high enough already. I felt like a brick, I felt sadly slow, I felt like walking, quitting. Sooooooo unlike me too! Thankfully at the top of the hill when considering packing it in, I looked at my watch. Okay, so I was averaging a 7:40 pace. I guess I was moving so I stuck it out. The run was largely uneventful after that point, two more turnarounds to kill your pace, yay! I passed a few people in my AG and a guy passed me in the last mile and then dropped the hammer just as I was about to make a move on him. Good for him, he killed my will and I just cruised in :). Not really but a 7:25 pace after the swim and bike was good for me and 15th in my AG on the run.
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| Red carpet and a high five from TriCenter's Ann Wessling. |
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| Ann Wessling and her swim cap skirt. |
Overall, I had some good takeaways from this race.
- Check out the course either in-person or online beforehand and train for it.
- You're not an awful swimmer, just keep your head down and suck it up.
- All this breast stroke, side crawl and such is probably wreaking havoc on your biking legs.
- Bike like you stole something.
- If your legs aren't beat on the run then you didn't bike hard enough.
- Keep training, consistently.
NEXT RACE, JULY 8TH, MY "A" RACE FOR THE YEAR!!!
