In the gray before the dawn… I’m ready… it’s 0645… the race starts in 30 minutes… and I could not be more ready… (Well maybe I could if I had done any swim training in the past 4 years but… anyway…) I’m sitting on a curb. In the middle of the transition area… listening to my iPod because I’ve already set up my transition… hit the duce… and checked everything twice. It’s too early to put on my wetsuit.
It’s Raceday… but it feels like any other weekend day for the past few months… up way before dawn… preparing for a long day… I have been a triathlete for 12 years… and there are many types of triathletes… for the first 11 years of my “career” I’ve been a finisher… a completer of triathlon courses… and I have trained to complete not necessarily to compete… this is different… I’m ready to race over distance… I’ve put in the training… averaging 12.5 Hours a week over the past 4 months…
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A little more than 6 hours later… I’m sitting about 30 meters away from that curb… in the Med Tent… no I do not need medical attention although like most of my competitors I am pretty dehydrated… it’s just that the med tent is the only shade anywhere near the finish line…
I’m sitting next to a red haired girl appropriately named Ginger and… as triathletes do… even tho she is a cute… and we both are single the conversation goes quickly to pooping, puking and chafing…
We discuss how miserably hot the run was (88F and high humidity) and how much it sucked… and how much fun it was…
After she leaves I gather myself first… then slowly gather my junk from the transition area… As I drive home (yes I left the race site within 30 minutes of crossing the line… I had to check on my kids) I reflected on the day.
The swim was wetsuit legal… and was fairly uneventful… I guess I swam a pretty straight line but… in the ocean with even a small swell it’s sometimes hard to see more than a buoy or 2 at a time… I finished in 48 minutes… a PR for the distance. I said aloud as I exited the water that I was glad that I did not waste any time training for the swim.
The bike had been danm near according to plan… I have no computer on my bike… it broke and I’m too cheap to replace it…. So, like almost every Saturday all summer I rode with my Garmin strapped between my aerobars…. Kept the HR below 130 and the RPMs high… staying on track with hydration and calorie intake… even dropped to the little ring riding into a headwind for the last 15 miles…
Coming through a roundabout with less than 10 miles to go I felt my front wheel take an odd wobble… I came out of the aerobars and onto the cowhorns quickly enough to keep everything upright and headed in the right direction… but a quick stop confirmed it… my front tire was flat….
Now I had pitched a shutout so far… not a huge deal for a crappy swimmer like me… and a small race such as this… but nonetheless… as I up-end my bike and yank the wheel off… the riders I have passed start to whiz past… I did not perform too badly on my pit stop, however, and I was back on the road in 5ish minutes… I fought back the urge to push it and make up the time… just kept spinning into the headwind. In the end I still averaged 20.4 even with the pit stop…
Now I’ve never really held back on the bike… which means that all of my triathlon runs have been sufferfests… so leaving T2 with spring in my step was nice…
Well… that’s where good sense gave way to Leroy Jenkins…
I took off like a scalded dog… ran the first 3 miles at about an 8:15 pace… the next 2 at 8:45ish.. then a few ~9:15s… a couple of 9:30s (recognize a trend yet) mile 10 was my first over 10 minutes… a quick look at my trusty Timex and some math
revealed that if I could run 3 nines I’d finish in under 5:40… so… I ran mile 11 as if it was the only mile I had to run… tangents… everything… mile marker… beep!.... look… 11:30.. dam… miles 12 and 13 followed the same trend… 12 and 12:30… Run time 2:06… really wanted sub 2 hours.
All in all it was the race I had trained for. Steady swim, strong bike, and decent run for a 5:47… good enough for a 40 minute or so PR.
I’d been a bit lax on my long runs… choosing instead to ride with the tri group on Saturday and the roadies on Sunday. That fact coupled with the heat and my dumbs#!t pace in the early miles… that’s really my biggest mistake… if you want to call it that…
It was a fun 4 months preparing for the race… the racing itself was a blast.
It’s Raceday… but it feels like any other weekend day for the past few months… up way before dawn… preparing for a long day… I have been a triathlete for 12 years… and there are many types of triathletes… for the first 11 years of my “career” I’ve been a finisher… a completer of triathlon courses… and I have trained to complete not necessarily to compete… this is different… I’m ready to race over distance… I’ve put in the training… averaging 12.5 Hours a week over the past 4 months…
****************************************************************************
A little more than 6 hours later… I’m sitting about 30 meters away from that curb… in the Med Tent… no I do not need medical attention although like most of my competitors I am pretty dehydrated… it’s just that the med tent is the only shade anywhere near the finish line…
I’m sitting next to a red haired girl appropriately named Ginger and… as triathletes do… even tho she is a cute… and we both are single the conversation goes quickly to pooping, puking and chafing…
We discuss how miserably hot the run was (88F and high humidity) and how much it sucked… and how much fun it was…
After she leaves I gather myself first… then slowly gather my junk from the transition area… As I drive home (yes I left the race site within 30 minutes of crossing the line… I had to check on my kids) I reflected on the day.
The swim was wetsuit legal… and was fairly uneventful… I guess I swam a pretty straight line but… in the ocean with even a small swell it’s sometimes hard to see more than a buoy or 2 at a time… I finished in 48 minutes… a PR for the distance. I said aloud as I exited the water that I was glad that I did not waste any time training for the swim.The bike had been danm near according to plan… I have no computer on my bike… it broke and I’m too cheap to replace it…. So, like almost every Saturday all summer I rode with my Garmin strapped between my aerobars…. Kept the HR below 130 and the RPMs high… staying on track with hydration and calorie intake… even dropped to the little ring riding into a headwind for the last 15 miles…
Coming through a roundabout with less than 10 miles to go I felt my front wheel take an odd wobble… I came out of the aerobars and onto the cowhorns quickly enough to keep everything upright and headed in the right direction… but a quick stop confirmed it… my front tire was flat….
Now I had pitched a shutout so far… not a huge deal for a crappy swimmer like me… and a small race such as this… but nonetheless… as I up-end my bike and yank the wheel off… the riders I have passed start to whiz past… I did not perform too badly on my pit stop, however, and I was back on the road in 5ish minutes… I fought back the urge to push it and make up the time… just kept spinning into the headwind. In the end I still averaged 20.4 even with the pit stop…Now I’ve never really held back on the bike… which means that all of my triathlon runs have been sufferfests… so leaving T2 with spring in my step was nice…
Well… that’s where good sense gave way to Leroy Jenkins…
I took off like a scalded dog… ran the first 3 miles at about an 8:15 pace… the next 2 at 8:45ish.. then a few ~9:15s… a couple of 9:30s (recognize a trend yet) mile 10 was my first over 10 minutes… a quick look at my trusty Timex and some math
revealed that if I could run 3 nines I’d finish in under 5:40… so… I ran mile 11 as if it was the only mile I had to run… tangents… everything… mile marker… beep!.... look… 11:30.. dam… miles 12 and 13 followed the same trend… 12 and 12:30… Run time 2:06… really wanted sub 2 hours.All in all it was the race I had trained for. Steady swim, strong bike, and decent run for a 5:47… good enough for a 40 minute or so PR.
I’d been a bit lax on my long runs… choosing instead to ride with the tri group on Saturday and the roadies on Sunday. That fact coupled with the heat and my dumbs#!t pace in the early miles… that’s really my biggest mistake… if you want to call it that…
It was a fun 4 months preparing for the race… the racing itself was a blast.
2 comments:
Congrats! Looks like a great race to me. You gotta get your swim on though. I know you bikers tend to hate the swimming. Maybe you can help me with the bike and I can help with the swim???
Congrats again on a race well done!!
lol...even tho she is a cute… and we both are single the conversation goes quickly to pooping, puking and chafing… .... how sad and true is that??? Great race report!
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