Woke up at 4:40am, ate a boiled egg, and into the car for the 2 hour drive to the race site. Got there shortly after 7, got my packet and number, got numbered (in tris, they write your number in black magic marker on your arms and quads, then right your age on your calf), and proceeded to set up my transition area. Having done this once before, I felt a little bit more confident as I racked my back and laid out my cycling and running gear.
I finished laying out my gear with about 45 minutes to go before race time, so I was able to visit the portajohn a few more times and just hang out.
The weather was much more enjoyable than the 90F start temperatures at Rocketts Landing. I think it was upper 60s and overcast. The forecast threatened rain, and I felt a few drops waiting for the race start. This had me a bit concerned because I have absolutely zero experience riding the bike in the rain or even on wet pavement.
Swim Portion
The water temp was 75F near the shore and 70F in the channel making it wetsuit legal. So this was my first tri in a wetsuit. The swim portion was a modified trapezoid -- in water start, swimmingn against the current to the first yellow turn buoy, then with the current to the next turn buoy, then to the swim exit point.
I was in wave 2 -- males 40 and over. We started at 9:05, 5 minutes after the 39 and under males. I was feeling pretty good and very quickly got into a good rhythm. I think the masters swim is finally paying off, as I felt like I had a nice smooth and strong stroke. My sighting was good and I made it straight to the first turn quicker than I thought. After the turn, I could really feel the current helping me and felt like I was swimming well. I even started passing some of the slower wave 1 swimmers. Again, I think I've finally got the 3 stroke-then sight rhythm down.
About midway through this leg of the swim, I got totally thrown off. Another swimmer was passing too close to me and his hand came down on its down stroke landing right on my head pushing me underwater!! I wasn't expecting this, so I'm swimming along when suddenly a hand is pushing my head underwater. I freaked for a slip second before realizing it was just another swimmer passing too close and not someone trying to drown me (the water is too murky to really see anything underwater). I lift up to breathe and he does it again! WTF? So now I'm trying to swim away from him but he's sticking right next to me, whacking me on the side with every stroke. So I finally do a backwards stroke to get away from him. I saw him later in the swim and realized he was probably just trying to sight on me (some swimmers who have not mastered the art of looking up ahead to sight will try to swim next to a swimmer so they can look at him/her when they breathe -- I guess I should be flattered that I looked like someone who knows how to sight/swim).
Anyhow, I regained my rhythm pretty quicly, made the last turn and headed towards shore. Our exit point was marked by a pair of yellow flags -- I actually had a bit of trouble locating them, but eventually locked on and made my way. It was at this point that I realized the swimmer who kep hitting me was probably just trying to sight --- he was way off course!
I made it to shore and headed toward transition one. Swim time 26:47 (22nd fastest out of 128).
Transition 1
I had been worried aout how long it would take me to get out of the wetsuit. Whenever I swam at the pool in it, it always seemed like it took me ages to get it off. My brother would tell me: if the wet suit is not in a jumbled mess on the ground, you are taking it off too slow. Well, I did not take it off too slow! A slipped out (tearing a huge hole in the leg), got my socks and cycling shoes on, put on my shirt, race belt, helmet, unracked my bike and off I was to the bike mount area.
T1 time: 2:28 (68th out of 128)
Bike portion
The first thing I noticed as I clipped in and started the bike segment was it was VERY WINDY! This did not bode well. After clipping in, I took an energy gel to replenish after the swim. I wish someone had told me one of the Brightroom photographers would be located right near the start -- I hope there is not a picture of me with chocolate gu on my face!
The second thing I noticed was that I was riding pretty well. The course had some nice flat portions and some rolling hills. Having put enough miles on the bike, I now know almost never to use the highest gear. I decided to ride aggressively fast, and was doing pretty well with speeds usually around 19 - 21 mph. Less riders seemed to be passing me this time than at Rocketts Landing in July. I attacked the hills strong -- taking them in a standing position, rather than putting the bike in lowest gear and staying seated. On the downhills, I put it in highest gear and cranked. I reached 37 mph at one particular steep downhill.
Things were going pretty nicely until around mile 15 or so. Suddenly my right foot was off the pedal, almost causing a wipe out. I tried to click back in when I realized that my shoe had broken. Or rather, the screws that held the cleat to the shoe must have fallen out, as the cleat was still clipped on to the pedal. So for the next 10 or so miles, I could only downpedal on the right side (the benefit of being clipped onto the pedals is that you get power on both the downstroke and the upstroke when you pedal) and my foot kept slipping off the pedal. And attacking the uphills was much more difficult as I could not stand and pedal (foot kept slipping off). Oh well, so much for my aggressive bike phase.
I finished the bike portion, a bit frustrated. But when I talked with my brother (who has done dozens and dozens of tri's) after the race, I assured me that when he and his friends would do pre-race equipment checks NO ONE ever thought to check their cycling shoes to see if the cleats were firmly attached to the shoe. Oh well, it could have been worse!
I almost forgot, the last 1/4 mile before bike dismount was on a road with speed bumps. My butt really enjoyed that!
Bike time: 1:21:43 (51st out of 128)
Transition Two
Dismounted and ran to my transition zone, racked the bike, took off my helmet, and changed from cycling to running shoes and off I went. Great transition number 4, called out one of the course marshalls. Sweet!
T2 time: 1:23 (54th out of 128)
Run portion
Finally the run! I took off at a good clip -- 7:02 pace. My legs were still a bit wobbly from the bike, but I powered through anyway. Running is my element, and I thought now I get to pass all those swimmers and bikers who passed me. I was passing people from the get-go. I figured, if I could maintain a sub-7 pace at mile 20 in a marathon, I can maintain a similar pace now.
The course was almost entirely flat out-and-back, with only a small hill around the turnaround. Around 2 1/2 miles, I passed a marine running with an American flag. Oo-rah I yelled. Oo-rah came the return call. Almost immediately my legs forgot they had swum 1500 meters and biked 42 kilometers. I powered on, passing runners left and right.
One nice thing about tri's, is that they write your age on the back of your calf. I sometimes wondered why they did that, but now I know. Most of us are competing in age-group categories, so it only matters where you place in your age group. I love it that when someone passes me (on the bike, hasn't happened on the run yet) I can quickly look to see if I care (i.e. whether they are in my age group). I wish running races did that. Plus I love the ego boost when I pass a runner with 35 or 28 written on his or her leg and they get to see the 43 on my leg!!
Around mile 5, someone cheered out my name (a friend from masters swim -- she was doing the sprint triathlon) and I began to really pick up the pace. The final mile and half or so was at a 6:40 pace! I kicked strong and passed two more runners in the final 1/4 mile.
Run time: 44:11 (13th out of 128)
Total time: 2:36:30 (23rd out of 128/ 5th out of 23 in my age group)
So overall, I was very pleased with my time. I was about a minute faster than Rocketts Landing. Swim, run, and both transition times were faster. But for the equipment malfunction, i would have had a faster bike time too.
Going forward, I think I am a strong swimmer but still too timid -- that is, I think I could do the swim portion faster. I probably need to work on the bike-to-run transition -- that should be faster than it is, more in terms of getting my legs to recover from the bike to the run. The most work is on the bike. I rode less than 19 mph and I need to get that into the 20s to be competitive. Hello trainer this winter!
So there you have it sports fans. Next up, Army 10 Miler on October 24. Very curious to see how I do in a pure running road race.
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