RACE SUMMARY
Swim 00:41:53 81 / 643
T1: 3:33
Bike 02:41:40 20.78 mph 68 / 429
T2: 4:32
Run 02:02:21 09:20/mi 68 / 485
Overall 05:33:59 68 / 485 (2,157 athletes total finished)
Training: I thought training was going fairly well, considering everything, time commitments, work's been busier, etc. The usual concerns we mortals face when competing in these events. I had even done quite a few afternoon runs with the idea that building up resistance to heat would benefit me on race day. Averaged about 10 hours per week over the last month, with 10 brick sessions. No swim bricks, and I hadn't swam as much as I probably should, but I figured that was the shortest leg anyway and I'd manage.
In hindsight I don't know that I would change much in training - maybe a few more bricks with both legs at a higher intensity and I'd swim more.
Taper week: cut the time in half, more run than bike and only one swim day. Again, lack of swimming.
Nutrition the day before: it's always a challenge to rest and stay hydrated the day before these things. First, it was hot, second I took my 6 yo to the convention and had him help me set up my bike at T1. Then took him to lunch and hung out for a bit. We did get ice cream, but I don't think that hurt. Chicken and pasta for dinner, drank one beer. Overall, other than bringing better food with me to the convention and setup, wouldn't change anything.
Morning: got up at 315, ate an avocado and eggs, drank a cup of coffee on the way up. Stopped at a gas station to poop. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Drank some water throughout, feeling pretty good.
Warm-up: I didn't run or bike at all, but did some leg swings and swam a little while the pro field started. I don't like to do too much here except stay loose as I figure the swim is sort of a warmup. Granted, the first few minutes is always a mosh pit but I've never had a problem there.
Swim: Start at 7:44am. opted to go without wetsuit due to the 44 minute delay. Figured I wanted to get going instead of sitting around. Went slower than I wanted but expected this. Wearing an “All-world” swim cap, I figured people would think I was a good swimmer and try to use me to draft off of. So I started mid pack to indicate that I did not expect to be really fast (don't want people climbing over me immediately). I was ready for the starting chaos (for those who haven't done a tri, picture an aquatic mosh pit with people climbing over each other). No problem there. My focus for the swim was long pulls and staying in the wake, take the straightest line possible around – this had been a problem for me in the past as I tend to get slightly off course. I was surprised to see that I never steered far off this time, and felt good throughout. Within a few minutes we had already caught up to the white cap swimmers, the 50-55 yo females, which just added to the chaos. Swam around a few, no real problems until I pulled my right arm up and found it hooked with another swimmer. Usually this isn't a problem as we both just slide off each other, but this person must have been doing backstroke or had funky form as our arms were locked. I spun around, looked at her, we made eye contact, I asked “you ok?” she seemed to be, so off I went. Frankly I was surprised at how good I felt throughout. On the third side (the route was a triangle), my left calf cramped a little, which was expected, so I just stopped kicking hard and kept going, it faded quickly. Got to the end, felt great, looked at my watch which I didn't put on timer, just left the clock showing, 8:25. Did horrible math and thought “nice! 31 minutes!” It wouldn't be until halfway through the bike that I realized it was actually 41 minutes.
T1: jogged to my bike, saw my run partner who came out to support a few of us, gave a high five and proceeded to the bike. Decided to wear my gloves as on long rides the comfort is better – my aerobars aren't taped, so without gloves I'm grabbing metal and over a couple hours, that gets tiring.
Bike: The course starts off on a bumpy hill which is congested, so it was slow go at first - Didn't break 3 minutes / mile until mile 4. Which sort of works, giving us time to warmup a bit before kicking it into high gear. I don't like the first few miles this year though as they added a turn at mile 1, taking you uphill to a turnaround where you barely have room to turn but it's a tight group. The organizer had briefed the 5 bike length rule (no drafting) which everyone violated for the first few miles, there was no way around it. Pretty uneventful for the first 20 minutes. Got going on the main road, and ended up playing leap frog with a few guys for about 7 miles. Mile 8 was fun, slightly downhill and averaged 31mph. The course is rolling hills, not too many monster hills, with a total of 2800 feet climbing. I started off with 2 cliff bars and 2 bottles of perpetuum, ended up eating both but only drinking one bottle. At the first aid station, mile 14, I tossed my empty bottle and took a gatorade perform. I ended up drinking two bottles of gatorade perform and the one bottle of perpetuum. The ride felt good, I wasn't overly concerned with speed but went with feel, pushing around 7/10, until I crossed over 40 miles at 1:55 and realized I should be able to break 2:40 which was my goal. HR was in the low 150s throughout, which I had planned on keeping lower, but it felt fine and I was hitting my nutrition and speed goals, so I went with it. At around mile 41 I passed a guy I had been around most of the day who had popped his chain off, yelled “that SUCKS!” as I sped by. Little did I know... at mile 45 a car pulled out in front of me, between me and the guy I was thinking about passing. As he blocked my way around but was going at a decent speed, I figured I'd stay behind him. A couple minutes later he must have realized there's a race going on and the road was blocked off, as he suddenly pulled over to the shoulder, almost clipping me. I cussed at him as I went around. A couple miles later there was a female cyclist on the road, face down, in the opposite lane where cars were still allowed. (would hear later that she got back into the race and finished). Mile 50 comes, we hit a hill I remember hating last year, but I knew I could get up it and was on pace to break 2:40. Downshift, ***** ***** ***** – aw crap. Chain popped off as I was passing two people. First person kept going no problem, the 2nd person looks at me, and as I just passed her, she's on my right (illegal to pass on the right) she seems confused as I'm yelling at her to “go go GO!” then I say my chain fell off and she goes. Took about a minute to get the chain back on, but stopping on the bottom of a big hill after 50 miles SUCKS. Took me another minute to clip in and get going. The last 6 miles were uneventful, I might have pushed harder than I should have, but I wanted to finish.
T2: this is where the race goes downhill for me. I got to T2, and although I had scooped out my spot ahead of time, even sort of rehearsed from the bike entrance to the spot, somehow I couldn't find it. I ended up going back and forth twice before I located it. Got down, took my stuff off, and put my socks, shoes, running sunglasses and hat on. Realized a minute later I left my gloves on. Didn't want to go back so I put them on the ground near the trash, figuring maybe they'd still be there. At that point I realized I'm disoriented, somewhat dizzy, and felt like crap. No matter, off I go!
Run: First mile actually felt alright, like I could meet my goal still. Finished the first mile at a 7:17 pace, HR 158. But then the wheels came off. Mile 2 was at 8:24 and I started to feel my energy depleted. Miles 3 and 4 were worse, about a 9 minute pace and I wasn't getting anything back. Around mile 3 I realized I didn't have a 1:40 in me and started overthinking the fact that I was disoriented, figured I'd be better served by just keeping moving and not damaging myself too much. During mile 5 I stopped in an outhouse to pee, which took a couple minutes (it was clear) but when I left the outhouse, I had the weird feeling of body-capable, but brain-fried. I really don't know what would have happened had I kept pushing, maybe it would have worked out fine and I would have PR'd, or maybe I would have had heat-exhaustion and DNF'd. HR stayed below 160, which tells me that my body indeed was capable, but I was just mentally fried and exhausted.
Overall: happy with my bike, though I do think I have room to improve. But overall this was one of the more disappointing races I've done.
Then again, judging by the fact that my run and bike ranking were virtually identical, perhaps it isn't as bad as I thought - a lot of us faded hard.
After crossing a city street this morning, I was turning left but caught my right toe on a bit of raised sidewalk ...had no leverage, and did a slow motion fall onto a lawn. No big deal, but I felt like a clumsy old man, which was not enjoyable.
