Rocketman Race Report
First, I'll start off with the fact that I woke up 90 minutes before I wanted to, at 3:15 am to the sound of water sprinklers hitting a wall or tarp. At first I thought my neighbor had his sprinklers going, so I thought about going next door. We never turned our sprinklers on, and the water company told us it would cost an additional payment to do so. I went outside and discovered it was ours. Still not sure how they got turned on, or why the timer was set for 3 am, but I unplugged the system. Went back to sleep for maybe 20 minutes.
Got up to the sound of thunder and rain. Not a good start for a tri. I don't mind running in it, but biking is different. Put my bike in the back of the highlander (instead of the bike rack) and headed out to the course. Long story short, they ended up delaying the start for 30 minutes due to being unable to put the buoys out on time. But, things cleared up and it was actually a very nice day for the race. Didn't really get hot until we were done.
Swim: They put slides in for us to use entering the water, as
the river had rocks on the banks. We're in wave 3 (military and collegiate), with the colleges in full uniforms, chanting and cheering like it's the Rose Bowl. The guy I was hanging out with and I went to the back of the pack thinking these college kids had to be fast at least for the swim (turns out I was a midpacker but some of these guys are part dolphin). we crab-walk down the slide (I was hoping we would actually slide) and get ready. No big deal, just follow the kids as they create a path for us. Worked out alright, but I was more tired than I thought I'd be at the end of the swim. Fairly uneventful. 28:56, 2nd fastest military, ~18/45 for our wave.
Bike: With the rain, the plan was to be careful on the turns. Good route, Hilly but not too steep. Started passing people almost immediately out of the gate and never got passed. Ate a cliff bar 5 minutes in, had a gel at 35 minutes, and another gel at 1 hour. All was good until we got to the u-turn which made a few of us somewhat nervous with the wet road. That went alright but then cars started to get in the way. As mentioned before, I had to wait behind cars who were waiting behind cyclists 4 times. The cyclists seemed to forget they were supposed to stay right, so they'd be in the middle of the road, the cars would stay behind them, until eventually the rider got over and the car could pass. Safety first of course, so I'm glad the drivers didn't push their luck, but it was frustrating. Got back, took the shoes of on the bike a munute too early, but that's alright. 3rd fastest military, 12/45 for the wave.
Run: I was feeling surprisingly good here, perhaps because of the cars forcing me to rest some. But even as I was setting off at around a 7:15 pace, I got smoked by a runner who I found out later was part of a relay (so fresh when he passed me). Felt really good up to mile 4, staying a pretty consistent 7:05 pace. the course was out just less than 1 mile, back past the transition, out to mile 4, turn back and finish on the opposite side of the
marina (we started on the far side). Miles 4-5.5 I just wanted to stay strong, then push. Around 5.5 I get passed by a dude, I look at his right calf and see he's 18. He must have been in wave 4. He has more kick left than I do so I didn't stay with him. 1st fastest military, 8/45 for the wave.
Compare this to last year, while I didn't do an Olympic, it was an international so almost the same thing. Keeping in mind, I had been training for IM Maryland so I was in better endurance shape and much stronger on the bike. I was probably more fatigued too.
Swim - 2 minutes faster (but there was a current which we went against and then with) I'll call this a win but it's hard to judge
Bike - 1:10 for 40k (21.1mph) vs. 1:16 for 45k (21.9 mph) slower this year
Run - 79 seconds or 13 seconds per mile faster.
Overall, I'll call it a good day and race. Plenty to learn from it but I paced it right, nutrition seems to have worked. I don't think I could have been much faster.
Why?
