Last night I inventoried my gear 3 times just to make sure. It was such a small amount of gear. No extra waters or gels or caps or anything, the distance was to short. I felt very loose this morning when I woke up, my pre-race jitters giving way to an almost training day mentality. Which is exactly what I wanted since this would calm any race day anxiety's.
In transition it was great to see so many familiar faces. I had a dozen people to talk to and moved between groups very well. So many races I have been too, I know no one and its just sort of a dazed walk around until its time to start.
The kids race started an hour before the adult tri. The Good Doctors daughter raced it and did very well. The lead boy ran his mile in just over 6 minutes, whew.
The race is a reverse tri, 5k run, 12 mile bike, 300 yard swim. Short. I must say that after each event I finished the leg thinking I had farther to go, which is good and bad because I still had some in the tank but...I still had some in the tank. Bolder asked me what my goals were the other day, aside from the obvious stuff and I remarked, a 8:30 run pace, a 20 mph bike pace and a 7 min swim. A great race will be to finish an hour fifteen.
The run started with a tight mass grouping. I had meet up with IronBenny, Nytro and their friends in the transition, so when IronBenny spotted me at the run start we saddled up to each other to wish luck and break a leg and all that. The Good Doctors 12 year old son ran the adult race instead of the youth tri and blazed out of the gate for a good half mile, leading the whole thing, in his first tri ever. He finished 12th in the 15-19 age group. What a great job.
The first half of the run started really well. I went way to fast out of the gate but was able to maintain it through the first half mile so just kept going with it. By two-thirds of a mile I was able to start passing those that blew out the gate and were now gasping for air. In the last half mile Mistress and Mighty Mo had arrived, so I stopped for ten seconds to hug my boy, Mistress the whole time yelling at me to, "Go! Go! Go! What are you stopping for?!" As I took off, some of the guys around me were saying, "Now thats an understanding spouse." "Brother, you got no idea." I came across the line at 23:20, a pace of 7:27 per mile (taking my 10 sec out).
Change of shoes, add helmet and I am out of T1, in seconds. The 12 miles consisted of 4 loops of 3 miles. Essentially a box course, almost half was confined to a single bike lane. With 700 participants this kinda sucked. I was able to manage a 21 mph pace and it sure felt good to blow by people by 6-8 mph. I believe there was a lot of 1st timers, who just didn't quite get the whole stay right thing and slowed down way too much at the corners so I firmly believe that I could have sustained a 23.5-24 mph if there was more room to manuever. Its not the fault of the triathletes, there is just so many people you can put in a single bike lane and maintain a high speed. In fact there were a few recumbants on the course and polite people were stacking up behind them since there was no room to move past in those areas. As it was I (and many others) were riding outside the cones because we had a great pace going. I was able to pick up Mistress and Mighty Mo on each loop and it was so awesome to hear, "GoDaddyGo" from my boy.
The swim. Well lets just say that reverse tri's can do quite a number on your equilibrium. I put my face in the water and go a bit whoosy. I was not the only one to comment on this post race. It was a serpentine pool swim so I did not have to count anything, just go till there is no more walls to touch. I must say it was very crowded, perhaps more crowded than a open water swim and I was groped many times. One guy was trying to pass me on the inside between me and the right lane rope and we actually tousled, gouged and elbowed each other. A first for me to fight back in a swim but he was all over me. With all the people in the water, it was hard to get a decent stroke going, so I got past more more efficient swimmer. I thought I had more lap to go, then I realized to swim it I would be out of lanes, facing the wrong direction from the finish line, so I just jumped out of the water and ran to the mat. It was very weird, like I had cheated but sure enough that was what I was supposed to do. I finished in 8:27, almost 90 seconds behind my desired time. That wasn't very cool.
Overall I finished 1:08. That is seven minutes better than my wildest expectation and 25 minutes faster than when I did this same course in April (S-B-R format). So that is great. I feel great. I finished middle of my age group and top 30% for my bike split. I am really happy about that. I am really happy about a 7:27 5k pace, which is my fastest 5k in two years. Had I entered the race as a Clydesdale I would have placed top ten in that divisions overall. Damn me I guess. I got to meet Nytro, which was very cool, she is very cool. So a great day and a great race for me and all my friends.
The Good Doctor took 3rd in the Clydesdales and another friend won the whole thing overall. Another friend also did extremely well and if he ever does a race report I will link it.
Afterwards my tri team went to breakfast and reviewed pictures taken by spouses and listened to the kids tell their story's of the race. What a blessing.
I would just like to say what a blessing it is to know that my thoughts and feeling mean something to those that read them. I am thankful for all of you that read my blog and leave such thoughtful comments and motivations. It would be much harder to this without all of you to support me.
Happy Thanksgiving.
FOLLOW UP: NEXT DAY I forgot to mention two other things. I did win something. In the raffle after the race I won one of those huge bottles of Hammer Gel in the Apple-Cinnamon flavor and a flask courtesy of TriSport.com, whose owner came in 5th in the 30-34 AG
In transition it was great to see so many familiar faces. I had a dozen people to talk to and moved between groups very well. So many races I have been too, I know no one and its just sort of a dazed walk around until its time to start.
The kids race started an hour before the adult tri. The Good Doctors daughter raced it and did very well. The lead boy ran his mile in just over 6 minutes, whew.
The race is a reverse tri, 5k run, 12 mile bike, 300 yard swim. Short. I must say that after each event I finished the leg thinking I had farther to go, which is good and bad because I still had some in the tank but...I still had some in the tank. Bolder asked me what my goals were the other day, aside from the obvious stuff and I remarked, a 8:30 run pace, a 20 mph bike pace and a 7 min swim. A great race will be to finish an hour fifteen.
The run started with a tight mass grouping. I had meet up with IronBenny, Nytro and their friends in the transition, so when IronBenny spotted me at the run start we saddled up to each other to wish luck and break a leg and all that. The Good Doctors 12 year old son ran the adult race instead of the youth tri and blazed out of the gate for a good half mile, leading the whole thing, in his first tri ever. He finished 12th in the 15-19 age group. What a great job.
The first half of the run started really well. I went way to fast out of the gate but was able to maintain it through the first half mile so just kept going with it. By two-thirds of a mile I was able to start passing those that blew out the gate and were now gasping for air. In the last half mile Mistress and Mighty Mo had arrived, so I stopped for ten seconds to hug my boy, Mistress the whole time yelling at me to, "Go! Go! Go! What are you stopping for?!" As I took off, some of the guys around me were saying, "Now thats an understanding spouse." "Brother, you got no idea." I came across the line at 23:20, a pace of 7:27 per mile (taking my 10 sec out).
Change of shoes, add helmet and I am out of T1, in seconds. The 12 miles consisted of 4 loops of 3 miles. Essentially a box course, almost half was confined to a single bike lane. With 700 participants this kinda sucked. I was able to manage a 21 mph pace and it sure felt good to blow by people by 6-8 mph. I believe there was a lot of 1st timers, who just didn't quite get the whole stay right thing and slowed down way too much at the corners so I firmly believe that I could have sustained a 23.5-24 mph if there was more room to manuever. Its not the fault of the triathletes, there is just so many people you can put in a single bike lane and maintain a high speed. In fact there were a few recumbants on the course and polite people were stacking up behind them since there was no room to move past in those areas. As it was I (and many others) were riding outside the cones because we had a great pace going. I was able to pick up Mistress and Mighty Mo on each loop and it was so awesome to hear, "GoDaddyGo" from my boy.
The swim. Well lets just say that reverse tri's can do quite a number on your equilibrium. I put my face in the water and go a bit whoosy. I was not the only one to comment on this post race. It was a serpentine pool swim so I did not have to count anything, just go till there is no more walls to touch. I must say it was very crowded, perhaps more crowded than a open water swim and I was groped many times. One guy was trying to pass me on the inside between me and the right lane rope and we actually tousled, gouged and elbowed each other. A first for me to fight back in a swim but he was all over me. With all the people in the water, it was hard to get a decent stroke going, so I got past more more efficient swimmer. I thought I had more lap to go, then I realized to swim it I would be out of lanes, facing the wrong direction from the finish line, so I just jumped out of the water and ran to the mat. It was very weird, like I had cheated but sure enough that was what I was supposed to do. I finished in 8:27, almost 90 seconds behind my desired time. That wasn't very cool.
Overall I finished 1:08. That is seven minutes better than my wildest expectation and 25 minutes faster than when I did this same course in April (S-B-R format). So that is great. I feel great. I finished middle of my age group and top 30% for my bike split. I am really happy about that. I am really happy about a 7:27 5k pace, which is my fastest 5k in two years. Had I entered the race as a Clydesdale I would have placed top ten in that divisions overall. Damn me I guess. I got to meet Nytro, which was very cool, she is very cool. So a great day and a great race for me and all my friends.
The Good Doctor took 3rd in the Clydesdales and another friend won the whole thing overall. Another friend also did extremely well and if he ever does a race report I will link it.
Afterwards my tri team went to breakfast and reviewed pictures taken by spouses and listened to the kids tell their story's of the race. What a blessing.
I would just like to say what a blessing it is to know that my thoughts and feeling mean something to those that read them. I am thankful for all of you that read my blog and leave such thoughtful comments and motivations. It would be much harder to this without all of you to support me.
Happy Thanksgiving.
FOLLOW UP: NEXT DAY I forgot to mention two other things. I did win something. In the raffle after the race I won one of those huge bottles of Hammer Gel in the Apple-Cinnamon flavor and a flask courtesy of TriSport.com, whose owner came in 5th in the 30-34 AG
10 comments:
well done! you blew away your best estimate, finished, stopped to greet your family, and wrote a great report!!
Happy Thanksgiving Comm to you and your family.
Wooo hooo, very well done! What a FUN way to celebrate Thanksgiving!! You rocked that course!!!
I knew you'd be awesome! You were so fast on that run! GO YOU! Congrats Comm, you deserved an awesome day. Happy Thanksgiving!
Sounds like a great race. Way to blow past your expectations!
Thanks for the race report! Good job!
Congrats on beating your expectations. I think reverse-tris are such a bad idea. People could honestly drown! My grandmother always says, they should do the swim last - "so, you can relax, wind down and cool off" - I know she means well, but it IS a race afterall.
Congrats on curshing last year's time. Especially since you finished the race with your weakest discipline. I think in pool swims you have to pad your estimate with all the touching and turning at the wall, not to mention the fact you had to duke it out with someone. Great race Comm!
it was a fun race, wasn't it? I had such a blast meeting you and your lovely wife and son! hope you had a great turkey day and have fun with benny tomorrow morning!
sounds like u ahve a great time. That reverse tri will mess me up too. Especially going hard on the bike then heading to the water.
Your wife is the best.
Way to go, awesome report.
I never knew you liked to grope other men in the pool? Beware!!
8-)
Post a Comment