White Lake Sprint I Race Report

Well, I guess you could say that my glass was 2/3 of the way full for this race. The weather forecast was calling for a 40% chance of rain, and I'm glad that didn't come so, I had that going in my favor. And I did complete most of my goals for the race, so overall, it was a good, not a great race, and it left me with a "to do" list of things to work on (which I'll cover towards the end).


Got up early again for the second weekend in a row, not a good habit to get into, but hey, it is good to know what my limits are! But after a quick shower and getting my bag into the car, Jen and I were ready to roll out to White Lake, about 1 hour or so away. I chowed on two bananas while I drove and Jen tried to get back to sleep and sipped my diet rootbeer (getting to be a pre-race ritual) and listened to some tunes on the way there. We arrived a little after 0630, so we drove past the main gate, and turned around and headed back to the roadside parking that was free (and a half mile away), so I got my gear, aired up the tires on Elenor, and we headed down to the race area.

This was the first transition area that was grass this year for me, so I couldn't mark my chalk scribbles, but that was ok, since they were the numbered spots that I really like, so I had my own little area to my self. I set up my transition and headed over to check in, got my numbers (#323) and got my chip, body marked (HUGE numbers this time!) and headed back to transition to finalized my set up and visualize how T1 and T2 were going to happen. After that little mental warm up, I got my wetsuit bottoms on and headed out to the lake to warm up in the "cold" lake. I got the top on at the edge of the lake and walked in, and realized that this was the first time I was in water with my wetsuit, so much for practice! I swam about 200 or so to get use to it and everything seemed good, loved how I floated in the wetsuit, so I came back to shore and ate my GU (more on that later), and headed down to the start line to get ready to swim (I was in the 2nd wave, right after the elites).

Well the count down to start was on and I was getting really amped up, and the horn went off and away we went! I started wide left to avoid the thrashing that I knew would happen, but about 100 meters in, my heart rate went thru the roof and I guzzled lake water, which broke my rhythm and I was in hurt city for the rest of the swim. I knew I had the strength to swim the 750meters, but I couldn't get my breathing and HR back to a manageable level, so face in the water wasn't going to happen, so I kept my head up and swam, which helped my sighting very well. But sighting was the only thing that worked well for the swim. I feel that the GU (with caffeine) had pumped me up too much to relax in the water, and thus I fought the water the entire way, instead of gliding thru it. So my goal time of 15:00 was out the window, and I eventually pulled my butt up the ladder and ran to the mat in 18:49 (YIKES!), which was "good" for 156th "Best" men's time and 23rd of 35 in my AG. Oh boy, guess I'd better make up some time!

And time is what I made up on the bike! Wow, this ride made me completely forget all about the swim, and the "meh" T1, which took me 2:22 to complete, with a stuck wetsuit and all, but at least I didn't stop to have tea or anything! But the bike started out great, a great flying mount and clicked in and rolling like a boss! The course was a nice flat (it had a few "rises") and relativly smooth and a very minor headwind, but nothing to write home to mom about. But I do have a minor gripe (WARNING!!! RANT TO FOLLOW!!! WARNING!!!) and that is about drafting in a USAT race.

How do I put this nicely? Ok, I can't! I passed no less than 7 different pacelines of folks on the two lap, 14.2 mile course. I mean, really? It is only 14 freakin' miles! But there they were, sometimes packs of 2 and even up to 6 folks, and before you say, "well, they were probably rookies to the sport and didn't know any better", I say this, how many rookies have aero helmets, solid rear wheels and TT bikes? Yeah, there were folks gaming the system, but it gave me a big boost to pass them all solo, unaided, NOT CHEATING, and it felt great! Even passed an paceline of 4 and the #2 rider didn't see what the lead man avoided and hit it, flatting his front tire! Man, karma is a biotch! At least they did have moto-officials out there, but with almost half the racers cheating, that was mission impossible. When I was passed (temporarily, of course!), I even came out of aero to drop back out of the draft zone, because I refuse to cheat myself. Ok, I think that is about it on that topic (END OF RANT!).


But the bike was great, I cat and moused with one guy that was about my build, and I would pass him and then he'd pass me back after a mile, I almost lost him when we caught a large group, but I downshifted and put my head down and blasted on by them. Later in the run he high-fived me, telling me he cramped up, I never did get his name, but he seemed like a cool guy! But I came roaring in to T2 with an elapsed time of 37:37, good for a 22.6 MPH average! Nice! Ended the bike with the 35th best bike and 4th in my AG. That's the way to answer back to a poor swim!

After a quick 1:07 in a very large T2 area, I was back on the road again! I really haven't had any stellar runs off the bike, but still my runs are nothing to sneeze at. Right out of the T2 I was passed by a young kid with a "16" on his calf, and I knew the chase was on! So what if I am twice his age, I got the wheels to hunt him down. I just ran my pace for the first half mile, and then started to bear down once we hit the lake side subdivision. Nice roads helped me catch him and another guy, so I rolled with the momentum and took off. I wound my way thru the subdivision and hit the turn around in 11:00, so I knew I need to negative split the 2nd half to hit my goal of sub-21:00. I worked hard those last mile and a half, but got passed for the first time in forever on the run in the last 200-300 meters, luckily he was not in my AG, or I would have lit it up and chased him down, even if I puked at the end. But my mental game was over, and I cruised in for a ok 21:46, good for 48th fast run and 6th best in my AG, so not too shabby, but not where I want to be. The guy that beat me at the line wrote in his race report that he had to pass "a guy with legs like tree trunks." I guess I will take that compliment!

Overall, a good race, beat a bunch of my goals, and learned that my swim still sucks. I think it was a combination of never swimming in a wetsuit (10%), not swimming enough without training aids (40%) and the effects from the caffinated GU (50%). So a lot of lessons learned that I will carry forward to my next race, the Three Little Pigs in Smithfield in about 40 days. That will give me more training time to build on. Let's recap the goals

Sub 1:20 - Failed
Sub 1:25 - Got it!
Around 15:00 Swim - Failed
Sub 40:00 Bike - Oh yeah!
Average over 21mph - Like a boss!
Sub 21:00 run - Almost there
Had fun - Of course!

So, there you have it, now I just have to get my photos posted, for all to see. Take care and remember, the legs feed the wolf!

Azalea Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Well, I have been lazy with my posts, but not my workouts, and now I have my first tri of the season under my belt, and whooo baby, it was a good start!

I ended up registering for the Azalea Tri down in Wilmington, NC on Sunday the 13th of March, as I was chomping at the bit to race with Elenor the wonder cycle. Well the wife and I rode the 2 hours south to Wilmington, which we used to do almost every weekend when my bro-and-sister-in-law lived down there on Carolina Beach, and I LOVED being a beach bum! It was the best.

Ok back on course, we got to the hotel right at 2pm and went to check in and was told, "Umm Check in is after 3pm" Huh? WTF? I was told that it was 2, but oh well, gotta kill some time and rode over to UNC-Wilmington, where the race was held. Pretty much the same set up as three years ago, when I "raced" with very little training, but now, I was back to break the 1 hour mark!

Well we got settled in at the hotel after a little time, got the dog out of the car and she proceeded to smell EVERYTHING for the next half hour! But after that was done, headed to dinner with friends and then packet pick up and prerace meeting. Wow, should have wore pants, the wind was a little chilly in the early evening. After an informative meeting (for the earlier race, 4 people were DQ'd for various infractions, OUCH! Mostly helmet violations, plus a bunch of 2 and 4 minute penalties for drafting, abandonement, etc), so that was good to know.

After a "restfull" night and the begining of Daylight's Savings Time (bad timing right there), the wife and I loaded up and headed over to the race, and she took a nap while I went to set up my TA.

I love how SetUp Events has the TA, total of 6 people per rack, 3 each side, so ample room to get your stuff laid out and ready. I chitchatted with folks there and we all talked about our swim ranking and I let the lady ahead of me I might be faster than my predicted time (mainly because I had preedicted early and that was before they closed our pool on post, so I didn't swim for about 2-3 weeks), but I figured I was about 10-15 seconds faster than my time. She said no problem, she was just recovering from an injury and didn't want to hold me up. But I did have one guy in my AG racked right next to me, and we chatted about everything. Christian Cole was his name, and a real cool guy, he started 30 seconds after me in the pool.

Well I was ready and set up, headed to go pick up the wife and to the pool to warm up and get ready. Took my first GU at the 15 minutes to go mark and swam a few laps in the diving well. I was all ready to roll, headed over to the start end (it was a time trial start, at every 15 seconds based off of your predicted time) and watched some others snake their way thru the pool for 300 meters. I hopped in the cold "74 degree" water, and got acclimated and moved up until it was my time to go. Brrr!



At 08:57:30 I was off and all the pool time was paying off! I ended up catching and passing about 7-10 people in the pool, and unlike other forays in the aqua world, I didn't feel winded or have to switch strokes, which is a major plus for me right now. I clambered out of the pool at a fast-for-me 5:10 and slid my way down the steps towards the TA. Note that the pool was on the 2nd floor and you had to run down a narrow stairwell, and run down the sidewalk for about 200-300 meters to the TA. Ouch, that is why my feet are still sore after 2 days!

I raced into the TA, and hit my rack, dried my feet, rolled my socks on and slid into my shoes. I had a little trouble with my new Desoto Tri top, I tried to roll it on, but ended up getting stuck mid-chest and after some pulling, I gave up on it. Helmet and glasses on, bike off the rack and Andrew running in cycling shoes towards the mount line. That could be another reason my feet hurt, running in cycling shoes, hmmmm. Managed to do a flying mount after the line and passed two folks gingerly getting on their bikes and I was aero and gone!

The only bad part was the amount of speed humps, which were gradual but still were bad enough. I did manage to stay aero almost he entire way (cornering I did pop up to brake) but other than that, I was rolling. I started at a good pace and kept it up the entire route. I was actually wearing myself out saying "On your left", which most folks thanked me for the heads up (I guess most others were too "in the zone" to let others know they were passing, booo), but I was doing my part! I was passing folks like crazy, and my bike mount that I fashioned was working out well, so I had to just dip my eyes a little to see my Garmin, so good set up. I managed to pass about 15-20 folks on the bike, was passed once as I took in my 2nd GU, so after I swallowed the GU, I re-passed him and turned it on. I came flying into the TA area, and hopped off at the dismount line and boogied in to rack my bike. Bike ended up being 25:30, so again, I was happy with that split too!



Now on to the run, took off my cycling shoes, slid into my runners, helmet off, and out the TA. I was really expecting my legs to be rubber after a good bike effort, but they were surprisingly fresh feeling and had some jump to them. I managed a good pace on the way out and wanted to turn a negative split in for the run back (it was an out-and-back loop on the campus sidewalk system and relativly flat), so hit the water stations on the way out and flew on the way back in. I felt great and passed another 10-12 people (with a TT start, it is easier IMHO to pass folks since all AG and abilities are out there), so that was good, I loved passing the younger guys in their 20s because this short, old dude can still motor! As I passed the 3 mile mark, I felt some pressure from behind, and cranked it up and let my feet do their stuff, because I wasn't going to be passed at the line! I ended up coming across the line, and wait for it, wait for it... I didn't puke! NIIIICE! So finished in a surprising 21:39. Nice, very nice!



After a little walking around, I walked over and got a nice deep tissue massage on my calves which was awesome! But afterwords, went to get my stuff from the TA to load up the car, check the pre-lims and my times, and headed out. I ended up breaking 1 hour with a 56:18, good for 54th overall (9th in AG), so I was pleased. My T1 and T2 times were ok, but I know I can save a few minutes in there, as they say "Free Time", so I can get faster, plus my swim will only get stronger, so that are some of the bright sides. But I love how the 35-39 men's AG is always the largest AG in most races that I see, I have dubbed it the "Middle-Life Crisis AG", which I guess I fall under. But each and every goal I set before this race was met, except for the T1 time of 2 minutes (it was 2:57, which included the Bataan Death Run from the pool), but al things considered, I was happy.

Luckily I let Jen drive home, and after we unpacked the car, we all took much needed naps! Yeah, happy ending!

But I am going to upload some photos tonight that Jen took, and make sure I post at least twice a week from now on, since I am pissed at Beginner Tri (BT) for not saving any of my lengthy RR, so I will make these my main effort for posting

Nice Weekend!

Well talk about your nice weekends! Saturday, Jen and I rode out to Vass and picked up her new pistol, and then I got to go to Cary to pick up my new bike. BTW, make sure you update your GPS, or it WILL play a trick on you and have you drive 7 miles out of your way, just to turn you around and send you in the right direction. Awesome.

But I arrived at Inside Out Sports (which will now be referred to as "My Tri Mecca"), because once I walked in, I was blown away by the selection they had in there. Wow, too bad it is a almost 2 hour ride to get up there! But Justin helped fit me on my new Quintana Roo Tequilo and even helped fix my form up a little bit. Needless to say, my form kinda sucks, but hope the little hints and tweaks help. I even took the new ride for a quick spin to test it out, so no major faults, guess it was time to check out. But OF COURSE, I had to shop a little bit while up there, and found a few things that I needed.

Decided to take the new bike out for a longer shakedown ride, and boy was that painful. Rode the Longstreet Range loop, a nice 26 mile rolling hill ride, and despite having the bike fitted to me, my nether regions we NOT fit for the task. OUCH! Despite the minor rub (read: hamburger like consistence) down under, the bike was sweet, but still have to get used to aero, but while in aero, I get at least 3 mph fast (and into a headwind no less), so that has me excited for racing it later in March.

All in all, not too bad, even helped the wife with some gardening, vacuumed the car out, it was a nice weekend.

Workouts for this week:
Monday - 3 mile run, nice and easy 8:00-8:30 pace
Tuesday - 3 mile run - 7:30-8:00 min pace; swim 1000-1300 yds
Wednesday - 5 mile run
Thursday - 3 mile run - 7:30-8:00 min pace; swim 1000-1300 yds
Friday - Off
Saturday - 8 mile Long, slow Run; Swim 1600yds
Sunday - 16 mile bike; 3 mile run (Brick); T2 practice

Pictures of the new bike (Elenor) to follow! Enjoy your week!