Monster Triathlon

200 yd swim -> 16.7 mi bike -> 3.1 mi run

When my alarm clock went off at 3:30 this morning, I felt something that I wasn't expecting. I felt good, rested. Apparently, my attempt to get exactly 4.5 hours of sleep worked pretty well, and climbing out of bed wasn't a problem. To this, I give credit to those 3:30 wakeup calls for Wednesday morning swims.

I fancy drinking my Ensure as the most difficult thing I do all day. It isn't, of course, but it is more difficult than one would imagine. Consuming 500 calories in about 2 minutes when you're not that hungry to begin with hurts sometimes. Makes me gag, but I got it down, loaded up the truck and got outta town a little after 4:00am. The trip was quite the little haul, 80 miles one way, but I pulled into the race venue around 5:30. The site of the race was a fitness center and outdoor pool on one side and a cemetery on the other. An odd little location for a transition area, but I'm not one to balk at a race over such a trivial issue. I was one of the first racers present, so I got a sweet spot near the bike in/bike out gate to rack my bike and set up my transition area.

The typical pre-race ritual followed: set up the bike and run gear in a most obsessively compulsive way while listening to my half-hour pre-race mix, use the restroom (a few times), pick up my race packet, get body marked, and begin to zone in. Among these must-dos, I talked with a guy from Birmingham known only as J Bruhn. He ended up finishing 3rd overall. Pretty quick.

After a 10 min run warmup and 10 min swim warmup, I found myself on the pool deck at 7:00am and beared witness to the first racer plunging into the pool. The race was underway! Being number 24, it was less than two minutes before I toed the line and was given the go ahead to start the race.

The swim went pretty well. So much better after that warmup. I ended up passing one or two swimmers along the way, but overall felt I was seeded really well. Although I started to lose my breath towards the end, I was really happy with my pacing. After all, it was only 200 yds. Exiting the water, I was ready to test my hand at what everyone has said is a REALLY hilly bike course.

Target swim time: 4:00
Actual swim time: 3:50
T1: 0:24

After a quick exchange (I really do have fast transitions), I was out on the bike course. The course got interesting fairly quickly, as we found ourselves tackling hills almost immediately out of the park. There was a short but quite steep hill followed almost immediately by a slow, steady, fairly long climb. I was beginning to get passed by those who had practiced for this race and cursed my lack of ambition and opportunity as I struggle up the hill, already in the lightest gear my bike has. A little over halfway up the hill, we passed a white sign stating "No Whining," which put my mind at ease a little. I've heard that the bike course has "two pretty good size hills," and made the conclusion that this had to be the first one. Even if I'm struggling, at least I know everyone else is too.

At the top of the hill, we enjoyed flying down the other side. Climbing is always worth it to me if we get to descend afterwards. I love going fast.

As I started to settle into my own, calm myself down and get ready for the long haul, the course became easier. Some rolling hills that didn't produce any real problems. I would get chased for a while and eventually passed by a cluster of riders every once in a while, but this bothered me less and less as the day went on. I just did my best to chat up the volunteers and try to enjoy the scenery; which wasn't hard on this course. It was nothing short of breathtaking. The green, rolling hills in the morning fog were reminiscent of WildFlower, except these seemed to calm more than excite.

At one point later in the bike course, I'm heading up a long climb, but with a pretty easy grade. I'm in the saddle coasting along without much thought, except wondering how much more of this bike course there was. As I turned right onto the main road to finish the hill, the cop controlling traffic asked "quite a long hill, wasn't it?" To which I replied "No. Wasn't too bad." It dawned on me about 30 seconds later that this was the second "pretty good size" hill. It wasn't a whole lot. Maybe I was in the middle of my second wind or something. Maybe I should have gone up it faster...? Pacing was hard without a bike computer or a watch.

As I finally pull back into the rec center, I begin getting ready for the dismount and transition. As I pull in, I see Barry Knight just finishing the run. I couldn't believe this guy. He's finishing the race as I'm finishing the bike course, during a SPRINT DISTANCE race! He was first overall, no surprise, with a time of 1:02:57. What a beast.

Target bike time: 1:00:00
Actual bike time: 56:45
Swim + Bike time: 1:00:35
T2: 0:35

At this point, I'd like to rewind to my pre-race ritual. I have always debated on going sockless for my races, the shorter ones anyway, but it has never worked for me. I've tried it in both training and races before, but I always blister up and the rest of the run is really uncomfortable. After reading the Body Glide label stating it's "Great for Feet, too!" I decided to try it on my warmup run. It seemed to work well enough, so I took a chance, lathered up and went sockless.

What a great idea! Not only did the shoes go on my feet like butter, but my feet felt as good, if not better, than they do wearing socks! For shorter distance races, I'm totally hooked on this stuff! Body Glide=amazing!

The run was pretty uneventful. I was having some light GI problems on the bike that signaled bad things for the run, but they never came to fruition. The first mile of the run seemed like the longest, but the race volunteers were great; never too far away. At one point just after the 1 mile marker, I was to make a hard right turn, U-turn onto the road and follow the guard rail to the next cone. I wasn't quite paying attention to the volunteer and missed the U-turn. I found myself in someone's front yard with no clear paths. A quick moment of confusion was dashed when the volunteer screamed the correct directions to me. Just a little embarrassing.

The run felt pretty good. My pacing went pretty well. I was huffing and puffing, and had side splits about halfway through, but nothing ever made me slow down. I wanted to stay on an 8 min/mile pace, and I stuck to it quite well all the way to the finish.

Target Run time: 28:00
Actual Run time: 26:39

Target Race time: 1:30:00
Actual Race time: 1:28:11

After snacking, hydrating and chatting, I was eager to check out my time and placing. This was a pretty small event, so I figured I would podium in my Age Group, despite not having really trained for it. I thought there was a mistake when I saw that I had the fastest time of anyone in my Age Group. There were a few 19 year olds and 25+ year olds that beat me, but nobody in my category got the better of me. I was really excited to walk up and accept my gold medal as the lead finisher in the Male 20-24 AG.

After the ceremony, I checked out the split times. Turns out I was the ONLY person in the race in the Male 20-24 AG. Kind of a buzzkill. I didn't deserve to win, anyway. I just enjoyed the race and beat my target time, which is the only things I try to do in races anyway.

All in all, it was a pretty good race. I feel like I got the most out of myself, did the best I could given my lack of training and really enjoyed the scenery, the atmosphere and the people. Only 7 days until my next race at Cedars of Lebanon. Until then, tri on!