Manchester STAR Triathlon

200 yd swim -> 14 mi bike -> 3.1 mi run

A pretty fast and hectic day began at 5:15 am... sort of. Missing the 6 hr sleep mark slightly, I woke up drowsy and unmotivated. I turned off my alarm and laid there, working up the energy to roll out of bed. The next thing I notice is I'm shaking off the next bout of unconsciousness. I look at the clock, which reads 6:00am. Crap! I'm gonna miss it!

5:15am was a pretty late start to begin with. The race was at least 30 mins away from my apartment, and it started at 8:00am. I jump out of bed (quite a bit more rested, actually), get dressed, literally chug my 2 bottles of Ensure and head out the door at 6:35. Packet pickup and body marking end at 7:00am, so I have to get there before then. I roll in around 7:10am. There were no problems with registration, but it certainly left me frazzled.

Not exactly getting the pick of the litter on transition spots, I proceed to put my game face on and set up my area. I admire that I'm #9 out of about 100; guess my swim is getting better! I do the typical setup, meditation and warmup I do for all sprint races. As I'm standing in line, I notice 2 people: my friend Tiago who is trying to win overall and another really dark skinned guy that had to be Native American or Middle Eastern or something like that. He was pretty big, a lot of muscle mass on his upper body which led me to believe he would be a shark in the pool, and wearing a bright yellow tri suit. Probably a big engine on the bike, but not such a great runner. Ehh, ignore him. I have bigger things to think about, such as that much anticipated phrase: "Number 9... Go!"

I felt, once again, that I was well seeded in the swim. I had a guy slapping my feet around 100 yds and I let him pass at 125 yds. I passed a guy who had stopped for a breather at 150 yds. and was slapping the feet of another racer in the last 10 yds. So, I felt really good about my swim time. About what I expected, and not too draining. I get out of the water, and the feet I was slapping happened to be that big guy in yellow. So much for being a shark, he started 3 spots (15 secs) in front of me.

Estimated time: 3:30
Actual time: 3:32 (1st in AG)

T1: 31 secs

The bike course, which the website explained as "a few good hills in the first and last mile, but very flat otherwise" was about as advertised. After getting out on the open road for the out-and-back course, I settled in the aero position and tried to slow my HR. After a while, the big guy in yellow passes me. I look at his leg for the first time as he passes: 24. NO!!! Can't let him go! So, I do my best to match his pace, which is faster than I would have like to go. My "big engine" guess was pretty accurate. I tried to match him, then tried to keep him within 30 secs, then tried to keep him in sight. He had gained 2 mins by the bike turnaround. The route back was mostly downhill, so I figured I'd at least match if not take a little out of him on the way back because I had aerobars. However, I focused on not pushing too hard at the end of the bike. I did this last race and blew up on the run, and I knew the run was my last chance at catching him. I shoot through transition, no doubt faster than him, and head out on the run.

Estimated time: 45 mins
Actual time: 42:22 (2nd in AG)

T2: 24 secs

I tear out of the transition area at about a 6 min/mile pace, which is way too fast for me, trying to close the gap on a slight downhill. I eventually settle in to me just slower than 8 min/mile pace and try to keep Mr. Yellow in sight. Once on the open road (again and out-and-back) I can see him. A little after the 1 mi marker, we make a left turn, at which time I figured I was a little over 1 min behind him, so I was making up time (this turn was marked, but no volunteers were there). Right after the left turn, at about the 1.25 mi marker, was the only water stop. In my exhaustion, I don't quite lift my hand as much as the volunteer assumed I would, and I dropped my water. UGH! Can't stop, so I'd have to wait until the way back. The run turnaround also had no volunteers manning it, so the run was on the "honor system" that you actually went around the cone. Not particularly normal for a USAT-sanctioned event. At the turnaround, I was 59 secs behind him. I knew I had a chance to catch him.

The second half of the run was more difficult. I managed to grab a mouthful of water and dumped the rest on my head at the aid station and tried my best to close the gap. At this point, I was nearing explosion, and I was starting to get stomach cramps. I pushed it pretty hard on both the bike and run trying to stay with this guy. I went as fast as I perceived I could, and hoped I wouldn't blow up. The fact that I had to walk for a second wasn't particularly disgusting. That was the risk I took.

At around the 2.5 mi marker, we went back into the woods, and it was the last I saw of Mr. Yellow. I ducked and kicked as hard as I could hoping that he didn't do the same and that I could pull closer to him, knowing he started 15 secs before me. In a hazy state of exhaustion and pain, I weaved all around the sidewalk cutting whatever corners I could and trying to shrink the deficit.

As I approach the end of the run, I'm beginning to wonder where the heck this finish line is. It should be here pretty soon. It has to be just over this bridge. As I'm having this internal dialogue, the volunteer screams at me that I'm going the wrong way. I was supposed to make a left turn at the passing, which was NOT MARKED and had NOBODY THERE. How was I supposed to see that, exactly??? The detour added about 20 secs to my time, and succeeded in frustrating the hell out of me. Here I was, killing myself to try to catch somebody, and the race director didn't think enough to mark the last turn. There's no excuse for that...

Sure enough, there's Mr. Yellow standing at the finish line watching me run across. Great...

Estimated run time: 25 min.
Actual run time: 23:49 (1st in AG, and a new personal best)
Total time: 1:10:36 (+40 secs)

Turns out, I did run a little bit out of the guy. I talked to him after the race and congratulated him. He said that he'd held back the first half of the run, and kicked hard the second half. I had no shot. He missed the last turn, too, so can't make that excuse... Although it was his first race, he said he has a background in cycling and running, and just got his lifeguard certification finished up. Just my luck: the only person in my AG signed up as of yesterday finishes, like 10th overall... The race did, however, have 2 more guys in our AG for a total of 4. Both of the other two guys finished over 7 mins slower than us.

When asked about his performance in his first Ironman, Craig Alexander once said: "If I feel like I got the most outta myself, and I didn't make any stupid mistakes, and I fueled my body well, then I think it would be a success. That being said, if I'm not in the top 5, I'll be disappointed." I think I feel the same. I can' t get particularly bent out of shape for not placing first. I'm not fast enough to win races, and I'm just happy that I'm on the podium more often than not.

Between now and next year, I plan to invest in a tri bike, an aero helmet and maybe some race wheels if I can find some cheap ones. I also plan to come back with a huge, Ironman-caliber endurance engine with some threshold and interval work sprinkled over the summer months. Most importantly, I'll be a year older, a year wiser and will enjoy my last season in the 20-24 AG. So, as I said to myself as I awaited the last finisher and the award ceremony:

"Next year, I'm going to smoke these races..."