I did this race last year and had a really positive experience overall. So I figured I would try it again, however, choosing to do the sprint distance instead of the Olympic for a few reasons. One being that my wife had also decided to race again, for her first time in over 2 years. Especially since having our baby. So I was amped up to race with her and share that experience with her as well. The other being I haven't been able to get in anything consistent in terms of longer runs and swims in the past month or so. Schedules have been crazy, so fitting in any running longer than 45 minutes has been tough for me. And I also really wanted to try to hammer the course and see what I could do going out trying to bury myself in the swim and on the bike, being as I can usually find something in my legs for the run.
The morning started off bright and early at 4:15 am. The drive is about an hour to the park, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there and be ready. After loading up the car, grabbing some coffee, food and our gear, Lauren and I were on our way to Ottowa Lake.
The weather had been loking pretty good all week for the race. Something like mid/upper 60's or so with a little wind, but nothing bad. However, when we were getting ready and arrived at the park, it was not the case. My car's temperature gage was reading 51 degrees, and on the drive over I could see some flags blowing in the wind. Never a good sign at 5:30 in the morning. It's just going to get windier.
We got to the park around 6:10 and everything was already filling up. Not what I expected. So we hurried to get our gear together and grab our registration info, get body marked and grab our chips. Once that was set, we went to find our rack in transition. This was a mess to say the least. If there's one thing I can't stand, is people not having a clue how to setup a minimal footprint in the transition area. What I liked about Verona's race vs this was that the Elite athletes had their own area, so we were all setup with room and respectful of each other's things. Not the case here. First of all, there were too many numbers for such a small rack. Second, at least half a dozen people had racked their bikes using their handle bars instead of their seat which takes up a good 3-4 times the amount of room as the seat, and makes it impossible to alternate sides when mounting the bikes properly. I was half tempted to fix them all. Another thing was people leaving bags next to their bikes instead of pushing them down along the edge of the transition area fence. And to top it all off, there were a handful of people who had fully laid out towels like they were coming out of a shower and were going to be completely drying off. As if you can't tell, I was extremely frustrated with how the morning was starting from this aspect.
Anyway, after that debacle, it was down to the beach. I put my wetsuit on, which I had tried to convince Lauren to use all week, or to get one from the bike shop since the weather would be kind of chilly for this time of year, and since she hadn't done any open water swim training, it would help her float and feel more comfortable out away from shore. But she toughed it out in the waiting.
My brother had showed up to race, too, so this was a Rigby racing affair. He was doing the Olympic, so we got to watch him go off and see him come through is first lap only a few behind the leader. A few minutes later a really nice man offered Lauren his wife's sweatshirt as she stood there shivering, half-tempted to call it quits waiting in the cold air. It was a life-saver for her. I felt so helpless not being able to do anything for her. We decided to make sure she has a wetsuit for her next race, no matter what.
Finally it was my turn to get up and take off into the water for my 400 yard swim. I lined up near the front of the wave, behind the guys I figured were top notch swimmers so I could attempt to stay on their feet as long as I could. The gun went off and I had a great start. I was amidst all the white water and bubbles from all the kicking and breathing, but everyone seemed to be staying enough distance from each other to not be swimming over each other. One thing I have noticed going out with the fast groups of swimmers. They seem to be more conscious of their surroundings and other swimmers rather than just rolling over them like a lot of newer swimmers seem to do.
I hit the first buoy holding on to a pair of feet and was feeling good, but knew I was pushing hard. My heart rate was racing, but this is what I wanted. After that buoy, I noticed another swimmer dead even with me on my inside (I later realized that it was Patrick Brady). He looked to be quick, so I stayed as strong and fluid as I could to hang with him as we came to the second buoy and rounded for home. My arms were catching water pretty well and I was actually feeling like I had a quality kick going on. Something I tend to avoid at longer distances since I don't have much for a kick in my swim. I usually rely on body position and my upper body strength.
Standing up out of the water, I checked my Garmin and saw just under 6 minutes. NICE! I was super psyched. Even though the timing pad was a bit up the way closer to transition which was about 50 meters from the water exit.
SWIM: 400 yards = 6:18 (1:35/100yd) A good effort for me
I got into transition and ripped off my wetsuit as quick as possible. I was planning to go sockless for the bike and run, but with the cooler temps, I threw on some socks to try to keep my feet from going numb in the cold air of the early morning. I felt like I was in transition forever, throwing on my sunglasses, helmet, socks and shoes. I wasn't quite ready to try a flying mount today. I had finally upgraded to some carbon soled shoes, the Bontrager Hilo RXL triathlon cycling shoes.
Heading out on the bike, I was doing everything to calm myself down, while also ramping up my speed and cadence. I felt out of breath and that I was hyperventilating. The feeling wouldn't subside until about mile 5 or so. I was cruising along pretty quick, about 25-26mph for the first bit out of transition, but once some wind started hitting me in the face, something happened and I couldn't find my rhythm. I couldn't get going on my cadence. 90 rpms seemed to make me push too hard, and 100rpms seemed to be too high for me to keep my speed. Something just wasn't working and I was frustrated. I kept telling myself to calm down and sort it out, it will come.
Around mile 5 my HR seemed to come down, but the slight wind was still playing mind games with me. My power wouldn't ramp up and I was mentally out of it. I just couldn't figure out my issues.
I continued working hard, but nothing seemed to work. I finally hit the way back in and the wind started to be more at my back and I was knocking off a handful of people fro mthe Olympic and some other Elite swimmers from the Sprint group. At least I was feeling good about moving up, and that kept me going.
I came into transition as hard as I could, taking my gel and some more fluids before the run, where I knew I would redline the whole time. I undid my shoes about 100m out, and was ready to make my first attempt at a flying dismount and go through transition without my cycling shoes on. It actually went off quite well.
BIKE: 15 miles/40:34 (22.2mph avg) Actually SLOWER than my effort last year at the Olympic distance. So you can understand my frustration.
At least coming in on the bike I was the only person to be racking it up in transition. My rack was empty so I didn't have to worry about the other people being in the way. A nice feeling.
I was in and out of here pretty quick. About 45 seconds and I was gone running. I knew I had seen a couple guys within striking distance when I came into transition. Unless they were super runners, I felt I could run a couple of them down.
I left transition and spotted one and got to work. A nice quick cadence, making sure I didn't over stride on my numb feet and risk rolling an ankle. I had made up about half the distance in the first 400m as we headed through a quick woods transition out to the main road. I stayed steady through here and as we came out to the road, I got a few words of encouragement from Zeus of E3 Coaching. It always helps to get some cheering, especially of your name from people you know. (I've been wanting to get some coaching, but money to spare for it is very limited, so I continue to train on my own)
The first turnaround was a couple hundred meters down the road so I decided to overtake there. I came up strong on the guy in front of me, shuffled through the 180 degree turn and took a few long strides to burst past him, leaving him quick so he wouldn't have time to respond. And I looked ahead to my next target another 75 meters ahead or so. The work began all over again.
I shortened my stride and just kept my head up working every meter bringing him into reach. We passed the mile mark and I knew I'd catch him. I slowly ticked away the gap and was ready to make another pass at the next turnaround. I got right up on him and slowed to not pass at the turnaround and surprise him as I did the last. I took a few long strides, but this time he hung with. At first. He was a big guy, probably 6'5" or so, so when he strides, he really strides. We both saw a runner catching us quick. He looked like a cross country runner, so I knew I had to move if I wanted to keep this place. I took of from my giant friend and left him to suffer alone.
I was sighting the cutback into the woods and then I heard footsteps. Damn. I couldn't hold him for the remaining half mile or so. He was just too quick. I tried to match his pace for 50m or so, but it was just too much. He was running strong and I knew this would kill any kick I had if I tried to stay with him. Especially through the mushy trail.
I conceded that spot and held on strong to finish alone. Quite literally.
I came across the line, happy with my effort on the run, but knowing I had left a lot out there somehow. Mostly on the bike. Something had been off. But it was ok, I knew I had placed pretty high, and with the colder temps and some wind on the bike, all of the athletes that day were facing the same dilemmas as I was.
RUN: 19:35 (6:18min/mi or so) Not bad. Still below 20min, which is a good sign.
After my HR came down, I walked over to the pavilion and grabbed my time sheet from the scorer's table and grabbed some food as well. For some reason, a coke always tastes so good after a race. From there, I just walked about a bit then headed over to transition to check out where Lauren was.
I looked down the rack we were both on and she hadn't come in on the bike yet. I wasn't sure how long she would take, since she had really only been 'training' for about 2-3 weeks. That being a run here and there, biking to work and some swimming in the pool. So she wasn't expecting miracles, but just wanted to have fun. I reached over the fence and grabbed my pants and jacket while waiting for her to come in. I had seen my brother coming in on the bike while I was finishing my run, so I knew they would finish close to each other.
Lauren came in all smiles, like usual, and we chatted a bit about how she was doing. She told me she nearly drowned in the swim, but had fun on the bike. She usually does. She's a natural it seems on the bike. Then it was off to run for her, her least favorite part. Mostly since she had been fighting some cramps in training, she was nervous to even start. She threw on her sweatshirt and was off running.
I lingered around the finish for a while, chatting with a few people and checking the time board to make sure my place had held. Then within 10 minutes my brother Ben was coming across the line. I gave him a high-five, and he looked about in the same mood as I was. A little disappointed about the bike, but we both had good swim times. He told me Lauren was only a few minutes behind so we waited for her.
She came in, big smiles and jumped across the finish line and it was great. We let her catch her breath and then we all got moving to get some more food, their times from the timing table and wait around for awards. As it turned out, Lauren got 3rd in her age group, I got 2nd in mine (7th overall) and Ben got 1st in his age group. So it was a great day for racing for us!
We waited around for the awards, then headed home right after to let Grandma free of her babysitting duties while Lauren and I raced.
Overall I'm pretty happy with my results. I wanted much more from the bike, but both my swim and run were well representative of the work I have put in. Which could be more, but I'm slowly working on that with being a dad and all.
Not sure when the next race is, but Lauren is amped up for another one, so hopefully not too far off into the future!
-Dave
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