Tri-Shark Race Report (from 6/5/2010)

Another race report from earlier this year:

Pre-Race
Maggie and I stayed about 20 minutes away from the race site. Woke up at 5:00. Had two bananas in the morning at the hotel then we drove down to the start. While I was setting up my transition, there was a downpour soaking me to the bones. Since there was another hour till start time I decided to not leave my stuff out there, hoping that the rain would stop soon.

Announcers said that due to thunderstorms in the area, they may have to delay the start by a few hours. Maggie gets antsy, and so do I. 30 minute before the original start time, I decide to fully set up my transition. Even though the roads are a bit slippery I decide to clip my shoes on to me pedals. Gotta be consistent.

15 minutes to start time they announce that the storms have moved away, and we're set to start on schedule. "All athletes please get to the start line!". I down a gu, take a s-cap and scramble to put on my wetsuit, I managed to get in a 10 minute swim before they clear out the lake. Water temperature is a balmy 73F.

Swim
Oddly enough, no nerves. Wave 1 (elite) takes off. Wave 2 (29 and under, M and F) takes off. Our wave moves up to the front lines. I sorta stand to the side hoping to get into the 2nd or 3rd row, but no one moves up. Seems like everyone in my wave (30-39 M and F) are timid on the swim. 30 seconds before the horn goes, one dude comes along side me. I inch back behind him. BOOM! The gun goes off and a mass of humans dive in the water. I keep this guy to my left since I'm better breathing to that side. He's not too bad so I stick to his hip. After a few hundred yards I'm still stuck to his right hip and he seems to be drafting off the feet of the lead swiimer. Slowly the three of us pulls away from the group.

At the first buoy the lead swimmer surges and gaps my man. I had to make a decision on the spot. I decided to ditch my guy and try to catch up with the leader. I figured this is a sprint and I could afford to swim hard for a bit. After about 10-20 yds I managed to catch up with my new feet. He's going strong, but I still inadvertently run into his feet a few times. This is the second race in a row that I've been in the front pack of the swim.... I was feeling pretty good.

Heading into the swim finish the guy surges again and this time I let him go. I want my HR to come down a bit before T1. As I slow down, a girl from my wave comes out of nowhere and squeezes by me. 3rd out of the water in my wave. I'll take it.

Result: 13th of 436

T1
Struggled a bit with getting my top zipper up this time. Told myself to calm down a bit. As I run into the transition, I see Maggie yelling and pointing at my bike. "There!!! THERE!!" :) I was worried I was going to get penalized for outside assistance.

My sunglasses were soaked so I decided to not wear them. Grab my bike and ran with it. Stumbled a bit on my first flying mount, but got on on my second go. Passed 3 people clipping in.

Bike
Road with one foot in my shoe and the other foot out of the shoe for a few minutes due to the way the course started. Once both feet were in, I started to roll. Like at Galena I was picking off people left and right. 10 minutes into the bike I take 2 s-caps and a shot of gu. Look down at my power and I'm seeing borderline 290-300 watts. Wooo... I"m flying!

At this point I'm pretty sure that I'm leading my age group. I keep looking back to see if anyone is catching up with me, but I don't see anyone. I keep passing and I keep looking back. This is when it occurred to me that I have a good shot at podiuming in my AG. I'm a bit nervous about the run since that's usually where I lose spots.

Ended the bike leading my age group!
Results: 8th out of 436.
24.3 mph.

T2
I run into T2 and get ready for the run. Nothing goes wrong until I started heading for the run exit. Suddenly, I realized I didn't scout the run out!! WTF. I knew I was pretty chill about this race but this mistake is just unacceptable. dumb dumb dumb. I start running one way and yell out "Is run out this way??", a girl yells back "no! its the other way!!". I do a 180 and head out.
Grrrr... I kept thinking that if I lose positions by seconds, I'll be kicking myself for this later.

Run
Right off the bat, I know I've got a dude right behind me. For the first half mile he stays there, then he finally overtakes me. As he passes, he points behind him and tells me to stick to him. "Come on! Come on! Right here!" I take up the offer. At that point I was already hurting but I saw that he had a "33" on his calf! Crap!!!! I knew I had to hang on for as long as possible. Unfortunately he was a stronger runner than me. I finally couldn't hang on any longer and told him that I was done. I couldn't match his pace. He nods and slowly pulls away. When hes about 15 feet ahead of me, this kid out of nowhere blitzs past the both of us. I look at his calf.... 25-29 ... phew. He started 3 minutes ahead of me... so no big deal. But boy could that kid run. He passed me and blew past the guy ahead of me as well.

On the half-way turnaround, I get to see how far my other competitors are. There is no one within a minute of me. Thank god. At this point I'm second in my AG... the podium spot is still secure. About a minute behind me is Scott, the guy I met at Galena earlier in the year. We nod at each other as we pass.

Then in the last quarter mile, out of nowhere, I got struck with intense paranoia. I keep hearing someone gaining on me. I sneak a glance and think I see someone in a white shirt a bit behind me. Uh-oh. I can't drop another podium spot. I'm already on the verge of redlining and can't really push anymore... but somehow I do. I'm pretty much frothing at the mouth at this point. I see the finish line. 400 yds. 300 yds. 200 yds. 100 yds. MADE IT! I turn around and see that there is absolutely NO ONE behind me. My mind is playing tricks on me, man. Just like the Geto Boy song.

Result: 11th out of 436
Got my 5k PR in the process with a 20:00:09!! So close to breaking 20 min!! 6:27 min/mile pace.
Again, I'm pretty happy that my run ranking was decent again.