To race a sprint well, demands a high degree of mental focus - not only because of the pain factor, but also because any lapses in concentration that allow you to slow you down result in time lost thatyou don't get back.
Plus - this is a great, fun local race to see friends and teammates, as well as experience the pain and high intensity as a solid brick workout in preparation for Nationals in 4 weeks.
Besides not having done a sprint tri in a few years... I haven't had a rest day in 18 days. I was doing this race at the end of the most intense triathlon training week I've had all season (or ever?). Every workout this week was either high intensity speedwork or hill work or a combination of both. Nothing "zone 3" about this week. So, this day, my legs were totally dead... today would normally have been approached as a rest day, but with the "big one" in 4 weeks, and a real taper on the horizon, I went for it.
PRE-RACE:
I got to the venue about 6:30am like I do for all 8:00am starts. Gives me time to get all settled in without any rushing, do my warm-ups and have time to socialize with people before the race. This race being one of the bigger "local" races, I wanted to have plenty of time to chat with the 13+ teammates doing the race and my other friends.
During my warm-ups, I felt like crap. I was beyond "flat" - I worried this was going to be a bad day. I also made it a bit more difficult than it needed to be by blowing out both tube and new tire while bunny-hopping some bad road stuff at about 28mph... BOOM... I knew what happened instantly... and I was 2 miles from the transition area - where I had just made the conscious decision to remove my tools/CO2/spares and race without the weight since it was a sprint race. I am NOT making that decision again! (See my "Murphy's Law" post) Thankfully, one of our team sponsors (Bike Authority) had a tent on site and took care of me while I finished my pre-race routine. Thanks Mike!
SWIM:
This was an age-group only race, and I was in the second wave with the others in the 35-39 age group. I really prefer when the top overall contenders start together in the same first wave... you know exactly where you stand that way. Anyhow...
When the "gun" fired, I sprinted into the clear, calm water of Lake Erie along with the other 50 or so in my age group. Dolphined twice until I was deep enough to swim properly. I immediately went full-speed until the first turn buouy... then started looking for feet to draft off of. Didn't find a reliable pair of feet, though.
Well - this is a sprint race... there is no time to settle into a real rhythm... it is all out from the gun. As I mentioned, I felt crappy, flat and tired before the race started... this continued through the swim. Maybe I just didn't get enough warm-up before the race from my flat situation... whatever the reason... Lungs and arms burning...
My swim has improved rather significantly this year over after the last few years of being "flat"... but I will be the first to admit, there is still more work to do.
I got out of the water, unsure about my position... all I knew is that there was a 1/4 mile uphill run to the transition area to start the bike... and it was a chance to get some time back on those who beat me out of the water. I probably passed 10 people in that short run who were fiddling with wetsuits or recovering from the swim while jogging up to transition... but in a sprint race, every second counts... and I would win time back. I had the fastest run up to the transition area on the day... 2:14 vs 3:00 or more for most people. Again, in a sprint this is make or break!
After the fast run up from the beach to transition, I had time to mentally prepare for this transition. It went extremely smoothly and quickly.
Out on the bike, I hadn't slipped my feet into my shoes yet- I wanted to build up to full speed and get around the first corner before doing so. Then, I realized I was with a strong looking guy with a "G" on his leg (my age group) who was also moving fast. I cranked up the speed to 30mph or so to make sure I got around this guy and not let him think about hanging on. After 100 yards and another turn, I knew I had dropped him and finished getting my shoes on.
Now it was time to hammer on the bike... my true strength...
I started passing people who started in the wave before me, and a few from my wave... bang, bang, bang... I was carrying good speed, and my legs were finally starting to feel decent. (Remember, I was riding without a rest day in about 18 days.) I continued to pass people from the wave that started before me - which meant I was really 4 minutes ahead of them.
About half way through the bike course, we came off a bike trail and had a hard left onto the road... I was carrying a lot of speed into the turn, and apparently too much! The police officer controlling the intersection kept yelling to me to slow down, he was right, as I leaned hard into the turn I realized I was going too fast, touched the brakes, fish-tailed around the corner, feeling happy to have stayed on the road!!
After a couple more turns, I was on the final long straight run back to transition along beautiful Lake Road. I had just turned myself inside-out with a group on Wednesday on that stretch of Lake Road that week. I kept reminding myself how much that hurt, and how I hung in - even when I felt I couldn't anymore...
I kept my head down, my legs pumping and flew toward transition where a huge crowd was waiting for the athletes to come in. I know the roads well, and knew to slip my shoes off well before transition, so I didn't have to fiddle with them while navigating some rough road and other cyclists coming in from the duathlon.
I came screaming into transition, heard friends cheering me in... I knew I had a good ride! I did a flying dismount, almost missed the timing chip mat and scrambled over to rack my bike and start the run.
T2 was also a smooth, quick and efficient transition for me.
RUN: (11th fastest run split overall)
I started the run flying down the hill... I still hadn't put on my hat or race belt, but I wanted to keep focused on starting the run hard and fast and get down the hill, and up the short, steep hill on the other side, before screwing around with that stuff. I came to an aid station and just grabbed some water - a mouthful just to refresh the mouth, and the rest on my head.
Even though this was a short race, it was already rather hot, and very, very humid. I pushed on and finished the first mile in about 6:20 pace. Not great, but not bad. The second mile was along the out-and-back section where you get to see the other guys and know how far ahead/behind they area.
I was really pushing it now... I knew I had a good chance to be top 3 overall after seeing where everyone was...
Mile 2 was 6:10. Good.
Mile 3 was coming back around the park. Like most people were feeling at this time, the intensity of the race was starting to catch up to me. I knew where most every one was, and didn't have anyone right around me to chase, or that was chasing me. There were a couple of guys from the earlier wave in front of me, so I set the challenge to catch them (even though in reality they were 4 minutes back). The last mile was a bit slower... about 6:40 I think.
Coming to the end of the race, the new course had us running down and back up the short little hill to the finish. The cool thing was that the big crowd surrounded the final hill back to the finish. There was a wonderful tunnel of screaming, cheering people we ran through to get to the last right had turn to the finish line. I liked that!
I came into the finish and stopped my watch... 1:02:XX. Great time! I knew I got everything I wanted to out of the day (and my body). It was a challenging pace to carry for the full hour... higher intensity than an Olympic Distance triathlon - an excellet training race!
I knew that Brian Stern started in the wave behind me and would be coming soon... question was - how soon. I watched the clock, and saw him come in at about 1:01:XX. I knew he beat me - but I expected it. He has a sick run... He's one hell of a great triathlete! Gives me a new target to shoot for next season.
Post-Race:
My team, SnakeBite Racing, had about 15 athletes racing today, and we had an excellent showing!
I had 2nd overall of the 300 person triathlon...
Mike Larimer had 1st overall of the 75 person duathlon...
Eric Gibb returned to racing after his knee surgery earlier this year...
Martha was 2nd overall in the women's race, Angie 4th, and many of the rest our team won age group awards! Great job, team!
It was wonderful getting to see so many other friends at the race, as well as watch people trying the sport for the first time. I loved listening to the chatter of the newbies before and after the race. We were all newbies once!
I'm finished racing now until August 20th in Burlington, Vermont!
Time for 2 more serious weeks of intense training, then I will start the taper...
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