My age: 41, racing the 40-44 age-group.
Competitors: 300 competitors. The 40-44 age-group had 60’ish competitors registered (and also my age group). But, the overall race was fairly large compared to other Xterras. I think the popularity is growing…
Weather: Cloudy, drizzle, gusty winds, air temperature of 45-59 degrees (it warmed up over the race)
Water Temperature: 57 degrees
The Event…
Pre-race …
“Race your own race”, - my brother,
“Trust your training”, - co-worker and friend,
The above pre-race pathos alleviated my apprehension! I trained well for 5 months; I trusted the smart training my coach provided. And, I raced my race!
The Swim, a 1500 yard open-water start, many folks were concerned about the cold, it energized me! Maybe it was from my military experiences of cold open ocean swimming in San Diego…
The start seemed a bit confusing, I think the race coordinator was not aligned with the announcer, people were confused on what wave was starting, and some folks had on the incorrect swim cap color (designating their swim wave).
Then, BOOM, my wave’s canon fired, my nerves tingled and I was off. I positioned myself up front and decided to push the pace harder getting ahead of the flailing arms and hands of others. After the first 200 yards, I was able to find a draft line and focused on bringing my heart rate back to race pace and smooth form.
I picked up the pace the last half of the swim, and ended with a 25:15 swim. Last year was 30:59. A 5 minute 45 seconds faster time than last year! I am not sure how I stood compared to the other 40-44 age-groupers. The post results showed I swam 95 out of 300.
I transitioned a bit slower out of the water onto the bike. My calves cramped due to the cold and sat down to put on my bike gear due to the vertigo.
The Mountain Bike: 30k of mars landscape consisting of loose small gravel conditions, six .2 - .3 tenths of a mile climbing efforts, and plenty of open areas to pass. The course is relatively not technical…I raced with a front tire: 28PSI S-Works 'The Captain' 2.0x29 wheel, and a rear 30PSI Maxxis Ikon (a faster tread) and my bike is a Carbon Scott Hard-Tail. I felt these tires allowed me to remain confident and under control with the loose gravel conditions.
(Dan Hugo on the bike, pic from Triathlete Mag. Take notice of the loose trail)
One annoyance, the race director decided to let the Sport’s Race (half the distance of the championship race) start first. This put all the triathletes in an unnecessary hazard. Specifically, I was crashed into by a new triathlete. I was flying quickly downhill and gaining significantly on this rider. I yelled from the back, ‘On the left’, she moved to the right but lost control as I was passing and crashed into me putting both of us on our backs...
After getting back on my feet and recognizing she was fine, I continued racing.
I held a consistent pace, and was not passed by any 40-44 age groupers, for both laps and finished feeling strong, again, I was not sure what place I was holding in the race. Hindsight is 20:20, I could have pushed harder during some of the sections of the race; specifically, on the climbing. (Next year). I completed the mountain bike in 1:31, last year was 1:42.
The Trail Run: a mars landscape with plenty of areas to pass (or be passed). The first 3 miles consists all the major climbing. There were a couple steep areas I had to walk.
My training thus far has been bike-run transition bricks; primarily, 3 miles of running after a bike at a 7:30 to 8:00 min/pace. Due to an ankle injury during base training, I felt I was not able to gain much from last year’s run time.
While I did hold various 7:30-8:30 pace on the flats and downhill, the longer climbs destroyed me!! I averaged a 9:30 pace overall which was still better than last year! Last year’s run was 1:03:24, this year was 59:42. Just under a 3 minute gain…
Overall, it was a great trip, my wife and I meet some great new people Shelby and Courtney. We stayed with the famous Father/Son Rakita combo, and Ryan is improving faster than he knows!
I was very pleased with the race results. I gained 17 minutes. Now, if I can gain another 17 minutes next year!...
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