For the first time I can remember, maybe ever, I was both confident and relaxed going into a race. They say the second night before a race is the most important night and to get a full night's rest and while I might argue that it should start about a week out, more, quality, sleep is better than none. Thursday night resulted in a quite crappy sleep with me waking up every few hours. But Friday night, I went to bed a little early and slept soundly with none of the pre-race jitters that usually keep you awake starting at 2am.
I'd set my alarm early enough to ensure I got to the race right as transition opened, only was a tad late and as a result didn't get the money transition spot. I did, however, still get a really decent one and set up my stuff. We were told four-to-a-rack, but that left lots of space and I knew from experience that late arrivals would move other, non-present athlete's stuff over to make room for theirs. Even knowing this, I took my bike out for a warmup ride since I'd never ridden the course before and couldn't drive it beforehand. It was only a 12.5-mile loop and I had plenty of time.
We had our own lane coming out of Union Reservoir and for the next several miles marked with cones. But when the road turned right, the cones stopped and I realized I didn't have directions or know the streets so I just winged it. Turns out, I guessed right and did manage to ride the entire loop. As I'd suspected earlier, coming back to my rack, someone else had racked there bike where mine would have gone. Thankfully, he was still there and I had him move his stuff over.
I finished setting up and started putting on my wetsuit. We still had ample time before starting, but I wanted to make sure I was acclimated to the water. Or, at least as much as possible given the 54º temperature. The water was cold and I got in as much of a warmup as I could manage - I didn’t want to start cramping.
We line up to start and I take a left of center position up front. The horn sounds and we’re off. I go out hard and strong and eventually someone catches me and passes but he’s going too fast for me to be able to hang on. I did most of the swim on my own, without drafting, which stinks, but sometimes is the nature of the beast. About 300-400m in my chest tightened up and I forced myself to relax and backed off. One of my points of emphasis this year is swimming less in training, and not working so hard on the swim in racing. Was it a good strategy, I don’t know, but I was 3rd in my AG on the swim.
T1 was a smooth transition with no issues. Due to the run over the muddy and grassy berm from the parking lot to the dirt road I chose not leave my cycling shoes clipped in to my pedals but I did when dismounting after the bike so in retrospect, I should have just left them clipped.
The bike was uneventful. Only two riders passed me during the entire loop and neither were in my age group. I passed a ton of riders, but I stopped looking at age groups on people’s calves and just rode my race.
T2 was even smoother leaving my shoes clipped in to my pedals, but the problem was that due to the cold water and probably the airflow on the ride, my feet were completely numb - exactly like last year. I ran on stumps to my rack, dumped my helmet, pulled on my shoes, grabbed my race number and was off.
I tried to keep a high turn over on the run and was initially successful, but eventually slowed down. I don’t recall when I started feeling my feet again, but it was well after mile two. The out-and-back course was flat, having just been grated, but sported some rough spots with decently sized rocks churned up by the blade. There was also a massive puddle that had to be navigated. Only two guys passed me on the run, but neither were in my age group and I believe had started in a wave ahead of me so I already had at least three minutes on them. The second guy passed right before the finish and I should have held him off, but didn’t.
All in all, it felt like a really solid race for me at the time and was confirmed when I looked at the results later and saw that I’d made the podium, getting third.
Swim: 10:59 (3rd in AG, 31st overall)
T1: 1:14
Bike: 34:29 (3rd in AG, 31st overall)
T2: 0:40
Run: 23:22 (6th in AG, 56th overall)
Total: 1:10:46 (3rd/13 in AG, 29th overall)
Thanks to my wife, my coach Billy Edwards, my shop Foxtrot Wheel & Edge, my team Foxtrot Racing, sponsors GU Energy and Rudy Project, multisport shop Colorado Multisport, for all the support.
Friday, May 15, 2015
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