At this point it's become very clear to me how to best prep for a triathlon pre-race/race morning:
Step 1.) Prepare most gear the night before the race, but not all of it because that extra time isn't important when you're walking around groggy in the early morning on race day.
Step 2.) Wake up an hour before you need to leave, but don't get the remaining race gear ready right away - first check some emails and see what's new on facebook - that's what's really important on race day.
Step 3.) Trust google maps entirely and without question. It has only led me astray a handful of times, and small towns with hidden signs are always easy to navigate on instinct. That's how real men drive, anyways.
Step 4.) It's best to get a warm-up on race morning by hyperventilating as you stressfully rush towards the registration area to get checked in. When you have seconds to spare before hitting the starting line - your mind is really in peak condition to focus on the task at hand.
And that's the trick. That's the secret! Use it wisely folks!
Ok, the race didn't actually go that bad, but I'm such a nitwit that I think I need to make a sarcastic example of myself...here's the lowdown of how it went:
I actually started off in the water and up at the front of the admittedly small pack in my age group. Unfortunately, I think I underestimated the benefit of a wetsuit. Last year I swam this .25m in about 8 minutes, and this year it was 9 minutes. I also don't think I swam with the same urgency as I have in recent races. It was all likely a bit of a wash though, since my transition time of 1:56 was significantly faster than last year.
The bike was really brutal. This past Wednesday I woke up with a really tight back - and while it had been loosening up recently - I could feel distinct pain going from my lower back all the way down the right side of my leg and into my knee throughout the bike portion. I don't think it really hurt my time much, but there was a flat stretch around mile 4 where it was really tough to keep the legs churning. It was right after that point that Grum flew by me, which helped me buckle down and focus on holding a better speed. This was a hilly course though, and my lack of bike training really showed. I did my best to pick up speed on the downhills, but I could only carry it so far on some of the longer uphills. I prefer a course like this though - I didn't deserve to have a good bike time based on the lack of training and the hills will help those who train more. I still beat last years time, and I'll take that.
The transition from bike to run went fairly smoothly. There were a couple of hills right near the end of the bike that left me pretty exhausted so I wandered for probably 10-15 seconds wondering where the heck my stuff was setup. But once I found it, I moved on to the run pretty quickly.
There were four or five other guys with me entering/exiting the transition, but I blew by all of them within the first 25 meters. I ended up catching up to some 16 year old kid who was holding a solid low 6 pace and trailed him for a bit. He was slowing down and speeding up a bit though, and each time I went to pass he'd move over to block me. I was tempted to get shoulder to shoulder and shove an elbow in his chest...tempting, but no. On the turnaround, I took a wide turn and went full speed for about 25 meters before settling back into my pace. I ended up putting a solid gap during the last 3/4 mile and finishing with the 2nd fastest run time overall. Pretty happy with that, but I missed breaking 9:00 by 9 stupid seconds!
.25m swim: 9:00
T1: 1:56
10m bike: 33:10
T2: 0:56
1.5m run: 9:09
Total: 54:10
27th place out of 220 overall
1st of 6 in the male 20-29 category
All in all, it was an acceptable race. Nothing to get too excited about.
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| photo courtesy of AconPhoto.com
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