I started the weekend by rolling into the campground on Thursday evening and had a blast camping with a great group of people. Two of my camp buddies did not plan to race, but those plans quickly changed once they showed up at the festival area and remembered it is more fun to participate in race than to watch it. In all, we were a diverse group: two of us raced the mountain bike triathlon, two raced the long course triathlon, and three raced the Olympic triathlon. We also managed to take goofy group photos.
We camped near mile 7 of the long course triathlon run course. It ended up being a great spot for watching the race on Saturday. I especially enjoyed sitting alongside the run course and feasting on a big sandwich as athletes ran past me while they were 4.5+ hours into their race. I know...I was going to be doing the same thing the next day (but only about 1/2 the distance).
I decided to again sleep in the comfort of my Subaru Outback again this year.
After a couple days of relaxing and watching the long course race on Saturday, I was finally ready for the race on Sunday. Here's a quick summary of how it went:
Swim - Last year there were some pretty fast guys on the bike and run. I know I have a relative advantage in the swim, so my strategy was to push pretty hard during the swim so I could get some space between any speedsters trying to catch me on the bike or run. A lot of the guys in my wave decided to sprint as soon as the gun went off. That soon ended and I began to start building a gap from the pack by the time I reached the first buoy. From there on, I basically focused on staying on course and navigating through the swimmers from the waves that went off before me. Coming into T1, I think I had about a 2.5 minute lead over the next guy in my wave. Mission accomplished...now onto the bike.
Bike - I once again struggled getting my wetsuit off in T1, but had a quick bike mount and managed to get my shoes on during the small flat section before Lynch Hill. Because I pushed the swim pretty hard, my heart rate was pretty high at the beginning of the bike, which made climbing Lynch Hill all the more fun. At the top of Lynch, I narrowly avoided disaster as one of the collegiate athletes from an earlier wave suddenly veered out of control and ran into my rear tire. Luckily it was just a glance and didn't take me down, but she ended up hitting the pavement. I hope she was OK. Once I got out of the campgrounds and onto County Road G14, I just put my head down and motored through the bike. I didn't get passed so I knew all I had to do was hold it on the run.
Run - I saw two of my camp buddies, Beth and Robert, while I was coming out of T2. I flashed them the shaka and started my 10K journey around the campground. I had run the course three previous times, so I had a good idea of how I would have to pace the hills and descents. The sun was starting to heat up, so I took full advantage of the aid stations by dumping water over my head. The cool water was very helpful and prevented the heat from draining my energy. Just like the bike leg, I tried to motor through the long San Antonio Road climb and keep a steady foot cadence throughout. Once I reach the top of Lynch, I just let gravity do it's job and carry me to the finish line.
My final time was 2:04:49 which was good enough for an overall win at the Olympic Distance race. This was a great start to the season, but I have a lot more to accomplish in 2012.
So...back to my lofty goal for the race. My time last year was about 25 seconds slower than the course record for my age group. Going into this year, I figured I could shave off 25 seconds and had a goal to break the course record. I ended up missing the record by 3 seconds! It's crazy that in a 2 hour 5 minute race, each second counts. I'd be lying if I said I haven't thought back over my race several times and identified all of the spots where I could have made up those three seconds (I had a long 4 hr drive home Sunday night to do just that). It was disappointing to not meet my goal, but at the same time I am very happy with my overall performance out there.
For those who appreciate data and/or consistency, check out my splits this year compared to last year in the tables below. I basically raced an identical race in 2012 as I did in 2011. The average swim and bike paces were identical and the run pace was only different by 1 second. Even more interesting was that my times improved in 2012 for each leg of the race, even the transitions. The improvement unfortunately wasn't enough to drop 25 seconds.
2011:
My next race is a big one. I will be racing 70.3 Switzerland in Rapperswil-Jona Switzerland on June 3rd. I am super excited to be mixing it up with the Europeans and as of today I think I am the only American signed up to race in my age group. Stay tuned for a preview post of this race.
Congratulations!! Even though you didn't set the course record, I'll still think you're pretty cool. And maybe I'll have to convince Mike that Switzerland is the place to be this summer!
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