Night Before
Trinity spent the night at a friend’s house, so after we
dropped her off, we got the car packed up and drove to the race site which was
about 1.5 hours away. I picked my packet and goodies then we stayed for the
pasta dinner that they were offering. The food was good and just what we both needed.
We stayed at a hotel in Grand Rapids about 20 minutes away. There were several
other racers there too and they had a nice welcome Timberman racers sign on the
desk. After an ice cream sandwich for dessert, we went to bed early.
Pre-Race
We got up about 5:15, showered, and I ate my bagel in the
car. We arrived at the race about 630am and we got the last spot in the close
by gravel lot. Grabbed our stuff and headed down to transition. I found a spot
on the bike racks and I had nobody by me at all. After body marking and getting
all set up we just relaxed a bit. I talked to a few people I knew before the
race as well. While we were waiting two float planes landed on the lake and
taxied through the swim buoys and parked near the starting line. I don’t think
they were racers, but it would be a fun way to arrive.
It was starting to get warm already. No clouds, no wind. I
was drinking some tailwind and nearly finished a bottle so I got some water
too. Hydration would be key I think. I waited as long as I could before putting
my wetsuit on because once it was on, I began to get really hot. So quickly
into the water to get acclimated. I used the same routine I have been using for
all my recent open water swims. The difference today was that the water temp
was rather warm at 74 degrees. So a brief swim and then waited for my wave to
start.
Swim
I was in the second wave (long course athletes over 40) and
soon we were off. Per my plan, I started off to the side, and took my time
getting into the swimming. The water was VERY shallow, could actually walk 1/3
of it. I didn’t want to run into people and I just wanted to get into a rhythm
so there would be no panic repeat. That went all according to plan. No issues
on the swim. I was just in cruising mode in the water, good strokes, steady
breathing.
At the halfway point I actually looked at my watch and it
said 13 minutes. I was super happy with that. It means I should beat the 30
minute goal I had. The swim was basically and out and back and on the way back
to the beach the sun was off my right side. I am a right side only breather, so
each breath was looking straight into the sun. Even with tinted goggles it was
crazy bright. So I ended up just closing my eyes except to sight. I sight every
3 breaths so that worked out ok for the second half of the swim.
As we approached the beach the water got quite shallow and I
was actually digging my hands into the sand/rocks on the bottom as long as I
could before standing up and getting out of the water. A quick glance at my watch
and 26 minutes! Zero issues with the swim this time.
Swim time 27:41 59/84 overall, 40/53 gender, 8/8 in age
group.
This actually surprised me that I was that slow in my age
group. Geesh.
T1
Into transition and I found my spot. I got my wetsuit off
fairly quickly this time, but I found that I needed to sit down to get my socks
and bike shoes on. I was a bit unsteady on my feet. Got all of that, a quick
drink of water from my transition bottle and off on the bike I went. Time 3:08
Bike
Once I got going, I noticed that my heart rate was rather
high for the start of the bike. So the first couple of miles were about just
taking some deep breaths, getting my HR under control so that I could really
put the effort in when I needed to. The bike course was two loops, the first
was 15 miles, the second was 10 miles and it had one big hill climb that we did
twice. We drove the bike course the night before so I knew what I was up
against. The rest of the course was a bunch of rolling hills. There would be
lots of gear switching today.
The first 8 miles of the bike it was really crowded. Lots of
passing, jockeying for position, riding 3-4 wide on the road. It was a mad
house. I had not experienced that before. I found my happy place, and
eventually things spread out by the time we got to the big hill.
I wasn’t really paying much attention to my power meter,
just trying to go as fast as I could. My goal was 1:15 which was 20mph average
so I was trying to mentally average out the times I was going less than that
with times I was going faster than that. The first loop felt great. I was
drinking my nutrition, doing well on the hills. The big hill (200ft in about a
mile) was a grind and the only time I was in my small gear the whole race. The
first time it went quite well, I was happy with my first 15 miles and I did
that in 45 minutes, so I was right on schedule.
The second loop went pretty well too. I took in a gel,
finished my nutrition and switched to water which is how I have done these
rides in the past. At one point, someone passed me and when he was alongside he
said “nice work, you are beating people younger than you.”
When we got to the big hill again, I got passed right as the
hill got started and then they slowed down just a bit. So I had to fall in line
because I didn’t have the legs to power past them and go the speed I wanted to
go on the hill. So I probably lost a minute or so on that uphill. I ended up
passing them on the downhill. (According to the data, it cost me 14 seconds
actually, but felt like more.)
After the downhill, we finally return to the road to
transition. Melissa was there with her cowbell cheering me on, just as she was
when I finished the first loop. Overall, I am happy with the bike. I might have
been a little easy on it, but overall I am good with it. Solid middle of the
pack on the bike!
Time 1:17:16 43/83 overall, 33/53 gender, 5/8 age group. I
gotta get 2mph faster to crack top half of my age group.
T2
Made the quick change of shoes, finished the water from my
bike and was off on the run. 1:54 time in T2
Run
My goal was to be a slave to the watch and stick to the
2:45/0:45 run/walk schedule I have been using in training for the last several
weeks. By this time it was HOT. Around 80 degrees, no shade, no wind, high
humidity so I knew this was going to be a struggle.
Off I went and I stuck to the run/walk schedule with the
addition of walking through all the aid stations as well. 3 cups of water at
each aid station. One down the back, one over the head and drinking one. I was
definitely not going very fast. I may be able to do 9:30 miles in training, but
this was going to be a 10-11:00 mile kind of day.
But I stuck to it. Even when those 45 seconds had to be
wrong when they felt like 10 seconds, I started running. I passed a couple of
people, got passed by a dozen or so on the run. Actually fewer than I thought.
Being an out and back run, I get to see everyone. I even managed to get pissed
off at a group of people who obviously were the winners when they came running
out on the course AGAIN, laughing, and making it look easy.
My feet started to hurt in mile 6. I may need to look into
that because that is happening on longer runs.
Finally into the finish chute and I am done. Run time
1:05:14 69/83 overall, 45/53 gender, 7/8 age group.
2:55:15 was my final time. 53/84 overall, 38/53 gender, 7/8
in age group
Final Thoughts
That was hard. Not as hard as I thought it was going to be,
but it was hard. The heat and humidity took its toll on me on the run. It took
me a while to recover after the race. They had someone with a hose and that
felt wonderful. I sat in the shade, had water, Gatorade, banana and a cookie
and started to feel better.
I had a lot of things go right for me today. The swim went
great. No panic at all. Now with that under my belt, I can work on going faster
which I know I am capable of. I am still not sure how hard I can go on a bike
ride. My NP was down a bit in this race, but it was also double the length that
I have done in a race. However I feel like I didn’t give it everything. It
became obvious to me that I have much to learn, like learning how to pass, and
some of the technical aspects of biking. That will come with experience. The
run….well I got a ways to go.
This race has a really nice swim and bike. The run is
nothing special. I would definitely do the race again. I am looking forward to
my next race at the end of August.
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