I’m fresh from the Austin Triathlon, in you guessed, Austin Texas. As I blogged last week, I had plans and high hopes for a couple of the legs, but no formal race goal. That’s not really true, I did have secret hopes to set a new PR. I didn’t think it was realistic since I’d just done that last week. I really wanted to break the 2:45 barrier, but that was going to take a super race on my part and I just wasn’t sure I was up to it.
We start the day with a lousy night’s sleep, probably just a couple of hours. I got up early because it was silly for me to just lie there waiting for the alarm to go off. My wife slept in and planned to meet me later at the race site. We forgot to set a meeting time and place, which was a real problem with the thousands of people there race morning. I finally found her about 30 minutes before race time which saved me from having to abandon my shoes and bottle.
The race was wetsuit legal, which I always appreciate when it is a deep water start. They said it was 75, but I swear it was colder than that! The race starts and I almost immediately find myself boxed in. I’m hitting the feet of two people in front of me, wanting to pass, but with racers to either side I was stuck. The crowd dispersed quickly and I was alone for the rest of the race. I pushed the pace a little bit, sometimes more than a little and had to drop it off so I could get my breathing back under control. After the turn I started to pass people from previous waves. With a 5 minute gap between waves I knew I was doing well when I started passing different colored caps. I had some trouble with my goggles fogging up, making it hard to spot the end buoy. Because I didn’t want to accidentally swim past the last turn, I had to look up much more often that I wanted, which slows me down. I climbed out of the water just a shade over 30 minutes, almost four minutes off my best swim pace of last week. I credit it to the wetsuit. I think it is a bit faster than without, but it gives me the confidence to push harder knowing I can slow down if necessary. It was a great swim though!
My spot in transition was dirt. Coming out of the water my feet were wet and quickly covered with dirt/mud. I took a second to try and clean them off, threw my shoes on my still dirty feet, grabbed my gear and took off running. It was a long run to the mount line, but I ran it all, passing several people along the way. Really, it was a long run, well over a minute.
I jumped on my bike and took off. Natasha told me the course was pretty flat and mostly downhill. I’m not sure how a loop can be mostly downhill, but it did seem that there were more easy parts than hard. Just a couple miles into the ride I hit the first hill, and the rain. The rain became the real story of the ride. At times it was so hard I couldn’t read my bike computer. There was standing water on the road, and the bikes in front of me were throwing up a rooster tail of water that was quite tasty! I was very careful on the turns, as slow as usual on the uphill parts, but really went on the downhill. It took a lot of concentration to stay upright, which messed me up a bit on my nutrition. I saw several bikers on the side of the road being tended to after crashing, and witnessed one poor guy really wipe out. He was just to my left on a right turn headed uphill, so I saw the whole thing in slow motion. Parts went flying and he skidded across the road. I was even more careful after that.
There was one rider, aged 50, that went back and forth with me. He would pass me on the uphill, and I would pass him on the downhill or flats. I passed him for good on the last straightaway and thought I would never see him again. I was wrong.
I had one near crash, when I took my eyes off the road to yell out to my wife. I looked back in time to see I was going to run into a big orange cone. I was able to avoid hitting it straight on, thus avoiding a crash in front of a LOT of spectators. I never saw my wife on the bike again. She told me later that she left the bike watching because she didn’t want to see me crash!
The rain stopped about halfway through my last lap on the bike. Then the sun came out, with the heat and humidity. Perfect running conditions!
I jumped off the bike, and ran barefoot through the dirt for what seemed forever. By the time I parked my bike my feet were a muddy mess, not exactly fun conditions for running without socks. I wiped the bottom of my feet on the towel, threw on my shoes, and took off running.
My legs felt muddy, I was breathing hard, and I was going very slowly. I remember thinking I didn’t really feel like running for the next hour, but just thought about keeping moving and how everyone else around me felt bad too.
It was a two loop course, with two small hills. The first one hit me hard. I passed people walking, determined not to do so myself. I slowed down a tad to get up the hill, hit the first mile marker, and checked my time: 7:15! I had forgotten to restart my watch at the run start so I knew the time wasn’t exactly accurate, but I was surely running sub 8 minute miles. I checked the total elapsed time, did some extrapolation and determined that if I held this pace I would set a new PR for the run and race. It was going to be close though, those long runs with the bike had really hurt me.
Remember the 50 year old biker I’d beaten on the bike and would close out on the run? He passed me on the run like I was standing still. I hoped he would fade and I would pass him later on, but that never happened. He beat me by over 6 minutes!
At the start of the second loop there was an attractive lady in a bikini and hula skirt passing out lays. I grabbed one and wore it for a bit until I felt it was making me hot. Sorry Austin, I left it on the side of the road :(
I continued checking my time at each mile marker and doing the math. At mile 4 my average pace was 9 minute/mile. I had no shot of getting a new PR for either the run or race, so I stopped looking. It was just causing me stress and not helping the cause any. The funniest thing happened the next mile. I knew I was on the second lap, had crossed the first mile marker already, but had to keep doing the math to verify I was approaching mile 5. I can’t say how many times I said to myself: one loop equals 3 miles, plus one mile already run, this next marker is mile 5. I was so unconvinced that I almost asked another runner as I ran by.
My goal for this race was to run the entire distance. I didn’t officially make it as I walked three steps at the last aid station. Long enough to get a quick sip of cold water. I had carried water with me, but it was warm from my hand and of little use.
All I remember of the last mile was the finish line. I noticed that they were holding up the finish tape for each runner to “break”, but with one runner a short distance in front of me I knew they wouldn’t have time to put it up for me again. That gave me only one option, pass the other runner and take away his crossing! While he was almost 20 years younger than I, he had nothing left to retake me. Hopefully it makes for a good photograph, as I doubt any of the others came out any good.
After crossing the finish I checked my watch: I’d set a PR on the swim and run legs, and my race PR was 3 seconds over my aggressive goal of 2:45! I was ecstatic!
It’s 24 hours later and I’m still exhausted. Hopefully a nap, more food, and a day off from training will recharge me because I’ve got more fun coming soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment