Not the gift I wanted, but I’ll take it

I started my Father’s Day with a short race at Lake Pflugerville, north of Austin.  I raced up there earlier this year and really enjoyed the venue.  The swim is in a small lake that is pretty clear, the run on a crushed gravel trail, and while the bike course had some cracks (probably due to the heat and lack of rain) it was pleasant and fast.

I was a bit anxious about the swim because it was my first non-wetsuit open water swim this year.  I’d watched the kayaks struggle to get the buoys in position, and the choppy water, but for what ever reason didn’t think about how that might impact my swim and maybe adjust my strategy accordingly.  I positioned myself where I would for any other swim, and took off when the gun sounded.

Not far into the swim I realized two things:  I was out near the front of the pack, and I’d gone out way too fast.  I pulled back some and then the real problems began.  The chop made it difficult to get regular breaths, and people caught up to me and I started to get pounded.  I remember one guy swam halfway up my back, and then stayed there.  I finally reared up and kicked him hard in the stomach to get him off.

I told myself to settle down, put my face in the water and just get into a groove.  The chop just wouldn’t let me and I finally grabbed on to a kayak for a bit to try and settle down.  I couldn’t believe how hard the swim was, and had to stop at the halfway point.  Two stops in just 250 meters!  My mistake here was in not getting a good sight on the next buoy.  I was so excited to be going with the current and finding some clean water that I didn’t realize I’d sighted in on the wrong buoy.  It’s no wonder my water was clean, I was headed back to the start instead of the finish!

At about 100 meters from the start I ran into another kayaker, where I stopped to figure out what was going on.  I didn’t stay there long because he told me I was cheating.  Although all the rules I’ve ever read said that I could stay there as long as I wanted as long as he wasn’t assisting my forward progress, I wasn’t really in a position to argue and took off for the finish line.

When I finally got out of the water I was absolutely disgusted.  I walked out of the water with my head hung low and very upset.  After just a few steps I started running.  At first I told myself that I was going to use the rest of the day as a couple of hard workouts.  Someone passed me on the bike while I was putting my feet in my shoes, which further angered me.  Once I was fully cleated in I took off.  I passed that rider back within minutes, and then started to reel in other riders.

I used my anger as riding fuel.  As a result no one else passed me the rest of the day, perhaps because all the fast people were in front of me!  Regardless, I had one of the best bike rides ever.  I had neglected to reset my computer before the race, and didn’t realize it until I was some distance into the ride.  That meant that I had no idea how far I’d traveled or how long.  This was actually good for me because I focused on riding hard by feel and not what my computer was saying.  I did finally notice someone had written big numbers on the road, which I think represented the miles remaining.  I’m not certain that’s what they were because I didn’t really pay attention to them.  At one point I calculated what my finish miles would be using those number, but then didn’t really use that.

I passed a LOT of riders on the back side where it was into the wind and hilly.  I figured that would slow down once I hit the front side as it was very flat and with the wind.  As I hit the freeway I really pushed and kept increasing my gear.  I was holding about 33 mph and still flying past people, people with nice bikes that I know thought they were going fast.

Before I hit the last hill I pulled my feet out of my shoes for a quick dismount, only to turn the corner and discover another up and downhill.  I couldn’t go quite as fast this way, but there was a large group of people I wanted to get in front of before the dash to transition.  Approaching the dismount line for my flying dismount I saw two cyclists blocking the line while they dismounted.  I did the best I could to go around them, and heard someone comment “now that’s a dismount!”

I knew I’d pushed myself hard on the bike and wasn’t sure how much I had saved for the run.  The thought of blowing up like the previous race entered my mind, but I was still pretty angry over my swim.  I was so focused on what I was doing that I climbed the hill before I knew what I was doing.  I thought I’d missed the timing mat and started my watch for the run, only to encounter it further on once I was on the track.  Someone came running up to me to hand me a cup of water which I took.  I gulped down some and then dumped the rest over my head.  Only the wind was so strong I completely missed my head!  I checked my pace, and at 7:30 thought I’d better back off or I’d never finish.  I don’t know that I really ever used my watch again.

The first leg of the run was into the wind, and while it was difficult running, I told myself that it was hurting the other runners more.  I continued to pass runners, and it wasn’t long before some of them started walking.  I saw one guy in front of me that looked stronger than most of the others around me.  I was still thinking that most of the fast people were in front of me, probably long done, until he started to pull away from me.  That didn’t sit well so I tried to pick it up and stay with him.  I was actually closing the gap when he pulled over to the side of the trail to, get this, put his cup into a trash can with a lid!  I was shocked, but used it to pass him.  I heard his footsteps behind me for a while and expected him to pass me back, but his steps died and he never showed up again.

With one mile left I passed a fellow age grouper.  I felt guilty for passing him so late in the game, but not enough to slow down.

The last leg was back into the wind and was really tough, especially because I was determined to pick up the pace even more.  I tried to draft off of other runners, but they were all going to slowly for anything but a brief respite from the wind.

I finished very strongly, and while I feel like I gave it everything I had on the run, I wished I’d had another mile to run down some more people.  I finished 5th in my age group, two minutes off the podium.  There is little doubt in my mind where I lost those precious minutes, nor any doubt that I will be working harder on my swim in the months to come.

Surprisingly I am pleased with my race.  I was able to overcome a horrible swim, not putting it out of my mind but using it as motivation to work harder on the remaining events, and really had a great bike and run.

And for anybody who might be following, yes I did run the tangents on the course!