Hale Reservation Triathlon

I did my second triathlon yesterday, Sunday 13 September, 2009. It was a blast. The swim felt longer, my run was significantly slower than last year (something in the neighborhood of 42 seconds/mile!) but I still managed to finish in the top third, even if I did drop off of the first page of results -- though this year I am tops on the second page of results at 51 out of 157. Here's the breakdown of the race.

SWIM
I got stuck behind a couple of wide-body clydesdales right off the start. I couldn't go around them because there were a couple of other dudes to my left and right. I ended up stopping an treading every few strokes just looking for space. I eventually did get around them but the damage was done. The adrenaline was my enemy, I got mildly nervous and panicky and ended up breast stroking pretty much the whole thing. thought I did pass guys even swimming breast stroke I lost at least a minute or more in the opening 150 yards trying to get around those guys (9:59 -- ugh! yet everyone felt like it was longer this year). I did OK on the transitions, sub-2 minutes, but need to work on those (1:54)

BIKE
Bike is what I think is my weakest -- especially mountain biking with clip-in pedals. When I was younger I used to just go out and ride and didn't worry too much about anything. Now I'm a bit more cautious though adrenaline on my bike was my friend. The ride was fairly punishing, and fairly tricky but very fun. There was a monster climb in the first mile or so that I rode the first time I rode it, but walked it during the training and the race. People were dropping off left and right and it made it hard to navigate (those clip-in pedals make me uncomfortable at low speeds). So I hopped off half way up and ran it up the hill hopped back on, rode one more crest then hammered it down the backside back into the woods (it was asphalt actually in this part). The eventual women's winner powered by -- 50, fit, and driven -- up the steep. I was jealous. The rest of the ride was largely uneventful -- I got stuck in a line of guys, one in particular and along the single track portions I just followed. I rode things yesterday that I'd walked or fallen off in training and stayed on the bike generally better. There were other climbs where guys were coming off the bike so I came off the bike too -- it's a chain reaction on rocky treacherous pieces. I ran the bike up each of those sections though and got back on as quick as I could. There was one sick rock garden that I had walked both training runs, but sort of half rode half walked yesterday -- I made up some time there. Generally I attacked and had fun and see the bike as a place where I can get significantly better. Running CV totally helps biking and I find it easier to recover on the bike. I ride a 20 year old hard tail, hard fork Trek and I did OK: 5.3 miles 34:50, 9.5 MPH. I did a 1:24 transition out of bike shoes into running shoes. Actually moderately happy with that. Oh, and it was muddy and mucky in many parts of the track and that made it super fun.

RUN
The run was solid for me. I pushed it hard on the bike and took a bit longer to come back on the run. The eventually second lace woman passed me in the transition. I stuck with her for the first little bit,up a nasty climb and then she started to pull away. I kept in her sight the entire run but could not catch her. I walked one little stretch, about 5 paces to collect myself, then started to reel back her in, though I never lost sight of her. I started sort of slow and that transition, from bike to run, not just the legs, but the breathing even is very tricky. I think though that I was negative splitting, because I was reeling her in and closing the gap over the last half of the course. I was also passing some other guys as well so that was good. About 150 yards from the finish, on basically one of the smoothest, easiest stretches of the run I stepped on something, I don't even know what, and tweaked my left ankle. It hurt but I powered on, and finished with a nice kick. It was ironic because I was running over rocks and rots and up and down rock and rot strewn climbs and hopping off of some rocks and I tweak myself on the most mellow part of the course. the ankle is a bit tender today, but nothing catastrophic. So, the race details said 2.3 for the run but people in the field said that it was 2.5, I don't know who to believe on this but if it was 2.3 then the race clocking at 20:39 and 8:59/mile is my time. If it was 2.5 then I ran a bit better than that at about 8:15-16/mile. Not sure which, I have no real way to judge it. Eight fifteens though are better than 8:59s.... I don't totally remember last year's course but there was a section I walked briefly last year that we didn't run this year, and in that section it cut a chunk of the race off that we had to cover this year (with one more nasty climb), so I do actually think that we ran further which would make sense to me.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I'm not as fit this year as last but I got better on the bike and about the same on the run if it indeed was 2.5 miles. I was happy with the negative splits on the run though (or what seemed like negative splits). Swim was tricky. I didn't freestlye-swim as much this year, and I'm not sure why. I need to work more on my swim (though I feel like I did this year and it didn't help me). Anyway, it was a blast, and totally amped me up for the whole day. Fun, fun, fun!