"Everybody's got a plan...until they get hit."
-Mike Tyson
Results: 2:30:58, 26th OA out of 500, 3rd M30-34 out of 34
I can sum up this race simply by saying that it was a B priority race, and I scored a B-. Over the Mountain olympic distance triathlon was only my second experience with this distance, and I can't say I have warmed up to it just yet. Last year Kerr Lake was my first attempt; a race marred by monsoon rains and the flu. And this year, though there was good weather and I was healthy, I seem to have left both the fire in my belly and the gas in my legs at home. Before the race I was excited to see the usual suspects were all there, except that Ashley Ackerman had decided at the last minute to change his status to Elite/Open, thus opening to door for one the rest of us to win the AG (Ackerman ended up 3rd overall, so changing status was a good decision!). My plan was to swim hard, bike conservatively, and run hard. But as the words of the eloquent Mike Tyson describe above, my hit came on the bike, and all plans went out the window.
1500m Swim: 27:45 (48th OA, 6th AG)
Amazingly the water was 75F, so it was a wetsuit legal swim. I started off pretty hard, trying to find out if I really do suck at swimming, or if White Lake was a fluky bad performance. Also on my mind was how much longer the swim is in proportion to the other legs in an olympic race, so I was trying not to lose too much time in my worst discipline. Upon exiting, there was a monster hill to run up, probably a quarter mile at 8-10%, and this time was included in the swim. I was looking forward to this since I thought it would be a good place for me to pass a bunch of guys, but my HR was way too high to think about any of that craziness, so I just held my position and got into T1. Overall, I was really pleased with my swim since I did a good job keeping up with everybody who was in the hunt, coming out sixth in my AG, and giving up only a minute or two. I'm now convinced the swim at White Lake was a fluke, and I'm not nearly as terrible as I thought.
27mi Bike: 1:20:07, 20.2mph (34th OA, 5th AG)
After a quick transition, including putting all my stuff in a trash bag (see below), disaster began to strike. I did a nice flying mount, and pedaled off on top of my shoes, but the course was uphill for about a mile out of transition with no good place to get my feet inside the shoes. And when I tried on a false flat, I realized I forgot to open the velcro on them when I set my gear up hours before. This led to fumbling around opening the right shoe and getting it on, then while repeating the process on the other side, the whole shoe popped off and fell on the road. Screech! Quick, jump off the bike and run back the road about 30 feet to get my shoe, open it, put it on, run back up the road and re-mount my bike. I pedaled off, and told myself its no big deal, just 20-30 seconds gone, no worries, biking is my best leg anyway (lots of positive self talk going on). Then about mile 3, on the first real climb, I had to go to the small ring and I dropped my chain. Man, this just isn't my day. I was able to get it back on with the shifter, but it zapped my speed and momentum. After that, things went pretty well for about 10 miles, and I passed a few guys. Right around mile 7 Kevin Bartlett passed me, and he usually sets the standard on the bike for my AG, so I did my best to keep him in sight as we went by a few guys and I became pretty sure I would enter T2 in second place. I knew another AG rival of mine, Kit Phillips, was out there somewhere too, but figured I had beaten him out of the water.
Then, on the longest climb of the ride at about mile 14, I dropped my chain again (must remember to adjust derailleur!), losing all momentum. On the decent I was cruising along and decided to grab a drink and dropped my water bottle. This contained Gatorade EF, which was going to be my primary source of nutrition. Wow, that sucks, especially since I hadn't touched it yet. I did have 2 Gu's in my back pocket, and was fortunate to have dropped the bottle where I did, just before the handoff station, so I did get a new bottle of plain water to replace it. But I found the new bottle to be very difficult to get any water out of, so I got a few dribbles and just ate my Gu's and gave up on fluids.
The rest of the ride was hilly (as I guess one would expect when choosing a race with "mountain" in its title). Going into this race I was really looking forward to having the bike be very difficult and I saw this as an advantage for me, but I guess it turned out not to be the case. I am 170lbs after all, and the laws of physics say big guys don't go up hill very fast. I cruised into T2 feeling very fresh, and in hindsight, I may have left too much in the tank on this bike course. My fear of what huge hill may lay around the next bend combined with thinking I was in good overall position made me ride far too conservatively.
10K Run: 40:12 (6:28/mi), 13th OA, 2nd AG
Right around the start of the run, the sun came out from behind the clouds and started to cook everybody. I took off after Kevin, and was also curious to find out where Kit was at the first turnaround. I wanted to run just under 40 for this 10K, right about a 6:25 pace, and tried to do this right from the first mile. I came close, starting off in the 6:30-40 range. The course was rolling, nothing too bad, but there wasn't much shade to hide from the sun. Over a half mile from the first turnaround, Kit Phillips went by me in the other direction. Stunned, I picked my jaw off the sidewalk and began to chase him, figuring I was at least 4 minutes down, and knowing it was probably impossible to catch him. On the second lap, I passed Kevin at mile 4, then saw Kit up ahead, way too far to catch...or was he? I ran hard through the last two miles alternating between being absolutely convinced I either could or couldn't catch him (You can do it! No, you cant. Yes you can!). At about 5.9 I finally closed the gap after two 6:20's, only to find out it wasn't Kit, just some guy with the same color suit. Talk about letdown, I slowed down and jogged across the finish.
In the end, I was third in the AG since a guy I didn't know from Virginia had also beaten me out of the water. I wasn't terribly happy with my overall position, but I guess it was a decent race, not a disaster, hence the B-. Things can always go worse, like getting a flat or crashing, and in the end I did well enough that this result will keep me in the mix for the NCTS points series. I'm not sure exactly what to blame the sub-par race on, but I think I must have suffered some bad dehydration/salt depletion on the run owing to losing my bike bottle, and that could have cost me some time. Maybe dropping the chain twice and losing a shoe cost me more time than I thought? There's also the possibility that I just can't turn on the intensity in a shorter race and I'm better suited for half iron or longer. Or, maybe I suck at hills. Who knows?? Anyway, I think the experience or this race, like any, will make me a stronger athlete in the end, so I'm glad I did it.
A note to those considering racing Over the Mountain: This race has a beautiful bike course, and the lake is very nice water. But, its a logistical pain in the ass. You have to drive to the swim finish first thing on race morning, set up T1, then drive to King's Mountain and set up your T2. Then, ride a bus back to the opposite side of the lake for the swim start. Then, at both the swim start and T1, you have to bag your belongings in numbered garbage bags if you want to get them back, as a truck takes them to the finish for you. This made up my mind that I'll probably not return to this race next year.
Results: 2:30:58, 26th OA out of 500, 3rd M30-34 out of 34
I can sum up this race simply by saying that it was a B priority race, and I scored a B-. Over the Mountain olympic distance triathlon was only my second experience with this distance, and I can't say I have warmed up to it just yet. Last year Kerr Lake was my first attempt; a race marred by monsoon rains and the flu. And this year, though there was good weather and I was healthy, I seem to have left both the fire in my belly and the gas in my legs at home. Before the race I was excited to see the usual suspects were all there, except that Ashley Ackerman had decided at the last minute to change his status to Elite/Open, thus opening to door for one the rest of us to win the AG (Ackerman ended up 3rd overall, so changing status was a good decision!). My plan was to swim hard, bike conservatively, and run hard. But as the words of the eloquent Mike Tyson describe above, my hit came on the bike, and all plans went out the window.
1500m Swim: 27:45 (48th OA, 6th AG)
Amazingly the water was 75F, so it was a wetsuit legal swim. I started off pretty hard, trying to find out if I really do suck at swimming, or if White Lake was a fluky bad performance. Also on my mind was how much longer the swim is in proportion to the other legs in an olympic race, so I was trying not to lose too much time in my worst discipline. Upon exiting, there was a monster hill to run up, probably a quarter mile at 8-10%, and this time was included in the swim. I was looking forward to this since I thought it would be a good place for me to pass a bunch of guys, but my HR was way too high to think about any of that craziness, so I just held my position and got into T1. Overall, I was really pleased with my swim since I did a good job keeping up with everybody who was in the hunt, coming out sixth in my AG, and giving up only a minute or two. I'm now convinced the swim at White Lake was a fluke, and I'm not nearly as terrible as I thought.
27mi Bike: 1:20:07, 20.2mph (34th OA, 5th AG)
After a quick transition, including putting all my stuff in a trash bag (see below), disaster began to strike. I did a nice flying mount, and pedaled off on top of my shoes, but the course was uphill for about a mile out of transition with no good place to get my feet inside the shoes. And when I tried on a false flat, I realized I forgot to open the velcro on them when I set my gear up hours before. This led to fumbling around opening the right shoe and getting it on, then while repeating the process on the other side, the whole shoe popped off and fell on the road. Screech! Quick, jump off the bike and run back the road about 30 feet to get my shoe, open it, put it on, run back up the road and re-mount my bike. I pedaled off, and told myself its no big deal, just 20-30 seconds gone, no worries, biking is my best leg anyway (lots of positive self talk going on). Then about mile 3, on the first real climb, I had to go to the small ring and I dropped my chain. Man, this just isn't my day. I was able to get it back on with the shifter, but it zapped my speed and momentum. After that, things went pretty well for about 10 miles, and I passed a few guys. Right around mile 7 Kevin Bartlett passed me, and he usually sets the standard on the bike for my AG, so I did my best to keep him in sight as we went by a few guys and I became pretty sure I would enter T2 in second place. I knew another AG rival of mine, Kit Phillips, was out there somewhere too, but figured I had beaten him out of the water.
Then, on the longest climb of the ride at about mile 14, I dropped my chain again (must remember to adjust derailleur!), losing all momentum. On the decent I was cruising along and decided to grab a drink and dropped my water bottle. This contained Gatorade EF, which was going to be my primary source of nutrition. Wow, that sucks, especially since I hadn't touched it yet. I did have 2 Gu's in my back pocket, and was fortunate to have dropped the bottle where I did, just before the handoff station, so I did get a new bottle of plain water to replace it. But I found the new bottle to be very difficult to get any water out of, so I got a few dribbles and just ate my Gu's and gave up on fluids.
The rest of the ride was hilly (as I guess one would expect when choosing a race with "mountain" in its title). Going into this race I was really looking forward to having the bike be very difficult and I saw this as an advantage for me, but I guess it turned out not to be the case. I am 170lbs after all, and the laws of physics say big guys don't go up hill very fast. I cruised into T2 feeling very fresh, and in hindsight, I may have left too much in the tank on this bike course. My fear of what huge hill may lay around the next bend combined with thinking I was in good overall position made me ride far too conservatively.
10K Run: 40:12 (6:28/mi), 13th OA, 2nd AG
Right around the start of the run, the sun came out from behind the clouds and started to cook everybody. I took off after Kevin, and was also curious to find out where Kit was at the first turnaround. I wanted to run just under 40 for this 10K, right about a 6:25 pace, and tried to do this right from the first mile. I came close, starting off in the 6:30-40 range. The course was rolling, nothing too bad, but there wasn't much shade to hide from the sun. Over a half mile from the first turnaround, Kit Phillips went by me in the other direction. Stunned, I picked my jaw off the sidewalk and began to chase him, figuring I was at least 4 minutes down, and knowing it was probably impossible to catch him. On the second lap, I passed Kevin at mile 4, then saw Kit up ahead, way too far to catch...or was he? I ran hard through the last two miles alternating between being absolutely convinced I either could or couldn't catch him (You can do it! No, you cant. Yes you can!). At about 5.9 I finally closed the gap after two 6:20's, only to find out it wasn't Kit, just some guy with the same color suit. Talk about letdown, I slowed down and jogged across the finish.
In the end, I was third in the AG since a guy I didn't know from Virginia had also beaten me out of the water. I wasn't terribly happy with my overall position, but I guess it was a decent race, not a disaster, hence the B-. Things can always go worse, like getting a flat or crashing, and in the end I did well enough that this result will keep me in the mix for the NCTS points series. I'm not sure exactly what to blame the sub-par race on, but I think I must have suffered some bad dehydration/salt depletion on the run owing to losing my bike bottle, and that could have cost me some time. Maybe dropping the chain twice and losing a shoe cost me more time than I thought? There's also the possibility that I just can't turn on the intensity in a shorter race and I'm better suited for half iron or longer. Or, maybe I suck at hills. Who knows?? Anyway, I think the experience or this race, like any, will make me a stronger athlete in the end, so I'm glad I did it.
A note to those considering racing Over the Mountain: This race has a beautiful bike course, and the lake is very nice water. But, its a logistical pain in the ass. You have to drive to the swim finish first thing on race morning, set up T1, then drive to King's Mountain and set up your T2. Then, ride a bus back to the opposite side of the lake for the swim start. Then, at both the swim start and T1, you have to bag your belongings in numbered garbage bags if you want to get them back, as a truck takes them to the finish for you. This made up my mind that I'll probably not return to this race next year.
1 comments:
Scott - it's always a pleasure to see your smiling face at races - you are always so positive. I had no idea internally you were not so happy with yourself. Anyway, third place is not so bad!
I had trouble squeezing water out of the bottle they gave us at the hand-off, too. I like the disposables they usually give much better. I also thought the post race food was lacking. Nothing salty! Hope Rebeccas race went well today.
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