Triangle Tri 2008 Race Report

Been traveling in Pennsylvania this week for work, so a little late getting the race report up.

Triangle Tri was my second sprint tri (Mission Man last year was my first). Going into it I was really pumped up and most definitely had the "fire" that was lacking at Over the Mountain. I had hoped this would be a race performance to really be proud of. I had a "nothing to lose" race strategy going in, seeing as I was only doing this race because its close to home, and in the NCTS (certainly the pristine waters of Lake Sewage, um, I mean Lake Crabtree are not the reason). In order to have any chance at winning M30-34 I would need to put out a great showing. I was also excited to race my new favorite rival Kit Phillips (discoverer of the Secret Book) and also to race against Thys Wind, who I've known about a year but had never raced with. My plan was to go hard in the swim to minimize the damage which would most certainly be done, then kill the bike hoping to catch the guys who got ahead in the swim, then run with whatever was left.

Swim 750m: 13:15, 18th of 67 in AG, 111th OA
I started right next to Thys, who's an uber-swimmer. I had hoped to get in his slipstream and hang onto his feet for a bookin' fast swim split. I think I have a lot to learn about sprint tri swim starts because I went out hard, but not nearly hard enough and got pounded on right away. It was the roughest start I have ever experienced (including to 2000 person mass start at IM Florida). I got thumped on from every angle; guys grabbed my ankles and yanked them, somebody put hand on my shoulder and used it to propel themselves forward, one guy even grabbed the waistband of my pants and pulled them backwards. And it never thinned out either. I was still getting whacked at the turnaround. It was a miserable swim, and seeing all those neon green caps getting farther in front of me didn't help matters. I saw my watch read 13 and change as I came out and knew it was all but impossible to catch up with a swim that slow. Becca says I'm not allowed to wear the watch.


Bike 15 miles: 36:11 (24.9mph), tied for 3rd in AG out of 67, 19th OA
Great transition (46 seconds including a long run through the 1200 person transition area), hit my shoes right, didn't drop anything. Off and biking hard, really nothing special about this, just put her in a big gear and push the pedals real hard. Big time thanks to Kevin Bartlett who played cat and mouse with me the whole time which I'm sure pushed both of us harder than we would have ridden otherwise. It was a really hilly course, but I loved it, alternating between 10mph and 40mph every couple minutes. I saw Thys and Kit, way ahead. The only bit of drama happened when my aerobars broke going downhill as I hit a bump in the road. It was only the armrest support, so not the expensive part, and I didn't lose control of the bike.



Run 5K: 18:31 (5:57/mi), 5th AG out of 67, 25th OA


I can say I wasn't feeling much like running as I entered transition. Maybe it was all the base work I've been doing and I wasn't used to riding 25mph, who knows? The dismount line caught me by surprise and I only had time to get one foot out of my shoes. So, I just unclipped the other and ran one-shoed into the transition. I hit some traffic going in so I pulled out of line and sprinted by a bunch of people with my one bare foot, probably looked ridiculous. I had a hell of a time getting my right running shoe on and hence had a slow transition (1:27). Coach Becca says I need speed-laces but I hate those things. I took off and passed a couple guys right away, including Bobby Cristman, who must have taken insult to this, and passed me right back. I decided to run behind him for awhile since he looked strong. I saw Kit at the turn around about 2 minutes ahead. That guy has gotten really good this year; I don't think I can continue to call him my rival if he keeps beating me this bad. With a mile to go I decided to at least try to find out where Bobby went. I found him at one of the turnarounds and picked up the pace. I was almost able to get him, but ran out of real estate as the finish crept up on me so fast (wow sprints go by fast!).

I ended up with a 1:10:08, 5th in AG, 27th OA out of 1200. I was really hoping for a 1:07:30, but my swim took care of that right off. I biked where I should have, and ran about what I expected, just couldn't do the swim after that beating. My shot at winning the NCTS is effectively gone after this race, but I'll still give it all I've got at my last two races before the fall Ironman. I guess that's why its good to have multiple goals in a season, so that one's gone, now on to improving at Duke Half and smoking B2B in November.



Next race is Bandits Challenge olympic distance in three weeks.