Clemson sprint tri

As promised...

So, we wake up at about 5:15 for the day's events. I say we woke up then, but I didn't really sleep much over the 5 1/2 hours I was in bed, mainly because of the b/a rating I assigned to this race. I was too wired to get to sleep, woke up a lot, and the stupid alarm broke the still air much too early. "Better get up and moving, so I'm not sluggish at the race," I thought to myself. Skin suit and tec shirt on, final (Grace) preps made, and we are out the door.

We made good time, and were on the highway with several other competitors - the only other idiots out on I85 with bikes strapped to their car at 6AM - and watched the increasing glow of sun through the overcast skies as we traveled through the very nice campus of Clemson University. Mendy was the expert navigator, and Grace gave us other observations from the back seat. I can't believe she stayed awake! What a trooper.

So, we get in and parked, and I started pulling my gear and bike from the car. I decided to just take everything at once, since I have a huge roll-behind bag that carries all my race and transition gear. I pick up my race packet, get marked, get Mendy and Grace settled, and start my transition area preps.

I see a few folks from my YMCA Clemson Tri clinic, and make small talk, wishing them all well. Lots of stuff to prep. The weather was looking great for the race, though. Not too hot, absolutely no wind, and not too humid...yet

Lots of stinkies in the port-a-potties, and tons of competitors. I briefly spoke with Chris Giordanelli, and Holly DiGiovine stopped by to chat before a warm-up ride. Hmmm, I may need to start warming up before these things. Grace, as always, is looking for lots of attention. I try to give her as much as possible before I disappear for a bit more than an hour. Uh oh, time to pull on the wetsuit and head toward the swim start. Hopefully our friends will arrive soon!

I head down to the beach, talk with Holly and her mom, chat with some more of the tri clinic folks, and take a quick dip in the water. We observed colors (the anthem was played), and it was race time! I was in the 4th wave, which gave me some time to analyze (worry about) the swim course, and my T1. I finally got in the water and felt okay. I was more focused on staying out of other swimmers' way than going fast, which may account partially for my dismal time (16:18 for 750m and a LONG run to transition). I also took my wetsuit off just before transition to keep from being in any one's way and limit my T1 time. Off on the bike!

The humidity had really skyrocketed by the time I got on the bike. It was a rather pedestrian course out to the road, and we got bunched up a bit. One dude passed me, whom I later passed when I got my stride. Like Chris detailed, it seemed to take a couple of miles for me to find my legs in this route. It was a decent route, but I wasn't in full stride until about 4.5 miles in, and really started picking people off. During one descent just past the airport, I was passing some folks and one drifted toward the center for no reason. I crossed one yellow line only, but I bet the infraction could have been noted had a course Marshall been there. I even called out, "On your left!" Oh well...

On to the run, which was a different course this year. T2 was 1m01s, which I was happy about. Mendy gave me some quick encouragement and advice, I gave a "How 'bout some of THIS" to Scott, and I was off. I was expecting a much better time on the run, but the course was challenging to me, and everyone I've heard from (at least near my level). "Holy crap, it's HUMID! I'm soaked. Are we ever going to see the turn-around?" As I reached the half way point of the race, I put the hat on back wards, a la the rally cap. Time to turn it on! So, I made my way back trying to play it smart. Some dude passed me, but he's not in my age group: Have a nice run, young punk! (Grrrrr) Running around my home gives me some hill experience, so when I encountered a couple of dudes in my AG I was able to pick them off on the hill. "Ahhh, striding out now!" One last climb toward the park, one more dude in my AG to pick off, and I'm feeling good. Really good!

It's go time! I enter the Y grounds, see a dude just ahead of me in my AG, and decide it's on like Donkey Kong. I pace up to him, and about 120m before finish start my attack. He reciprocated, but I went to full-on sprint. And kept speeding up. And up. Whoops, maybe I left too much back on this run. I crossed the finish flat-out hauling ass. Jeremy Davis of SetUp Events even commented that I was finishing strong. Of course, I thought I was going to vomit when I stopped, but it was totally worth it. I looked AWESOME at the finish! Ha ha ha.

I caught up with Mendy and Grace, got my props from Scott and Robin (all my homies and my bitches say "Hoh"), and somehow avoided passing out as I chatted with Jason and Bob. I look up and see the G-Man going for a run. Freak! We walked around and spoke with some other racers and joke about stuff. Good times.

All in all, it was a good race I suppose. I had hoped to place higher (of course), and thought my swim would be a bit faster. Must be my open water swim ability, I guess. Here's the breakdown:

Swim: 16:18 AG Rank: 20 T1: 0:51 Bike: 31:04 AG Rank: 8 T2: 1:00 Run: 22:06 AG Rank: 8

Final: 1:11:18 AG Rank: 9th

So, I'm not sure yet where the series rankings will fall out, but I suppose I'm kinda happy about my performance. Or at least the results. I need to focus on my training to improve my times, and I hope that competing in all races in the series will help my overall ranking. We'll see, and thanks for joining me on this journey!

David

Pre-race day

Well, it's the eve of the Clemson triathlon. This is probably one I would consider an "A" race, simply due to the depth of the field and subsequent high competition level. Now that I have (somehow) slipped into third in the series standings, I don't want to give it up. Yes, I do realize this is my first season, but that doesn't matter to me. I have the capability, so I must use it and not hold back. Time to pull out the stops.

But have I trained enough? All day it's felt like I haven't ran or done a brick or swam in well over a week, though it's been much shorter than that. Perhaps I'm ready to push through to a new level, or switch up some training aspects since the lack of mental impact may indicate a lack of effective physical impact from the last few workouts. So next week I'm going to shock the body with some pure speed work and a long run, a long ride (no intense brick), and some hard-core swim drills and speed work.

This is the first tri that I'm not in a hotel the night before, also. I have to keep reminding myself that when we leave tomorrow, it's race time. We aren't driving to the town and casually preparing for the race, that has to be done tonight. The up side is that I get to sleep in my own bed tonight. The down side is that we have to get up at the unholy time of 5:15. Now this is the normal start time for some of Robin and Scott's psycho runs, but it's just unnatural for me. But, we ate some chicken and a big pile of whole wheat pasta for dinner, and I'm enjoying some wine to help me sleep. Purely medicinal, I assure you! :-)

Perhaps some of the added importance of this race, besides trying to maintain my series standing, is that Scott and Robin will be there, and tonight Jason let me know he and his father-in-law and co-worker of mine (Bob) will be there to heckle me under the guise of cheering me on. Seriously, though, I know they are going WAY out of their way to come support me, and I appreciate it. It's a pretty awesome feeling, and I thank you guys!

So, some pre-race jitters I suppose. My biggest goal is not really a time, but to push myself to the point that I know I have reached my limit and given my all. We'll see if I do it, and what my performance brings in the way of results. I'm a bit leery of the rain forecast for tomorrow, and I guess I will run a touch lower tire pressure just in case. Gotta take the amber sunglasses for contrast and definition on the bike. Chain is lubed up with wet lube for the moisture. Chairs and shelter "tent" are packed. Tool roll, spare chain, bike and run shoes, wetsuit, race belt, water, Carb Boom gels, and tons of other stuff: all packed. Okay, I think I'm ready...

Time to go get 'em! I'll let you all know how it goes. Later!

David

Bustin' through

I don't like getting over an obstacle. I think that if a person truly has a sports-performance limitation, and they are serious about being on the other side of it, they need to bust through it like the A-Team breaking out of a South American jail. Don't screw around with barely overcoming; own it, focus on it, and beat it like it owes you money!

To me there is huge satisfaction in breaking through a wall in my training. So much so, that I believe the passage through is more satisfying than the performance level reached. I look at what used to confine me (mostly mental, but somewhat physical) and laugh at it. It has become not a wall, but a stepping stone that I thrust off of with all my might! I own it, I'm done with it, and I'm better because of it's demise.

Today I went to the pool at lunch to do a long easy endurance swim. I planned on doing 1250 yds at a very moderate pace. That's 50 lengths of the pool at the Y. I started off with a good pace, and felt strong. I was breathing incredibly easily, and picked up the pace a bit. I felt so good, in fact, that I decided to go for 1500 yds. The last 100 yds was at nearly an all-out pace, and I felt really strong. I could easily have gone another 500-1000 yds at the pace I had been keeping, but my (very minuscule) guilt for taking too long a lunch hour made me finish up. I checked my time, and was really happy! I got back to work and plugged it in my training log...

I averaged 1m 58s per 100 yds, which would have been my race pace a couple of months ago. And the kicker is, I was wearing my big baggy high-drag shorts! This is the farthest distance I've ever swam, and the strongest I've EVER felt in the pool.

Hey, Clemson Sprint Triathlon! I'm coming for you, and I'm not gonna let up. It's on! I'll take you down; downtown to Chinatown!

One of those days

It kinda felt like one of those days. Not just personally, but for a bunch of us. And not just the competitors, but the staff, and the event its self. Don't get me wrong; it wasn't all bad. In fact, I was quite pleased by several parts of it. But there were several learning experiences mixed in.

I honestly felt pretty well rested when I got up at 6AM, but maybe my body was just in shock. I don't like early mornings, especially on the weekend. I actually hadn't slept as well as I had hoped, but felt good and started hydrating and supplementing immediately. Start time for the first ever Langley Pond Sprint (and International) Triathlon was in two hours, and I had a lot of prep work to do. "Wake up Grace!" She's a night owl, like her daddy, and apparently shares my love for mornings.

I set up my transition spot (speck?) and felt good. Walk around, talk to Grace, chat with acquaintances and friends, try to stay loose. Well, about 25 minutes to start time, better go get the wetsuit and stuff. This is the start of the large self-inflicted hurdle for today, yet unknown to me. I hadn't swam with this wetsuit, a really nice borrowed one, prior to the event. For some stupid reason, I decided to avoid any warm-up swimming. Either would have helped me fit the suit better to me. I also broke better judgement, and lined up in the front for the mass start. Off to the side, but still in front.

I started strong, but began having problems getting my air. Possibly due to the fit of the suit, not pulled up high enough on my shoulders. Possibly frustration from all the people with seemingly no perception of themselves in space and time, weaving back and forth, running over me and under me. I kept checking, and I was swimming arrow-straight. I backed off and got into a clearer area, and tried to catch my breath. "This SUCKS! Why do I think I can do stupid triathlons? I hate open water! blah-blah-blah..."

I sucked it up, got around the buoys, and noticed I was actually swimming quite fast when I was swimming. I kicked it back in, and finished the swim about dead in the middle of the pack. Frustrated, I ran up the hill to transition. Mendy was there to take a pic, but forgot to turn the camera on. That made me chuckle (and feel a bit better), and Grace was there cheering me on (which made me feel a LOT better).

I hit transition, made the decision to carry my bike shoes to the road - there was a 200yd run from transition to the pavement over dirt, grass, and rocks - so I was out relatively quickly after pulling off the evil wetsuit. I jumped on the bike, strapped down the shoes, and started to feel really good about things. We had pre-driven the course, so I knew what to expect. I was already passing a bunch of folks, but still reserving quite a bit for that first long hill. Once over that, I hammered the ride hard until...


I pull around the corner to the final stretch back to the event site, and see a race official advising me to slow, and shaking his head. Huh? You have GOT to be kidding me! A train??? Yep, we stopped for several minutes waiting on a train to pass. Slooooowly! This was actually to some benefit to me; I was able to catch up to some dudes that were way ahead of me, and actually out-sprinted many of them back to transition. Yay!

So, off to the races, if you will. I was staying very conscious of my stride, keeping it short and quick to match my cycling "stride" and cadence during the ride. I felt good, and started picking people off again. One guy, also wearing TriYourBest.com gear, passed me and kept going. I told him I was glad he wasn't in my age category! Apparently the residents weren't too aware of the event, and some old woman came driving between all the runners laying on her horn. I almost threw my water cup at her car, but decided to be an ambassador instead.

The course came back into the site, around transition, past the finish, out and down beside the pond, back in, and finally across the timing mats. I thought it was never going to end, and a GPS mapping of it confirmed that it was a bit long: 3.6 miles, roughly. It felt good to get the race behind me, since it was less than ideal for me. Now the wait for results...

I had high hopes prior to the start, but the swim dashed those.

The results came out after some delicious turkey chili and re hydration, along with some playing with Grace and walking around. The list had me at 32nd overall (men) and 8th in my age group. Later, the online results put me at 29th overall. Not horrible, but not as good as I had hoped. But, I learned!

So, now I'm a multi-time triathlete, and I know where my weaknesses are. Next stop: large event, open water, mass start. Yep, a little race called the Clemson Sprint Triathlon