I woke up at 5 this morning. I cleaned up and was on the road by 515. The roads were wet from the rain overnight. Would I stay dry today? I pulled into the race site at 615. The good thing about getting the to race early is a good parking spot and first choice on the bike rack. I got everything set up and chilled in the car until warm-up.
As I was getting ready to ride the bike, I ran into several locals (Karen, Lisa, Megan, Jared, Ellina, Ross, Micah, Travis). They also informed me the swim would be cut in half due to the cold temp, 52. :-( I like cold water :-) I grabbed my bike and warmed up for 20 minutes. The roads were wet and it was misty outside, so definitely no sunglasses for the race. I threw in a few 30" hard efforts then back to transition. I decided to switch the direction my bike was facing to cut my transition time down during the race. I went out for a short run to loosen the legs. Everything was set up. Have you ever tried to put a wet suit on when your wet from the rain/sweat? I wrestled with it for 5 minutes and finally won. Once the sprint racers were off, I swam out to the first buoy to acclimate to the water. The temperature was perfect, for me. The girls went first. We waited 5 minutes and were off.
SWIM - 13:22 (800-900 meters) 8th overall
The swim went well. I tried to start right behind Jared. The key word tried. I started to catch some of the swimmers in the previous wave by the first buoy. The second buoy had a hard right turn. It took a couple of strokes to get the next buoy in sight. The swim felt strong. The brand new XTERRA VENDETTA was the main reason. No water in my wetsuit.
T1 - 1:33 2nd overall
As I ran up to my bike, I saw Ellina. I was taking off my wetsuit and heard Jared. I was very perplexed. I found out later, he was a little dizzy. Maybe he shouldn't have partied it up so hard last night. I put on my SPIUK, grabbed the LYNSKEY and did a Usain Bolt 100 meter sprint to the bike mount line.
BIKE - 1:04.15 (23.21mph) 8th overall
I was passed within the first mile by a guy who started out like he was being chased by a bear. I passed him back 2 miles later and never saw him again. I guess the bear had a taste of triathlete burger ;-) I was only passed by one other guy, who ended up as the eventual winner. I felt good on the bike. The course was relatively flat with several small rollers and false flats. I caught up to Karen around mile 12. I also saw Lisa, Jared, and Megan at the beginning of the out and back. Megan looked like a tiger chasing down her prey. Jared looked like he was doing tricks. I have never seen a guy ride on his handlebars during a race, very impressive. I think Lisa had NOZ. One second she was there, the next she was gone. I decided to test my bike handling skills as I weaved in and out of the cones. Actually, I had too much speed on the turn and veered into traffic. It was hard to tell who else was in front of me because of the duathletes racing.
T2 - 0:59 2nd overall
I dismounted, racked the bike, put on my NEWTONS, grabbed (visor, race belt and water bottle) and left transition all in under a minute. Try saying that 5 times fast.
RUN - 39:31 (6:35 pace) 12th Overall
I saw a 2 guys ahead of me within the first mile. I passed them both just after the first mile. During that time, I was also passed by 2 guys. One triathlete and one duathlete. I was back to zero on the overtaking of runners. I hit the turn around and saw a few people chasing me. I started to run scared. I tried to picture a guy with a chainsaw. It worked well until mile 5. I heard footsteps on the trail. It was a a girl running like a cheetah. I tried to ask if her feet were tired, but she went by too fast. She ended up having the 3rd fastest run overall averaging 6:03. This was my fastest run off the bike for an Olympic to date.
AFTER THE RACE 1:59.41
I ended up 5th overall and 1st in my age group because the overall winner was in my age group. I can't wait to race later in the season. I also ran into Phil. I haven't seen him in over a year. It looks like he is back to blazing the triathlon scene.
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