Wet Dog Triathlon

So, I think I have found one of my favorite sprint races. This course is short, flat, & fast. I was a little timid throughout most of the race. I held back some on the swim and bike. As I was finishing up my last mile of the run, I was a little upset for not pushing myself harder earlier in the race. At least now I know how to handle this race next year.

Pre-Race
I woke up about 400 Saturday morning and ate some cheerios and pop tarts I acquired at the service station down the road from my hotel in the little oasis known as Decatur. I watched some TV for about an hour. Then I got all my gear loaded up and headed to the race site. Body marking started at 545 and the transition area was first come first serve. I got a spot on the outside of the area. In hindsight, I should have gotten a spot right in the middle. That would have shaved some off of my transition times. Around 630 everyone headed down to the water. It was an out and back swim (400m). I did a warm up swim of about 200m and then stretched on the beach. There were over 500 racers there (up from 300 racers last year) which was awesome b/c all the proceeds of the race went to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program up there.
Swim
The first 100 swimmers went by quickly, but then the next 100 seemed to take forever. I was 216. The called my number and I ran on into the water and dove out as hard as I could to try and catch a few people in front of me. I passed maybe two people before several passed me. I was relaxed and just kept focusing on my stroke and breathing. I actually managed to swim in a relatively straight line this race. I made the turn at the bouey and started towards the exit. About halfway there, one racer was signaling the rescue boats for assistance, me and another racer slowed and went his way to check on him. He was having trouble catching his breath. The boat started to make its way over and the dude calmed down. The other racer said he had him and told me to go on. I finished the swim hard with a time of 9:09 which put me at 20/30 in my age group (25-29). My estimated swim time for registration was 9 mins so I wasn’t too far off.

T1
Since I was able to hit the right buttons on my watch this race, I have transition times. The race results lump T1, Bike, and T2 into one time and rate. The run to the transition area was probably the shortest so far this season. I pulled on my jersey, race belt, helmet, glasses, gloves, and shoes; grabbed my bike off the rack; and headed to the bike start (T1 = 4:16. I really need to get better at T1).

Bike
I mounted my bike and started getting situated on the saddle as I passed the first couple of people within the first ½ mile. I have to say, I love my aerobars. It is nice to be able to lean over and give your arms a rest. It will still take some practice staying well balanced when on the bars, but it will definitely be worth it. About mile 2, I saw some flashing lights from an ambulance. Some dude had run his bike up over the curb and wrapped it around a sign post. He was just laid out in the grass. The medics didn’t seem too concerned with him. I hope that he wasn’t hurt too bad, but how in the crap do you do that? Short of a car running you off the road, you just have to try to wreck like that. Another couple of miles, another couple of people passed. I was feeling pretty good on the bike. Just before the turnaround, the freight train passed. Not a locomotive, but a string of about 6 racers drafting (illegal) and flying by everyone. I felt like I was caught on the outside without a drafting partner at Talladega. I made the turnaround and headed back to the transition area. About ½ a mile out, I reached down and slipped my feet out of my shoes. I have always wanted to try it, but never felt confident enough to do it in a race. This is definitely the way to go! By my watch, my bike time was 30:23 with a rate of 17.50mph and a max speed of 23.7mph. The race results have me at a total time for T1, Bike & T2 of 36:56, a bike rate of 15.1 which was good enough for 25/30.

T2
I stopped my bike, jumped off and ran it back to the rack. It is SO much easier to run barefoot than in bike cleats. I slipped on my running shoes and dropped my bike gear. I grabbed Jeff’s GPS watch and took off on the run (T2 = 2:06).

Run
Having my pace right there on my wrist is awesome. I felt pretty good on the run. I actually passed a couple of runners. Granted, some of them were older people running/walking in a group (aka family). So what if they were in khaki shorts and didn’t have timing chips or race bibs and they were walking behind a kid on a Spiderman bike with training wheels. But seriously, I did pass a couple of actual racers which made me feel pretty good. Then about mile 1 it happened. A vine reached out from the side of the trail and snagged my foot….wham…down goes Frazier! My first official bust during a race…sweet. The people behind me slowed to see if I was OK. I got up, brushed off the dirt and rocks from my knees and started back on the trail. I made the turn and ran back on the park service road. With about ¾ of a mile to go, I picked up the pace. The closer I got to the finish, the faster I started kicking. I crossed the finish line with a runtime of 34:43 (avg pace of 11:12 my best race run yet) which put me 27/30 for the run in my division. My total time for the race was 1:20:47 and a ranking of 26/30. I didn’t meet my 1:15 goal, but I was happy with my time.

Now, I just have one tri left on my schedule for this year, Mt. Lakes. From what I’ve heard, the terrain is very similar to the Wet Dog but just a little longer. Seventeen days until race day. I haven’t settled on a goal time yet but will soon. I’ll be back later with training updates.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: (If you know the actual line and/or who said it, let me know. I’m not sure which Olympian said it, but I’ll paraphrase…) “I’m not here to start the race. I here to finish it”