What a day! What a weekend! First and foremost let me say, this was a blast!
I wanted to die often during the course of the day. I questioned my sanity, my motivation for doing triathlon in the first place and my future in the sport several times, but overall, I can't wait to sign up for next year.
First the overview. I almost managed to come in DFL, I only missed it by one in my age group (22/23) and overall by seven, (103/110.)
Swim 1200 meters/.75 mile: 24:19
T1: 3:04
Bike 24k/14.9 miles: 2:00:22
T2: 2:02
Run 9k/5.6 miles: 1:07:27
Total: 3:35:15
Breakfast was oatmeal, bagel with peanutbutter at about 6 a.m. A banana about 7:30 and a gel 15 min before the swim.
We stayed at a little hostel in Crested Butte. Got up about 5:30, ate, packed up and were down to the race site about 7. We were pretty early it seemed, there were very few people in transition. I picked out a spot and got marked.
After packet pick-up the day before we had a Q&A session with Seth Wealing, the XTERRA US champion and Melanie McQuaid, the world champion, and a couple of others including Jennifer Smith. Smith ended up winning the women's race, Mcquaid was second. Wealing was second for the men.
The Q&A was fun, they had plenty of good advice. Tire pressure for the mountain bike, shoes for trail running, etc...
Setting up.
The swim was supposed to be 1000meters, then it was supposed to be two 600 meter laps with a beach run in the middle. It turned out to be a deep water start (treading water) with two laps around a 600 meter course, then exit. It was all because of an unexpected abundance of seaweed in the lake. I actually ran into a bank of seaweed and it was so thick it stopped me. I often had seaweed hanging from my goggles when I turned my head to breathe. That didn't bother me that much. I wish I could blame my slow time on the seaweed, but I'm just that slow.
Here you can see the start. In the foreground is the bank of seaweed.
The race volunteers worked for days to clear the channel out to the course and the course itself in time for the race. They did a great job. There was much trepidation beforehand and very little complaining afterward.
**** this wetsuit!
Transition was uneventful.
The bike was a tough. The first about 4 miles included about 2 miles of pushing the bike up steep, muddy, rocky, rooty singletrack. Did I mention steep? Followed by an equally steep decent, which was a blast. Then we hit a dirt road for a mile or so. Then the killer. A long, slow (for me) slog up about 5 miles worth of jeep trail, and the inevitable decent down the other side.
Now I've only been mountain bike riding for a couple of months, but this was a great trail. I'm so happy we didn't come up the other side. The downhill was super technical. I was cursing at the top of a few sections and then laughing out loud when I got through them in relief. The end of this section was a stream crossing through about knee deep water. I'm hoping they took pictures, I'll buy it.
The end of the ride. I'm smiling on the outside, but I'm crying on the inside.
I'm glad I brought an extra pair of dry sock for the run. At the start of the run I was hurting. I had taken a gel before the swim and another during the bike. I drank a bottle of gatoraide and some water. My stomach was pretty upset. I hit the three aid stations on the run and drank gatoraide and water at each. But I ended up walking a good part of the first three miles of the course. It was the same course as the first part of the mountain bike ride, at least this time I didn't have to push my bike up it.
By the end of the run my quads felt like stone, but I stumbled in.
I'm going to have to figure out how to eat. I also figure that just getting faster will help. I think if I had finished in 2:40 instead of 3:30, I would have been fine. And I think that is a doable thing if I train well over this offseason.
I know my training was poor, and my conditioning for all three sports, (not to mention my technique,) needs much work. But now I know where I stand, and what to expect. I'll be back. Good times!
No comments:
Post a Comment