Race Report - Successful Return!

   

It may not have been the time I was hoping to hit but given the weather and a tougher course than I thought, I think the race was a successful return to triathlons. While it was not as humid as the days leading up to the race, it was a hot day (68 degrees when I woke up at 4AM) and the water temp was 82 degrees (no wetsuit allowed).

5:00AM - Body Marking and Transition Set-Up (These races start to early!!!!)
Arriving at the race start, I had no idea what to expect from the day. I know I was prepared to finish the race but I was there to race. I am not one who can just do something to say they did it. I had been to the highest levels of triathlons prior to my 14 year hiatus.

6:25AM - Men's 40-44 Swim Start
I really hate the swim portion! It has and will always be my weakest of the three disciplines. Standing on the beach looking over the lake that morning, all I could think about was just get through swim. About 100 yards into swim I also remembered why I hate the swim start as you wrestle for clear space and have 100+ other swimmers beating the crap out of you for a little bit. I just kept telling myself stay calm and it will eventually clear slightly. I also had to assist another swimmer who panicked 150 yards into the swim until a lifeguard could to him. I just happened to hear yell for help when I popped my head up to sight a buoy. There is not much to say but it was a slow swim 38:43 and I had trouble sighting buoys for the first half as we swam directly into the sun. But I survived and it was now off to my best events.

Bike
Once on the bike I knew I was going to have to make up some time. The course was a lot hillier than what the course map showed. On the map, it said it was a total of 1300 feet of climbing throughout the race. They were a little off as it was 2744 feet of climbing. Once I realized how hilly it was going to be I altered my goal time, and set off through the field picking off riders quickly. Also, given how hot it was going to be on the run 80-85 degrees, I rode a little conservative to save my legs for the run. The hills were not to bad and I was able to climb them without taxing myself. There were some railroad crossings and potholes as we rode back into Providence which slowed everyone down for the last 5-6 miles. Coming into T2, I had went from 28th in my age group to 13th off the bike. My time on the bike was 2:40:15 or 21mph for the 56 mile (56.44 on my Garmin) bike leg.

Run
I will admit running out of T2 and going down a slight hill, I had doubts that my legs would survive the run. My longest training run to this date was 12.25 miles and that was with no biking beforehand. The run was a 2 loop course through Providence with the first 3 miles of each loop basically going up hill and there was not much shade on the course. I ran the first 3-4 miles without looking at splits and just on feel. It felt easy and conservative and something like 7:00 per mile pace. After mile 4, I looked at my watched and it was more like 6:40 pace. I was surprised to see that but also knew I had to back off a little relax. I felt strong through the first loop but the second loop was not as good. I lost sometime on the second loop but I just kept telling myself, there will be no walking today. I actually thought my run had slowed to 10:00 per mile pace but in all actuality it was 7:30 per mile. I finished the run with a time of 1:34:54.

Total race time: 4:58:57 - 10th in age group(120 total)/85th overall (1100 started)

I learned a lot from this experience. I know I need to work on my nutrition while on the to better prepare for the run. I know as my training improves, my swim and run will be better and top 3's in my age group will be there again. Overall, I think it was a good race given the set backs in April and then  finding out National Harbor was cancelled and compressing my training schedule by 5 weeks.

Breaking 5 hours on this day was a good race. I went there also hoping to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas in September. Once I realized I was 10th in my age group, I figure there is no way the qualifying slots will drop that low so we set off for home. Well yesterday on twitter, I saw someone who did the race tweet he got his qualifying slow so I checked his results. Low and behold, he finished 14th in my age group so if I stayed I would have qualified. You have to be present for the qualifying slot roll-down. But to me at that time Sunday, I did not feel my performance was a championship qualifying performance and I still feel the same way. I wanted to qualify on my terms (not roll-down) and that was having a championships caliber race. I am my own worst critic, but if I were to get to Vegas for the championships, I would be going to compete at the highest level.

Better races ahead!