So if you don't get the reference, it's a shame and you clearly don't watch TNT during the 24 hours before Christmas... If you do, you're awesome and that's clearly the reason we're friends...
So anyway... The Rebelman Sprint Triathlon, held at Ole Miss, was this year's season opener... I have a lot of mixed emotions about RMST (mostly good), and due to my tendency to be quite verbose, I'll make you suffer through every last word I've got buzzing around my skull... Thankfully for you though, it's been several weeks since the race and I'm not as jacked as I was right afterwards... Lucky you...
So here we go...
Rebelman Sprint Triathlon 2012 Race Report:
Head up to Oxford, solo, on Saturday... My days with the UA tri team are coming to a close and for this race, I elected to pay my own way and race AG instead of collegiate- thinking I had a better chance of placing if I raced AG, which it turns out, wasn't far from the truth...
The weeks before Rebelman were pretty brutal... Kendrick had me peak for RM, which I thought was kinda silly, but looking back now, am so thankful that I did, because I wouldn't have been anywhere near ready on race day if I hadn't...
Get to campus and it's a total mess... there's a baseball game going on, and half the damn roads on campus are closed due to construction (thus changing the bike and run courses not once, but TWICE during race week!)... Met up with Brian Franks' girlfriend, Rachel, who is a grad student at Ole Miss and was serving as Co-RD... Definitely good to see her since I hadn't seen her since Collegiate Nats last year...
Kendrick and Sara arrive at packet pickup and the first thing Kendrick says to me is, "You're missing... some fat... around there (as he points to my neck!)"... Awkward way to say hello, but welcomed nonetheless... Two of their friends, Mark and Arash meet up with us, grab packets, then we head to the hotel... Off the to Old Venice for dinner, then off to bed (skipping a lot, but not much of real value to add here)
Race morning and I'm all jitters... I had really trained hard for RM and wanted to go deep- really deep- on race day... I have set the goal for myself to either podium (3rd is fine with me) or be in the top 5 of my division at every sprint race I do this season (provided I race Clydes)... I honestly thought I had a shot at doing pretty well at RM, but you never know until you see who shows up on race day...
Transition is set up MUCH better than in 2010... I get prime time real estate right by the bike/run out exit, so I'm feeling pretty good about things... During the week, Kendrick and I had drawn up a race plan that looked like the following: Swim (8mins or less), Bike (Ride in Z3, be fully recovered before going on the run), Run (first mile at 9min, then open it up for the last 2)... I had visualized how this would go for countless hours during the week, but now that race day was here, I was getting a little bit nervous about the whole thing... I knew that I had to really pay attention to my HR on the bike so that I'd have enough for the run...
Put in some ungodly fast swim time so as to avoid being stuck behind slow people all day... Hammond was a couple of people ahead of me and all I wanted to do was catch him, and maybe pass him in the water... Definitely wanted to have a better swim time, because I knew he'd blow me out on the bike and run...
Hop in the water and we're off...
Swam really well, don't think I got passed by anyone (maybe one person) and know I passed at least two people... RM is a 440m pool swim, so I felt very comfortable in the water and had been able to swim Long Course for about two weeks before the race, which helped a ton...
Managed to tickle Hammond's feet for a good majority of the swim... tried to draft off him as much as possible... No flip turns, so hitting the wall was a bit awkward and I felt like I (everyone) probably lost time doing that... The last 50m, I decided to open it up and see if I could pass Hammond... he clearly had the same idea so it was an all out drag race to the wall... ended up in a cluster of me, Hammond, and like, two other people all scrambling to touch the wall and head to T1... Hammond and I get out of the water at just about the same time and both give each other the "Roll Tide, get 'em"s... Definitely great to have someone like Hammond who is so much faster than me, but is a team mate and encourages me along the way...
Out of the water in 7:25, a full 35 seconds faster than my goal time and 8 secs ahead of Hammond :)
Onto the bike and I just couldn't manage my HR... the new bike course had a lot of twists and turns on campus, which was frustrating, but I tried to keep calm and just get to the straightaway that I remembered from 2010... And once I did, holy shit, I had forgotten how hilly it was... not huge hills, but enough of a climb to jack your HR and little to no recovery time to bring it back down... Rode almost all of the bike in HRZ4, and I kind of panicked... Kendrick was leading the bike and as far as I know, came in solo to T2... Hammond never passed me on the bike, but was probably only seconds behind me coming into T2...
Came off the bike in 40:38 (avg. 21.2mph, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/163887346), a bit tired and a bit frustrated because I had thought I would have gone faster than that... Considering I avg.d like, 19.x in 2010, I guess I can't be too upset, right?
Hammond passes me in T2 and we both give some encouraging shouts of "Go get 'em pal"... I knew he was going to DESTROY the run course, which he did with a 17:52... The run was weird for me... I knew it was only a 5k and therefore, would be painful to run fast... But, I knew I was trained up for short distances at faster speeds, so I had to do as Kendrick instructed and run my first mile in 9 mins, just to get a bit of recovery and get my run legs underneath me...
Oops, run the first mile in 8:45... Then the next in 8:13... the third in 7:58... and the last chunk at 5:45... Finished in 25:18 (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/163887363) with a new PR and a newfound respect for the campus of Ole Miss and its hills... According to my Garmin, I avg. 8:15/mi... but the race results have me at 8:08 (since the course was a bit short, but I'll take it)
Finished in a total time of 1:15:56, setting PR's all across the board and a new PR at the sprint distance... Managed to pick up 4th in my AG, which is exciting for several reasons:
1. I raced AG and not Clydes...
2. I hung with the big kids, aka, the fit kids
3. Although I wasn't anywhere close to the podium (by like, 6mins), this was a huge triumph for me
4. I finally feel comfortable with racing now... sort of... I have learned to train like I race and race like I train, so for the most part, I'm extremely pleased with these results...
5. I am beyond excited for what this could potentially mean for this season, especially if I race mostly sprints and mostly in the Clyde division... 3rd place, that's all I'm looking for :)
Overall, RM was a great race for me and has personally set a very high benchmark for the season... Collegiate Nationals is this coming weekend and I feel fairly prepared for it... I know my swim will be ok, my bike might take a hit based on the course itself and possible conditions, and my run might do the same if the weather is hot and humid... I have resolved though, that this is not a "focus" race, and more of an "experimental" race, seeing how I handle longer stuff (Oly) having lost so much weight since last season and now focusing on HR instead of speed on the bike...
My goals for this CNC are: 25min or better swim, 1:11 or better bike (that's what I biked on Saturday), and (maybe) a 55 min or better run... My wave doesn't go off until 10:50 am, which could be problematic, especially if the weather takes a turn like it did last year and get all hot and humid... If it does, oh well, nothing lost, and it's another race to say I've done...
My farewell race to Tuscaloosa happens in 5 days... sigh...
Thanks for reading...
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