After three years of hard work, I finally found my way onto the podium at a race! I'm still pretty jazzed about yesterday's race, so I'll try my best to recall what I feel like has been one of, if not the best, race of my career thus far...
In typical fashion, I decided last minute that I'd race... I figured it'd be a good thing to get out of the house for the weekend... Now that I'm officially Dr. Aurich AND (f)unemployed, I didn't want a boring weekend... All of my friends have moved away from Ttown in the last few weeks, so I am solo all summer... F it, let's go race...
Leading up to the race, Team Magic ran a contest on Facebook about some VIP package, that basically assured me a parking spot, post race food/beer, and some other random stuff... I entered the contest by simply hitting "like", and won! SO, I raced in style, with a private bathroom (which was worth the price of admission, as they say)... I added Chad as my "+1", so we felt like kings all weekend...
I hit up the VIP only open water swim on Friday and felt pretty decent in the water... only kind of decent... I had gotten back to swimming during the week and had felt good in the water, but for some reason, I've been having problems sighting and swimming in a straight line during races... Knowing that it was only a 400 swim, I resolved to just gun it during the race, follow the pack, and swim over anyone who got in my way... turned out to be a good plan...
Right after the open water swim, my Garmin died... like, donezo died... it had clearly gotten water in it and had condensation on the inside of the screen... so, it was rendered useless... Good thing I had an extra one, at home, in Tuscaloosa.. dammit... So, I hop BACK in the car, drive BACK to Tuscaloosa, grab my extra Garmin, then drive BACK to Bham... I was exhausted by the time I got to Chad's... on top of all this, I was dumped on Thursday night, which created a huge fog in my head... there was at least one point where I was so bummed, I felt like I didn't want to race... Good thing I didn't listen to that!
So, race morning comes... typical by all accounts...
Line up for the swim, it's go time...
Swim:
Like I said, I registered late, so my number was 395 (out of like, 500 something) so I was starting near the back of the pack... I was ok with this, since I "didn't care" about the race after Thursday night... I felt decent in the water the day before and was very calm before the swim start...
TT start with 3 second intervals... Hit the water and gun it for the first 100 or so... being only a 400 swim, I figured I'd just sprint as far as I could, then when I got tired, back off, then sprint again until I was done... My sighting had miraculously gotten better overnight... either that, or I was just following the pack better... Managed a pretty respectable swim time of 7:19, coming out of the water only THREE seconds behind 1st place in the Clydesdale division...
T1 was a bit of a jog away from the lake, and I tried my best to keep moving and keep HR down.... it didn't exactly work, but I feel like I'm getting a better handle on managing my HR during shorter races...
Bike:
Oak Mountain is hilly... not killer hilly, but hilly enough to make a big guy like me work for it... and work for it I did! Hallie let me borrow her 808/disc wheel set and I loved it! It may not have made a ton of difference, but it was reassuring to know that if it did, it helped me post up the fastest bike split out of ALL the Clydesdales! I hung 41 seconds on the 1st place guy, who won the division last year as well... Bike split of 35:49 (21.7mph) definitely made me smile, especially on a hilly course like that... Garmin file was a bit off on the bike/run splits, but I'm gonna go off of what the official results say ;)
T2 was fairly respectable... tied for 2nd fastest T2 time with David Callahan (who won)...
Run:
Again, a hilly course... I decided not to use my Virtual Partner on my Garmin for the race... I just told myself to keep it at around 8:30 for the first mile, then try really hard to descend after that, if the hills would permit... The course was an out and back, so I knew that whatever hills I climbed on the way out, I'd have as downhills on the way back... not a lot of comfort though, since I'm not strong on hills... Managed a decent run split of 26:34 (official) vs. 25:37 (Garmin)... Still confused on how the run splits where so different, but seeing as how my official bike split was way faster than my Garmin, I'll keep my mouth shut about the run difference (even though it could have made the difference between 2nd and 1st)
Cross the finish line in a very exciting, very respectable 1:13:02... PR for sure... Knowing that David Callahan had won with a 1:10 last year, I thought I was easily in contention for a podium spot this year, and would have been happy with third...
Then the awards came...
David Callahan took 1st with a 1:11:33 and I came in 2nd with a 1:13:02... Soooo close, yet so far away! Looking at the splits, it seems like we were neck and neck until the run, then he took it home- hanging 1:47 on me on the run...
Here's a breakdown of our splits:
S(7:16) T1(1:02) B(36:30) T2(2:00) R(24:47)
S(7:19) T1(1:22) B(35:49) T2 (2:00) R(26:34)
I'm beyond excited for these results... I know that I still have a lot of work to do, but this is very encouraging... Also, I forgot to mention that David Callahan is probably 6'5", 210, and jacked... I'm pushing 6', 228, and flabby... and I hung with him right until the end... bam!
I'll be taking some time off from racing over the next several races so that I can begin to make my transition to Columbia and setting up a life there... I'm very excited about the rest of my season, however long or short it is, and know that getting involved in the triathlon community in Columbia will be good for me... Hopefully, I'll meet some like minded people who like to train like I do, but also like to drink beer and skip the occasional workout to lay on the couch...
Thanks for reading...
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