A last minute decision and a bit of peer pressure late last week found me toeing the line at the Longmont Oktoberfest Sprint Triathlon in Longmont yesterday. The race included a 750M open water swim in Union Reservoir, followed by a 12.5(ish) mile bike (my watch measured 12.8) and a 5K run. My goals for the race - push a bit on my anaerobic threshold - hard to do for the long distance triathlete, practice transitions as it has been a while since my last official tri and have a big one coming up in a few weeks, and most importantly have fun!
I am happy to report that I feel that my mission was accomplished on all three facets! I finished in 1:25:43. (16:02 Swim, 2:20 T1, 38:18 Bike, 1:23 T2, 27:27 Run) This placed me in 13th out of 23 in my age group out of 38th out of 220 in gender and 145th out of 448 total.
Swim. It was not nearly as cold standing on shore waiting for the start as it had been last week at the relay triathlon that I participated in. I did a brief warm up with bands prior to heading to the staging area and entered the water as my wave was called. The water seemed to be warmer than last week too! I positioned myself to the right of the group but not as far back as I normally do. I let a few take off once the horn sounded and then settled in. Felt strong as I approached the first buoy and the second making the turn toward the halfway point. There was a bit of funneling at the second buoy and respacing that occurred shortly after. I started to see caps that were different colors so knew I had started to catch prior waves! Rounding the last turn and headed to shore I was tangled up with another pink cap. We swam over each other a few times and I moved to reposition myself. Fortunately I saw the tandem boat and opted to go to the left as the next thing I saw was her tangled in the line of the boat. I pushed toward shore - increased my kicking with Bob’s voice in my head and pushed to the finish. 15:13 is what my watch read when I hit the shore - the timing mat was not until the transition mat about .15 from the water’s edge. This was my best open water pace ever and sub 2:00/100 yards which I have never seen in a race! I felt jazzed.
T1. Now to get out of my wetsuit - what no wetsuit strippers in transition! I did wiggle out pretty quickly at least to my standards - definitely wasn’t the guy that Mike saw that had it off before he stopped swimming and haven’t mastered getting out of it while running through transition. I did it leaning on my handle bar and didn’t have to sit! Small feats! I am used to having a bit of time to regroup as the transition does not usually make or break the race in the Half Ironman Distance and it is important to make sure you are prepared to cover the distance ahead. I had stressed over sock choice for my bike as I usually do two sock changes in a 70.3. I decided on my running socks in my bike shoes and slapped them onto my wet feet. Grabbed a quick swig of H2ProHydrate, Helmet and Glasses on and headed out.
Bike. Not sure why you would have a mount and dismount in unpacked dirt. I heard Bob in my head say it is ok to walk/run your bike a bit further before mounting to get out of the chaos - so I pushed a bit farther and jumped on. I was excited to bike and quickly settled into a groove. I started passing people and always like to sneak a peek at their right calf to see age. I passed many but was not finding many in my age group which was good - hoping they were behind me. I think four people passed me throughout the course (most male). I played cat and mouse with one who ultimately ended up ahead of me. It was a fun ride and was fun to see my splits coming in pretty quick! A lady I spoke with at the parking lot had walked me through a course recon and she was spot on. Was happy to see a time in her range as she seemed to be a pretty big biker.
T2. Not much excitement - racked my bike, quick shoe switch, hat switch and a bit of water and I was off.
Run. Passed Mike by the eNRG tent. He ran a bit with me to check in and I was excited to tell him that I felt good. Now to push myself on these three miles. Flashback to the Ironman Boulder 70.3 run. Dirt road, exposed sun and now we are climbing a hill. I pushed on. Focused on the max time it could be if I kept moving and less if I pushed. Slowly chipped away at the time. Happy to see a 9:10 split on my first mile, 9:01 on my second - found the lady that had passed me and ultimately beat me on the bike and passed her! Happy to say I finished ahead - we were nice to each other - fun competition! I did get passed by a few with 40s on their right calves… Tried hard to catch them but didn’t make it happen. Mile 3 8:37 and rounded the corner to the finish. Overall 27:27. My fastest 5K ever!! And coming off a bike and a swim! Makes me want to push this anaerobic a bit more!
Extremely happy with my results. Not an A race for me but a definite solid race prep for Ironman AZ 70.3. Many things learned and opportunities to see where I can push some more. Going to be an exciting year ahead!
