Sunday was Couples Triathlon at Decker Lake. The race went well, in fact my partner Reese and I got on the podium! We took 2nd int the 59 & Under Male Friends category. Not bad!
It was my first time racing this course. I had heard the course was a challenging one. I decided to take a drive Saturday evening to see what it was all about. This was the first time I had driven a bike course. There were indeed a number of pesky hills and two that looked like they would be quite difficult. Situated near the end of the bike course, they looked like they would take out anyone who wasn't ready or had not saved a little gas in the tank.
I was very glad I drove because I was ready for them. In fact, I think I am now addicted to driving bike courses. I loved going into the bike knowing exactly where the turns were and the relative sizes of all the hills.
Anyway, back to the race. The usual morning stuff, up at 5 am, food and water. Added Gatorade at Reese's suggestion. Good idea I think having those extra few calories helped. Got to race site, set up and decided no run warm up due to two massive blisters on the back of my left foot. More on that shortly. Reese did his thing and we met at the swim start after about a 200m swim warm up.
Swim felt fine. A little crowded early, but what's new. Finished the 800m in 17:03. Pretty crappy, but looking at other times, it looks like a lot of people were slow, so I don't feel too bad. I have been disappointed with my swim lately so hopefully I can make some sort of breakthrough there.
T1 was a long up hill run that felt like it too forever. I even got a cramp during it. No biggie. I did have to sit down and doctor my foot however. The moleskin had com off in the water and I needed to cover these things if I was going to have any chance at a good ride/run. So I did and was off on the bike after a relatively long T1. That proved to be an important minute in the end...
Bike went well. I knew what to expect and when to expect it. I feel like it made me go a little conservatively, knowing those last two hills were coming. Regardless, I was happy with my time of 34:22:50 and felt good getting off the bike to run.
T2 was slowish as well. I decided to be as comfortable as possible so I wore my lace up trainers. Again, had to sit down and tie shoes, costing about 30 seconds more than a normal T1 for me.
Off on the run. Felt crampy and sloshy most of the way but tried to relax. Wondering if I'm drinking too much on the bike? I'm only finishing half a bottle of HEED. Going to have to figure that out. Anyway, running... Mostly grass with some slight ups and downs early. Probably passed 40 people (well maybe 20, but it was steady an a lot!) One light climb about 0.75 miles in, no problem though. In and out of some trees and down a huge hill at 2 miles. Well you know what that means. If you go down, you got to go back up. Last half mile was all up hill. Steady climb, nice grade, with a steep last few hundred meters. I felt good and got after it. Passed a few more people. Coming out and around the bend for the last stretch to the finish. 1:17:02. Could have shaved a minute and a half off if not for blisters but so it goes (that 1:30 would have put us in first).
Lessons learned? Absolutely:
- Drive the bike course. Make notes on your course map.
- Don't do sockless track workouts four days before a race. You will get blisters and lose 1:30 in transitions fiddling around costing the top spot on the podium.
- I like sprints. They are fun and I feel good afterward. You finish before it gets hot.
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