Pre-race:
The alarm went off at 4:35am on race morning! Damn, that's early for me! It didn't really matter because I usually sleep terribly the night before a race, and this was no different. I shot out of bed, and quickly grabbed a cup of coffee, brushed my teeth, and put my "game day" kit on. I quickly packed up my car and headed out with Rach! In the car, I finished my coffee, inhaled a white bagel, and ate half a Clif bar.
We got to the race site at 5:30am, and was surprised at the amount of people there. I usually get to the race as early as possible because I like to have plenty of time to set stuff up and warm up. Apparently, there were many just like me for the race!
We walked about a mile to transition, where I was promptly marked by a 14 year old girl with incredible sharpie skillz. Once done, I found my transition spot, got set up, talked to a coworker and pee'd twice. In a porta-potty...
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| Transition: Rack Rack City |
I felt surprisingly calm before the race, despite two things: 1). This was my first race of the year. 2). The PA announcer guy was telling everyone there that TRANSITION CLOSES AT 7:00!!! He honestly probably said it every 5 minutes...
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| Swim course |
Once I got out of transition at 6:45am, I headed down to the beach for the swim start. My wave started at 8:07am, so I had plenty of time to chat with Jon, Patrick, and some others I saw around. Rach's parents showed up soon, and got to see the professionals start at 7:30am. One cool thing about the race were the pros. It was my first race were professional triathletes competed, and this one was especially cool because Laura Bennett aka LONDON OLYMPIAN TRIATHLETE was there! Very cool!
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| Laura Bennett! USA! USA!!! |
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| Cordial greetings with Jon |
After a brief warmup in the water, my heat got ready to go, and at 8:07am, we dove in!
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| Just about GO time! |
Swim:
The swim started out pretty smooth, but it didn't last.... I positioned myself 3 rows from the front, and near the far side of the starting coral. It was a beach start, so I timed my water entry a bit slower so I didn't get kicked in the face by the guy in front of me. Mission accomplished.
Everyone quickly spread out, and as I tried to hang onto the lead pack, I quickly realized their pace was too quick for me. I slowed down a bit, and kept waiting to see another pack form so I could get some drafting in. This didn't happen. What did happen was a group brawlfest, aimed at my legs. I don't know what the hell was going on behind me, but every second or two, I would get a fist to the back of my calves/hamstrings. No matter what I did, whether it was slowing down or sprinting, I couldn't get the guy/guys off my ass! Literally!
Once we got to the out section, we turned and headed north. This is where the swim began to suck. I could deal with the constant hammering to the back of my legs. I could deal with the fact that I wasn't sighting as well as I had hoped. What I couldn't handle was a lengthened swim course. Once we got to the midway point in the race, lifeguards were telling us to head out further away from shore, as one of the buoys became unattached to it's anchor and began floating away. Since we were the second to last wave to go, it had floated a decent ways away.
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| Swim course with the rogue buoy |
Physically, I was fine. My pace was good, my breathing was controlled, I could handle the extra distance. Mentally, however, was different. I wanted to get the hell out of the water. I was sick of swimming, and just wanted to start the bike. Once I got to the "Rogue Buoy", I turned around back to shore and hammered. I finally lost the guys on my legs, and began to catch people two waves in front of me. Eventually, my hand felt sand, so I stood up, and ran out of the water.
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| Swim exit |
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| STRIPPIN'! |
Time: 29:16
Distance: 1500 METERS
Pace: 1:47/100 YARDS
AG:10/52
T1:
I had a decent run up the beach to my transition spot, about 200 yards if I had to guess. While running, I was able to get my goggles and cap off, unzip my wetsuit, and get my torso and arms out. I found my spot pretty easily, and yanked the rest of the wetsuit off. It always gets stuck on my ankles, so I took a bit extra time to get it completely off. After that, I just put my glasses, helmet, watch, and shoes on, and hauled to the bike exit!
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| Struggling with my shoes |
Time: 1:56
AG: 13/52
Bike:
I can't really say how happy I was to be on the bike. The swim didn't go as planned, but I quickly forgot about that once I got pedaling. The bike started off slower than usual, mainly because I wanted to get my heart rate down from the all out sprint finish of the swim. But I quickly found my pace and just zoned out. The first lap went by quickly. The only eventful things were getting a 20.5mph split at the end of the 1st lap, and seeing that my buddy Jon crashed. He was okay, just scraped up pretty badly, but before I knew it, he was right by me finishing the race! Tough guy!
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| "Aero" wave |
The second lap of the bike was a bit different. The entire second lap was PACKED with people. I spent most of the lap weaving around slower riders. I couldn't get into a rhythm, and had a hard time maintaining my pace. There was even a segment of road were there were 4 riders across going fairly slow, not letting anyone pass. Crazy!!! Move over! Sadly, the second lap was also a draft-fest. It was looking like a criterion race on some of the flats.
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| Cruising |
Soon enough, the second lap was over and I was at the dismount line. After a successful flying dismount, I was onto T2!
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| About to dismount! |
Time: 1:17:30
Distance: 40 kilometers
Pace: 19.3 MPH
AG: 29/52
T2:
Nothing much to say here, transitioning from the bike to run is going really well. I don't wear socks for short races, so all I did was rack my bike, threw off my helmet and kicked my bike shoes off, and then slipped into the run shoes while grabbing my race belt and gel! I wanted closer to 1:00, but I did have a fairly long run to the run exit.
Time: 1:16
AG: 11/52
Run:
This was the most uneventful run I've had in a race. My legs were initially heavy, but that subsided by the end of the first mile. I quickly got into a groove, and kept at more of a tempo pace. I did notice that crowding or congestion on the run course was non-existent, which was something everyone was worried about. I held my pace till around mile 5, when a Mizzou student came a knocking...
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| Pounding the trails |
I was going along at a controlled pace, not insanely hard but still working, when this guy wearing a Mizzou race kit runs by and yells "Come on, KANSAS!!!" At this point, I went into a different race strategy: Screw tempo, BURY THIS GUY (so Dave Scott...)!!! I quickly got on his heels and got a feel for his pace. After a minute or two, I realized this was nothing, and I picked it up significantly. He didn't match my pace, and he was long gone. I didn't know this because I didn't turn back around, but I kept asking all the spectators, "IS THE A MISSOURI GUY BEHIND ME?!?! (gasp for air...)". I never got an answer, so I hammered to the finish line. Turns out, I beat him by a couple minutes, and the last mile I ran was 1:55 faster than any other mile on the day! As soon as I saw him cross, we fist bumped for the effort, I thanked him for the motivation, and he probably went ans cried to the SEC... haha.
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| FINISHED! |
Time: 47:59
Distance: 10 kilometers
Pace: 7:45/mile
AG: 23/52
Overall:
I thought it was an awesome race. I loved the course, the distance itself is probably one of the best I've done, and the competition was STACKED! I didn't end up qualifying for the Hyvee Championships in September, but honestly, that would have been impossible with the guys that showed up. I also thought that the RD and staff did a great job on race morning, despite all the commotion before race day. The communication sucked prior to it, but they delivered a top notch race.
I also thought I did pretty well. I thought my swim could have been better, but turns out my goal pace of 1:45/100 yards didn't take into account the extra distance I had to swim... I was pretty happy with 1:47/100y. The bike went well on a packed course, and I have a new PR bike split! Transitions were great, and the run was pain-free! I definitely could have pushed significantly harder on the run, but I didn't know how my legs would feel at this distance. I will be going much harder next time!
Time: 2:38:36
AG: 22/52
Overall: 235/707
Again, it was a great race, I'm pleased with my progress, and will continue to work on getting faster this summer!!!
And here are some "unbecoming" photos from race day!
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| Race day tradition! |
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| Sexiness |
Thanks for reading!!!
1 comment:
Congrats Mark! That's hilarious about the Mizzou guy. Don't mess with the Big 12!!!
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