So, mostly because I want to figure out what I learned from this week’s race, but partly because some of the folks at Tri Camp said they actually enjoed my race reports (ah, an audience!), I’m writing again. (Yeah, it’s long – i shudder to think how much I’ll write if i ever do an Ironman…)
The day-before adversity was terrific and fun: a party for 60 people at our house on Saturday to celebrate my older son’s graduating from high school. But, of course, I could only have one beer and had to go to bed at 8:45 and listen to the reveling continue…. (Really, it was quieting down and i missed cleanup, so i can’t complain.)
Woke up at 3:15 because it always takes me an hour to do stretches for my aching heel (PF), eat and get out the door to a race. And because the schedule was nuts: 5 a.m. set up at T2 (and to register, if i hadn’t already done so in NYC), bike 2 miles to T1, set up there, get on wetsuit, practice swim from 6 to 6:20, and race at 6:30! And I was glad to get there as early as i did, because the rows at the swim start had the same numbers as the rows in T2, but the racks were not numbered yet, so I grabbed a good spot on the aisle…
Despite my warmup (ahem) when the race began for my wave, i wasn’t feeling the love: “sighting” was more an excuse to pause and feel like i was panting and tasting Long Island Sound salt water and feeling lonely in the back of the pack. I had done some homework: with 6 buoys, each was around 250 yards apart for the .9 miles, and how hard could that be? But for almost the whole race, i just wanted the swim to be OVER. Tried to use the new techniques i had learned the weekend before (thanks Val!) but bottom line is i need more time in open water and the wetsuit. It wasn’t fun until the last 500 yards, when I realized that when I breathed on my left side, i was faster. Like, finally passing the guys around me faster. (Ultimately finished 9/22 AG on the swim, in 28:05 – not terrific, but my average.)
T1 felt good, having cut off below the calves of my wetsuit and practiced stripping a few times, but somehow my transition was 60/190 OA. Ugh. Must have been too slow getting to the bike and getting out onto the road. For next point to point race, i’m practicing stuffing into a drawstring bag! Also, i probably dawdled with the Garmin, discovering that I had pressed LAP instead of START and had no race recorded yet.
The bike, though, was good, and i now know it’s presently my strongest suit. First got passed by a guy in my row (clearly an AG competitor, even though almost all the body markings had faded already – what did they use, Magic Markers?) who left T1 around the same time, so I had to pass him, of course. Tooling along as fast as i could, huffing out most of the ride despite Coach Debi’s sage advice to only do that now and then, “valiantly trying” to catch up to the guys who had taken their bikes from T1 already. And it felt STRONG. Wasn’t sure whether I could keep up that pace for 25 miles, or whether I”d be trashed for the run, but it was fun to race.
And then … My chain fell off the little ring, and i tried to pedal it back on, and i was going up hill and couldn’t get out of my cleats, and I FELL. (“You OK, Mark?” – must be my buddy Drew, he’s the only guy I know here!). Had been going slow, so not hurt at all, got my chain back on. I probably lost less than 45 seconds, but i was so mad for letting 5 people pass me that i went faster than i normally would, passed them all, and kept up the pace. (Only at the finish line did I find my left shin covered with blood…). Played leap frog with an older guy (55) who was really strong and would smile and pass me any time i slowed down, and that kept me going. (I like chasing; i hate being chased.). Finally passed him at the end as well. Final time: 1:14 (19.9 mph).
Run, like the swim, was just something i wanted to finish, starting at mile 2. Couldn’t get faster than 7:30s, and no one was near me to chase or be chased – that guy who passed me early on kept going, going, gone… Passed net 9-10 people, came in 44:26 (theoretically 7:10 avg, but the course was only 5.9 miles).
So, the overall results were pretty good – 2:31:36 (which i thought was a PR, but it’s really a tie for my best time), 5/22 AG (with 3rd place some 6 minutes far, far away – always a bridesmaid…), 37/189 OA. Not bad for having lost 2-3 weeks, traveling and then recovering from bronchitis after traveling.
But Debi recently wrote about trying to get into the Flow, and i wish i could feel it for at least two-thirds of the 3-legged race. Didn’t hit my Fun Quotient, so feeling less positive about this race.
On the other hand, as my friend BJ Wilson emailed, “sometimes we don’t feel the Flow, but we race anyway. It’s what we do.” Yep. More work ahead, mostly mental. And this was a decent, delayed start to the season. AND I don’t want to forget to be grateful for being able to do what I can do. So:
Thank you.