Race Report - Ohio State Triathlon 2008

Or: "You're a Good Bike, Charlie Brown"

Nervous didn't begin to describe me on Saturday night. I was obsessively staring at the checklist on the little USAT card, making sure I didn't forget anything for the race. How embarrassing would it be to show up to my first triathlon sans helmet, or shoes, or goggles? While Meredith was calmly watching TV, I spent the whole evening back and forth between the bedroom and my staging area behind the couch, carting things back and forth.

Surprisingly, I slept pretty well until the wake up call at 5:15. Our goal (which didn't happen) was to be down at the transition area by 6:30, which would give us plenty of time to set up. We racked our bikes, started getting out our gear, and then realized that we had an assigned rack. Oops. Take two. We went and got our chips, found out our assigned spot, and went to set up again. By coincidence, my dentist was set up two spots over, and we wished each other good luck.

I was a little self-conscious about wearing my bike shorts to the pool, but I certainly wasn't the only one. There was time for a quick bathroom break (Barefoot, ew. But thanks OSU for the most immaculate men's bathroom I've ever seen!), and then it was downstairs to the pool. The swim was a 400 meter serpentine swim, which entailed ducking the lane lines and alternating directions for each lane. They lined us up by estimated swim time, and off went the leaders.

It took about 30 minutes for us to get up to the start line. Just before we were to start, we noticed one guy going the wrong direction in one of the lanes. He had head-on collisions with three or four people, and we pointed him out to a race director, who rolled his eyes and made sure a volunteer stopped the swimmer at the end of the lane. :) Meredith started right before me - 5 seconds later and my first triathlon was underway!

My plan of jumping in next to the wall and beginning with a nice kick went awry, as I jumped too far out, and got a nice "dink" of my toes off the wall. Oh well. My stroke settled in fairly well, and I got a nice rhythm going. Unfortunately, I saw Meredith backstroking, and pulled up at the end of the lane to make sure she was okay. (Aw. And she was.) I passed her, and kicked off into lane 2. Over the rest of the swim, I think I was passed twice, and probably passed three or four swimmers. Mentally, I was trying to stay calm and not think about longer swims ahead, or the fact that the pool was waaaay deeper than the 4' I'm used to. I hit the ladder, and noticed Meredith right on my tail. She had a really strong swim after her initial troubles.

400m Swim (plus some running/stairs to transition): 9:19

We ran together up to transition, or so I thought. She says I was walking, which I very well might have been - it was kind of surreal finally being in the middle of the tri experience. I took some time to sit and dry off my feet before putting on my socks and bike shoes. (The words "You looked like you were getting a spa treatment" may have passed the lips of someone close to me afterwards. :P) By the time I left transition, Meredith was long gone.

T1: 2:35

The bike started out around Ohio Stadium, and then went west and north, before a jaunt down to the Schott and back, and then back across the river to the stadium. Two loops of that made up the course. I started off fairly quick (for me), and erred on the side of harder gears for most of the course. Just before the Schott turnaround on the first loop, I spotted Meredith. I passed her on the way back, and told her I'd see her on the run. Other than a few spare bike parts and potholes in the road, the bike was fairly uneventful. I stayed in aero position for probably 80% of the ride, which is pretty good for me.

20k Bike: 41:51 (17.8 mph)

Back up the ramp to transition we came, which this time I managed more quickly. It was just off with the bike shoes and helmet, on with running shoes and hat, and out the gate.

T2: 1:03

From the start of the run, funny enough, I could see my dentist maybe 25m ahead of me. For the first mile, I worked on narrowing that gap, and right around the first mile marker, I caught her. She tucked in behind me, and stayed there for the next two miles. Just after the halfway turnaround, I saw Meredith flying down the course. She said I had proved my superiority, but I truly still thought she'd catch me, as I wasn't that far ahead. Even though my mile splits were really quick for me, I managed to keep my pace steady, and before I knew it, we were winding around toward the finish. At the last turn, my dentist took off on a dead sprint. Even though I knew I had her on total time because of the staggered start, my competitive juices kicked in, and I did my best to win the race to the finish. Urged on by the announcer and the crowd, I managed to barely edge her by a step or two. I had barely gotten a drink and turned around before I was cheering Meredith in for her finish.

3 Mile(ish) Run: 22:47 (7:36 min/mile)

Total Time: 1:17:34 (4th in age group out of 8)

I really was happy and surprised by my time. The pre-race goals were:

1. Finish and have fun
2. 1:45
3. 1:30

Um...a 1:17 wasn't even on my radar. Although the course was short, my pace was somehow below my 5K PR pace, which was the biggest surprise. The swim was right about what I expected, and the bike was strong for me. Meredith finished around 1:19, also shattering her goal of 1:30. So, it was a successful day for the Gordons!

Next up is probably an international distance tri in a month. But for now, it's back to training!