Race Report - Buffalo Trails Triathlon

Or, "Charlie Brown vs. Big Hiney Hill"

Friday night, Meredith and I made the trip down to the Ohio/Kentucky border for the Buffalo Trails Triathlon (and the 5K for her). After all the work I've done in the pool this winter, sign in pre-race was a little bit of a downer. Because of poor water quality, the swim had been cancelled. Instead, a half mile run was substituted. From previous years' results, I was sort of counting on the swim to pick up a couple minutes on my competition. The best I could do now was to go with the flow and do my best on race day.

We drove the course, both for the run and the bike, and realized that neither would be as easy as we had envisioned. We knew there were steps in the run course, but didn't know that we would be running on grass for half the 5K distance. The bike course had a lot more roll to it than it looked like from tracing the course online, and a couple patches of gravel. And "Big Hiney Hill", the defining feature of the bike course, was indeed imposing in person. It curves up over the Ohio river valley wall up to the farms on top, and thanks to the curve you can't see where it ends until you're almost there.

Since Maysville is a pretty small town, there was no Olive Garden there, so we had to go local for some pasta. The place we found was... well... let's say it was geared to an "older" crowd. The pasta was pretty bland, and the garlic bread may not have actually contained any garlic. I suppose there are worse things to eat pre-race than bland pasta.

On race morning, we grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and had a pretty short drive down to transition. Since this race was so small (49 competitors), setting up in transition was a breeze. The host hotel was even open for bathrooms and water fountains - nice change of pace from the usual start line facilities! Meredith's race didn't start until after mine, so I was first to toe the line, and a little after 8, we were off!

Per coach's instructions, I tried to take the first half mile run easy, and not burn myself out. I seemed to be the only one doing that, as everyone else sprinted away. I wound up not last into T1, but not too far from it. No big deal - really, how much time can you gain in half a mile? (Answer: The overall winner gained 1:06) Not really worth flooring it for that amount of time, unless you're trying to win the thing. And I ended up going faster than intended anyway. :)

Run 1 - 3:32 (7:04/mi)

Going from run to bike is really a lot easier than swim to bike. For one, there's no wetsuit!

T1 - 0:47

After a little bit of iffy pavement on the way out of town, the bike course starts out with some long gradual roll along the Ohio river valley. Coach gave me the goal on the bike to pass 10 people, and I had hoped to average somewhere around 20 mph for the course (though that was before actually seeing the course). And in the first 8 miles, I had already passed my 10 people! Another bonus of taking that first run slow - you get to pick off a lot of people who went out too fast. :) My legs felt pretty good coming out of town, and I was excited about what the day might hold.

Around 9 miles in is "Big Hiney Hill". I was glad we had driven the course, because you come down a little bit of a hill, make a sharp left, and then you CLIMB! There's no time to be downshifting, but because I was prepared, I got in my small ring coming down the previous hill. Even so, my gears were grinding a bit as I got down to my smallest gear at the base of the hill. I loved that the organizers had painted messages onto the road all along the hill. At the base was "Welcome to Big Hiney Hill", and shortly into it was "Who loves pain?"

Big Hiney Hill - 1 mile of fun!

I picked off rider number 11 near the base, and as I was passing number 12 on the hill, he asked me if we were almost to the top. I answered honestly that I wasn't sure (it was wooded and a steady curve, so who knew?), and then I noticed out the "Halfway up!" on the road. I don't think he was very happy about that. Eventually, it did end, and I cruised past a thirteenth rider at the top. There was one more guy in view at that point, but that's where he'd stay - too far away to catch, but never quite escaping my vision.

The top part of this course was very beautiful; it curved up and down through farms. Meredith and I had joked before that it was like the Tour De France - a 1 lane road winding up through fields, and I could almost see people out waving flags in my face. Other than a couple steep little rollers, I was able to stay in my big ring for the majority of this part. And then, what goes up must come down! The last major section is a steady wooded downhill, but not so steep that I ever felt out of control or that I couldn't pedal. I just held a nice steady cadence and enjoyed the ride. Finally, the course dumped you back on the first road along the river, and it was a nice smooth ride back into town. I was happy with my effort on the bike, and the legs still felt good!

Bike - 1:17:36 (19.4 mph)

Also an easy T2. I was happy to only see 2 bikes back on the rack, after being the last of 5 out in T1.

T2 - 0:42

I hadn't really thought about it on the bike, but there was really no breeze to be felt. And it was turning into a pretty warm day (Afterward, we saw a bank thermometer at 91) . When I first left transition, everything was feeling pretty good. However, in the first half mile, I started getting some stomach cramps. I had hoped to run under 8 minute miles, but I had to back off the pace a little to keep everything in working order. I had also planned to take a salt tab on the bike, but I think I dropped it, because it wasn't there when I had looked.

So, the run turned into a bit of damage control instead of the strong run I had envisioned. I made it to the turnaround, walked up the stairs, and had to walk a few more times over the last mile and a half. My heart rate just felt through the roof, and I couldn't keep it under control. So, I'd give myself a 10 second walk break to cool down, and then get back to the run. This seemed to work okay, though I wasn't setting any speed records.

When I got in sight of the finish line, I was happy to see that I'd crack 2 hours, which was sort of a goal pre-race. And when they posted the results, I was happier to see that I had placed in my age group!

The big finish. The guy ahead of me was a duathlete, so I had no real reason to try and chase him down. :)

Run 2 - 26:23 (8:39/mi)

Total - 1:49:03
22/49 Overall
2/2 Age Group

I had thought that I placed 3rd out of 5 in my age group, but now that the results are out, I'm actually listed as second in my age group of two total. I see that one of the guys registered as a clydesdale, but I'm not sure what happened to the others. Unfortunately, this race only gives out awards to a certain percentage of finishers for age groups, so only the first place guy got an award. Also unfortunate? The hot pink cotton t-shirts from this race. Not sure I'll be wearing that one anytime soon. Other than that (and obviously the swim), I thought this race was run very well. It was organized, the course was pretty well marked, and there were a lot of volunteers.

I'm really happy about the way I raced, and encouraged by the results. This race was intended as a tune-up for Coeur D'Alene, and I think it served its purpose well!