So, just to sum up: DAVE IS A TOTAL ROOKIE.
That said...
We rolled into Oxford with about five minutes to spare in registration on Friday night. You see, Oxford is a pretty small town in the middle of nowhere. There's basically one way in. And that way was blocked by a car that had flipped into a ditch, and was swarmed by college students trying to get the occupants out. When the police showed up, one of those cars of college students drove off quickly. Hmm... Anyway, we did manage to get registered and up to our lodge at Hueston Woods state park. Our room included tickets to the all you can eat fish fry (because what better pre-race food than that?!), but we had missed it. Big props to the park, though, because they said we could get a free breakfast the next day instead, and it was a GOOD treat after a race! But I digress.
Race morning was chilly...low 50s and kind of drizzly. Once we got set up in transition, it was indoors with all of us to get ready for a 400m serpentine pool swim. Meredith and I didn't get seeded together, so I was on the line first, and with an only slightly better entry than last time I did this, I was off. Pretty quickly, I caught up to a girl who had started a few positions ahead of me, and I was faced with the choice of drafting or passing. Since she was moving along pretty well, I chose to stick close behind her, and stayed that way for a few lengths. I attempted to pass a couple times, but she wasn't having it, and I decided I wasn't ready to put in the extra effort to force the issue. When we reached the end, I glanced at my watch, and was a little disappointed to see that my swim pace for that 400m (1:55ish/100m) was actually slower than the 600m pace from the Lifetime tri. Maybe it was the long course format, maybe the drafting, maybe the fact that in this one I had to get straight out and go to the bike rather than having 10 minutes to transition. Whatever was the culprit, I was quickly out the door into the rain and cold.
400m Swim (plus run to transition): 8:06
The rain didn't make things easy in transition. I had brought a long sleeve shirt to throw on because of the temperature, and between pool water and rain water, it took a while to get on. That plus gloves and general rustiness equalled a pretty slow T1.
T1: 2:21
As I mentioned, we didn't get to drive the course, so I didn't much know what to expect on the bike course, other than some hills. I counted about four significant hills in the 12.4 mile course, and a pretty steady wind. By a mile or two in, I had settled into a good cadence, and just went with it. The roads felt a little slippery, so a couple descents felt more treacherous than I liked. Overall, I felt like I was passing about the same number of people that I got passed by, which is pretty normal for me. At least the ones who were passing me seemed to be on fancy bikes and wheel sets this time! After rolling through country roads for the majority of the course, we had one last climb up into town again, and then a gradual descent back to transition that I used to relax and catch my breath. I'd say that maybe I could have pushed a little harder on the bike given better weather, but biking certainly hasn't been my focus this winter, so I was pretty satisfied. Funny enough, I was only seconds off of the last tri I did that included a 20K bike, three years ago. (This was a much tougher course, though)
20k Bike: 41:29 (17.9 mph)
T2 was a little better. I did decide to strip my long sleeved shirt off, despite the chilliness. If I hadn't needed to tie my shoes, I might have been closer to a minute, but that's my own fault.
T2: 1:20
And finally we were on to the sport that I've actually been working. I was anxious to see if and how my training had paid off here. Right out of the gate, my legs felt good - not too much hangover from the bike. And almost immediately, I was passing people. I would see someone ahead, and pick them off. It became a little game of spotting all the people who had passed me on the bike. I had decided not to wear a Garmin, so I was just using my watch to gauge my progress. There weren't mile markings, but there was one water stop, which I figured was probably around the mile mark. So far so good on the pace. And when I reached the turnaround of the out and back course, it started with 11:xx. That was a nice surprise, and I wanted to see if I could keep it up. I thought of the track and tempo workouts I've put so much time into lately, and told myself it was just 6 more laps around the track. I'm not sure I've ever had so much focus during the run of a triathlon. By the time I turned down toward the finish line, I'd been passed by two runners, but I had passed thirteen. And as I crossed the finish line, I hit my watch to see my final time of...
HOO LO LO9T L
Uh, okay. So I had to wait until the next day to see my results, but at least it was a good surprise: I had cut almost a minute off my best 5K to date. Not just in a tri, but any 5K! And not only that, it was my fastest pace for a running race of any distance. Apparently the plan is working.
5K Run: 21:59 (7:04 min/mile)
Total Time: 1:15:18
15/47 Age Group
85/544 Overall
And now it's back to running. Three weeks until my "real" target, the Cap City Half Marathon!
1 comment:
Congratulations on a great race despite all your attempts to spoil it for yourself! :)
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