6:37
Swim-:50:38
Bike-3:19
Run-2:20
Man, tough race.
We woke up at 4 am after a restless night. My rear tube popped loudly right before bed. Sounded like a firecracker. Was able to practice my tube changing abilities before bed. We headed out to the race after a normal breakfast. Traffic was a bit of an issue but we made it fine. Went down and set up my transition area. The wind was blowing pretty hard after an overnight cold front blew through. It dropped the expected high temps from 99 to 88 so I was fine with the wind. Took some pics in transition and just strolled around looking at the setup to get some landmarks for in and outs. Headed down to the water. It was pretty dark yet thanks to the clouds. Enjoyed hanging out in the quite for a bit. Hit the water and found it to be pretty warm. They said 77 but felt really nice.
Warm ups felt great. I was really confident before the start. Watched the pros go out. Impressive. My age group was 4th or 5th to go. Started slow on purpose. Got into a good rhythm right away. 1st leg was into the wind. Made the first turn still feeling good. I started getting passed by a lot of others in different color swim caps. Tried to stay in my race and not worry about it. Made really good progress because I made another turn and realized I was almost done. Pushed pretty hard to the finish. Little trouble getting out of the water. Lots of help there because of a drop off from a boat ramp. Wet suit off and off to T1.
Boy, there are a lot of bikes not here anymore. T1 was nothing special but in a race this long I was not concerned with time. Grabbed my nutrition and the bike and headed out. HUGE hillclimb right out if T1. This bike course was much more difficult than I expected. The 8 hill climbs on the course are pretty tough. We have a few hills close to where I train that are that steep but I avoid them. I had front derailler problems that I have not been having. We rode the day before and had no problems. Chain popped off on one of the hills. The rest of the time I started all the climbs on the big ring and after 2-3 min it would finally shift down to the small ring. Stopped to pee once. Otherwise just keep my cadence at 90-95 and watch the miles roll by. It rained while I was out on the bike but closer to the transition than out on the bike course. Coming back to T2, HUGH hill climb. Great way to finish a tough bike.
T2 bout the same. Got my nutrition and shoes on and headed out. Felt pretty good heading out. Temps were tolerable but it was very humid. Started out with 9 min pace. Decided early that this would be a run for the HR monitor and not pace. Between mile 3-4 here comes a HUGH hill out of the lake area. I walked the hill at a brisk pace. Picked it up again at the top. Had a big downhill and I really pushed it down the hill to make up some time only to find another big climb on the other side. Once I made it out on the flats, I was able to stay below 10 min pace and keep my HR below 170. Sun started coming out of the clouds so it was getting warm. My quads are shot from the bike so its survival mode from here on out. Mile 8 brought the big downhill again and then another big climb. I was happy to walk all the hills. The last 3 miles were tough. I was having to walk a lot. It was just finish at this point. My HR was still only about 170 but I had no legs left. I was able to run most of the last mile but it was nothing special.
Headed to the medical tent after the finish for some cold towels and ice packs. Lots of people in there getting IVs.
Hung around and waited for my two freinds to finish. We got in the lake and had a cold beer and tried to enjoy the moment a little. This is a tough course with unpredictable weather. If you are looking for a chanllenge, this is it. Very well organized and supported.
DB
Tougher than most, dumber than the rest. "You can not count the miles until you feel them" TVZ
sounds like a great race in very tough conditions-heat, humidity, hills, wind. The post race beer and dip must have felt outstanding.
Thanks guys. It was a great experience. The beer and the dip were awsome. We had a grand time.
Son, when you participate in sporting events, it's not whether you win or lose; it's how drunk you get. -- Homer Simpson
Nice job. Sounds like a brutal course and weather. Even the water would of been to warm for me
It felt like I was overheating during the swim with only a 3mm suit.