Notes
Temp 72 Wind 5 mph. Humidity 92% Dew Point 70°.
A-CAT Triathlon. 400m Swim / 13.5M Bike / 5K Run. We are one of six teams entered. There are no team divisions, its open, and we are bringing two 50+ year old men and a masters woman to the dance.
Brutal humid this morning with a 70° Dew Point and sun beating down hard by start time. Swim will start in three waves and we have one of the top swimmers (Debbie F.) entered; however, since she is in the Team Division, she must start in third wave. Forces her to swim around over half the field as she makes her way out and back to shore. Comes out of the water in the top 10 with the 3rd best swim time. Into the transistion area with a 0:53 second lead on the second place team. Chip exchange with our biker (Rising Force), and he is off. Second place team has issues with transistion, so we pick up another 0:05 seconds. Have about a minute lead.
Expect to be behind at start of the run. With minute lead after the swim, hope it is only 1:30-2:00 minutes, but think I have a shot if it is as much as 3:00. Problem if it is much more is that it is only a 5K run. Their runner is Scott D.
Not so lucky. I get the world class timing chip down by 3:36. Both teams transistion in 0:37 seconds. There are two nasty, nasty almost straight up climbs on this course. Planned on running smart race, but now have hit it in full out chase mode from the first step. The first nasty climb is a 50 footer barely 200 meters from the start. Run it hard, but with good technique to save every ounce of energy. Top out and weave through the parking lot attempting to take a chainsaw to the tangents. Hit the dam crossing, look ahead and see two runners, but neither is Scott D. In fact, do not see him anywhere on the dam.
Just start passing people. Dam crossing over, making a right, looking at the only downhill, still no Scott. First mile split is 6:07 with most seconds and effort spent on that stupid climb. On the most favorable part of course, so will roll, tug on and pass folks, and look for Scott coming back the other way. Finally see him as I approach the turnaround. Mark his point, check my watch and press the current section of the course hard. Hit the turnaround, get back to his mark, and recheck my watch. He has 1:50 lead on me with 1.2 mile of course left. Damn, that is not much real estate to work with. To make it worse, we are in the middle of 1K of uphill running with nasty hill number two just ahead. Second mile spit 5:54.
At least I am on the hardest part of the course with another runner to tug on. Pull him in to about 30-40 meters and notice he is still running on the right side of the road as we approach the next left turn. Out comes the chainsaw again, chop off a big hunk of tangent and I am on his heels as we start the second dam crossing. Get around and see Scott over half way across. Nothing to do but hammer it.
Make it about half way across myself and fall apart. Pull it back together and surge again. Approaching other side when heat and lactic acid crawl up my back and smack me in the head. Fall apart again, grab it right back, start to surge and get nauseous. Screw it, go into strider mode entering the parking lot. Pushing to the finish line, turnover progresses from just under 6:00 to 5:21 at the finish. Chip time 18:06. Close 3:20 on 5K run, but we lose by 0:16 seconds. Get a second place AG medal. Typically get one of these a year...hope this is it for 2013.
I had 2.98 on Garmin. With tangents and steep hills; maybe closer to 3.05. Still very happy with effort and performance on tough course in bad conditions. Hate 2nd place, but proud of run. Feel very, very good about my fitness and the way my training is trending heading into fall races and cooler temps. Have never before been able to average low 6:XXs on hilly courses in hot and humid conditions. Have done it twice now in little more than 30 days.