Triathlon #2 is in the books and it was another great time as well as a means to see where I am progressing and where I need more work.
The morning started off with the alarm going off at a very early 3:45am. I didn’t sleep worth a damn which causes me concern for when I actually do the Ironman. If I am this jacked up for a simple sprint tri, what’s it going to be like for the real thing?
I hit the road around 4:15am and arrived at the event about 5:35am. My desire to get there when the doors opened at 5:30am was driven by a hope to get a decent parking place and a good spot in the transition area. I achieved the good parking spot and was pleasantly surprised that unlike my last sprint tri, the spaces in the transition area were assigned based on your race number. Very cool! I got all setup and was ready to go well ahead of time for 7am transition area closure.
After a few announcements, one being that wetsuits were not authorized based on lake temp (bummer!), we started making our way to the swim start. Another unique facet about the event is that athletes were sent off two by two every 5 seconds. That was a plus because it prevented the mass confusion during a typical start with everyone running into each other…well, cut down on it at least. The downside was that people with higher bib numbers had to wait about 30 mins after the start before they got in the water.
Just before hitting the water, I realized that I didn’t take off my regular shorts that I had over my bike shorts. Great…more resistance through the water…just what I needed! The second mistake that I made was the pace I started out with was a little too fast. I got a little winded and had to back it down because my breathing and rhythm were out of whack. It never really felt like I got things figured out until I was almost out of the water. Lesson learned: Start out slow (very slow) and get timing down. Make sure I have the right equipment (clothing) for the swim.
I came out of the water feeling good (much better than my last tri) and bolted into the transition. My transition #1 efforts were respectable and that was definitely a product of having a little experience.
Next, it was on to the bike ride and I have to say that I was very pleased with my ride. The course suited my riding style with medium to smaller hills and plenty of flats. I stayed in aero position for 100% of the ride with the exception of a couple sharp turns. I figured I was doing fairly well since I was only passed by 1 person (a dude on an $8000+ bike) and I passed probably 30-40 people.
Feeling really good about the event so far, I pulled back into the transition area to get changed for the run. Again, another pretty uneventful transition thanks to having a little experience under my belt.
I made my way to the run start, then boom, it happened again, just like my last sprint, but only worse. Both of my calves knotted up to the point I could barely walk. After the last time, I thought it was likely due to inadequate hydration, but I am confident I was drinking plenty of water during the course of the bike ride. I have no idea why it happened, but it did and it really hurt my run time. All I could do was just do my best to keep moving forward and hope it would work itself out like last time…and it did. After nearly three minutes of hobbling, the cramps finally went away and I was able to run at a good pace. I was thinking about the cramps almost the whole time but luckily they never came back. Honestly, in the big scheme for the Ironman, 3 minutes to work out some cramps is really negligible, but 3 minutes during a sprint tri means quite a few positions lost. Lesson learned: Figure out what the hell is going on with post-ride cramps!
Excluding the run, it was a great event. I could tell that my training is paying off by how I felt after the event because I felt like I could have run the whole thing all over again after the finish.
Another neat part of the tri was that it was John Krause’s first event. I saw him afterwords at the finish line and he was smiling ear to ear. I couldn’t help but think…yep, there’s another person hooked now. John did great with an especially strong ride and run. Still a little work for him on the swim (just like all of us) but he is working hard on improving that phase of his tri.
So my next event is the half Ironman 70.3 next month and I am confident I will be ready. The only thing that concerns me is how in the hell I will get any sleep the night before!