Deer Creek Triathlon - Olympic - TriathlonOlympic

I decided not to wear my wetsuit. IMKY is not wetsuit legal so I'm not going to wear one at my races unless it's really cold.
My wave started, I dove in and started swimming. I went out fast, trying to get away from the crowd. Then I settled in and cruised. I didn’t swim too hard; I’ve discovered my body is happier with a HR in the 155-163 range than in the 163+ range. I ran into some guy wearing a wetsuit and doing the breaststroke. That was interesting. I exited the water in 27:20. 2:20 slower than I wanted plus I had a long run up to transition.


Nothing.

I still sit in T1, dry my feet and put on my socks and shoes. If I could learn to ride with no socks and leave my shoes on the bike I bet I could knock a full minute off my T1 time.

See above, just not this year.

I had a really good bike. The course was more like 25.1 miles than 24.8. According to my bike computer I averaged 21MPH exactly, which was my goal. I lost my yellow aerobottle sponge right out of transition. I thought about stopping to pick it up but decided against it. As I exited transition and turned out of the park my HR was in the high 160’s. I decided to take it real easy until it came down below 155. So I rode the first few miles around 17-18MPH. About the time I started passing the first sprint racers I kicked it up a notch. I passed a ton of people during the first lap. I was sporting my new aero helmet so I had to make sure I deserved it and ride fast. :)I hit the two hills at the end of the 1st loop and powered up them. I’m getting much better at hills, they didn’t take too much out of me and I recovered very fast afterwards. During the whole ride I ate two gu’s and about 2/3 of a cliff bar. It was enough.
As I started the second loop I checked my average speed on my computer. It said 20.7. I HAD to get that 21 average, so I kicked it up again. There is one long, flat straight-away in the course. I checked my HR here, it said 163. I checked my speed, 26+. I smiled. Then I thought about an interview I saw with Natasha Badmann a few years ago. She’s won IM Hawaii 6 times and done it with a smile on her face the entire time. I though about how cool it was that I was able to compete in a sport with the likes of great athletes and great champions like Badmann, Chris McCormack and Chrissie Wellington. My smile turned into a laugh. I looked in front and behind me to make sure no one else was around. I was alone for several hundred yards. So I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. What a great sport! This was the best part of my day.


Laugh more.

I couldn't get my helmet over my handlebars the way I wanted to. I took a few extra seconds to make sure it wouldn't fall on the ground and get scratched up.

Nothing.

My run was pretty uneventful. The first mile went by really fast. I spotted a few people I knew, some BTers like Kate, Tri-Husker, Emerson and Bernabe. I didn’t stop to walk the entire time, not even at the aid stations. I just grabbed some H2O and kept on running. I saw Jeremy on my way back. He had some serious road rash up and down his left side. He told me later that he’d taken a nasty spill dismounting his bike. He broke his aerobars and helmet. But the man, who has been training all of five days for this race, got up, rubbed some dirt in his bleeding wounds and completed the run. He didn’t even stop in transition to check himself out. Jeremy, you are the man.

Bernabe caught me with about 2 tenths of a mile to go and we ran in together. He pulled up in the last few feet and let me cross first. I saw my wife and kids at the finish chute. After I crossed the line I turned around and saw my daughter had run down the chute after me. Cute.


I hammered the bike and it caused my already weak run to suffer. I don't know that I'd slow up on the bike next time, but I do realize that I could probably take some time off my run if I was not so aggressive on the bike.

Drank some water, changed clothes and waited to Jeremy to finish.


A weak run.


Some interesting things happened after I finished. I went to get some food after packing up Jeremy’s and my transition spots. I stopped by the Race for a Cure tent Emerson and his family had set up and grabbed a cupcake. They were delicious. The cake was very moist and they had tons of frosting. I scarfed it down and headed out to the post race food tent. I was loading up my plate with chips, cookies pretzels and other junk food (but no fruit) when I looked up and saw Lora manning the food table. We talked for a bit. Then she said, “here, let me get you a napkin.” I thanked her and stuffed it in my pocket. Then she said, “um, you might want to wipe your face.” I had a huge glob of icing on my face. Yes Lora, now you know I’m a slob. How embarrassing.

The awards ceremony was going on a few feet away. I didn’t bother to go over because I wanted to get back and see how Jeremy was doing, plus I’m not fast enough to place. A few minutes later Lora comes running up to me holding a medal and says, “David, you got first place in your age group!” Are you serious? No way! It was really cool of Lora to go out of her way to find me and get that to me.
Monday after the results were posted I found out I came in 11th, not first. So now I have this medal I don’t deserve and don’t want because I didn’t earn it. I Googled the guy who took first and found out he lives close. I went over to his house on Monday and spoke with him. He actually came in second in the 35-39 age group. So he didn’t want the medal either. The race company has the results all loused up. I think I’ll give the medal back to the race company next time I race with them.

One other thing was as I was talking to Bernabe after the race he told me he breaststroked some of the swim. And he was wearing a wetsuit. So he was probably the one I ran into on the swim. Bernabe is a fast breaststroker because he finished the swim just a few minutes later than me.

This was a great race for me. I PR’ed by more than 5 minutes, but came up about 4 minutes short of my goal of 2:35. This is my last oly distance race this year. I’ll be going for a 2:30 finish next year. I’ll just need to work on my run.

The pics below are:
1. Lora checks athletes in
2. Bernabe, Nora and I cross the finish line
3. Jeremy's road rash
4. Emerson and granddaughter
5. Bernabe and daughter