Setup Championship Invitational - TriathlonOlympic

I was pretty excited to swim. I knew that this race had 8-10 really good swimmers and this would be the best competition I have faced this year. Rob Jones, a guy I have looked up to/looked forward to swimming all year was in the race and there were 2 other swimmers who had been out of the water 1st at just about every race they had entered this year. Rob is simply a stud at OWS and was first out of 2400 (including pros) people at an IM a few years ago.

I lined up right in front and was off at the sound of the start. Within 200 yards 6 of us broke from the pack and were off. I settled into 4th around the 300 yard mark and noticed the top 3 were starting to pull away and that the 5th and 6th place guys were dropping off. I knew I could not keep up the pace Rob was going for the entire swim and decided to just draft as long as I could. I was either going to blow up in this race or make it through and decided to just trust my training.

Somewhere around the 600-700 yard mark I dropped back from the top 3 and decided to keep pushing even though I did not have anyone to draft off of. Sighting went as well as it has all year. With about 200 yards left I checked back and noticed the 5th place guy was still with me. I sped up to make sure I had a clean run through transition and put a little extra time on him.

Not much - this was as fast as I have been all year. Course description said it was 1500M but talk after the race said it was 1450 yards.

Good T1 - my HR was sky high coming out the swim and breathing was very labored. Uphill run out of the water did not help. Looking at my time/place, I was very happy as I seemed to stick close with the leaders which is all I wanted to do.

Nothing

This course was so much fun. It was really hilly and had a few stretches where the wind was crazy but it also had stretches where you could just hammer.

I came out of T1 breathing very heavy and wanted to make sure I got my HR under control quickly. Within 2 miles I felt somewhat better and decided to start working the downhills and let them propel me up the uphills. This worked well as no one passed me for a the first 6 miles and I was able to keep cranking and not drop gear very often. Cadence was around 100, higher than my normal 95, but it felt right so I went with it.

Around mile 6 I ran into the first of what I knew was 4 larger hills. I tried to keep my power even and just spin up the hill. I did get up the hill without too much energy expended. By this point I was passing a lot of the woman and just saying good luck or looking good or something else encouraging. I have found that this helps take my mind off the race pain and hopefully helps them as well.

I knew I was entering the fun part of the course - downhill! There is a slight decline for a good 3-4 miles straight and I hammered it. Speed was 27-31 for this whole stretch - such a good feeling to be flying like that.

I saw a bridge up ahead which meant that the uphill was coming. I was flying along, cleared the trees and all of a sudden was blasted by a cross wind. I have only had my disk/hed3 combo for a few races and have not run into a wind like this. I felt my front wheel start to lift off the ground , stopped pedaling and eased across the bridge. Talk about adrenaline - 27 mph and wheel lift across a bridge! Made it up the hill, made the second right hand turn of the race and knew the hard part was coming.

Up the big hill. I spun it, did not try to hammer it and held 13 mph which I was pretty happy with. Cadence stayed above 90.

After the big hill you start a slow and steady climb. At this point I saw 2 guys drafting big time. They passed me and the second guy just stayed within a foot of the first guy and they rotated who would go first every 2-3 minutes. I told them they were drafting and they just ignored me. Ironically the one guys bike said "fueled by god" which made me laugh considering he was the worst drafter I have ever seen. They passed me and then slowed down. I was pissed so I hammered by them. A few minutes later a different group of 2 went by me clearly drafting - what is going on here!? I hammered back up in front of them as they slowed down on a somewhat steep uphill. I actually think the whole drafting thing helped me a lot as I was soooo pissed this was happening I averaged 22-23 uphill for a few miles straight. Eventually both groups of drafters passed me though I did keep them in site most of the bike.

The last few miles of the bike were painful as I was spent and I was really looking forward to getting off the bike and running.

Nothing - no regrets. Avg speed was good for a course like this.

Lost 10-15 seconds to most of the fasties in T2 - need to get speed laces.

Need to use my speedlaces next year.

Started off the run passing a bunch of people and then found some open space. Felt surprisingly good considering how hard I hit the run and bike.

Around mile 1 I was passed by Robert Christman (he won the VA series for my AG) and knew I was having a great race. He is an ok swimmer and very strong, biker/runner. I thought I was in third at this point but knew that there were 2-3 guys that should be close based off of our times/places in the various series.

I passed a few guys and was passed by a few in the first loop but not by anyone in my AG. The crowd support was really great and numerous people shouted/offered encouragement. At the end of the first loop in particular there were tons of people yelling/encouraging you to catch the person ahead of you.

At the final turn around (mile 4.5) I saw a group of 4 guys about a 100 yards back - crap - where did they come from? They were all gaining on me and one had an IM cap on. Down the hill I kept my cadence high and up the hill I pushed it. I grabbed my final cup of water and dumped it over my head. As a bonus I was 3 of 3 in getting cups into trash cans which put a smile on my face. :)

I kept glancing over my shoulder for the rest of the race and 1 of the guys was clearly coming for me. For some reason I saw a big smiley face on the run course a this point and this made me think of how lucky I was to be racing on such a nice day and how I wished my other BT friends and triathlete friends were here to race with me. It made me happy just realizing how far I had come in my first year and the friendships I had made and what the future could hold. This gave me a quick adrenaline shot and I picked up the pace. Another quick glance showed me the other 3 had not made up any time. About 150 yards out I took one final look back and the one guy was really close by now. I went into an all out sprint and made it across the finish line 2 seconds ahead of him and then had to grab my knees as I felt like I was going to be sick. That really hurt.

Nothing - I was running scared the whole time which is when I am at my best. I did not want to get passed.

Not much - got to the shade and just sat. Had a little water, gatorade, and some sweet/salty food but stomach was not doing well.


Still first year of doing tri's and I need more miles on both the bike and run. I was truthfully thrilled just to be at this race as it was my goal all year to qualify for this race. The fact that I was able to beat the 4th place guy in my AG in the VA triathlon series by 8 minutes showed me that I have made a lot of progress. He beat me by 3 minutes just 2.5 months earlier on a very similar course.



Fun race and great end to the season. A special thanks to all those that have supported me/believed in me and been my sounding board this season. I am lucky to have friends like all of you.