Camp Whitcomb/Mason Triathlon

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Camp Whitcomb/Mason Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

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Hartland, Wisconsin
United States
Boys and Girls Club
90F / 32C
Sunny

Total Time = 1h 46m 51s
Overall Rank = 47/290
Age Group = M 40 - 44
Age Group Rank = 9/25

Pre-race routine:

(MUSIC: SPAGHETTI WESTERN)
SFX: WHISTLE

The day dawned quietly. Perhaps a little too quietly-- as if it knew what the rising sun would bring. Two men, one race. And only one would be walking away with his pride still intact.

Yes, 290 racers would show up that day at ol' Camp Whitcomb/Mason, but to these two men, it was a showdown between only each other. On one side, the scrappy, up-and-coming young buck racing in honor of his family, the Donkai Nation and his ailing puppy dog. On the other side, the perfectly-coiffed, pearly-grinning, city-slicker TV News anchor, who races in only to show off his bobblehead AG trophies on TV.

It was inevitable these two foes would meet again, for it was meant to be so. Like the mongoose and the cobra, the T.Rex and the triceratops, the... uh, Tom and the Jerry... these men were destined to be arch-rivals.

Yes, the day would begin quietly only because it knew there was a storm was raging on the horizon.

Event warmup:

There were no tumbleweeds to blow through the transition area, no horses to whinny of impending bloodshed. But the air was thick-- yes, with anticipation, but mostly humidity. It was some ungodly temperature out and the previous day's rain only fueled the steambath.

That's when their eyes met, from opposite ends of the swim transition area (this race has TWO transitions.) Like the Red Sea before Moses, the townsfolk... er, other racers... parted, opening a pathway between them. Boldy, calculating, the young buck strode toward his nemesis. Like out of an old western, the gangly, giraffe-legged scofflaw was dressed all in black. Of course, that could just be because that's the only color they make wetsuits in.

"You must be the one they call Charles 'Aquanet' Benson," the young buck muttered through his clenched teeth.

"And you must be Scooby 'The Kid'", grinned the gawky news anchor, sizing up his rival for the first time. "Where's the rest of you?" he guffawed.

"I think you'll find this donkey packs plenty of kick, my friend," Scooby answered, staring straight into the anchor's eyes. The thing about TV news anchors is that they've got black eyes, lifeless eyes, like a doll's eyes. But really, that's a whole other story.

They shook hands. Rosshole snapped a pic. Then they turned and walked away from each other, Benson to his ragged band of motley media-types, Scooby to his loyal herd of donkeys (jmwebs, cweninger, joerunner, force, sgoehner, rosshole, jszat, lara13, kbreitz).

The showdown was about to begin.

Swim

11m 42s
600 yards
01m 57s / 100 yards

Comments:

Being an elite/celebrity (an "elibrity"?), Chuck went of in the first wave, no doubt believing his background as an ex-college swimmer would help him establish an insurmountable lead.

Apparently, he forgot that dogs can swim, too... and so can people named after them. Entering the water with the 4th Wave-- 8 minutes behind Benson-- Scooby charged headlong into the water like his feisty namesake yellow lab. He started on the outside, but quickly took an inside track, keeping the buoys close on his breathing side to ensure perfect navigation.

Clearing the murky, silty water near shore, Scooby found an open stretch of water and paddled ahead, immediately finding his comfort zone. In almost no time it seemed, he reached the turn buoy-- so quickly, in fact, he stopped to look around and make sure there wasn't a further one and that he wasn't cutting the course short (such as a dastardly TV news anchor might do.)

Seeing it was the correct buoy, Scooby buried his head in the water again and began paddling like a Mississippi paddleboat, using his big diesel engine-like motor to throw aside the water. Swimming among orange and green caps, he knew he had caught the waves ahead of him and was turning in a solid performance.

But would it be enough to offset the greatest strength of one pencil-thin ex-collegiate swimmer news anchor, who was seemingly genetically-designed to cut through the water?

Why, yes. Yes, it would be.

Scooby: 11:42
Smiling Chuck: 11:53

First blood had been drawn.

What would you do differently?:

You mean, besides secretly slitting Chuck's wetsuit so that he would take on water and plummet like the doomed Titanic to the bottom of the ocean? Oh. Sorry.

Transition 1

01m 59s

Comments:

13/25

This was okay. I took extra time to put my socks and number belt on here so I wouldn't have to do it in T2.

What would you do differently?:

I would shout to the skies above, "Benson! You can ride, but you can't hide... as God is my witness, I will catch you before this day is through!" Or, you know, something similar.

Bike

1h 06m 41s
22 miles
19.80 mile/hr

Comments:

Benson must have sensed I was right on his tail, because just like a frightened vermin, he got on his bike and headed for the hills. OK, that could also be because that's where the bike course goes, but that's beside the point. He headed for 'em, and I took off after him.

In all honesty, this course is about as tough as they come, offering nothing but hills, hills and more hills with a few flat and open stretches just to let the wind pick up where the hills leave off.
But this is basically my home bike course and where I do most of my training. I know where to pour on the gas and where to back off to prepare for an upcoming curve or climb. And I would use it to my advantage.

Judging from the smell of musky cheap cologne in the air, I knew Benson was close, so I held nothing back. On this day, and without tapering, I gave all I had to give on this course, throwing caution (and any thought of the run) to the wind. In the end, I was only passed by three other racers throughout the entire ride-- two of those being fellow Donks, jszat and cweninger. I reasoned that at this race, the bike makes up an even more disproportionate part of the race, so this is where I would make my stand... and just hope to hang on during the run.

As though riding on the wings of the Valkyries themselves, I flew past other racers while the William Tell Overture droned in my head, knowing that every second of suffering was bringing me closer to reaching the Evil Overlord of the Airwaves.

That's when I saw it... yes, only fleetingly, but unmistakingly... there on the ground. Pearly pools of water on the ground, swirling with oily AquaNet Extra Hold. It could only mean one thing-- I had made Charles Benson sweat so much his hair was becoming mussed and no doubt soiled by perspiration. He knew I was but moments behind.

Victory was at hand!!!!!!!!

Scooby: 1:06:41
Evil Grinning News Anchor: 1:12:03

I'm COM-INK FOR YOU, CHARLES!

What would you do differently?:

Nothing. This was flat-out the hardest I could possibly ride for 67 minutes and still be at all able to run afterward.

Transition 2

01m 7s

Comments:

4/25

The time I lost in T1 I made up for right here with the 4th fastest time in my AG. And yes, even faster than Charles Benson.

What would you do differently?:

As it turns out, I would rack my bike about three rows away from mine.

When I returned to transition after the race, my entire row had somehow collapsed and all the bikes were laying on the grass. My beautiful Guru now has a ghastly deep scratch along the top tube and a gash through the handlebar tape on one of the aerobars. I am really not happy. My bike was in pristine condition and now it's banged up because someone didn't put the bike racks together properly. This was a crappy way to end a great day.

Run

25m 22s
3.1 miles
08m 11s min/mile

Comments:

If I'm honest, after the ride I put in, I was gassed getting off the bike. At any other race, I would have eased into the run and tried to recover my spiked heartrate, but this wasn't any other race. This was the Battle for Camp Whitcomb/Mason. So I charged right into it.

The initial part of the run is a trail run through very hilly-- and, after Friday's rain-- very mushy terrain. After the brutal bike ride, this part just saps the legs. But I stayed on the heels of a good pace rabbit ahead of me, knowing Charles Benson was still off somewhere ahead.

To this point, I really had no idea where Charles was on the course, but I knew I had given the swim and bike everything I had. Now It was just a matter of hanging on and seeing if my best was good enough.

Finally, we hit the road portion of the course and made the turn into the subdivision. The road on this part is made of fresh, hot black asphalt and with the sun now shining high overhead, the pavement just radiated the heat right back up. It was brutal.

Nearing the turnaround, I saw Clint and shouted to him whether he had seen Charles anywhere. But Clint looked pretty out of it himself and just shouted back, "Who?"

Just then, as if on cue, out of the wavy heat-distorted distance emerges the gawky, slumping figure of Charles Benson. Our eyes meet almost simultaneously, and just as instantly, we both know the game is up. The day is mine.

"You got me, Scoob!" Charles shouted over, looking flushed and defeated in the oppressive heat.

"There will be other days, Charles!" I answered back.

The truth is, I was so close to the turnaround, if I pushed it, I probably could have caught him before the finish. But knowing I had an 8-minute pad, I let up a little to both save my legs for the week's training ahead and to allow Charles to salvage some pride. With my mission safely accomplished, there was no point in rubbing salt in the open wound.

In the end, I turned in one of my worst 5K's in years, but still a very satisfying race.

One year ago, at this very same race, Charles had beaten me by between :01 and :08 in each and every event of the race and :40 seconds overall. Today, I had avenged that defeat and then some.

Victory at the Battle of Camp Whitcomb Mason-- and bragging rights for a full off-season-- was mine.

Scooby: 25:22
Stork-legged Pretty Boy: 28:41

VICTORY!

What would you do differently?:

Caught Charles and made him give me a piggy-back ride to the finish while shouting, "I am Charles Benson and I am Scooby's beeeeeaaawwwwwtch!!!!" to the crowd.

Post race

Warm down:

After crossing the finish, Charles was there to greet me and graciously extend his hand in congratulations. Now, of course, if this was a movie, I would have picked him up and thrown him over the railing into a bottomless trash chute while he was consumed by the purple lightning of The Force. But since it's real life, we had just had a very friendly discussion about the race.

He had clearly struggled with the heat and humidity and was not able to bring his 'A' game. And I duly mocked him and called him a whiny, knock-kneed nancyboy. Nah, I actually gave him a copy of "The Distance" and told him we would continue our rivalry next year.

Oh yes, as with any good epic, there's always a sequel in the works.

Event comments:

As always, this was a GREAT, well-run race.

My only complaint is the flimsy, unstable bike racks in transition that collapsed and resulted in my beautiful bike getting a couple of nasty gashes in the paint. I'm really not happy about that at all and it really put a damper on the day.

Last updated: 2009-08-08 12:00 AM

Swimming
00:11:42 \| 600 yards \| 01m 57s / 100yards
Age Group:	11/25
Overall:	0/290
Performance:	Good
Suit:	ProMotion Full
Course:	1/3 mile. Straight out and back through murky, silty water at the shore.
Start type:	Wade	Plus:	Waves
Water temp:	0F / 0C	Current:	Low
200M Perf.	Good	Remainder:	Good
Breathing:	Average	Drafting:	Good
Waves:	Good	Navigation:	Good
Rounding:	Good

T1
Time:	01:59
Performance:	Average
Cap removal:	Good	Helmet on/ Suit off:	Yes
Wetsuit stuck?	No	Run with bike:	Yes
Jump on bike:	No
Getting up to speed:	Good

Biking
01:06:41 \| 22 miles \| 19.80 mile/hr
Age Group:	8/25
Overall:	0/290
Performance:	Good
Wind:	Some with gusts
Course:	Figure-8 through and around 22 of the hilliest miles you'll find around here.
Road:	Rough Wet	Cadence:
Turns:	Good	Cornering:	Good
Gear changes:	Good	Hills:	Average
Race pace:	Hard	Drinks:	Just right

T2
Time:	01:07
Overall:	Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes		Good
Jumping off bike		Average
Running with bike		Good
Racking bike		Good
Shoe and helmet removal		Good

Running
00:25:22 \| 03.1 miles \| 08m 11s min/mile
Age Group:	11/25
Overall:	0/290
Performance:	Below average
Course:	Part trail run. Part road run. All hard after a brutal bike.
Keeping cool		Drinking

Post race
Weight change:	%
Overall:	Good
Mental exertion [1-5]	5
Physical exertion [1-5]	5
Good race?	Yes

Evaluation
Course challenge	Just right
Organized?	Yes
Events on-time?	Yes
Lots of volunteers?	Yes
Plenty of drinks?	Yes
Post race activities:	Good
Race evaluation [1-5]	5

{postbutton}

scoobysdad

2009-08-09 8:27 PM

Champion

6056

Menomonee Falls, WI

Subject: Camp Whitcomb/Mason Triathlon

Camp Whitcomb/Mason Triathlon

Camp Whitcomb/Mason Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

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