Saturday, August 4, 2012

Stumpy Creek International Triathlon


My Olympic distance debut after surviving intern year of residency

STUMPY CREEK INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON
1500m swim   27mi bike   6.2mi run
Mooresville, NC

The highlights:
SWIM:  28:29  (1:53/100m)
T1:  1:05
BIKE:  1:25:05  (19.1mph)
T2:  1:00
RUN:  48:14  (7:46/mi)
FINISH TIME:  2:43:52
PLACEMENT: 2nd age-group, 15th/114 women

PRE-RACE:  Last night, as I was laying out my typical pre-race breakfast of peanut butter toast with sliced banana, I came to the tragic realization that there were no bananas in the house.  The horror!  Given that it was 9PM, I was entirely too lazy to drive to the grocery store for a single banana.  Fortunately, I survived the banana-less peanut butter toast and smothered on a layer of strawberry jam for good measure.  The race was a 40 minute drive, which gave me plenty of time to eat and drink some hot tea.  Unlike my last race, I arrived at the site with more than an hour before race start.  After a quick ride to transition, laying out all of my gear, hitting the porta-johns (can someone please explain why race directors think that 8 porta-johns are sufficient for 500 people?), and a short run to warm up, it was nearing the 7am race start.

SWIM:  The course was rectangular and featured a deep water start.  Water temp was a balmy 86 degrees. I positioned myself at the front of the starting line, but still couldn't escape the flying fists and flailing legs for the first 250 meters.  I finally broke into open water and had a rather uneventful swim.  With 100 meters to go I took a mighty kick to the goggles from a nice man doing the breast stroke and suddenly had goggles full of water.  Nonetheless, I was fairly happy to see 28 minutes on my watch as I climbed out of the water.  I had the 13th fastest swim of the field, and that's exciting for someone without a swim background.

BIKE:  The course was advertised as "fast" with rolling hills.  That description is a bit too generous.  I struggled to find my biking legs and never could quite get into a consistent effort.  Of course wiping out in the first corner thanks to the man who swerved for no particular reason didn't exactly provide an encouraging start.  If nothing else, a bloodied knee and leg provided some excitement for the volunteers during the remainder of the race.  The last 7 miles seemed to be a steady uphill climb, and all I could think about was wanting to be off the bike.  The majority of my training rides are indoors since they occur at 4AM, and I think I've lost some of my hill climbing strength as a result.

RUN:  This was a two loop course, with a mile-long steady hill at miles 2 and 5 and several other shorter hills.  I felt decent through mile three, but then began to get a side stitch and fought with that for the remainder of the run.  I held it together pretty well until the hill from hell at mile 5, and gave in and walked for a hundred feet or so to regain my focus.  I passed several women over the course of the run and was passed by none, so I was happy with my effort despite a time that was slower than I anticipated.  

POST-RACE:  Hello finish line - how I love thee!  And those hills - I hate them!  After cooling down, rehydrating, stretching, packing up my gear, and schlepping it all to the car, I was more than ready for some calories.  Sadly, options were pathetic.  Chips, hotdogs, and orange slices.  Yum, yum - sounds like perfect food to refuel endurance athletes, right?!  I downed several orange slices and a few sunchips while waiting for the awards but held-out for a huge nutrition-packed smoothie back at home.  This race was the North Carolina Best of the US qualifier, so it attracted an uber-competitive field.  It's certainly a frustrating process to find my way back into competitive shape after some time away from racing, but I'm thankful to back at it and hungry for success.  

And because I knew how much I would LOVE those hills today, I enthusiastically signed up to relive the pain and torture at the Red Top Mountain Triathlon in three weeks.  Obviously I don't make the best decisions when I'm sleep deprived.  

No comments:

Post a Comment