Buck Hurly Sprint Triathlon - 5/1/11

Because I committed to do my first triathlon in 4 years as part of a team event for the One2Tri Racing team at Latta, I decided I should probably do a warm-up one to minimize possible embarrassment.  A friend of mine, Tracy Chambers, had suggested this smaller tri up in Salisbury, NC and it seemed like good timing.  It was a 300M pool swim, ~11 mile bike, and 5K.  I also talked fellow O2T Racing teammate, Mo Campbell, into this race.  Misery loves company!

I picked Mo up and we rode up to Salisbury.  This was Mo's very first tri ever, so I wanted to make sure we got there early.  I was a little concerned about how my legs would respond after yesterday's duathlon - not to mention my usual anxiety about swimming.  I did a practice swim on Friday, which was the first time I'd been swimming since 8/24/07 and, no surprise, it showed.  My wife, Val, went with me and commented afterwards, "I don't understand how you can run 100 miles, but you can barely swim 50 meters!"  Me neither.  Anyway, it was a short pool swim, so I wasn't too concerned.  I had estimated my swim time at 10 minutes, so I got in the pool about 1/2 hour after the fastest swimmer (who swam it in 3:15).  I primarily did the backstroke and side stroke and just took it easy.  Came out of the water in 8:00.  Hey - only 4:45 behind the leader at this point!

Crossing the finish line

I did pretty well on the transition.  I decided to go sock-less on the bike and run, so I had applied some Chamois Butt'r to the collar of my bike shoes so I could literally slip right in, which worked well.  It was a long run to the bike mount and I was off.  We were told the bike course was a 2 loop one, but it was really a lollipop course with 2 loops on the lollipop and an out and back on the "stick."  The hills were a little more gentle than the duathlon, so I never came out of the big ring.  I felt very good on the bike and was attacking uphills and downhills, still being conservative on the corners.  When I came to the end of the 1st loop, there was a volunteer with a bull horning telling racers which direction to go.  I couldn't hear him, so I slowed down and yelled "lap 2" over and over.  He pointed to the left, whereupon I saw another volunteer holding up a sign that read, "Lap 2" with an arrow pointing left, so I went left for my 2nd lap.  There were no riders in front of me to watch what they were doing.  Well, I ended up at the bike dismount line, looked at my Cat Eye and knew I had not finished the course that quickly.  The volunteers told me I needed to complete my 2nd lap.  For a split second I though about bagging it, but got back on my bike and went out for lap #2.  I figure I lost at least 3 minutes on this detour.  I was extremely frustrated because I'd had such a strong ride to that point.  Ultimately, the wrong turn is on me because it's my responsibility to know the course, but the directions were obviously not clear (I found out  later that others had made the wrong turn, too).  Suggestion to the RD: one sign to the right saying "Lap 2" and one sign to the left saying "Finish/Transition."  I ended up pushing much harder on the 2nd lap than I had planned to to try and make up some of the lost time.  It was very demoralizing passing people you had already passed 15-20 minutes earlier.  Because of the extra effort, I knew I was jeopardizing my run.

My T2 was fine and I slipped on my Scott MK3's.  I had never run without socks in these shoes, but like all my other runs in the MK3's, it was wonderful.  What a great shoe.  It took me about 1/4 mile to get my legs under me and I progressively felt better and better.  I was hammering the run and ran a negative split.  I had taken a new product before the race, AdvoCare's O2 Gold, which is supposed to support oxygen flow into the bloodstream (the company bills it as a "third lung").  Not sure if that made a difference or if it was just one those good days.  Either way, I have seldom felt as strong at the end of a race as I did today.  I ran the 5K faster than I did the 5K at the beginning of yesterday's duathlon.  I ended up finishing a distant 3rd in my AG which, given my slow swim and a wrong turn on the bike route, was still a good day.  Mo ended up winning her AG and setting a new course record for the 5K - for both men AND women - by running a 19:13.  Incredible!

University City Duathlon - 4/30/11

What a gorgeous day for a race: clear and cool with warming temperatures.  I signed up for this race at the suggestion of my coach, Nicole, at the last minute.  It was a 5K run, 19K ride, 3K run, with the run portion being partially on road and greenway.  The bike course was a 2 loop course with rolling hills.  Even though this was not a large race, I ran into quite a few people I knew and it was nice to catch up with some folks.  George, who I know from the Galloway training group, turned out to be the USAT official for the event.  Tracy Sproule, my friend who I ran the Freedom Park 24-hour ultra with was there, too.  She had signed up to race, but a possible stress fracture forced her into a volunteer role.  Note to readers: everyone needs to volunteer!!  I also ran into Len Fumi, past president of Charlotte Track & Tri and former Team USA Duathlon member.  Although we've stayed in touch, I'd not seen him for over 2 years.  And, as is the case with any race, met a lot of new folks.  And Ron Zurinkas, a fellow Charlotte Athletic Club member was there, too.

The run course started off as a downhill and was a typical hilly Charlotte run.  That is until we came to the last stretch on the greenway, which had a short, but monster hill just before you come back out onto the road towards the transition area.  I was not slow in T1, but I was deliberate as this was my first multi-sport event since 8/24/07 (Lake Norman Tri).  Grabbed some water with Gu Brew, got into my cycling shoes relatively easy, and was off.  I felt very strong on the bike and was passed by only 1 person the entire time - and I passed him a short while later.  There were 2 good climbs on the course and I mentally stored that away since I would be tackling them on the second loop.  I attacked the downhills and was conservative on the turns.  While I'm confident in my physical ability on the bike, my road skills need some work.  The 2nd loop was actually better than my first; I thought I might struggle a little on the those 2 hills again, but I must have been getting warmed up - they weren't as bad as I remembered.  Came to the dismount line just behind the #1 female.  It was a bit of an awkward dismount; I clipped out on the right side, which I never do.  Just out of practice, I guess.  Lost a few seconds re-racking the bike as I tried to slip it on the back of the seat rather than the front.  Again, just out of practice.  Some more Gu Brew and I'm off for the 3K.

We start out on the road, but quickly enter the greenway.  I'm bypassing the aid stations since all the distances are so short.  about the 1 mile mark, someone in my age group (AG) passes me at a pretty good pace.  I quickly calculate I will have difficulty staying with him and am resigned to a 2nd place AG finish.  However, as we start up that last big hill, I begin to gain ground, but still not enough to give me any hope of passing.  In fact, I was completely gassed on the hill and walked for 5-10 seconds.  Once we exited onto the street, there's about 250 yards to the finish line.  I find I do have an extra kick and pick up the pace.  I probably closed about 5 seconds in the last 100 yards and he and I cross the finish line at the same time (there was no timing mat at the start line so it was all about who crossed the mat first).  I thought I might have edged him out because he let up a bit and I led with my left foot, which had my chip on it.  We ended up with the exact same time of 1:17:54, so the timer had to go to 100th's of a second to determine a winner - and he beat me by 12/100th's of a second.  Oh, well.  Very happy with the finish as I found a gear I didn't think I had at the end.

And kudos to the race committee: very well run race (with excellent plaques for awards).  Would definitely run this one again.