Yesterday's Tempe International Triathlon will be one to remember. I went into the race with one objective -- hit my splits and use it as a trainer, not a race. I accomplished all but one goal. I hit my race splits on the bike and run, but the swim was another story. It was brutality at its best. As the temperature rose throughout the day, I was able to keep my heart rate down and keep plowing forward. I finished the race a little under 3:00 (my official time has not been posted yet), which I was very excited about.
A BIG thanks to my buddy, Alex, who saved me in more than one way yesterday (see race report). He was my pit crew throughout the morning and did an awesome job at meeting me at some key points during the run and bike.
Here is a brief race report:
1500 meter swim, ~40K bike, 10K run
(NOTE: The bike leg was longer than 40K. Everyone knew that going in, but no one knew exactly how much longer. I'm going to say about 1-2K longer.)
I arrived at the course to get my transition area set up, grab my chip, and get body marked around 6:00 a.m. Everything was moving along smoothly until I went to set up my T2 area. I almost started screaming from my top of my lungs -- I had forgot my running shoes at my house. How in in the world does a triathlete/runner/someone who relies on their shoes for a race forget his running shoes?
Houston.....we have a problem. I automatically went into "Code Red" operations and started frantically calling my friend, Alex, who was meeting me for the race later that morning. I woke the poor fellow up after two phone calls and asked if he could bring me his favorite pair of running shoes. Alex's response, "Now?" "Burke, how do you forget your running shoes?" My response, "I don't know, I'm a dufus. I'll figure out the answer to that question on the course. I should have plenty of time to think about it." About 30 minutes later (~20 minutes before the start of the race), Alex arrived with 2 shoe options. I asked him which ones had the most miles on them, fearing enormous blisters if I ran in a pair of new shoes. Whew....crisis averted.
About 7:20 a.m. I entered the water with several of my "best friends" for the start of the swim. I didn't know what to expect being my first open water swim, but I had heard some stories so I was half way prepared (at least that is what I thought). When the gun went off, chaos ensued. If I wasn't hydrated before the race, I was now because I think I drank a couple gallons of Tempe Town Lake. After regaining my composure, I tried swimming behind the pack but could never get in a rhythm. About middway through the swim, I asked myself "what the heck am I doing?" I ended up gutting out the rest of the swim and exiting the water in 33 minutes, approximately 3 minutes past my goal. I was thankful to 1)be out of the water and 2)holding the damage to just 3 minutes. I thought it was much worse than that.
T1 went very well and I was off on my bike. The wind was wonderful going out and tough coming back in. The course was a 4 loop course, so you had triathletes around you the entire ride. I was able to keep my pace above 18 miles per hour while holding my heart rate in the low 170s. We crossed a bridge 8 times over the lake and every time I praised the Lord that He did not let me drown in that lake.
T2 was rather uneventful, but quick. Alex was there to take some of my nutrition that I would need out on the run course. The temperature was rising so I wanted to take it slow out of the box and save some energy for the last few miles. I ran 9-10 minute miles for the first 5 miles and with one mile to go, my body said, "let's head home." I don't know what happened, but I got this really cool burst of energy and ran my last mile in 7 minutes. Yes -- goals accomplished, another race in the books.
Thanks again to Alex for being my fluid support and shoe sponsor yesterday!!
Lessons Learned:
- Gear checks -- preferably more than once (don't forget your shoes)
- It's not how you start the race; it's how you end it. I was the picture of that yesterday.
- Swim, swim, swim -- I need to work on my swim.
- Triathletes are wierd human beings and I'm one of them. As Alex put it, "there are some 'interesting' people out here."
- Professional triathletes are super human machines. It was fun competing side by side on the course with them even though they flew past me like I was standing still.
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