Columbia Triathlon 2008 race report

The short:
Swim – 0:26:28
T1 – 0:05:05
Bike – 1:29:21 (17.1 mph)
T2 – 0:03:16
Run – 0:59:16 (9:33/mile)
Total – 3:03:26
Overall place - 1030/1765
Gender place - 789/1137
Age Group (35-39) place - 168/211

The Long:
Okay, so this is a late report. I'm sorry. I do wish I had done this earlier, so I could be sure to mention everything I wanted to include.

I packed the night before the race. I was also chatting with Mere between chatting and laundry and whatever else. Mere kindly reminded to pack several things that I would need for race day. I had already packed everything she had mentioned, with the exception of my goggles for the swim. I thank her for reminding, especially about the goggles and continue on packing.

I wake up early and put my bike on the car and bags in the car. I leave with a target arrival time at Columbia between 5:00-5:15 AM (transition opened at 4:45 AM). About 25-30 into my trip up to Columbia, I start going over my mental checklist for what I packed for the race (I had a nagging feeling I was missing something). After a couple moment review, I realized that I did not immediately pack my goggles upon receiving the reminder from Mere, and thus failed to remember to pack them. I was right before the GW Parkway exit, deciding between going on up and chancing someone having an extra pair or turning around and risking not getting to the race site in time to set up transition (it closed at 7:00 AM). I decided to head back and grab my goggles. It took me another 5-10 minutes to get turned around and headed back home on the GW Parkway.

When I get home, my morning constitutional is finally knocking on the door. I grab my goggles, take care of business, and head out the door. It looks like it is going to be close. I think I'll probably be able to get there by 6:30-6:45 (In addition to transition closing at 7AM, my wave starts at 7:15), so I'll be rushed once I get there. I also know parking in the park will probably not be an option at that point. I passed several cars pulled over by cops on my way back home, so I'm not expecting to feel comfortable breaking land speed records to get to the race. I start trying to figure out what my options will be if I get there too late to get into transition. I figure, I can walk around transition to the far side where my bike is and just drop my bag on the other side of the fencing and deal with a super slow T1 if it comes down to that.

I get to the exit for the park and pulling up to the park, it's just a little after 6:30, and there is a line of traffic extending back at least a quarter mile from the park entrance. I pull in behind a parked car on the side of the street, park and continue on to the park on foot. I get into transition at 6:45 (PA guy kept giving reminders of when we had to leave tranisition, plus the pros had just started). I got set up in record time (at least for me it was) and headed over to the rest of the team by the start. I put on my wetsuit, said hi to my parents and got in the water for the start of my wave. The water was cold, but soon warmed up from my own personal wetsuit warming.

My goal was to just cruise in Z2 for this race. I figured this approach would put me 10-20 min above my PR last year at Columbia of 2:59:20. I wanted to start out real easy on the swim. At the whistle/horn/gun, I was at the back right of the corral. I was quickly swimming over/into people on the outside, even though I was taking it slow and controlled. The whole swim felt more zig-zaggity than it should have. I was suprised and pleased to come out of the water in 0:26:28, which was only 6 seconds slower than my course swim PR from last year (last year was also a 1.5K open water swim PR).

Just prior to the race, I had gotten just over $800 worth of work done on the bike. I was out enjoying the ride. I took it easy up the hills and pushed a little on the flats and on the down hills. On my way out, the pros and elites were passing me the other direction on their way back to T2. Around the midway point, Paul passed me and asked what kind of time I thought we were doing. I didn't have a clue and relayed that back to him. He was somewhat suprised, since I seem to have earned a reputation for being consistent in my training and knowing what effort I am training at. I didn't race with my usual training aid, the heart rate monitor.

The run seemed more challening than last year. My first stop out of T2 were the porta-johns. Fourty-five seconds later, I was off and running (that's right, I looked at my watch before and after using). Right off the bat, I felt like I was red lining my heart rate. I backed way off on the up hills and tried to recover on the down hills. After about 2 miles, I settled into the running and felt good. The last 2 miles I picked it up, and finished strong. Just before I got to the damn along the swim course, I passed a fellow Team Z'er who made the observation that the hills on the run course were killer. I kinda grunted back my response, thinking that they weren't really that bad, if you managed them correctly. Also, I run in Burke, which has nice rolling roads, so I was fairly prepared for them, plus it was my fifth time racing that course. I came across the finish line faster than I thought it would be if I raced as planned, and was happy with my results.

It was great all race long seeing fellow Z'ers in the green uniform. Our team races are going to rock this year (not that they didn't last year).

Next up is Mooseman Half Ironman this weekend. It will be 70.3 miles of human powered locomotion! My final tune up before Lake Placid on July 20th and 140.6 miles of human powered locomotion.

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