k-Blog: Tri Turtle Tri Race Report

Finally the end of the triathlon season! My final race was Tri Turtle Tri (SprintPlus Distance 1/2 mile swim, 15.6 mile bike, 3.4 mile run) in Kitsap County. I was really excited because I grew up about 5-10 minutes from Wildcat Lake where the swim start was and the transition area was located. The bike route took riders past the entrance to Lake Symington where I lived!

We spent the night at my parents house and I woke up at 5am to have my bottle of electrolyte. I hadn't slept well that night so I was sort of groggy but decided not to get back into bed. My dad drove me down to transition area and I got situated. The rack I was in was completely full and like most smaller races peoples gear was strewn about. An official moved some bikes around on the rack and gave me the 1' I needed. It seems that inexperienced people tend to assume they can take as much space as they want. People had buckets of water, full size towels with gear laid out on the ground in front of their bicycle, etc.

Race registration and body marking was running smoothly but I it was already nearing the 8am start! I hadn't performed a run or swim warmup yet. Some officials also were recommending non-wetsuit swimming since the lake temperature was so warm. I walked from transition to the swim start and decided I'd wear the wetsuit. I haven't swam much this year and anything to make me faster would be an advantage. Back at the transition area I sprayed Pam all over my calves, put on my wetsuit, and got back down for a warmup.

The water was indeed warm. No cold feet or toes today! I don't think I'm especially sensitive to the cold but it's more pleasant to not have freezing hands and feet. I did a couple accelerations and got back to shore. It was time to listen to the race director and be ready to go.

I lined up toward the inside of the first buoy hoping that nobody would be there. No such luck. Even though I tried to get up front everyone had the same idea and I swam over some people. I had to pause to empty my goggles once then one person knocked my goggles off. That all happened before the first turn buoy so on the back stretch I settled in and got my breath back. Starting quickly and not swimming a lot this year left me a little out of breath. Sighting was generally easy and the swim was pretty easy compared to the half-ironman length swims I had done this year. Out of the water in 16:14. I wanted 15 minutes but this also includes running up the bank and into T1.

T1 went smoothly. I was alone at my rack. Put on my gear out in 1:21.

Getting to the bike mount area you had to run out of T1, out a parking lot, and across an "open road". I took care not to break my clips like i did at Lake Stevens. The course was almost immediately hilly. I was tempted to power up in a big gear but decided to use it as a warm-up spin instead. Some guy with a full disc wheel shot by me but I had a suspicion that I'd see him again soon. Settling in I started passing the people that swam better than me. I caught the "rocket" guy who had promptly blown up and was winded on another hill. I decided to use the same spinning strategy on hills until the turnaround to try and conserve energy. This allowed me to maintain my position while climbing but gain on the flats and descents. A good example is a guy on a Kuota that I kept trading positions with. We'd be generally be passing people but he'd soar up hills with great effort and I'd easily overtake him when the hill was done. This is exactly what happened on the stretch home when there was a slight decline. I pedaled hard, ran out of gears, and left 3-4 people in my wake. I should have reread the course length before race day because I thought I had 25 miles not 16 miles. I probably would have pushed harder sooner. Oh well... hindsight... Into T2 after 44:40 averaging 21MPH.

T2 also went smoothly. It was generally empty but I was losing time because I refuse to run barefoot. Out in 1:21 which was probably mostly putting my socks on. ;)

It seems I've had quite a few brick workouts this year and it's really helped me become comfortable with the odd feeling of running after cycling. I still don't think I feel "fast" out on the run though. Since the run starts following the cycling route it was immediately hilly. Didn't power up but increased cadence and stepped up. A couple guys passed me and rather than get discouraged I kept my head in the game and focused. I told myself that some pain would come and that it'd be alright. I've never done this kind of mental stuff on the run and usually I gave in. I recently finished Macca's "I'm Here To Win" and he talks about expecting pain and greeting it when it comes. It helped me hold off some guys that tried to pass me and keep another runner in sight rather than get dropped. The back part of the course was a combination of rolling and steeper short hills which made it hard to get into a groove. In no time I turned the corner to the finish and it was done. Ran a 26:10 at 7:35/M. So that got me 1:29:48 and 15th place overall. If I subtracted relay teams that puts me at 12th place overall. :)