Saturday, July 30, 2005. 9:24am.
I was standing on Mooney's Bay Beach, and I was nervous. This race meant
alot to me. A bike crash resulting in a broken collar-bone had taken me
out of the Early Bird Tri last year, and subsequantly a cracked rib, minor
abdominal surgery, a broken foot, and finally a broken knee-cap had
prevented me from cycling and running until May of this year. But here I
now was, back on the start-line of a triathlon, determined to finish and
properly start the journey to my dream to complete an Ironman. Even a
turned ankle, cut on my foot, and a bruised tail-bone from a fall last
week was not going to stop me today. My goals for this race were: to
finish; make all transitions smoothly and efficiently; and finish under
1hr30 with times of 12min swim/48 min bike/26min run - I knew the
transitions would be long because of the distances needed to be travelled.
Naturally, I was awake early, so I got down to Mooney's Bay at 7am, which
was in plenty of time to rack my bike in the first row - my first time for
that. I then spent the next two hours in slow and gentle preparation for
the race. I did not want to forget anything, although I nearly did. I had
difficulties pumping up my front tire, because it had a short valve.
Sheila Kealy was nice enough to lend me a valve-extender, and that did the
trick. It was good to see friends Bradley and Theresa who were doing the
Olympic Tri, and Teresa, and Mandy who were down to watch and cheer us all
on. My washroom break told me that I was slightly de-hydrated, so I tried
to drink a little more prior to race-time. Just before 9am I made my way
down to the beach to watch the Olympic Tri start. Then I stretched and
put my wetsuit on and got into the water for a warmup. The water felt good,
but I noticed that my HR was higher than normal. I hoped it was just
nerves and excitement.
9:25am. We were off. It was a beach start! Cool! Another first for me.
Even though I positioned myself at the back of the crowd, once I was in
the water I was in the middle of the mass of thrashing bodies. I was able
to create and keep my space in the water. There was bunching at the
left-hand turn through the barriers, but then the swimmers spaced out as
we headed for the turnaround buoy. I was aware that I was working too
hard/going too fast for my race plan, and I tried to settle down. I was
forced wide on the turn around buoy. On the long stretch back to the
beach, I tried to settle down and find a draft, but everytime I found
someone to draft, they went wildly off course, so I concentrated on just
keeping my own straight line. I was able to keep my space most of the
time, and experienced little body contact. I was still working too
hard/going too fast. I made the final turn to the finish, and took my
own line to the beach. As I exited the water I punch the lap button
on my watch. It read 9:44! Wow! And my HR read 181! Double wow! I
REALLY did the swim too hard and fast!
I got to my shoes (I had to ask some spectators to move), and began
running. I could manage nothing more than a regular job, as I tried to
get my HR to come down. I got my swim-gear off (dropped my nose plug and
lost it), and struggled up to Terry Fox Stadium and got to my bike. I had
a brief struggle with the wetsuit to get it off, but the rest of my
transition went smoothly, and I headed out on the long run to Hogs Back
Rd, running with my bike. I passed several people who were running in
their bike shoes. I was so glad to have been taught how to transition
with my bike shoes attached to my bike. At the mount line I did not
pause, and had a good mount onto my bike.
The practice getting my bike shoes and gloves on while cycling paid off as
they went on smoothly and quickly. It took me a few minutes to get settled
and get my HR down to where it should be, but from then I cruised. The
only thing that didn't feel right was that my left quad was mildly
cramping. I hoped that it wouldn't get any worse, and I wondered what it
would do on the run. Another annoyance was that my front brake was
rubbing on the rim. Applying the brakes would clear it for a bit, but then
it would start again. I was able to ignore it for the rest of the race.
My speed was what I hoped it would be, as, fortuneately, there was not
much wind, and I stayed in aero the whole way. I had to be careful a few
times with not drafting, and several times I did a short sprint to pass
someone to avoid that situation. A couple of times packs of 4-5 rides
would pass me - boy! that kind of blatant drafting sure annoys me! I took
regular sips from my aero-bottle, and I was glad that the stomach upset
that I've had in swim-bike transitions in training did not surface on this
day. At the end of the first loop Geoff Wright, the 77-year old World Du
Champion passed me - that will sure bring you back to earth. We exchanged
pleasantries as we made the turn to do the second loop, and I was able to
pass him back later in the second bike loop. A big thanks to all the
people at the bike turnaround who were cheering loudly for us all - thanks
Mandy. As scheduled, I took a gel as I left Pretoria Bridge for the last
time. I felt good by now. HR was where it should be and my left quad was
no worse. I increased my pace slightly, which meant that I was overtaking
more riders now. I had once stretch where I had to stay to the left for
an extended period of time as I passed one cyclist after another. What
made me nervous about this was that a motorcycle was right behind me the
whole time. I was keeping an eye on my watch, hoping to be able to be out
on the run by the 1hr mark. Approaching the dismount line I did not get
my feet out of my shoes cleanly, but it was only a hickup, and momentarily
I was off my bike and running into transition.
As I ran I took stock of my race. I knew that I was tired, and I hoped
that my legs would keep it together for the run. My left foot was very
much asleep, but I expected the run to quickly wake it up. My tailbone
was sore, but I also expected it to warm up and be no trouble while I ran.
I had a little trouble racking my bike, and then the orthotic slipped and
bunched up in one shoe as I tried to slip it on. I swore, and a t-zone
volunteer nearby said "Hey! Watch your mouth!" That got my chuckling, and
I was quickly on my way.
The run was hard, and quite a few people were struggling. My attutude was
buoyed by the fact that it would take a serious meltdown for me not to
achieve my 1:30 time goal for the race. Also, my legs felt loose, and
the left quad was fine. But I was tired, and I just hoped that the tank
still contained enough energy to get me to the finish line. I quickly
found my pace, and headed into Vincent Massey Park. "Quick feet! Quick
feet!" down the hills, and I tried to stay steady. My left toe was still
asleep, and I belatedly realized that the bandage around it because of the
cut on it was the cause of this numbness. Fortuneatly it was not
inhibiting my running at all. It was just another point of discomfort.
My tailbone was sore but also was not bothering me much. The 1km, 2km
and the turn around came quickly, and my watch still read less than 1:13.
My HR, though, remained around 179. I saw Geoff just before the 3km mark,
and another friend Jim Johnston later in the run. The run now got really
tough. I took the long gradual hill back into Vincent Massey Park as
firmly and steadily as I could, but I was starting to fade. Then came the
bigger, steeper hill up to Hogs Back. I refused to stop and I didn't, but
it was a close thing. As I crested the hill, I was nearly all done in.
I went into survival mode, just keeping going. My HR continued to rise,
now into the 180's. Joe Du Val growled at me as I cut a corner at Hogs
Back Rd. Into Mooney's Bay Park I was just hanging on, and then, ahead of
me, I saw a guy in my age-group. Crap! I've got to pass him. I pulled
myself together and gave it what I could up the gradual incline up to the
Terry Fox Stadium. How nice it was to have Teresa, Mandy, Mel and Brian
at the top of the hill cheering me on! Into the stadium I put on a burst
and passed the fellow age-grouper, and down the blue track I cruised as he
did not respond. I finished strong!
Wow! That was a hard race! And I finished it and met all my goals for
the race. The post-race massage sure felt good. It felt SOOOO good to
have exorcised those triathlon demons, and when I got home I ceremoniously
retired my Early Bird Tri 2004 t-shirt! Next up is Brockville Sprint Tri!
A big congrats to all my fellow competitors who were out competing and
giving it their all on this day. Thank you to Kevin and Katherine, Terry
and Christine and Somersault Promotions for putting on a well run race,
especially for the massage and the food - I love those wraps. Thanks to
the volunteers on the course, and to my friends who were out there,
cheering us all on. Thank you to TriRudy and Jim Koss for the rental of
the wetsuit and for all the advice and inspiration that the TriRudy site
gives. And a big thanks to my coach Jane Armstrong for hanging with
me through thick and thin of this past year and teaching me so much about
mental toughness and discipline. Jane and her assistant Duncan Wood were
especially a BIG help to me this year in working on transitions.
Some stats:
500m swim - 9:45 - 1:57/100m HR 164avg/173 max
T1 - 4:06 HR 179avg/181 max - ouch!
bike loop 1 - 22:46 HR 161avg/171 max
bike loop 2 - 22:33 - 31.7 km/h HR 159avg/176 max
T2 - 1:53 HR 175avg/177 max
run 5km - 24:57 - 5:00/km HR 180avg/185 max - double ouch!
1:26:01 finishing time
59/167 overall
44/93 men
10/19 men 35-39
Positives
- I did not think I could swim that fast, peeriod;
- for the most part transitions went smoothlly and as I had practiced them;
- the bike ride was excellent - smooth and ccontrolled;
- I was tough on the run when the going got tough;
- except for the fast swim, the race plan waas executed as planned;
Lessons learned/things to work on
- I need to learn how to control my swim efffort while in a crowd;
- work on the small mis-queues that happenedd in transitions;
- hydrate more - I was quite dehydrated at tthe end of the race;
(
geocities.com/marathon13man/race_reports) (
geocities.com/marathon13man)