Race Report... triathlon in Alabama
After a 2-year self-imposed break (one year of healing an arm injury, and one year of a life that was OBE: Overcome By Events), I entered a local sprint-distance race and started the training process. Since there were just four weeks between sign-up and race day, most of the training I did was mental rehearsal; though I did ride and run with a little more intention and intensity than my regular YMCA workouts from 0500 - 0600.
Race:
Swim: 400 yards
Bike: 12 miles
Run: 3.1 miles
BLUF: I placed 1/17 in my age group, and 15th overall (out of 215); felt great!
PREPARATION:
With less than a month to go, I knew that the physical training was going to “be what it was.” I didn’t have time to get on a routine, so I maintained the physical and added in a LOT more mental visualization.
How I Did It:
For the first three weeks, I spent about 2 minutes in the morning and at night visualizing the five events of a triathlon: Swim/Transition/Bike/Transition/Run
I did this by visualizing ANY past race I’d ever done; didn’t matter which one (though I did tend to choose ones I’d performed well at!). Then, the five days before the race, I changed it up. I got a map of the race in Pelham, AL that I was going to race in, and I saw THAT one in my mind. Speed and Time...I visualized as much as I could without worrying about the actual terrain; I’d see that soon enough.
PLANNING:
Initially, I’d thought I’d drive up the morning of, register, set up, and race all on Saturday morning.
Then, Jodi convinced me to go up the night before...so, we rented a hotel room, and planned to meet my colleague there. Since he and I were racing together, we shared our pre-event and day-of strategies to get on the same page together. It all worked! We ate dinner lakeside on Friday night, and got back to the hotel in time to be asleep by 9 PM!
Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 and made the coffee room for my buddy and I and our best friends! Jodi was there to drive us to the race, and his wife watched the kids while we raced.
MORNING:
We arrived at the site and set up our transition area with about 45 minutes to spare before race time. As we left the bikes, a light rain started falling. Jodi had her umbrella, and after I looked around and saw absolutely NO ONE else wearing a wetsuit, I realized a wardrobe change was in order. So, after nearly 20 years of racing triathlon, I raced for the first time, “Topless!” Sure, it was a little cooler, but I’m not as in shape as I used to be!
Swim:
This was my first individual (aka: civilized!) race start. We lined up - literally - by number. I was number 86. For a couple of minutes, the sky opened up, and rain fell. I looked over toward the shore, and Jodi was there with her big umbrella.
The lake water was WARM (hence no wetsuits) and the line I followed (inside the buoy lane) gave me a straight shot. I’ll assume the course was a little long; prob closer to 450/500 yards.
Bike:
By the Time I got out of the water, it seemed like the rain has stopped and the temperature was race ready. The bike portion was 6 miles out and back, with a rolling Hill course and not a lot of turns involved. The roads were extremely wet, and as I had gained some ground on the 85 swimmers ahead of me, there were only a few folks out in front that I had to pass. Over the 12 miles, one guy caught and rolled by me, his age group was 50-59; rock on, I yelled!
Run:
T2 was ok; my running shoes were soaked from the morning rain; but then again, so were everyone else's! So, I pushed my mind toward the half-way mark of the run, and started. The out-and-back was along a nice rolling pathway along the lake. I tracked that the first 3/4 of a mile was a steady incline, which mean the LAST 3/4 of a mile was a steady DEcline. So, I knew I'd gain some time there.
I pulled every trick I knew of over the next 2.8 or so miles (the first .25 of a race is always a blur...). By about the halfway mark, I caught up with the only guy I knew at the race, and stayed on the pace I kept repeating in my head... "7 minutes, 7 minutes, 7 minutes."
NOTE: At the 2-mile mark, I noticed that my RFID chip (on my left ankle) was missing. So, that put my mind at a new place...I needed to get to the finish line further in front of whoever was behind me so I had more of the announcer's attention; I needed them to manually enter my time at the finish line!
As I came through the finish chute, I looked up and saw Jodi there smiling big, and so was I! I did my best that day; and, I re-found that love I discovered back in 2001...the sport of Triathlon.
