It’s been over a month since this race so just writing this now will test my memory. Race morning brought cloudy skies and light rain. After setting up my transition area, I headed to the MMTC tent to chill before my swim start. I chatted with some folks and looked around for fellow 40-44 M age groupers. Chip? Nope, he’s over 45 now and he hasn’t raced Columbia the past couple of years. Jellyfish? Nope, word was he’d become a duathlete. Oh well, into the water I went alone.
Swim - I was curious how I would do since I’d been in the pool about a dozen times before the race. I went out nice and easy and stayed out of the heavy traffice. After a couple of turns, I tried to catch on some feet and draft. It worked twice for a few minutes. At one point I remember thinking that I was having a very relaxing swim and wondered if that was bad in terms of time.
Out of the water in 26:38, only 3 seconds off my fastest swim of my 6 previous Columbia races. T1 was uneventful but I realized it had started to rain again. Oh well, it is what it is.
Bike – I didn’t like the rain but was determined to enjoy this race and not let it bother me. The rain stopped after 20 minutes but the roads were very wet. Just before the halfway point, on a tricky descent, I second-guessed my cautious approach to the wet roads. Until I saw two people helping to pull a guy out of the trees as his bike lie on the road. Then I knew I was better off. And then I heard noises with my bike. Hmmmm. After a few minutes I determined it was my rear wheel but didn’t know what was wrong. It caused me to back off a bit, though I don’t know why. If something was going to break, I’m sure it would have happened at any speed.
On the return to the park, I thought I was having an awful ride in terms of time and I thought I might have my slowest Columbia race yet. And that would definitely affect whether or not I was having fun. But my bike computer wasn’t working so I was basing it on my watch split time. I pushed it in the final 5-10 miles hoping to salvage a decent bike split. And then I saw the family in their traditional spot just before the park along Rte 108. T1 and bike times were combined in the results but by my watch my bike time was 1:22ish which was about 5 minutes off my times in recent years but not my slowest.
T2 was pretty fast but the race organizers didn’t do our AG any favors with our spot.
Run - As always, I try to calculate how much time I have to run to meet my goals. For this race the goals were simple: 1) Finish, 2) Have fun, and 3) beat 2:47:43 (previous slowest time).
My mind calculates that I need to run a 55 minute 10K to avoid setting a new slowest time. So I set out at a comfortable pace, well as comfortably as one can run after riding 25+ miles when one only does one brick workout in training for this race. Uh oh. I figure 9 minute miles for the first 5 miles will do the trick. And I’m just below that for the first 3-4 miles, chugging up each hill, determined to get to the 5th mile marker. But just after 4 miles I start struggling to hold that pace. I tell myself that if I can just get to mile 4.5 and hit the nice downhill before the park I’ll be fine. Still trying to have fun but the 3rd goal is in jeopardy. Up the final hill to mile 5 and more mind calculations.
Back downhill to the lake. Time to push it. Around the lake and toward mile 6 with the mind working overtime in efforts to calculate remaining distance and time. And there is mile marker 6. Hot damn! Just .2 to go and I’m done! Around the bend, slapping hands with one son as I crusie to the finish. On this day, all goals are accomplished. Maybe next year I’ll train enough to shoot for a new PR.
Time 2:46:48 92/222 M 40-44
Swim 78/222 26:38
Bike plus T1 92/222 1:25:49
T2 26/222 1:41
Run 115/222 52:42 8:29 pace
Filed under: Triathlon | Tagged: Columbia Triathlon, Triathlon
