I slept in but woke up with a nervous stomach. Today we were back to the days of waiting around all day until your competition just like when I was on the Track team in college.
My wave wasnt until 2pm and the transition area didnt open up until 12:30. I left the house and packed up the car around 12. My car was pretty far in the lot at home so I mounted my bike to get to it a little faster and save the legs. However, when I shifted the gears, the chain fell off and I went down to the ground. Not something you want to happen just before a race. The bike was ok, but I had fallen on my injured wrist and it was now sore and throbbing. The show must go on.
There wasnt much traffic getting into the race site at the Boulder Reservior, but then again this was a small race. I had trouble finding my zone in the TA, and when I did I was not all that excited about my spot about the middle of a row, 3 rows from the end not close to any out/in's. I was all set up and ready to go by 1:30 and sought out some shade to wait.
To my surprise the first waves almost went off on time (only 5 mins late). Why you would have the Olympic distance athletes go off before the Sprint ones is beyond my intellegance obviously. This was to be my last tri this season and I really wanted to put up some great splits, minimize my mistakes and end with a bang.
I raced again without a wetsuit, the water was a little chilly but on the cusp of needing a wetsuit. At this point im not sure the time you save in TA not having a wetsuit is worth the effort and speed you lose not having one on the swim. The positives may outweigh the negatives.
I started toward the front and right and it was a battle for at least 300m, and on top of that the water was a chop fest due to the Boulder afternoon winds. I tried to find open water and swung wide at the first turn. By the second turn my goggles had fogged up and I was attacking the beach blind. On top of that we started to overtake some of the slower Olympic athletes and I was just hoping the few people I spotted in my wave were going the right way (one I ended up letting go bc he was well off target).
I got out of the water with a 15:30 and was hoping for something more around 12 (like ive been hitting in practice and time trials), right behind my friend Dan who I've never seen on a swim so I knew something was up. I passed him before we got to TA offering words of encouragement as we located our bikes. I was strapped and unracked in less than a min. and not really out of breath from the swim like normal.
With the transmission problems that had come to light already this morning I knew I had to be concious of what I was doing on the bike when shifting. I went out strong on the gradual uphill but with the wind. By mile 7 my legs were showing sign of fatigue that I didnt have a week prior on the same course. Legs, who can ever understand them? I was passed by 2 guys right off and was in what I thought was 5th position until getting passed by 2 more at mile 14. One of which was a heavy set fella that I reconized passing me in prior races. You have to stay in control and remember that there are a lot of competitors out there that can hammer on the bike but cant even lift those treetrunk legs to run! Again the bike leg was a battle the whole way and it seemed like other than a short stretch in the begining, I was into the wind the whole way. I was able to find comfort though, which I kind of see as a weakness since you're supposed to be hammering on the bike, cranking away and suffering. That I was not.
I came into the dismount already out of my shoes, leg over the sattle and hands off the breaks. I was going to do this with some pace. I jumped off the still moving bike and broke out into almost full sprint to match the speed, the crowd cringed as they tried to forsee the oncoming fall, but I didnt fall I had a great ITU dismount like a champ and the crowd applauded my efforts as I made my way to the rack. Some jerk had left his wetsuit right in the middle of the row so I had to try to avoid that but I was still on a mission to catch a few of those guys who had passed me on the bike.
Having a great T2 aided in my venture as I gained some ground and had them in my sights within the first 800m. It wasnt long after that that I had passed 2 of the 4 guys on my list. The 3rd was about 50m in front of me, who at the first mile mark had stopped to tie his shoe and stare me down the whole time. I wasnt able to gain any ground on him after he got going again with fear. Its tough bing the chased and I knew exactly what he was feeling. At the turn around I could see him pick up the pace and I gradually did the same picking up a few steps over the next mile and a half. With 1000m to go he kept looking back and I knew Id be able to catch him. At my useual land mark with 800m to go I started my finish kick and passed him without any fight at all. For good measure I kept increasing my speed and put some ground between us (at the last turn I saw that I was at least 60m up on him). It turned out that my new position was the final podium spot and 3rd in our age group! Lesson learned.
overall place: 14 out of 255
division place: 3 out of 21
gender place: 13 out of 127
time: 1:31:42
pace: 0:
swim: 16:23
t1: 1:01
bike: 51:18
t2: 0:46
run: 22:16
