T71 - Hammerhead Olympic Triathlon - Swim/Bike/Run

Camp Blanding, Florida

The training card called for a 15K run to finish off recovery week, but since this race was close to home, and, let’s be honest, probably a lot tougher than a 15k, I figured it would be a sufficient substitute. It was my first race since the abysmal Half-Iron in Orlando back in May. Three months without a race is a little long, I think. This was to be my first tuneup race for the Ironman, and I’d hoped to give in a personal best showing. Especially since training has definitely upped my speeds. In the swim and bike at least.

This had all been my intention. But sometimes in life we make some choices that derail us from out goals. After my phenomenal workouts Friday, I decided to celebrate by going to a party over at my friend Kirks. I figured I’d slowly drink some beers, leave by 2, take Saturday off to recover. Well, a few beers turned into large amounts of beer, jungle juice, and then – my personal favorite – straight vodka out of a plastic cup. Long story short, I drank way more than I should, and did some things I probably shouldn’t have. The accompanying hangover and stress allowed me to sleep all of about 3 hours Friday night. Which, for those who are familiar, is the most important night before a Sunday race. I spent the next day stressed out and nursing a hangover, and even though I went to bed at 8:30 for the 4:30 wake up, I only ended up sleeping about another 3.5 hours.

Point is, I didn’t get much sleep. But the 8th season of South Park, pretty good shit. I drove up to Camp Blanding Sunday morning hoping that my improved conditioning could make up for the lack of rest my body had gotten. I took 3 Sudafed on the way, just in case.

Swim - .9 miles – 30:41

2 Lipodrene
I was once again in the last wave, as is customary in the Fat Boy Division (they call it Clydesdale, but we all know). After my encouraging time trial, I decided that I would line up near the front and try to actually compete in this part of the race. The open water swim starts are always a cluster fuck, but since I’d decided I actually wanted to try and get ahead here. I didn’t mind. It was kinda fun pulling and kicking people as I went past them, and pretty soon I found myself with no one I could see in front of me except the green-capped ladies from the wave before. There may have been some other guys way out ahead or off to my side, but otherwise it looked good.

The outdoor goggles helped a lot, and though my sighting still needs improvement, I kept pretty far left so I wasn’t having to swim back to the buoys. At about the end of the backstretch, which is about 500 meters to go, this blue cap (that was the cap assigned to my wave and, consequently, my division)passed me on the inside of the buoy, and inched ahead of me. Usually I would just let this go, but fuck it, no, not this time. The guy was swimming at a pretty solid pace, and I had to really push it to keep up with him. I even got in front of him a few times, and we stayed pretty even all the way to the finish. I was proud of myself for actually pushing the swim and going fast, and learning to breathe enough to have the oxygen to do it. The guy ended up finishing the swim just ahead of me, as this is probably a result of my still not being competitive enough to give it the extra push at the end like he did. But I mean, I think he crossed the swim finish 5 seconds ahead of me, so I’m not too broken up about it.

T1 – 4:42

Bike - 24.9 miles – 1:13:37

1 Lipodrene, 3 Advil, Salt Tablet, gel
Transitions today were slow. I’m going to go ahead and say they were probably the only area that were slowed by my lack of sleep, but my brain was just not all there. Whatever, I got my shit on and hit the bike course determined to continue my solid performance from the swim. And the first mile, it looked as if that may not be the case. I couldn’t get up over 18, and while I wanted to blame a lack of warmup, I also realized this might be where my unrested muscles might not respond how I’d hoped. Now, the bike course at Blanding had a few pretty good sized hills, and by the time I finished climbing the first one (at mile 2, I might add) I was doing about 15. Things were not looking good.

But a funny thing happens when I hit the flats. Trevor told me during our last ride that on the flats I could pretty much keep up with anyone, and I repeated this to myself as I got down in aero and passed bike after bike after bike. I was going a solid 25 through most of the flats, and even ended up muscling up some hills at around 18-19. But not all of them. This course was a lot like Hawthorne in that it had some inclines and inclines that looked like flats, so much so that you’d be going down one on the way to the turnaround going 27, thinking you were the shit, only to be slowed to 16 on the way back. I didn’t feel a headwind, so I’m blaming optical illusions. I took a gel at the 45 minute mark, figuring a Cliff Bar would probably slow me down. I did notice though that I lose time on tight turnarounds like this one where I have to unclip because I feel like I’ll fall over, and when taking a drink or eating. These are things which require coordination, I suppose, and really my bike speed is not due to that at all. Not sure if this is something that will get worked out before the Ironman, but really, I’m not terrible concerned.

At any rate, I was only passed by two people on the bike, both of whom were going well over 25 and had bikes that cost more than a new Saturn. So I didn’t feel too bad. I passed a lot more than 2 people, and was averaging 20 right up until the last 5 miles, where the subtle inclines and wind got to me. And by this I mean I was doing about 17 until I hit the final few straightaways , where I ended up doing about 21-22. I looked at my computer at the end and my average speed was 19.8, which, if you do the math means I would have had to have finished in a lot more time than this. Later I looked, the course was only 24 miles. But whatever. I’ll just call it a confidence booster.

T2 – 3:17

Run -6.4 miles 1:09:02

1 Salt Tab, 1 Gel
Again, transition was slow, as I sat on my ass to put on my shoes and took my time getting on my running shoes and having another gel. I also downed another Vitamin Water and hit the road.

Well, I have come to realize that though I have learned to push it and be competitive when swimming and biking, running I just do not give a fuck. Maybe it’s because I’ve been miserable on so many runs over my life, but I just make no effort to run fast at all. The only people I passed on the run were either walking or puking, and I lost count of how many people passed me. Mostly thin, older women working off their child birth weight, I would guess. And then some older guys I had passed on the bike. Justin once told me watching me on the bike and run was like night and day, and today I fulyl understood it. I held to my 10-minute mile pace, even knowing I only had to run 6. The course had a couple of serious hills, which was not cool, but it was not impossible.

I took a gel at the 4-mile mark, and drank water at every aid station, although I only stopped to allow myself to drink the whole cup without spilling. I never felt tired or overheated or sore at all on the run. Maybe it was the Advil, or the adrenaline from all the supplements, but this was just like a nice late-morning jog. I thought about pushing it like I had on the other 2 events, and just couldn’t do it. I’m not sure why this is, but I think my focus during the last 8 weeks is going to be pushing the run a little. I’m not sure why, though, given that the run on the Ironman is more about survival than speed. But maybe I can make it a goal for my next tuneup race.

Final Time – 3:00:57 – 1st in Division (Clydesdale Under 39)

All in all, I was happy with how this race went. Shit, I mean I won my division, even though it only had five people. My events I felt strongest in, I did strongly, and I totally blew the run. I’m not a good runner. Weighing as much as I do will do that. So I guess today I just focused on doing what I do well really well, and saying fuck it to the rest. My final time was not a great improvement over the Escape t o Miami last fall, but my bike and swim splits were. Aside from someone inadvertently taking my right bike shoe, the event was pretty good. I’ll have to get new shoes and cleats before Tuesday, so we’ll see how that goes. But a satisfying tuneup to be sure. Just kinda scary to think it takes 4 of these to make an Ironman.