Marian and I got up at 4am sharp. I ran downstairs and ate my prerace fuel. Granola with Almond milk, an english muffin with cream cheese and grape preserves, and a Hammer Bar (almond/cashew/& chocolate chip). We threw the final couple things in the car, and took off.
****two hours later****
We arrived in Shoshone falls park just as the sun was rising. We pulled into the parking lot to Dierkes lakes alongside all 5 other vehicles. We saw the transition area set up (empty) and the check-in desk across a soggy field. The sun was just peeking through the trees. We walked over to the registration desk and checked in - I was the first athlete there... so I got to be the ginny pig.*grin*
We set up in transition and I got one of the best spots. Yessssssss for showing up early. Then - with about 15 minutes till the pre-race meeting - we went down to the water with my wetsuit and I hopped in...
The water was AMAZING. I was really considering not wearing my wetsuit.... but I knew the speed benefits, so I decided against it.
All the athletes hopped in the water and we had to swim out about 50 meters to the starting point. I had noticed that one of the buoys had floated off-course (the course was an out and back, two-lap). I had asked the race director about it, and he had told me to tell the other racers to ignore it and just swim straight to the end. I warned the other athletes about it as the race director counted down....
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
I was determined this time to not start out too fast, but to be controlled and comfortable before I picked up speed. I was the second guy on the inside starting out so I had the shortest distance to travel to the far buoy. There the one guy just to my right that looked like he was going my speed, so I sidled up next to him for a little while. After a couple hundred meters, I decided he was going fast enough for me, so I pulled ahead until I found a group of 4. They too started slowing down and so I wound through them and pulled away. I looked forward.........
There was only one guy in front of me. How'd that happen...?
Number 1 was about 10 meters up. I didn't want to sprint and catch up to him, so I had no other choice but to swim by myself. So I settled into a groove and quickly reached the far buoy. I whipped around it and headed back.
*BAM!* Oof!! I ran headlong into a person who had crossed over the line of buoys onto the wrong side..... Ouch!! I kept going!
No 1 was steadily ahead still.... unless he ran out of gas, it looked like our pace was about matched.
I saw the second turn-around buoy ahead. I had the saying from finding Nemo in my head, "Just keep swimming.... Just keep swimming...." Then all of a sudden....
There were no more buoys.... WHAT??!
I stopped and looked around. I had swum past the turn-around!! Nuts! I could've swore that I saw another one.... arrrrrgggg! I'd swum about 50 meters past the buoy and No 1 was now a healthy 100 m in front of me. I had some catching up to do. As I got back on course, that group of 4 rounded the correct buoy just in front of me. I quickly caught up to them and passed them again. Now I swam with everything I had! I was halfway done with the swim and I wasn't going to let No. 1 start the bike with too big of a lead!!
I roared through the rest of the course - at least.... it felt like I did - until finally I was out and running on dry land! Marian was waiting for me and was taking pictures and shouting words of encouragement. Best wife/coach EVER! :-) I didn't see No. 1 as I ran into transition. He must have made a hasty escape onto the bike course already.
I shot off down the road on my bike. Got my feet in my shoes quickly and pedaled on a little downhill to them up the immediate climb out of Shoshone canyon. Ouch! Good thing Marian's been having me work on my climbing on my bike! Once I was out and on the flats I settled in. Then before long, another cyclist passes me.... Grrrr. But I stayed at my cadence. I had to conserve my strength if I wanted a shot at this. Then about 5 minutes later, another cyclist passed me. Ok.... 4th place.
As I neared the turnaround of the dog-leg that the course had us take, I saw the leader coming back. He was going steady, but it looked like No. 2 was going to catch him on the bike. No. 3 would probably stay where he was, and..... well..... I guess I was No. 4. Not being that strong of cyclist yet, I knew I probably wouldn't catch any of them.
But we still had the run.......
As I neared transition I made sure to fuel up, and then before I knew it, I was hitting the ground. Marian was waiting right at the dismount line for me, and I was shouting that I needed to slip out of my shoes quickly.... for some reason, this line really snuck up on you....
Then I was in........ and out................. I'm proud to say that I had - by far - the fastest T2 of the day. So fast that Marian couldn't really get a good picture of me leaving... ;-)
Then on to run. With a gel in my pocket, I tossed a salute to Marian and took off. The trail that awaited was pretty rough. We had to run out of the canyon and the grades were REALLY steep. So....... I walked. And that made all of the difference. As I came to the top of the canyon, I saw up ahead....
No 3!! He didn't look like he was feeling very well. Poor guy probably ran up the hills.... I stalked him and passed him within a few minutes. Yesssss. I was on the podium. Then I hit the straightaway and saw that No 1 was wayyyyyyyyyy too far ahead to catch. Darn.... But I did see No 2, and as he hit the turnaround and came back at me, I noticed he was running at a slower pace. Heh heh. I had a shot at second place....
But I didn't speed up. I knew that if I was going to catch him, it had to be at the pace I was running. If I tried to pick it up too much, I would bonk.
I sipped on the gel. Putting a drop under my tongue every now and then and letting it go straight to my blood stream. That was awesome.... Then before long. I was passing No. 2..... He was breathing pretty hard, and managed to heave a "good work" out. I congratulated him as well and continued to press.
Then it was back down the canyon road (different way) for the final stretch. It was awesome to see the finish line come into view. I was feeling pretty spent and it was nice to have the race over. I finished in just over 2 hours and 26 minutes!!! And of course I was greeted by my wonderful coach and wife... who immediately started telling me what to do.... because I don't think very clearly at the end of races. I'm just... tired. That's all I know....
Well. 3 down this season. 1 to go. Last planned race is going to be Emmett's most Excellent triathlon, which draws a deeper field. We'll see how things go there. Wish me luck!!
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