This was a very well-run event. I was impressed! I'll definitely be coming back to the "Y" events someday. Great staff. Great volunteers. Great scheduling (and sticking to it).
It's also a slightly unique race, in the sense that the swim is on Friday (in a pool) and the run/bike portion is on Saturday. I thought it was kind of cool - for the purposes of seeing how "all out" I could go on the time trial swim. So consequently, Marian and I had been working on my "speed" in the pool for the previous month to see how fast I could swim 750 yards. One good aspect of our training is the fact that our pool at Mountain Home AFB is actually 25.4(ish) meters - which resulted in us going into this time trial not knowing what my actual time would be. Either way, it forced us to train as if I was swimming in a 25 yard pool, so we knew that whatever my time was going to be, it likely would be lower than what we saw in training; which made us want to train me all the harder. But we got to the point where I was consistently swimming under 11 minutes... and we just hoped that I'd at least be able to maintain that in the race.
Friday evening, we got to the pool, checked in, and wandered over to the lanes that were dedicated for the triathlon. (It's a rather big/busy facility, so there were a myriad of other activities going on - kayaking, diving, swim practice, etc.) I had some time to kill, so we watched people and then I started warming up. Marian very faithfully pointed out what I needed to focus on, and helped me "get ready" mentally. I'd noted that a pro triathlete, Kevin Everett (who I'd emailed nearly a year ago asking for some advice and he'd kindly emailed me back), had shown up and was warming up in the next lane. Marian quickly reminded me to focus on my race... not his.
When it came time to swim, they let me do a couple more laps, and then I told the timer I was ready - then off I went!
I'll be brief, because pool swims (particularly independent time trials) aren't nearly as interesting as open water smack-punch-kick-and-drown-with-all-the-other-triathletes-making-a-mad-scramble-for-that-orange-buoy-out-there swims. I started the swim wayyyyyyyyyy faster than we'd planned... But I planned to start off fast because if I don't, I have a tendency to maintain and/or not speed up enough. Lap 5 was when I started to realize how fast I had started, my body "woke up" in a sense. Consequently, I flubbed a couple of a flip turns - because my stroke efficiency was rapidly declining. But then I dug in and convinced myself that I would keep swimming hard - regardless of the pain. I pressed.
Finally, I saw the timer sticking a kickboard in the water and I stopped. "No! You still have one more! Go go go!!" Arrrrrg!! I took off again... (So far, I'd observed them putting the kickboard in the water for everyone to stop. Not signal the bell lap!) I sped to the other end, and then sped back and they stopped the watch.
...I was dizzy.....
"Bine-fuhty-thoo", the timer said.
I blinked and shook my head... my head was still ringing. I weakly pulled myself out of the water and stood up. "What did you say my time was?" And I leaned in closer...
"9:42"
Woah.... ok. That's definitely under 11 minutes... I'll take that...
Marian later told me that I HAD started out fast - swimming sub 30 second 50's for the first few laps.... Oh.... yeah. That's definitely faster than planned.
I sat with her in the bleachers and we watched Kevin Everett swim it in 8 minutes. (Woah. Maybe I'll be there someday.) As were leaving, I got the chance to introduce myself to him, and thank him for his help a year ago. He was very cordial and congratulated me on my swim and informed me that I'd probably be the 4th or 5th fastest swimmer - which would seed me at the very front starting the next day. I thanked him and we soon left.
After running some quick errands in Boise, we rushed home and tried to get to bed as quickly as possible.
Saturday:
We showed up to the race eager and ready to see what I could do. Marian was giving me pep talks and reminders - because my brain tends to be a little scattered before races. She is very helpful at keeping me on track.
They started the clock and we each waited for it to reach our swim time before entering T1. It turned out that Kevin had been right; I'd had the 4th fastest swimmer. He was first, followed by a friend of his, his father, and I. When the clock reached Kevin's time he trotted jovially over to his bike and embarked on the 12.5 mile course. It looked like he was out for a pleasure ride - but I knew he would lay down some seriously fast splits regardless. Kevin's father was one second faster than I so we started at virtually the same time. I ran in and grabbed my bike and followed him out of transition; and off we went!
The bike course was not flat like I expected it to be. (Woops...) But the hills on it were small. I followed Jim (Kevin's Father) and we looped up and around the course together. He was stronger than I on the bike, but I tried not to let him get too far away. As I expected, about 5 miles in, a small pack of guys started to pass me. But I ignored them and raced my own race - and sipped on my water bottle filled with precious nutrients that would fuel me on the run.
I came into T2 in 8th place. I had some work to do. The dismount area was a little tricky and I nearly crashed as I dismounted. I managed to stay upright (but Marian later told me that almost all of the front-runners crashed or nearly crashed at this point... something funky with the grading of the asphalt I guess). I sped through transition and shot out, eager to catch the leaders.
I took off, rounded the first corner, and spotted #6 & 7. Jim was still up there somewhere as #5. I caught #7 within the first half-mile and made the pass. It looked like Jim was now #6 and the dude who'd just passed him was trying to hold a pretty aggressive pace. After passing Jim, I tried to press and bridge the gap to #5, but every time I did, it felt like he stayed the same distance ahead. Going through mile 2, I was laboring pretty hard - and I was running out of miles...
Up ahead I saw that #5 was catching #4. Urrrg. I needed to run HARDER. I willed my legs to move faster, and my stride to me longer..... they turned the final stretch back to the school and I was only 50 meters back. I turned the corner and powered up to former #4 - now #5. "Good work man! Very well done!" He Huffed. I managed to wheeze out a simple "Thanks..." before continuing on.
Now if only to catch #4 - that guy was passing everybody... I had to stop him!
I turned onto the school property. He was maybe only 50 meters ahead. I could do it! I surged!!
He looked back - saw me - and picked up his pace as well.
No! I surged more....
He surged more.
We reach the final 250 meters of the race. Maybe I could eeek out just a little more....
But it wasn't to be. I tried with all my might to push a little harder. But it wasn't there. I watched him stay ahead and pass through the finish. And I passed through just 11 seconds later to finish....
"And here comes No. 30, Ryan Hoff to round out the podium in 3rd!!"
Uhhhhh... what?
And standing off to the side in the grass was Kevin Everett, who - as I'm walking over - says, "Good job Ryan. You got third."
"What--?"
"Congrats!"
*blink* *blink* *blink*
"Well... COOL!"
So there you go! It turned out that one guy had gone out too hard on the bike and didn't finish the race. I'm not exactly sure what happened to the other one. But I got third!!
So Marian and I scarfed down some of the good post-race food. I replenished electrolytes and fuel (I later also ate a HUMONGOUS burrito at Chipotle as well....). We mingled with the people there; sat in the grass; I did a cool-down run and stretched. It was awesome...
This was a great end to (the end of) the season... I just couldn't be done I guess. But now I'm done and we're moving in to post season work with the intent of hitting my running hard for the first few months to conclude with me racing a half-marathon towards the end of January. Then we'll hit my swimming and biking from January through March; and then I'll try to race as many events between March and May as possible - due to possibly being sent on some "business trips" via the military during the summer.
So toodles! I - we - will try to post a blog or two on here as the winter progresses; and look for my race report on my half-marathon in January!!
Great job brother. You are the man.
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