I wish I could tell you I was floating on air with this PR – I should be. I feel good about it and it shows remarkable improvement in my ability but something is just not ‘there’ Maybe writing this post will help me figure this out.

As usual this will not be your standard “work up at 4, had a cup of coffee, pooped, loaded the car….” race report. I leave those to Steve Stenzel (if you haven’t watched his latest video you must) and Amanda Lovato. When it comes to poop posts they are the pros!

So here’s my race report:

Night before Prep: 2 Sammies from Quiznos (Sonoma Turkey and Bistro Steak Melt) and a cup of broccoli/Cheese soup) Perfect.

Pre-Race:

1).Did the packet pickup, put numbers on bike and race belt and forgot to put my number on my helmet – oops. I guess I’ll have to find my pictures in the lost and found section when they come out. I think we all know that for me, the race is all about the pictures. I WILL find them.

2). Why is is so damned hard to get a wetsuit on? And why is it that no matter how much BodyGlide I use on my neck I always, always, always get a wetsuit hickey? So annoying.

Swim:
1). I used anti-fog spray in my goggles for the first time and could see the WHOLE TIME! I didn’t have to stop once to clear my goggles and I didn’t bump into a single kayak. So awesome!

2). At this race last year I had a major cramping problem when I came out of the water. You have to run over river rock to get out and once I stood up my right leg cramped up so painfully that I fell down and sat there screaming for help. I got none and it took 2 attempts and 2 or 3 minutes to be able to use my leg and get out of there. I was SO hoping that didn’t happen this year so I took extra Potassium the day before, drank a double dose of Nuun on the ride up and ate a banana in the morning and was very careful to keep my feet relaxed during the swim. I felt fine as I got to the finish but alas….

3). My swim went well. I let the pack go at the beginning so I didn’t freak out or hyperventilate going too fast but I caught up to the middle of the pack by the turn around and passed a few people on the way back. My legs were relaxed and I felt good and as I came out the water I just stood up and started to go for it and then… next thing I knew -KABLAM! I had a giant cramp and fell down. ARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! I sat there pulling back on my toes with people running around me asking – “are you okay” and saying “whoa – look at that!” because my foot was so contorted. Fortunately a course marshall stepped in and gave me a hand up so that I could stand without putting pressure on it until my leg was straight. I thanked him and off I went.

Time 29:00 compared to 33 last year. I hit T1 happy as could be under the circumstances.

T1: good enough and I’m out of there, minus my Garmin. I did have a stop watch with laps so I could capture my time (sort of). I only show 35 seconds. So Swim + T1 = 30:07. Not bad.

Bike:

1). I had forgotten to re-set my bike computer so I attempted to do that while on the ride. The problem is that because of my clip on aero bars it’s hard to get both buttons at once and it’s kind of a 2 hand operation. I almost biffed it big time and started to run off the bike path into the weeds. It was a perilous, wobbly moment in which I could have crashed and had a very bad start to my race. I left well enough alone and just focused on riding.

2). Last year I got passed often and constantly. This year, not so much. My goal was not to get passed by anyone in my age group.

3). No such luck. It took them about 10 and 12 miles to do it but I got passed by 2 women in my division. One of them had the audacity to pass me going downhill and say “Whheeeee!” as she did it. I wanted to kill her. I tried to stay on her and even passed her at one point but alas, she got away from me.

4). You know that old rule about always have your own water? It’s a good one. Last year they handed out water bottles at the 1/2 way point so I counted on that. I had my aero bottle full of Infinit but that was all. This year – no water. So that was a drag but since I had the Infinite I was okay and I did take in the entire 300 calories on the ride. Lesson learned – always take a water bottle.

5). Aero bottles with those mesh things suck. I wore at least 50 calories of Infinite on my glasses and handlebars so make that 250 calories downed on the ride. I need a cap for my aero bottle.

6). I saw a woman fixing a flat and I called out “do you have everything you need” and she called “my pump is broken” and I started to stop and then, for some reason, I decided that she said she was fine (I swear I heard her say “I’m fine- thanks”) and I kept going. I know that wasn’t true because after the race the announcer said “to the guy who gave up his bike pump -you can pick it up at the stage”. I feel like such a heel and I’m so sorry. I should have just stopped and handed her my pump. SORRY! I hope that next guy, the nice one, wasn’t too far behind me.

Ride time: 1:23 which works out to 18 mph. GO ME! Last year I DREAMED of hitting 17 and didn’t come close. Much better. 15 minute improvement over last year.

T2: less that 2:29 which is what the watch says but I forgot to hit the lap button for a while. Nothing of note except that not every single person from my race club was done already as was the case last year. I was very happy about that.

Run:

1). It was hot but it was okay. I just kept chugging along and was pulling sub 10 min miles for a while. My Garmin which I picked up in T2 and spent way too long getting on, kept telling me I was running 12:35 or 11:55 or some such nonsense and I’m starting to hate it. I had to hold it up to the sky to get it to register half the time. So annoying.

2). I did slow down toward the end as it starts to go uphill but I did okay and I passed a woman in my age group. I passed a lot of people and I was happy about that. I was also just cooked by the end as in ‘stick a fork in me – I’m done and I don’t think I’ll EVER race again”. However – last year I got passed just before the finish by a woman in my division and I let her go. She beat me by 18 seconds and I was NOT going to let that happen again so I really pushed it.

3). 3 women from my club where at the finish cheering me. I can’t tell you how much that warmed my heart. I’m going to send them an email and thank Julie and Caroline and Kimberly – you’re the best!

Total time: ~1:05 which is not what I wanted but not too bad.

Update – Official results 10 out of 18 in the 50 – 59 division (6 out of 13 in the 50 – 54)

Swim 0:29:29.5
T1 2:20.2
Bike 1:23:29.1
T2 1:29.5
Run 1:05:35.1
Finish 3:02:23.3

I don’t know what I did to my watch but obviously something is off.

Conclusion:

I ran under the finish clock when it said 3:32 and my wave went off 30 minutes after the start. My watch said 3:00:43 and I didn’t really put 2 and 2 together in that moment. I knew I had 30+ minute PR and I was happy but in a second I went from wanting a big PR to wanting a sub 3 hour finish. When I saw my official time of 3:02 I was disappointed because my watch said 3:00 and I liked that better. And then I was disappointed that I spent time messing with gadgets because that alone cost me a minute, I’m sure. And if only I had picked it up here and there I could have had my sub 3:00 finish. The big problem is that I will not do this race next year because that cramping business is just too unpleasant so now I have no chance to redeem myself.

Please – feel free to slap me into reality I had a 31 minute PR on an Olympic distance race and that is cause for celebration not remorse. I guess I’ll just have to make up on the New York Triathlon or the Nations Triathlon next year. Yeah – that’s it. There’s always next year. And there’s Sept 21 when I will do my “A” race which is a sprint and I WILL go all out.