Mystic Valley Triathlon - June 6, 2010

1/2 m swim, 14.5 mile bike, 3 mile run

Background

My original target for this part of the season was the Mooseman 70.3 race in NH. But two things got in the way. First, I broke my toe in Arizona in late March That limited my running in April and early May. Then, I found out that my son had his first solo violin concert at 4PM the day of the race. No way I was going to miss that and no way I could make it back from NH in time. So, I looked for another race. I thought about the Rev 3 1/2 IM, but I didn't think I had done enough running. Quite honestly, I haven't been in the water since Arizona and haven't been in open water since Hammerfest last September. So, I felt even the Rev 3 Olympic swim might be challenging. I just wanted to get a race under my belt. The first race every year is always a shock to my system and it usually jump starts my training. So, I headed to Mystic.

Confessions of an aging triathlete

Its been about 9 years since I won a triathlon and 6 years since my last good season. That is actually all part of the plan. My kids are 5 and 3 and training at a top level while I wasn't sleeping was not possible. But now its time to figure out where triathlon fits in my life. My sense is my IM days are over for a long while and I really am starting to think my 1/2 IM days are over for a while too. That's tough for me to say because its my best distance but the time just isn't there.

The confession is..... I have good genes. I've hid inadequate training behind those genes for many years. Now, in my mid 40's, the gig is up. They still help in small races against my age group, but when the competition gets stiff and the goal is an overall place, there is no where to hide. I used to be able to do a sub 30 min 1.2 mile 1/2 IM swim with very little, if any, swim training.

Well today, I had very little swim training this year and it was exposed. Fortunately, the race organizers put out a slightly short swim course and it was a sprint to begin with.

Warm Up

This is the other thing that I realized today. In the past, my warm up was unpacking the car. Today, I warmed up for about 20 minutes and honestly, for the time I felt it wasn't enough. As my grandmother used to say, It's no fun getting old.

Swim

After "warming up" in the water, which was the first time in the open water since 2009, I lined up at the start in the first wave. The gun went off and it was a whole new world for me. Usually, I go pretty hard and I get to the front of the pack. I usually hit the first buoy near the front with very little traffic. Today, I got to the first buoy in a whole lot of traffic. By the middle of the swim, my lats were crushed. No hiding today, I need to actually admit that triathlon is a 3 sport event and requires training in all three disciplines.

I exited the water in 10.36, 49th out of 254.

T1

The real effects of my lack of swim training showed up in T1. I was whipped. I crawled through transition. 1.15, 70 out of 254. To put that in perspective the top 5 went between 33 and 40 sec. Giving up 45 sec in a sprint is a whole lot.

Bike

See no swim training and no warm up. I was still whipped and it showed. I also had some problems with my disc wheel the night before the race and since it wasn't an A race, I went discless. The disc was probably good for some amount of time. Usually, I really track people down on the bike. Today, I tracked no one down after the first mile. I didn't get passed either but there were no big gains. I went off course twice due to sleepy volunteers but that cost me maybe 15-30 seconds. There was a huge pack drafting in front of me that pissed me off, but truthfully, it only helped their times not my placing relative to them. I wasn't going to catch many of them any way. If they hadn't been drafting, I would have kept them in sight, but iknstead they rode away.

37.10, 13th out of 254

T2

No real issues here. Slow, but only 14 sec behind the winner. 42 sec, 70 out of 254.

Run

The run actually wasn't too bad. I got passed by a few people in the first 200 yds but then settled in with another guy. We got smoked by a guy after mile 1 but then held our own and I left him with about 3/4 of a mile to go. I wasn't flying, but I have only been able to run for about a month and I haven't done any real speed work yet this year.

20.35, 38 out of 254. Placing higher in the run than the swim is a first for me. I wish it was because my run got stronger!

I finished 15th overall out of 254 and 2nd in the 40-44 AG. The distressing thing for me is I was over 4 minutes from the podium, which is a an eternity in a sprint.

But the race served its purpose and got me back in the game and hopefully training again in all three sports. We'll see how the Summer plays out. One quick note about the race. This is a good race if sprints are your thing. The course was beautiful, the organization superb and the post race party was terrific. And, it has our own Al Lyman as a sponsor!