Just got back from my first, and last, real race of the season. I did win a sprint triathlon here at Duke 2 weeks ago but that wasn't as big. The Pinehurst International was also the first race I've raced in the Elite/Pro category. Although I am currently neither, I decided last night that I would switch out of the Age Group race into Elite just to see how I'd do. I've literally only got 6 weeks of aerobic training in my body after a 12 month lay-off, where all I did was sit on my butt and gain weight, so I am very pleased with my results from today, even though I had a very tough race and raced nowhere near my past fitness level, or potential.
However, 8th elite and 9th overall is not too shabby J I think there were around 20-22 elites in the open category, including those over 35 y/o. here's how my race panned out:
Swim: I need to work on my open water swimming, mainly regarding initial anxiety. The entire way out to the first turn buoy was a struggle for me. My HR was through the roof, I was breathing every other stroke so my form was lopsided, and the sun was coming up over the water so I could not see any buoys. I just sighted off of flailing arms. I also managed to swim over top of two women in the first 200m. The women went off with the men. I felt bad but hey, it's part of the sport.
A big group of about 15 swimmers opened up a gap on us and I fought to catch up and get in the big drafting water turbine but couldn't quite do it. I swung wide and ended up getting dropped into no man's land, in front of the small group about 50m behind me but probably 300m (and quickly growing) behind the big mob. I was also the only one without a wetsuit (I've grown in the last year so it doesn't fit my shoulders any more) and the advantage in a group of good swimmers is evident. My legs also got super cold during the final 500m and almost cramped several times. The cold legs persisted through the bike, with my feet still numb as I went into T2.
Anyways, I rolled into T1 ahead of some people but minutes behind the main group so I had my work cut out for me on the ride. But if you know me, I'm always up for a hammerfest and I love catching people so I was ready to go.
Ride: The ride began okay besides the cold legs. After the first turn, within a few miles I was really hammering hard on one of the only flat parts. My computer read 29.7 mph for quite a while so I was moving out. Then came the hills. After a few more miles it became evident to me why the past results in this race where so ridiculously slow. Everything was a hill. You were either climbing or descending or on a false flat. And the roads were not too great. Much of the course was covered in bumpy asphalt, with one section reminding me of an inverted asphalt version of Nike's waffle sole. That happened to be the section into a strong headwind; pushing 15 mph was all I could do. An 8 or 9 mile section on the back side of the loop was literally 10 or more long hills up and down. I got used to it, and I don't necessarily mind hills, especially because I only ride a road bike and it's more difficult for someone on a tri bike to climb. I caught four people, almost five, and all four were on long climbs or a short climb directly after a long climb, so I can't complain.
Run: Got off the bike with frozen feet. I have to admit I was a little worried at first, but within the first mile I could feel them so I relaxed a bit and tried to find my stride-of-old. The run course was literally never flat. Up, down, up, down. Started to get some GI issues but I just told myself to wait til the end and luckily I lasted. At mile 2 I decided to try my hand at the art of drinking water out of a cup while running fast. I failed ;) which resulted in throwing up in my mouth. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to just swallow it back down. I guess my body was still trying to swallow the water. Got passed by a pretty fast Elite Master's guy. He was flying, running really hard. I just made it my goal to keep him in sight and succeeded, finishing about 20 seconds behind him.
All in all I had blast and am very pleased with my result on such limited fitness. I met some great people and had a fun time with the Duke Triathlon Team. I also met pro Stacey Richardson. She won the women's race. I guess the first time we met was when I passed her. But let me tell you, I was running scared because I did not want to get chicked. I don't care how good the woman is. Stacey was so cool and she grabbed me after the race and we went for a cool down run together to go cheer on the age groupers as they finished the run. She wants to help me out and said she could work out some great deals with Kiwami to get a nice screen-printed ITU style kit to race in. Kiwami makes awesome racing suits and clothes; they are worn by many of the top guys and gals on the ITU WCS circuit and look really sharp. There was another guy there, about my age, from Panama and he had a pretty sweet 2XU ITU suit, as well as some USA ITU suits, maybe from the World's Team (?).
Definitely a great experience and super promising glimpse at my potential. I feel like I was racing at about 50% of where I will be in 4 or 5 months, the next time I race, so I am excited to see what I can do next Spring. Will I do that particular race again in the future? Probably not. That was a hard race course. Maybe it was just my lack of fitness though, or a combination of both.
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