Today I completed the Rattlesnake Sprint Triathlon in Aurora , Colorado (southeast Denver ).
Distances: swim 500Meters; Bike: 12 miles, Run: 5K
I was using this race as a practice race for my Olympic race in 2 weeks. The main thing I got out of it was that I need to keep on training… :(
Overall the race was ok, but I expected to be faster and not as tired as I was.
(editing note: somehow I've made this blog double spaced.... crap!)
(Note: yesterday on my “rest” day, I spent most of it on my feet literally – doing chores, standing in the AT&T store for 1.5 hrs, standing at the Melissa Etheridge concert for 45mins, running around town picking up my wetsuit, etc. My quads were literally aching at bedtime last night! This is not a good example of how to spend a rest day).
Weather: forecast was for the 70’s. Which is about 20 degrees cooler than normal for Aurora in August (They don’t call it Saudi Aurora for nothing)
Rise and Shine!!
I got up at 3:30AM. That is just horrible! However, even more horrible was that I had set my alarm for 3:50am but I slept so badly that I finally decided to stop lying there and get up early. Had a bit of cereal and OJ and lots of water. Had a quick hot shower to warm up my muscles, grabbed my bag and bike and was out the door by 4:20AM. Its still amazing to me that there are other people out at that hour.
Driving…
I made record time to the race site at 1 hour and 15 mins - :)
The moon was brilliant in its quarter state and I could see plenty of stars, while I played Madonna REALLY LOUDLY. (ummm, did I mention it was early?)
Transition area/car parking
This race allowed us to park in the parking lot that the race was being held in and I managed to score a parking space about 50 feet from the bike exit! Amazing! I could literally go back and forth to my car as much as I wanted before the race. This is unheard of. Usually you are a fair distance away and have to walk/ride to the transition area. I especially appreciated it this morning as I sat in the car for a while to keep warm while I was waiting ( I got there pretty early – arriving at the transition area at 6am)
(the words human sausage come to mind)
Special Note about the Port O Potties: I have seen the next generation of the potty and I love it! They look like normal potties from the outside (that lovely boxy green shape) but inside, you are not confronted with the view of excrement! Its now like a bathroom you would have in a camper. It looks like a closed toilet, and you do your business, but then there is a foot pedal/button on the floor that you step on, and it drops the bottom part of the toilet down and pumps blue fluid in to wash the business out. Awesome! They certainly smelled better too (potties at a race are a special treat).
pre-race calm
Swim
Time Trial Start! This was a first for me and I loved it. Takes away the whole mass start madness, and it’s a very pleasant entrance into the water. And we didn’t even have to be in exact order of our numbers. They just recorded your number and punched into the computer and your start time and off you went. Awesome! The resevoir was relatively warm at 68 degrees. I was wearing my full length wetsuit so I could practice swimming with it, getting it on and off, etc. The distance was only 550 yards, but it was a fairly tough swim (even with the time trial start). The sun was rising along the sight lines for the buoys, so it was hard to see on the outbound, and the wind was making some waves in our faces as well. Several times I found myself stuck behind a blockade of slow swimmers – too much effort to go around and cant pass otherwise. Argghhhhhh. I also found myself breathing harder than normal for that kind of distance – the wetsuit was definitely a factor – tight and also changing my position in the water was probably messing up my regular breathing.
T1
Wetsuit Strippers! Before you get any bad ideas, let me explain – these are volunteers who strip wetsuits off racers. I have actually done that job at a triathlon and its lots of fun.
I decided to give it a try on the other end this time –and its awesome! You have get it down past your hips first and then plunk down on the ground and they rip it off your legs. I had the added benefit of being dragged up to my feet again by the 2 fine gentlemen doing this. When you are breathing hard from the swim and trying to get your land legs back under yourself, trying to get up from the ground can be rather taxing.
I had forgotten to get my shirt out of my pack so I had to rustle around to find it so lost a bit of time there as well. Duh. Next time I’ll take everything out of my pack to make sure I don’t forget something.
(notice the position of the flags...)
Bike
We paid for the cool weather with wind. A strong wind, blowing east to west, which served to make our journey east over the BIG HILLS even more enjoyable…..
The hills are surprisingly big out in Aurora . Technically they are called rollers, but they are pretty big rollers. I did have to reach into my 3rd chain ring a few times. Despite my best intentions of keeping my heart rate low on the bike, it just didn’t happen. Going uphill into the wind caused me to breathe pretty hard. (And I just cant help myself – I like passing people on the bike – cause it certainly wont happen on the run). And just when you think you could catch a break on the way back, the final 2 miles back to the lake are uphill. I also managed to drop my chain going up a hill trying to downshift. So I lost a bit of time putting my chain back on and made my fingers black as well.
T2
Pee Break! I’ve never had to take a potty break before. Weird. I basically had to pee the whole time on the bike, so once I got my running gear on, I exited T2 and ran straight over to the port-o-potties…
Run
The temperature was great for running! The wind was not that great for running. The cramp in my side was definitely not good for my running. Well, even with all that, and a pee break added in, I still managed an ok time (for me). I even had a smile on my face as I ran down the finishing chute. Of concern is the pain I was getting in my left heel in mile 3. I have been fighting some mild plantar faciitis lately but this is the first time I’ve been affected during a run. Not sure what this means for my next 2 weeks of training. I’m hoping it all goes away….
Apres party
Bagels with sandwich meat, cheese, and fixins’! beer, pop, Gatorade, chips and cookies! Wohoooooooo
Swag: no t-shirt at this one but something seemingly more expensive: a black gym bag with the Rattlesnake Tri logo on the side – its great!
Summary: as usual, I do alright on the swim and the bike (middle of the packer!) and do horribly on the run comparatively. Need to work on that running bit.
Final Times:
Swim: 12:24 355/589 60%
T1: 2:13
Bike: 47:33 348/589 59%
Bike Avg 15.1mph (ummm, did I mention there were BIG HILLS?)
T2: 1:43
Run: 38:11 545/589 90% :((((((
Run Avg 12:19
Total: 1:42:01
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