Buffalo Olympic Triathlon Race Review

What a difference 2 years makes.  But wait.  I'm getting ahead of myself again.  Let's start from the beginning.

I spent Saturday evening was spent tweaking my bike and gathering all the necessities for race day.  One of my moms (New Mom for those of you keeping track) gave me an awesome backpack for Christmas that can expand out to swallow all of my gear.  I was able to get everything into that one bag - wetsuit and helmet included.  This went into the car along with my bike (no, my bike wouldn't fit in the bag too) and waited while I slept.

I woke up at 5:30 on Sunday morning and went through my normal pre-race routine.  Warm shower?  Check.  Bagel with peanut butter?  Check.  Climb into new team racing jersey and shorts?  Check.  With that, I hit the road for the 45 minute drive out to Buffalo.  The weather was looking absolutely great.  The sun was shining and the temps for race time would be in the low 70s.  Nice.

The first wave of the race wasn't scheduled to go until 9:00, but even at 7:00, things were just starting to get busy in the transition area.  I grabbed a spot on a rack and made sure it would be easy to find in the rather large transition area.  The Olympic and Sprint distance race at the same time, and there were two large transition areas separated by an Astroturf covered path.  With 1500 bikes to rack, they did a pretty good job of giving us enough space to maneuver.

Behold: my awesome MS Paint skills.

After claiming my space, I went to body marking where some dude drew on me.  No.  Wait.  That sounds weird.  Anyway, I got my race number on my shoulders and on my quads, plus my age on my left calf.  They do this so that you know if you're racing next to someone in your age group (remember this little tid-bit for later).  After that, I had another 90 minutes to spend waiting around, just soaking things in. 

After about an hour of wandering around, I got a text from my mom - Classic Mom this time.  She was heading over to see me race.  Sweet!  The Wife had to work on Sunday morning, so she couldn't make it, but it was pretty cool to know someone would be there.  Classic Mom made it out to the Get in Gear in April, but she's never seen me in a tri before, so having her out was pretty cool.

They had the pre-race meeting to remind us about the course changes.  This year, the bike course intersected two sets of train tracks and there was a very real chance that we would need to stop to wait for any trains.  That got a collective groan from the crowd.  My wave only the 4th to leave, so after the meeting I poured myself into my wetsuit and headed over to the beach for a quick warmup.  There was almost no wind, so the lake was just about as calm as my local lap pool.  I could tell already that the swim was going to be fun.  Just before my wave got lined up, I saw Classic Mom and gave her a nice wet hug before shuffling over to the start line.

The Swim
There was a hard right-hand turn less than 100 yards into the swim, so I lined myself up on the far left so I could get out fast and cut the corner in front of most of my wave.  Relatively speaking, I'm a stronger swimmer than I am a cyclist or runner, so I wanted to take full advantage of my time in the water.  Oh yeah.  I almost forgot.  At Buffalo, you don't have swim course buoys.  You get giant duckies.  Awesome.

The start was incredibly uneventful.  I ran in, took a good dive when it was hip-deep and busted a move towards the first turn.  I didn't get a lot of contact from the other racers - just a couple bumps here and there.  On the way to the first duckie, I started to catch up to the wave ahead of me.  I learned pretty quickly to stay away from any feet that were doing the breast-stroke.  One heel to the mouth will drive that lesson home quickly.  The good news is that all of the white swim caps from wave #3 made it easier to sight the course - just follow the little white dots.

The first left turn was a bit of a cluster, but the long straghtaway was a great place to get some speed going.  I knew I could go a little wider of the duckies without swimming too much further than the crowd.  I'd much rather swim just a little further if it means avoiding packs of other athletes.  After the third and final turn, I started seeing more caps from the 2nd wave - blue this time - but I was more focused on tracking down more yellow duckies.  I hit the gas with about 200-300 yards left to go and hit the shore feeling dizzy from the swimming, but still fresh.

Goal: 28:00, or 1:42 per 100 yards.
Actual: 24:52, or 1:31 per 100 yards.

The Bike
After a somewhat muddled transition (gotta practice those) I pedaled out onto the bike course.  With 1500 athletes, it did get pretty crowded out on the course, especially during the first lap.  Most of the riders were good about riding safely.  Slower riders stayed to the right, giving speedier ones some room to pass.  Although, there were a few that need to be reminded what exactly "on your left!" means.  In the end, I don't think anyone was slowed down significantly due to congestion.

The course was incredibly fast.  During most of the first lap, it felt as though I was either going downhill or had the wind at my back.  Yes, I know.  The course is flat, so there weren't any downhills, but that's sure what it felt like.  In fact, the only real hills to speak of were a couple long rollers on the back stretch of the course, heading back into town. 

I tried to keep my pace moderately hard.  My goal was to keep my average speed over 19.5mph, so any time I dropped under 20mph, I gave it a little more gas.  Cycling during a triathlon can be tricky.  Sure, everyone wants to go fast, but if you go too hard you can ruin your chances at a good run leg.  I have enough problems putting together a good run, so I'm often second-guessing myself when I see my average speed climb too high.

Then again, sometimes you just have to say 'screw it!' and go out harder than you think is smart.

The 2nd lap was a lot less crowded, but still felt just as fast.  Again, the only real slowdowns were with the two rollers heading back towards the park.  As I came up into the park I realized that I had forgotten to slip my feet out of my shoes.  I wrestled with my right shoe and got my foot out, but was barreling towards the dismount line too fast to be able to get my left foot out.  So, I unclipped my left shoe, hopped off the bike, took off my shoe, picked it up and ran with it towards my transition area.  This was not exactly the graceful dismount I was hoping for.

My speed still looked good though.  I managed to keep my average speed over 20mph for the whole leg.  Wow.  That's the first time I've ever topped 20mph for any triathlon distance.  Sweet.

Goal: 1:18:00, or 19.6mph
Actual: 1:16:00, or 20.13mph.

The Run
The first 1/3 of the run is very flat, which made it a little easier to get my 'land legs' back.  I haven't done as many bike-run bricks in training this year as I probably should, which probably contributed to me being a little stiff.  Still, I managed to shuffle along at 8:50 per mile while running down the lake path.

Mile 3 made me wish that I had studied the course ahead of time.  It was essentially one long sweeping climb.  It wasn't extremely steep, but the road just kept turning, and turning, and turning, so it was impossible to see the turnaround until I was almost on top of it.  Needless to say, my split wasn't what I wanted - 9:23.  The good news was that mile 4 took us down the same hill.  So, I drank some water from the hilltop aid station, poured the rest over my head and booked it down the hill.  Lo and behold, going downhill actually gave me a faster split time - 8:35.  Downhills help you run faster?  Go figure.

As the course led back towards the lakefront, I was able to see the finish line waaaaaay down the shoreline.  I knew that I was almost there, but it still looked so dang far away.  I tried to pick up the pace a little bit and was even able to pass a few runners - something that I rarely do during a race.  Usually, they're all passing me.  I tossed some more cool water over my head at the last aid station and then focused on trying to reel in the next runner in front of me.

With about 50 yards to go, I got close enough to see that he had a '33' on the back of his calf.  He was in my age group (I TOLD you to remember that knowledge morsel, didn't I?).  I managed to grunt out a little sprint at the finish and passed him with about 10 yards to go.  That's the first time I've ever out-sprinted someone in my age group before.  Yay.

Goal:  56:00, or 9:00 per mile
Actual: 54:49 or 8:50 per mile

Summary
Goal: 2:46:00
Actual: 2:39:42

Well lookie here, I met my goal!  Now, part of me says that I need to set some more aggressive goals.  But, another part of me realizes that the race conditions were ideal for fast times.  If there had been heavy chop on the lake or high winds on the bike, I could easily have missed the mark.  The part that I was most encouraged about was my finish place.  I was 21/42 in my age group, which puts me squarely in the middle of the pack.  I've never felt this good about being average.  Hopefully this means that I actually am starting to get a handle on this whole triathlon thing.  Even better, I still feel like there's plenty of room for improvement.

So, it was a good day.  I met my goal.  I got to race by Classic Mom a couple of times and I firmly established myself as a middle-of-the-packer.  Good stuff.

I'll get some photos posted shortly.  Stay tuned.

Milestones

I hit two major milestones in the last couple of weeks.  First off, I passed 1000 miles of cycling miles for 2011.  Now, most of those miles were on the trainer, and the trainer doesn't always accurately represent how far I've gone.  Okay, technically I wasn't actually GOING anywhere, so I guess most of those 1000 miles are virtual miles.  But, the work was anything but virtual, so I'm going to celebrate.  Yay me.

Second - and this is a bit of a bigger deal - I celebrated my 1-year blog-iversary. Woo hoo!

Way back in 2010 I started writing as a way to document my training experiences leading up to Ironman Wisconsin.  Go ahead, check out my first post.  Pretty modest, eh?  Well, the Ironman came and went, but the blog kept on going.  Sometimes I'd post about training, sometimes I'd post about food, and sometimes I'd post about all sorts of unrelated crap. 

In the end, things usually come back to training and racing.  I've had a lot of great experiences and met many groovy people through swimming, cycling and running.  In my mind, blogging about it is just a natural extension of being a member of this community.  Plus, I like writing, and this blog allows me to scratch that writing itch in a way that I usually don't have the opportunity to out there in the Real World.

So, I'll keep writing.  Sure, there's no big name triathlon this year, but I've got a marathon coming up in October, and all kinds of other goodies to look forward to this summer. 

Oh, and don't forget to 'Like' me on Facebook.  The more 'likes' that I have, the more it feeds my hungry ego, and the more entertaining I become.

I'm kinda like Audrey 2, except, instead of dentists, I eat Internet traffic.

Team Ortho Monster Dash 10-Miler Race Review

Pre-Race
I'm used to races starting at around 7am, meaning that I'm usually getting out of bed by 5:00.  So, you can imagine how good an 8:30 start on Saturday felt.  After a bowl of raisin bran and a a quick shower, I was out the door and on my way to South Minneapolis.  The course was point-to-point, which means we started at Lake Nokomis and finished several miles away at the Lake Harriet Band Shell.  Since I like to get to races early, I got a nice parking spot near the start line.

One lap around the lake, then down the parkway to a finish at the North end of Lake Harriet.

Since this was a point-to-point, there was a gear bag drop.  I stuffed my warmups and a clean t-shirt into a bag, and dropped it off so the officials could hauled it to the finish and my things would be waiting for me when I was done.  Most of the fun prior to the race (and during, and after the race) was people watching.  There were over 1900 folks in my race and another 3500 doing the 1/2 Marathon - and at least half of them were in costume.  I was dressed in my customary 'Man in Running Clothes' costume, but others were in some very elaborate get-ups.  Some of the most common costumes were Sesame Street characters, super heroes and, believe it or not, Thing 1 and Thing 2 - LOTS of Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Do you have 2 red shirts, 2 white circles, 2 blue wigs and a friend?  Well, then you can be Thing 1 and Thing 2!

Now, I should mention that in the past, the course was an out-and-back, meaning that the start and finish line were both at Lake Harriet.  The course for both the 10-mile and the 1/2 Marathon was recently changed, and by 'recently' I mean 'within the last couple of weeks'.  As a result, some of the logistics for the event were a little, well, sloppy.  For example, there were only about 12 pot-o-potties at the 10-mile start area for 1900+ racers.  When there were only 5 minutes remaining until the start and several hundred people were still waiting to use the can, I knew that things were in bad shape.  It got to the point where people were squatting in the reeds near the lake.  Not fun.  I was feeling modest, so I decided to wait my turn.  The gun went off and I was still in line.  Ugh.  I wasn't too worried though - the race was chip-timed, so the clock wouldn't start for me until I crossed the timing mat.  In any event, I was eventually able to 'do my duties' and jog towards the start.

The Race

Getting stuck in line at the port-o-potties turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Most of the racers were already out on the course when I started, so there wasn't nearly the crowd there could have been during the first few miles.  My goal for the day was a sub-1:31:00.  That meant holding splits of 9:05.

The plan was to run the first few miles conservatively, push harder for miles 6 through 8 and then hold on for dear life for the last 2 miles.

Mile 1: 9:01
I felt great, the weather was perfect and there were mostly clear roads ahead of me.  Other than dodging a few walkers, it was smooth.

Mile 2: 9:06
I was starting to catch up to a few more people, but it still wasn't bad,  I just tried to stay light on my feet and enjoy the day.

Mile 3: 9:12
We had just finished our lap around the lake.  It was starting to get a little crowded.  The running still felt easy though - perhaps a little too easy.

Mile 4: 9:09
This mile included one of the courses only significant uphills.  My time was pretty close to target, but I felt like I could squeeze out a little more effort without blowing a gasket.

Mile 5: 8:52
Ahh.  That's more like it.  I was in full-blown cruise control at this point.  The hardest part was passing runners in front of me.  I didn't want to be rude.  These folks wanted to have just as much fun as I did.  Though, it was a little frustrating having to weave through traffic.

Mile 6: 8:57
Cruise control was holding steady.  Whenever my Garmin told me my pace was dipping, I took a few quick steps to bring my speed back up


Mile 7: 9:00
The course was downright crowded at this point.  I tried to grab a drink at an aid station, but everyone seemed to want to stop at the tables rather than running through.  I said 'screw this' and just held on a couple more miles until the next station.

Mile 8: 8:52
By now, I was getting pretty pumped.  There was one pretty beefy uphill, but I managed to plug through it.  There were still tons of other racers on the road, and I had resorted to hopping up on the curb from time to time to get around everybody.  Note to other racers: if you are going to wear a costume, please don't choose one with WINGS.  It's hard enough to get around you on a normal day, but those wings make you about 5 feet wide.

Mile 9: 8:53
More of the same - I'm still pumped and the course is still crowded.  There's not much left to do here but gut it out to the finish.

Mile 10: 8:29
Okay.  I REALLY tried to speed things up for the last mile.  I was still passing people like crazy, but managed to avoid any accidents.  The crowds were great.  There were hundreds of people lining either side of the street for the last 1/2 mile.  I tried to 'Hulk Hogan' the crowd again, but I don't think they got it.  My Garmin read 1:29:30.  Not only did I meet my goal, but I broke 90 minutes to go along with it.  Sweet!

Mile 10.1: :40
Yep.  The course ran just a little long, or at least that's what my Garmin told me, and who do you think I'm gonna trust?  I hit the finish line and stopped my Garmin - 1:30:10.  Not bad for a fun little run.


Post Race

There wasn't a whole lot to this.  I got my bag, stripped out of my grodies and threw on a dry shirt.  The 5K racers were ready to go, so I decided to hang around to watch the start - it was good for a little more people watching and interesting costumes.  Some even dressed up their dogs for the '5K-9'.  I could almost see the Bark 'n' Sniffer at home rolling her eyes.

Shuttle buses had been arranged to transport the 10-mile and 1/2 Marathon racers back to Lake Nokomis.  I moseyed on over to the pickup site.  I thought, hey, this'll be great, I can grab a lift and make it home by noon.  Then I saw the line.  Crap.  Evidently, there were only 2 buses arranged for the 5400+ racers that needed a ride.

I ended up waiting in line for just under 2 hours.  Yes.  I waited in line longer than I actually ran the race.  Were I smart, I would have packed my cell phone and wallet in my gear bag and simply called a cab.  Shoot, I probably could have invited a few strangers to share the cab to keep the cost down.  Oh well.  At least I got to chat with some other friendly running folks.

In the end, I had a great day.  Sure the logistics cramped things up a little bit, but the running itself went really well.  Plus, the swag was top-notch - and you KNOW how much I like my swag.  We all got running hoodies and medals with skulls on 'em.  Nice.

The only thing left to do now is to pick some more races.  The Wife was out of town visiting her dad in Tampa.  I'm hoping that if I play my cards right, I can convince her to let me do Ironman-Florida in November, 2011.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Hey! I'm kinda-sorta a published author! Yay Me!

It's official.  I'm now a published author...well, sort of.  Let me start from the beginning.

My sister works for WCCO, a local CBS affiliate, producing content for their website.  A couple of weeks ago, she approached me looking for input about some local bike shops.  You see, another reporter was working on a piece for the 10 best bicycle shops in the Twin Cities.  He had plenty of good stuff for shops in the metro area, but needed some content for those of us out here in the 'burbs.  That's where I came in.

Now, to be fair, I know a heckuva lot more about the shops in the western 'burbs than I do about those on the East side.  So, naturally my recommendations focused on places that were on this side of the Mississippi.  Of the ones I threw out there, three made the 'official' WCCO list: Maple Grove Cycle, Excel Cycle and my personal fav Gear West. 

The article was published just a few days ago.  You can check out the whole thing here.

The coolest part happened in the last 24 hours.  I sent a thank you e-mail to the journalist that published the article.  But, being the shameless self-promoting attention whore that I am, I also asked him to put a link to my blog in the article - which he promptly did.  Sweet!  So, hopefully I can expect an up-tick in traffic.  Sure, I'm doing this for the love and not for the money, but a little ego-stroke never hurt.

In other news, there are only 3 days to go until the Team Ortho Monster Dash.  I did a tempo run tonight to get my legs spun up and familiar with pushing the pace again.  Let me tell you, running in 40-degree weather is a rude awakening compared to the 65-degree luxury we've had for the last month.  I even got to experience my first wind-chill since last spring.  Man, that wind.  Mother nature sure is a harsh mistress.

I'll be back in a day or two with some more Fun in the Kitchen.  If you can't wait until then, you can always check back on my last food-related post to hold you over.

Toodles.