Mill City Triathlon

John’s race report…

Mill City Triathlon and USAT Massachusetts State Championship
July 15, 2007
0.9m/26m/6.2m

Fashion Report
Club tri-shorts and top, Promotion wetsuit in complimentary red.

Breakfast Report
Toasted wheat bagel and OJ before leaving home. Clif Bar (chocolate chip peanut crunch – mmmmm!) one hour before start.

Result Summary
0.9 mile Swim: 37:56 (42:09/mile, 98/114)
26 mile Bike: 1:16:07 (20.5 mph avg, 38/114) (includes T1)
6.2 mile Run: 57:22 (9:15 min/mile, 66/114) (includes T2)
Total: 2:51:24 (14/17, 66/114)

Evaluation against goals:

Well… I didn’t really have any goals for this “C” race. Shawn and I decided to do it just a couple of weeks ago as our kids would be off at camp and our “participation” points would help in the club competition.

We arrived about 1:10 before the race to a ridiculously long check-in line. The one person working the stack of pre-registrations kept getting interrupted by people asking questions so the check-in pace was incredibly slow – must have taken half an hour.

Set up in transition and then went off to use the men’s room. Two hundred participants between two races and there was ONE toilet in the men’s room. The women’s room had two but still… A blue lagoon or two would have really helped this race!

We get suited up and mill about in the water for a bit – it’s quite warm, only a bit murky, and the current seems a bit less strong than last year, though it’s still quite noticeable. My wife and I are in the first wave – International Distance old folks. We’re called out onto the beach for pre-race instructions. Much to our relief, the RD announces that it will be an “in-water swim” – hate those land crawls.

Back into the water for our wave start – maybe 35-40 of us waist deep for the (25 minutes late) start. 3… 2… 1… and we’re off. I jog a bit to let the pack get ahead and begin swimming. I find a rhythm fairly quickly and it’s not too crowded so it’s all good. I notice at one point that each time I look to the shore-side there’s this tree there. I look again and the same tree is there. And again. Not for a few more breaths do I seem to finally make a little progress – and clear the corner of the river where the current seems to be the worst. I start getting passed by swimmers from the second wave but finally reach the turn around buoy (22 minutes on my watch) and begin the current-assisted return trip. Much nicer. Much quicker (about 16 minutes).

I came out of the water pretty leisurely (no goals, remember?) and jog up the beach when I see Shawn sitting on the curb!! Wazzup? I slow to see if she’s OK. She has a club-mate with her and they’re both yelling “OK!! Go! Go!” so I go go. Found out later that my wife’s stomach issues, that had been plaguing her all day Saturday and into Sunday morning, had not subsided and she needed to make a hasty swim exit to find one of those two women’s toilets. This, of course, confounded the lifeguards and swim officials who couldn’t figure out how she could turn and swim back to the start or what to do with her chip – but she was safe and (relatively) unharmed.

I took my time in T1. It was beginning to heat up, as predicted, so I took the time to drink a fair amount before mounting up on the bike and heading out. Tried to ride fairly easy but kept finding targets. Support on the bike course was awesome with cops at every intersection, volunteers at every corner, traffic cones separating cars at key points, frequent course markings, volunteers waving warning signs before sharp corners, etc. – well done. Competition got the best of me in a few areas and I probably pushed a bit harder on the bike than I should have – but it’s very satisfying passing people on carbon bikes or with disk wheels!! There were a lot of “novices” out on mountain bikes and hybrids – I tried to encourage them as I went by. I also tried to make sure I consumed my entire single bottle of fluids – and just about did. Two key bike areas to work on for me: need to figure out how to drink more and need to push a bit less on the hills and such.

Into T2 for another leisurely change. Took time to drink some more, pop a couple salt tabs, change shoes, add reflective white hat, and then out onto the shade-free but flat as a pancake run course. Had to stop about 1/3 of a mile out to re-tie a shoe (must get me some of them fancy elastic things). It’s heating up pretty good at this point and I know it’s not my best conditions. I resolve to just keep moving, walk the water stops (which are mercifully every mile – nice!!), and just plod on. The course is out and back along the river so you get to see all your fellow competitors and club-mates, which is a nice treat. I pass more than pass me, encourage those walking, find ice to stick under my hat at mile 4, and cross the finish with a similarly overheated club-mate. Once again, I felt like I had pretty strong legs – but not the heat-robbed breath to push them.

 

Post-race was much fun with a huge number of club-mates cheering each other in. I got to meet new club-mate and first time triathlete “brookem” – who I’d been trading encouraging Emails with leading up to the race – and who still owes me a cupcake. My buddy Thor was there and finished 10th overall and 2nd in his division – hardware baby!! And our club is the USAT Division II State Champ!!! Wooohooo!

Summary
It was fun. I learned many of the same lessons (slow learner?) that I got last time out: I gotta push a little less on the bike; figure out how to carry more fluids on the bike; and practice running with a lot of fatigue in hot weather. I felt pretty comfortable even in the more competitive field – I’m almost competitive on the bike and I can hang on the run – just gotta bring the swim up a bit. Overall, despite my wife’s misfortune, it was a good day.

2007 USAT Massachusetts State Champs!

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