the good
i knew that columbia triathlon puts on a great race. read the blogs and reviews. and was thoroughly impressed with the expo, transition areas and finish line. they even splurged for these sweet bags!
swag!!!
the swim turned out to be wetsuit legal thanks to the tropical storm that rolled up the east coast the day before. i was able to take a practice swim on saturday morning and learned that you can literally touch the bottom of the river on the entire swim course. i wouldn't need that, but it certainly was nice to know.
on race day, my age group started an hour and forty-five behind the pros, so i had plenty of time to warm-up (really, just sat around). i felt great when we were finally able to start. a little banging around for the first few hundred yards, but then it opened up a bit. felt like it was a strong swim and was able to do some dolphin dives as i finished.
the bike course was amazing. it's flat and i mean, flat. if you wanted to, you could sit in one gear the entire ride. roads were pretty smooth and traffic control was superb.
rode 2:39, which i was really happy about. my last half distance time was 3 hours. and i think i could have pushed harder, but it was getting hot and wanted to finish with a strong run. from mile 20 on, i was not passed, and motored by so many. in the past, its been my bike ride that was sketchy. this time it was wonderful.
will be getting to the mud part soon...
my plan was to start out slow on the run. i always hop off the bike and run way, way, way too fast for the first few miles. checked my watch at mile one 8:54, perfect! and i wish i could go on more about the 'good' part of the run, but it pretty much ended there...
this was part of mile one (you don't want to see the later miles)
the bad
it rained during our travels on friday. it rained during the expo and bike check-in saturday. sight-seeing was dampened, haha. there was localized flooding in cambridge, md. got me nervous about the swim and bike course. however, the sun came out on sunday and it turned into the normal hot race everyone talked about.
in my last two half ironman's, i swam 31' and 29' respectively. therefore, my goal was 28'. like i said before, the swim felt strong. but i should have known something was up since my fiance did not yell out my time as i exited the water. i looked at the clock, but we started so far after, and i'm not good at math. plus, i don't wear a watch (might change that soon). after i crossed the finish line, i asked roselle for the news. 34'?!? WTF? honestly i was embarrassed. swimming is my strength. later on however, at dinner with teammate ian charles and sami inkinen (overall amateur winner), they both explained to me how slow they went in the water and couldn't believe it either. it made me feel better, but still not happy. **google sami inkinen if you don't know of him, he's impressive, to say the least**
the only bad thing i can say about the ride was the mud. will touch on that in a second.
my goal was to break five hours. 30' swim, 2:40 bike, 1:50 run. so it was down to the run to check this goal off. and through my first 4-5 miles, i felt ok. got my nutrition in as it was getting hotter and hotter. at the turn around, i sped up. 'here we go' then at mile eight, my legs formed a strike against me. my efforts to break it up were futile. the sun seemed hotter. aid stations got further apart. but, i kept moving forward, with some walking and finished 5:31.
the mud
i have completed three tough mudders and a few spartan races. you get completely covered in mud, but you are pretty much expecting it. the rain turned the transition area into a muddy mess. i don't practice my transitions in a muddy field and was unsure how to deal with it. put bike shoes on and run through it? go barefoot and try to wipe off? push or carry the bike? i through the shoes on, picked up my bike and ran through the mud. i have never competed in a cyclocross event, but this certainly felt like it. everyone was covered. carrying your bike after swimming and after sitting in the aero position for two plus hours is difficult. even though black betty (my bike) is carbon, it felt like a hundred pounds.
to sum it all up: i did finish, which is always goal numero uno. i finished faster than my other half irons, good. had an awesome post-race dinner where i met some incredible people, great!
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