Inter ROCKIN Triathlon race report...

How not to succeed..... or should it be How to successfully set yourself up for pain! or maybe...
How many ways to push your body....

I think I'll go with the last one. In short I left for the race 2 days early and checked into the state park for a solitary couple of days of training. I kicked it off with an easy 8 mile run on Friday night after setting up camp. Yes you heard that right, CAMP, in the old school terms. Tent, car, me, bike and workout clothes. I got up on Saturday watched a little TDF on the laptop. Well ok, I wasn't totally roughing it, haha. I did have my laptop and broadband internet. Had cooked up some eggs and bacon for breakfast and started giving the bike a once over to make sure it survived the trip ok and prep for a long ride. Crap!!! the back brake is not releasing. 3 hours later, I have completely torn the back brake out. I have cleaned it thoroughly, trouble shot the binding problem and finally found it further up the cable. Problem fixed well enough to ride and race. I just blew half my training day! Maybe a blessing in disguise. I changed and managed roughly a 19 mile ride before race packet pick up and catching up with my wife's cousin who was there to do her first ever triathlon. I wanted to make sure I was there to answer any last minute questions she might have. After she left I went back to camp and changed for an easy 5k run.

After dinner my brother in-law arrived to stay the night in my camp and race the sprint distance race the next morning. I can honestly say it's been cool having him interested in doing some these races together. We did the Port Huron Blue Water tri last summer together and now Interlochen. He's a bit younger than me and just about as competitive and pushes me to work harder. I love it!!

Race morning came way to early on Sunday. I was anything but fresh for this race but I wanted it that way. I wanted to train through this race because I have my "A" race for the year in 3 weeks, Steelhead Half Ironman, and I wanted a little extra stress on my body to adapt to before I start my taper in a week or so. The weather was great, nice and cool in the 50's. We walked up to transition from our camp site at about 7am and got things set up. I caught up with my wife's cousin and one of my team mates who was doing the race as well. Gave my bro in law some last minute ribbing and soon enough it was game on.

Swim - 27:05 (once again placed high in my age group - 4th and 36th/134 overall)
The theme this year for the swim has been relaxed and feeling like I'm not even pushing it. Yet I'm getting faster? Other than swimming an extra 50 yards out wide (is it a good thing when they send a life guard to check on you because you're so far away from everyone else?) the swim went to plan. I, as usual, started in the front row and smacked the first 100 or so meters hard, then I settled into an easy, steady stroke for the rest. Other than going to wide, which in case anyone cares does keep you out of the fray, I swam it to plan. Sighted well and had energy to burn as I headed back to shore. Once again I passed a few souls who stood too soon and started walking while I swam by them until my hands were digging into the bottom. I stood up and that is when it hit me as I almost fell back to my knees. My right hamstring cramped solid and my left felt like it was going to go at any second! I fought the cramps in my hammy's all the way up to transition, walking, running , hobbling along. I tried to figure out how I was going to finish and if I did how LONG was that going to take. This race was taking a quick turn in the wrong direction and I wasn't liking it much.

T1: 3:53
Yup, you read that right. Almost 4 minutes. I hobbled through this transition at lightning speed fo sho. But a plan was forming. Just get my cramping rear end on the bike and we'll see if it works.

Bike: 1:21:02
Ever try and swing your leg over your bike when it's cramping? Not an easy task. I'm sure it was good for some humor to some of the spectators but it was far from funny for me. I made it on the bike and set out on my plan for "active recovery". Here is what I came up with during my hours in transition. A) I need lots of fluids B) I need to keep the workload low until my cramps can subside and C) I need lots of fluids!

I was in luck, I had loaded 2 water bottles with my secret Gatorade, Hornet Juice and water mixture. 48 ounces of blessed amino acid and electrolyte filled liquid. I hoped it would be enough! As I got going in a low gear spinning easily, I started pounding the first bottle down. I set out to finish a bottle and a half before the half way point. Goal 2 was to keep the speed reasonable (around 17ish mph) until that time. By the time I hit the turn around at the half way point my legs were feeling better but vulnerable. I decided to push it a little harder on the way in but not get crazy. I kicked it up to around 20mph avg on the way back. I raced smart hanging just out of the draft zone (3 bike lengths) on a few riders to get a little break here and there and actually started making up some ground by the end of the ride. Maybe just maybe I had persevered through the worst of it. Average speed ended up being 18.4mph. Not bad on gimpy legs, haha

T2: 55 seconds
This has been my greatest improvement this year. I hit it exactly like I wanted.

Run: 1:03:49
This was a tale of 2 distinct halves. The first half of the run I felt pretty alright. I skipped the first aid station and had a water at the second. (yes I walked the aid station for water, I still can't run and drink yet, ugh!) then at the 2.1 mile point I turned the corner and in front of me was the HILL! A .8 mile 12% climb to the turn around. My legs that had finally felt ok now started to complain about this climb. I made a deal with them, run me to the top of that hill and I'd let them coast back down. They weren't buying it. By the time I reached the turn around, my calves were cramping. A short walk at the aid station at the turn around to drink some more fluid and I started running back down the hill. By the time I reached the bottom my hamstrings were cramping once again. The last 2 miles of the race were not a lot of fun but I was shocked to find a 10:17 avg for the run. Even with the issues and a couple of extended walks in that final 2 miles I still managed a decent, for me, pace.

Overall time: 2:56:43
I'm happy with that time. Not quite as fast as I had hoped but close. Given my early on issues, I was ecstatic with that time. I have a suspicion that I was not quite hydrated enough through the weekend. I also know I was not rested at all for this race. Now for the great news. I dropped 2 full minutes from my time last year on this course and I tapered for that race! I will miss this venue if I don't do it again but I think the draw of it has worn off for me. As of right now, I'm not planning on doing this race again next year. Time to try some new races. I have decided to find another Olympic distance race to run in Sept. This time with a taper. I want to find out just how fast I really can go now if I give my body a chance to rest before the race.

Up next Steelhead Half Ironman in 3 weeks.

Until my next post... Keep tri-ing

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