Columbia Triathlon Race Report

I completed my first triathlon since 2008 yesterday.  Why I chose to start with the Columbia Triathlon in Columbia, MD I have no idea.  It is one of the tougher Olympic Distance races around here.  I guess because it bills itself as the “Right of Spring” in the Mid Atlantic and I am sucker for marketing. 

I told the Bride that I would stay close to home this triathlon season.  Other than a late summer trek to Dewey Beach, DE for the Dewey Sprint Tri, Richmond, VA is my farthest trip.  The trip to Dewey is a long weekend trip with for us and some friends.  So we just rent a house and enjoy the weekend.

I was up early on Sunday morning for the 50 mile drive to Columbia.  I arrived just after 0500 and set up my transition area.  The weather Sunday morning was just about perfect for a race.  This is the first time I have done this race or even a bike ride on the course that it hasn’t rained. 

My wave went off at 0718 and would you believe that the men aged 40-44 was the seconded largest wave?  Men 35-39 was the largest.  What is it with us old guys?  The start of the swim was about what you expect.  There was plenty of kicking and jockeying for position.  After about 5 minute it all settled down and I got in a nice groove.  I made the turn at the dam and then made the turn back to the swim exit.  I was feeling good, my strokes were strong, I was in a good zone, and started to get a little cocky.  As I was sighting on the buoys, I started to hear the announcer  getting louder and louder.  This wasn’t a surprise since you swim by at a greater distance in front of the start/announcer.  Then I realized I had been sighting in on the wrong buoy.  So I had to turn to the right to get back on track.  I probably wasted 3-4 minutes due to my sighting error.  However, I came out of the water at 32:04.  Without the sighting problem I am comfortable I would have gone under 30 minutes for the swim which was my goal. 

I took my time in transition.  This was just a long training day for me.  I pushed the bike to the top of the hill outside of transition, mounted up and I was off.  The course is a hilly 41k (25.4 miles) that I had two weeks earlier with a friend of mine.  I am glad I had done the practice ride, because I had forgotten how tough it was.  I warmed up my legs during the first couple of miles and then it was down hill for a little ways.  The first 10-12 miles of the race has some downhills, but it is a net uphill.  OUCH.  The middle part of the bike is more rolling hills.  I was cruising a long on the rolling hills and flat land.  Very pleased with my progress in just two weeks.   Then it was back up the final big hills and the transition to run. 

As I started to run I realized how much my shoulders and lower back were hurting from the bike.  I have made myself a promise to do more upper body/back workouts and much more core exercises in the coming days.  I have to strengthen that part of this old body.   As with the bike, the run is hilly.  I told myself I would run the flats, downhills, and I would walk up the hills.  I did more walking than I wanted.  I legs did not cramp like I thought they would, but the shoulder and lower back were just hurting.  By about mile 4 I had loosened up enough to get in a good trot.  By the time I was crossing the dam, I had a pretty decent pace.  But then you have only a half mile to go before the finish, so I am sure that had something to do with it.  You have to love triathlons.  The announcer is always calling out the names of the finishers (got to wear those numbers).   I typically don’t hear my name called, but this time I was directly in front of a speaker when he called out my name.  I gave some kids some high fives, low fives, and middle fives as I came down the chute. 

It was good to get a hard race out of the way.  Made me feel much better, gave me an idea of what I need to work on, and made my muscles that good sore. 

The New Jersey State Triathlon Race Report

I finally believe in having a strong base of fitness. I know that I have not in very good shape for the New Jersey State Triathlon on Sunday. But what the hell, I can suffer through most any thing. Plus this was the race chosen for the DC Triathlon Clubs New Triathlete Program (NTP) and it was the USAT Mid Atlantic Club Championship Race. That’s a lot of stuff all rolled up into a weekend.

The bride and I left home around 9:30 on Saturday and picked up a friend who was riding to the race with us. We had a very uneventful ride to Mercer County Park in Princeton, and isn’t that the best kind of trip prior to a race? Packet pick-up went quickly as we listened to the Mandatory Prerace speech. After the race director said his piece the head USAT official started to speak. I have to say that her attitude turn a lot of people off. I realize that rules need to be reiterated and followed but there is no reason to come across as a bitch.

After we checked in at the hotel it was time to hit the Pasta Fest that the club put on. It was truly amazing to see over 200 DC Tri Club Members with all getting ready for a race. A large percentage of them were doing their first race. The energy was truly amazing. Plus the food wasn’t bad either.

We all got the race location about 0615 and I easily got set up. My wave did not go off until 8:24, but we had to be out of transition by 0715. The Head USAT official saw a guy on my rack warming up on his trainer and I thought she was going to have heart attack because he did not have his helmet on. I understand the importance of following rules, but I would not have thought to put my helmet on either. There was no need to be an ass about it. However, she seemed to get off on her status of Head Bitch.

I love swimming in warmer water. It is always much easier on my body. It took me about 250 meters to find some open water, but after that the swim was very peaceful for the most part. There was one guy, who kept was all over the place. He would bump into me and I would go to adjust and he would move the same direction I was. He just seemed to be a “messy swimmer”. I got out of the water in 33:31 which is a pretty normal time for me. However, I felt really good on the run into T1.

T1 was painless. I was in and out in 3:11 and out on the bike. I haven’t ridden much in the past month, so I was hoping to be able to average over 17 mph. The bike was a nice flat course with one big loop and two smaller loops through a college campus. Since I love the flat courses, I enjoyed this ride. I came back into the park and looked at my time, 1:18:27, for an aveage of 17.7 mph. I was pretty happy with that. Then it was into T2. My time in transition was 2:30.

Now the fun began. I started the run and felt like ass. I ducked into the first porta-john I found. I did a #1 thinking I would feel better, but alas that did not happen. I ran to the first aid station and then started walking. I was trying to burp or puke, but nothing would happen. About mile 1 my running partner joined me and she pushed me a long to about mile 2. After mile 2 I found a real bathroom and ducked in there for about five minutes of bliss. I felt so much better. I was gaining time from mile 2.5 to about mile 4.5 and then the pain came back. I walked with another member of the board for about a .25 of a mile and at mile 5 we picked it up and were able to finish strong.

I highly recommend the NJ State Triathlon. It is in a lovely setting and well run. Now just to get faster prior to the Nation’s Triathlon in September.