When last you heard me whining two weeks ago,
I had pretty conclusively determined that 5.7 hours is insufficient training to
do the hardest half-Ironman race in the country. My goal in races is to "race"
(at my strictly MOP pace), and Wildflower had been anything but. Today was my chance
to put my butt on the line at a race more suited to my training - the South Bay
Triathlon at Uvas Reservoir (Morgan Hill, CA): 0.75M swim, 16M bike, and 5M run,
a real gem of a course. Today was going to be my "go and blow" day, "go
hard or go home." Instead of holding back, saving something for the next leg,
I was going to race "competitively." Competitively for me doesn't mean
an age group placing; what it means is that at every moment of the bike and run,
I'll be concentrating on the person in front of me and trying to pass them.
Someone was watching over me, in a rather perverse sort of way. Things kept happening.
First, as I was packing up the car last night (we had to get a VERY early start),
the hose on my bike pump blew. Well, pump up the tires with the frame pump; no big
deal. But if this had happened on race morning, who knows? Anyway we get to the
race, I get setup, we get our booth setup, and I'm looking at the usual long portapotty
line. Ah, says I, nothing like being 40+ and starting in the fifth wave, 16 minutes
after the race start. No sweat, says I; wait until everyone else is off to the
start and in I go. Well I guess I got a bit complacent, and by the time I finally
hit the line and got out, there's like four minutes until my wave starts and I don't
even have my wetsuit on! Yikes =:-) Put the wetsuit on so fast you wouldn't believe,
grab a spectator to zip me up, put on the cap and goggles and OOPS with a capital
O-O-P-S...the strap comes out. Now there are less than 2 minutes to go and I've
got goggles with no strap. Somehow I got the strap rethreaded, ran to the beach,
weaved my way through two waves of women and one wave of 50+ guys, and got to the
starting line (40+ guys) with about 30 seconds to spare. No sweat! I'm convinced
that there's a 75% chance my goggles are going to fill with water due to poor adjustment,
or fall off altogether, but a miracle occurs and they work perfectly, and I have
one of the best swims of my life!
The night before I had gone for an easy ride and there was this noise, sounded like
a bottom bracket problem, but there was no time to deal with it. Today, during the
race, there was some strange noise from my chain THE ENTIRE TIME I was riding. I
couldn't figure out whether my chain wasn't threaded quite right, or there was a
"stuck link", or something was about to fall off, but it seemed to not
affect the actual riding, so I resisted the temptation to get off and inspect, and
just kept riding. Finished the bike averaging just over 19 mph, great for me at
my current level of training. Later, after the race, I went to roll my bike out
of the transition area to my car, and the chain was off the chainring! I have
no idea how or when that happened (obviously not during the race), but I thought
it was illustrative of how "close to the edge" I was in terms of luck.
Headed off on the run and, although I still find it hard to believe, averaged 7:41
for the 5 miles, BETTER than my pace in the Mercury News 10K in March! I can't say
I was hammering the whole way, but I WAS pushing. That competitive thing (trying
to reel in the person ahead) really works for me. No matter if the person ahead
is really a 50-year old woman who started eight minutes behind me and passed me
on the swim and who is really eight minutes ahead of me; or no matter if the person
is a 20 year old male who started 12 minutes ahead of me and is really slow; if
they're in my sights, they pull me forward, and that's good enough for me.
My run "mishap" was a first. At one aid station, a guy had his hands in
a big tub of ice water and was throwing it on you as you went by. Fine, except
he got me with a huge shot of water right in the face, right up my nose! It wasn't
pleasant, but I managed to tough it out.
Having never done the race before, I had no previous times, but somehow I had convinced
myself 2:15 would be good; instead I finished in 1:56 and was completely, totally
jazzed! Nothing like low expectations to make sure you exceed them. :-) Anyway,
it was really good to remember why I like triathlons, and why I like racing in general.
Now if I can just stick to races like this that I'm actually capable of racing,
I'll be happy!
Steve "Went hard, then went home :-)" Patt
in Cupertino, CA, ready to spend the next three weeks focussing
on a race where going hard all the way isn't in the cards - the Dipsea