Diamond in the Rough race report

This was supposed to be a tune up race for Nationals on Aug 8^th, but after my shit show at AC 72.3 and seeing that Blair S. a particular competitor in my age group was registered, I decided to hit this one hard.

I knew when I signed up 6 months ago I knew that this was a bikers / swimmer race – the bike was 2 miles longer than the standard distance and the swim was a full mile instead of 1.5k. 

I fixed a bunch of things that I screwed up on my last race – anti-fog for goggles, full sleeve wet suit, no borrowed race kit, lots of body glide – I was ready. 

The water was cool and flat and I was able to sight the buoys pretty well.  I stayed mostly on course the entire swim and was feeling pretty good until the last 100 yards where my foot started to cramp up.  I just relaxed and never got into full-on intense cramp mode.  I got to the dock and climbed the long staircase to the top, then ran 200+ yards to T1, downing two cups of water along the way.  It took me too long to find my bike and as soon as I got to it I puked a little – twice.  Not sure what that was about, but ran through the mud out of T1 about 150 yards to the bike mount.  

The road out of the park is narrow and winding – there were a lot of bikers to get around.  There was a guy not too far ahead and he was moving pretty good… every time I tried to catch him, he pulled away just a little more – he was really good on the turns and a solid climber – I’m pretty sure that it was Blair. 

I passed a ton of guys along the way and I traded places with a 30-34 year old most of the ride.  I took the hills and descents; he took a long flat section, but I lost him on the last hill at mile 20.  I passed 2 guys in my age group between mile 15 and 20 on the bike – really surprised to see that.  It was very crowded coming back through the park road into T2 with earlier Sprint racers finished and walking back to their car – pretty hairy dodging them.

T2 went pretty well until my shoe got stuck in the mud and came off my foot and I had to go back for it. 

I had no idea what place I was in coming out of T2, but I didn’t see many bikes which is always a good sign.  One guy came out just in front of me and I watched him slowly pull away as I was trying to find my run legs and get my breathing under control.  First mile 6:54 – not great, but that’s all I’ve got.  Another guy catches me and pulls away just before the 2 miles mark.  Mile 2 – 6:46.  Man, I knew I wasn’t run fit, but come on dude, this is a race.  This is a 5 mile out and back – why haven’t I seen the top guys  coming back from the turn around yet - this is a good sign - maybe I'm not as far back as I thought.  I finally see the top guy, then another guy, then Blair in third – it seems like he has at least 1/2 mile on me – no way I can catch him, but I've have to try.  Then I see the two guys that passed me coming back from the turn around.  Ok, I’m in 6^th – that’s a big surprise.  

I get to the turn around and it feels good to know I’m heading home.  Mile 3, 6:44 - I feel a blister in the back of my heel – I’ve gotta stop and adjust my sock.  Ok, 1.5 miles to go and I can see a pack of 3 ahead – looks like Blair was caught by the two guys that passed me, but no way I catch him – come on Kona, empty the tank.  Mile 4, 6:44 (including stopping to fix the sock).   

I can’t believe it, my running legs start to come back to me in the last mile as I reel Blair in and pass him with less than 400 meters to go – I don’t look back.  6:24 in mile 5. 

I’m not sure what happened out there, but glad it came together.  I’ll be 54 in a couple of months and happy that I can still hang with the top guys even if it is a small pond race.

Overall, this is a really good course and I would probably do it again if Neil gets his USAT scoring back.  Some shade on the run really helps.  A few practice rides on the bike course would make a big difference.

Bike:

Splits	Time	Distance	Elev Gain	Elev Loss	Avg Speed	Max Speed	Avg HR	Max HR	Avg Bike Cadence	Max Bike Cadence	Normalized Power® (NP®)	Avg Power	Max Power	Avg Temperature
1	02:50.2	1	20	16	21.1	26	155	162	84	98	225	214	328	83
2	02:41.7	1	72	59	22.3	32.1	153	157	88	99	233	222	365	79.2
3	02:26.6	1	26	49	24.6	31.4	149	153	90	98	204	203	460	77.5
4	03:07.6	1	82	13	19.2	25	151	155	86	97	242	228	481	77
5	03:48.0	1	174	7	15.8	23.6	151	155	87	100	253	248	390	77
6	02:55.1	1	75	46	20.6	27.8	149	154	87	98	225	221	452	77
7	03:19.7	1	141	85	18	37.1	150	153	88	119	257	235	418	77
8	03:01.7	1	112	13	19.8	27.1	149	152	89	103	236	232	433	75.9
9	02:33.6	1	43	46	23.4	30.8	147	151	90	101	210	209	438	77
10	02:19.7	1	89	141	25.8	36.8	148	151	92	108	246	230	503	77
11	02:05.7	1	46	85	28.6	37.5	146	148	92	102	209	211	334	77
12	02:15.9	1	20	59	26.5	32	148	153	94	103	237	229	553	77
13	02:08.1	1	46	131	28.1	35.5	147	150	91	100	214	210	328	77
14	02:10.3	1	72	226	27.6	42.9	139	146	87	104	211	162	580	77
15	02:27.6	1	16	46	24.4	29.5	140	143	89	104	204	214	475	77
16	02:16.6	1	7	7	26.4	28.4	144	147	96	109	248	220	445	76.8
17	02:18.5	1	0	7	26	29.1	139	144	92	101	211	208	507	75.2
18	02:22.8	1	20	13	25.2	28.5	136	144	90	100	208	210	368	75.2
19	02:24.2	1	7	23	25	29.8	138	144	92	101	202	192	334	75.2
20	03:21.5	1	115	10	17.9	26.6	142	145	86	104	235	236	381	75.2
21	04:18.8	1	253	59	13.9	34.3	147	150	83	98	267	257	369	76.6
22	02:33.2	1	105	161	23.5	45.8	142	149	90	121	203	200	464	78
23	01:56.2	1	13	249	31	42	134	144	85	102	180	113	301	77.1
24	02:27.2	1	30	26	24.5	28.2	136	141	88	103	218	218	475	77.8
25	02:40.0	1	46	26	22.5	27.2	141	142	91	115	218	211	317	78.8
26	02:35.4	1	52	69	23.2	31.2	141	147	86	102	232	211	436	79.6
27	02:30.0	0.76	7	0	18.2	24	138	150	82	95	174	137	410	79.3
Summary	1:11:56	26.76	1,686	1,673	22.3	45.8	145	162	88	121	229	214	580	77.3