I raced the Nation's Tri on Sunday. It was a lot of fun, and I hit my goals.
Goals:
1:10 for the bike and 1:00 for the run. The swim was cancelled due to the disgustingness of the Potomac River. Seriously, you don't wanna know what I've seen in it while rowing. Not cool. The canceled swim was perfect for me, as I had not been in a pool for a week (and even then it was not truly a workout).
Pre-Race:
A few of my friends were supposed to do Nation's with me, but they ended up doing a sprint tri in Williamsburg VA. Nation's is NOT a qualifier for collegiate nationals (in the spring), so they all did Patriots.
That said, I did know a few other people racing. A good friend that I haven't seen in a few years (I met him in Beirut in 2008). He lives in DC, and I saw him quite a few times my sophomore year but that's it. A few guys from Cyclelife USA were also racing.
My race started on Thursday. I went down to Cyclelife because I had a few issues with the Zipps that I had put on on Wednesday. I went down around 6:30PM, and ending up helping some of the guys get things ready for the race expo and staying till 2AM (including a midnight order of Domino's). Good night. I also took apart my bike and cleaned it.
Friday, I did no workouts. Ugh. I had one class, but I went to the room and I'm pretty sure it was moved but I didn't know where. So, I had no class! WOOT! I headed down to Cyclelife and went up to the expo to man their booth for awhile. Fun stuff.
I got my packet (with the swim cap!) and some race schwag. I bought 2 tech shirts and a cycling kit (I need more!). I talked to one of the Cyclelife coaches about my shin splints and he told me to start wearing compression calf sleeves. He said they weren't magical fixer-uppers, but that they would hold things together. So I got a pair of those as well.
Saturday, I did nothing. No working out! I racked my bike around 1, after getting my brakes tuned (they felt very loose). I did laundry, bought an aero helmet, got a sports massage and stupidly stayed up until 2 AM (doing laundry, watching movies and getting stuff ready for the race). Did I mention I woke up at 12?
Now the actual Pre-Race:
I had everything packed the night before including 5 bottles ( 4 water, 1 gatorade). I had all my gear packed in my rowing duffel. So getting things ready was not really an issue, I just had to unplug my Garmin 500, and put on my race suit and my heart rate monitor; get my water bottles and head out.
I had my alarm set for 4:30, but I ended up sleeping till 5:45. Luckily transition didn't close till 6:55. I showered, did my business, brushed my teeth, ate some oatmeal, got my stuff together and headed out at 6:20. I was gonna be late. I hailed a cab, and because of security concerns and the race itself the closest he could get me was on the other side of the Lincoln Memorial. So I got out and ran. I made it into transition by 6:50.
I headed to my bike, put a garbage bag down (all of transition was disgusting as it had been raining the whole week prior) and started to unpack. I taped 2 GUs to my bike. I put 2 water bottles and 1 gatorade on my bike, left 1 in transition and took one out with me.
The start of the race was gonna be a time trial start into transition. I left my helmet in transition, and did not put my bike shoes on (I wore my running shoes). I left transition with just a water bottle, my sweatshirt and Chocolate Honey Stinger.
I walked around the staging area looking for my two friends, but didn't find either! I did run into two Georgetown grads (one of whom was in my age group). I hit up the portapotties a few times (this is relevant I swear!), and boy were there a lot of them. Stupidly everyone bunched up on the closest ones, but there were no lines at the ones a 30 second walk away.
The race started at 7:10, after a beautiful presentation of the National Anthem. My wave (32, and the 3rd to last to go) didn't go out will about 8:20ish. So there was a lot of waiting around. As my corral started to move into the transition shoot, I had to pee. I couldn't just leave my wave, and there were no portapotties in transition. I told myself to hold it, and that if I really had to go I'd pee on myself.
My group got the whistle to go, and I ran into transition and to my bike. It was a long transition, and muddy. I put my sweatshirt down, got my shoes on and my helmet + sunglasses. (and turned on my garmin).
T1: 2:08 (SLOW!)
Bike:
The course was an out and back on Canal Road. It was a really nice course. Lots of shade, but very very narrow; the outgoing flow had to share one lane (same thing for the return leg).
The bike was good. Like really good. I felt really great despite needing to pee the whole time. Had the course been a bit larger and less crowded I would have thrown down some faster splits. I hit 36 or 37 on some flats. I was cruising. I got passed by a few (3?) guys on the way out, and one girl. She blew buy me, so I wasn't too downed by that.
Right before the turn around, this girl who was riding a P2 caught up to me. We basically played tag the whole way back. It was a lot of fun and we through down some fast splits. I let her pass me about .25 miles before the dismount line. I wanted to just let my legs spin out before the run.
I think I could have pushed it a bit more on the bike, especially if I didn't have to leave aero so many times.
Nutrition wise, I lost a water bottle while drinking from it. Luckily I had 2 others. I didn't finish either. I had 2 GUs. I need to drink more on the bike.
Bike: 1:09 (21.6 MPH)
T2:
My legs were kind of shaky, but I managed. I drank some water, had a GU, put on my calf sleeves, changed my shoes and headed out. Oh and I still had to pee. The run out was very very muddy.
T2: 2:50
Run:
I can't find my Garmin ANT+ connector, so I don't have any real data on my run. Anyways this is how I felt.
The course was basically my stomping ground; down Independence on to 17th to Constitution (and past the Washington Monument) and then back down 17th to Hains Point, and back to Ohio Dr.
I started out great. I felt good. Except I was thirsty. Really thirsty. (even though I had to pee!). I had some water at the first aid station. (I'm pretty sure it was the first mile marker as well). I saw a volunteer and asked where the bathroom was, she said a bit further down. At this point I was running with a guy from Atlanta (who I'm pretty sure was in my age group). As we crossed the street, a few of my crew friends started chanting my name! It really motivated me.
He was starting to cramp up. So we stuck together for a bit. As we got closer to the 17th street turn around I asked another volunteer where the bathroom was, and he pointed back to the Washington Monument (that I had just passed). So I ran back to the bathroom. There was a short line. UGH! 2 minutes wasted.
After the turn around, I saw my friends again and gave one of them 2 of the 3 gels I had in my back pocket. I started to cramp up on the slight downhill, but I didn't think about it and it worked! I didn't cramp up the whole race!
As we rounded the bend to get to the straight shot down to Hains Point, I felt really really good. I hit up every aid station, and grabbed 4-5 cups of water. 2 were poured on my head, 1 was for swishing around in my mouth and then spitting out and the last 2 were for drinking. It worked. I had the gel at about mile 2.5, right before the portapotties and the little indent to my usual bike loop.
The rest of the run was pretty insignificant. At around mile 5, I picked up a guy in my age group and told him to push it and just keep pace with me. He did, and he thanked me for the motivation. At about mile 5.8 (right before the little bridge between the tidal basin and the Potomac), my friends appeared! They started coxing me (rowing term meaning to coach and motivate) it pumped me up, and I dropped the guy in my age group. I sped up to what felt like a sub 8 minute mile. It was amazing.
I crossed the line about 3-4 minutes later.
Run: 57 minutes (~9:10 per mile)
Overall Time: 2:11:28
The next guy came in at 2:11:29, and the guy in front of me came in at 2:11:27. Ugh.
Things I need to improve on:
- waking up earlier to get to transition earlier
- faster transitions
- more running!
This week is an odd week. I have Savageman on Saturday. Monday was supposed to be a rest day, but I had to lead a bike for the tri team. Ended up doing a nice recovery ride around Hains Point (1:30). I followed that with 1:30 of hot yoga. I felt amazing afterwards, and I was exhausted. Boy did I sleep well last night.
Today I did a bike hill workout out in Virginia with the tri team. Boy was it hard. I'll write more about it later. Time for me to eat!
I'll post some photos as soon as they come out.
Happy Training.
