12 April 2007
When we last left our hero…
Posted by Brad Hefta-Gaub under: Cycle; Fitness; Run; Swim; exercise; triathlon.
For some reason, I feel like I haven’t posted in a while. It’s only been a couple days, but I’ve been busy with a ton of work and training… and all kinds of other random things. I don’t want to sound apologetic, but I might… I know I owe you all (and myself) a Week 14 report, but that will have to wait.
This week, I have a huge 16 hours of training planned, and I’m making progress on achieving that goal… but to top it off, I plan on racing my first triathlon of the year this weekend… that means I’ve had to actually do most of my training during the week, instead of waiting to the weekend to pile it on.
Yesterday I did my long run… 16.7 miles. Today I did a very slow 40mile bike ride. Tomorrow I will go for a long swim session… I think I’ll do an easy full 2.4 mile or more swim in the pool…. yeah… 240 lengths of a pool… how dreadful. 
Saturday, I’ll have a mini-taper, and do only a very light hour on the bike or possibly some open water swimming if I can convince my Dad to come be a lifeguard for me.
Then Sunday I drive to Elma, WA, population 3,000 good old Pacific Northwest Logging Country… we’re talking rednecks! Ok, that wasn’t nice… but probably true… Other than the guy who puts on these great little themed sprint triathlons… mostly us “athletes” are considered oddities to the locals.
My plan all along is for this to be a “train-through” event… so I’m not really concerned about my time or doing a real taper. But this race has a little bit of sentimental value to me, because last year at this time it was my first triathlon. I actually did pretty well, coming in first for my age group and 5th place overall. I would like to say I hope to do as well again this year… but I think that was beginners luck. I do plan to use the same strategy this year… and we’ll see if I get results.
Here’s a mini recap/race report from last year… My first triathlon…
My First Triathlon
Orginally, my plan last year was to treat this race as a dressed rehersal, a practice triathlon. Not a training session per se, but a practice session of going through all the motions of reace prep, open water swim, T1, T2, etc. But after explaining this plan to my co-workers, they gave me no end of grief… and berated and goaded me util I finally relented and agreed to go for broke and see what would happen. Considering the result, I’m glad they pushed me and I accepted the challenge.
This is a classic story of “your first triathlon” exaggerated by the significant travel distance, the ridiculously early in the year date, and the absolute “middle of nowhere” location. I had no idea how long it would take me to get to Elma, WA, or how long it would take me to “set up my transition area”, and I was a bundle of nerves… So I showed up literally 2 hours before the race organizer. I’m not kidding, there was no one there. After several trips to the porta-potties, someone eventually showed up with some makeshift bike racks and cones… but still no race organizer. “Hey, the race isn’t until noon, just chill out man!”
Fast forward to noon-ish, and I’m registered, and I’m watching for other people start gearing up. I go into the bathroom/shower room (it was a State park with a swimming beach, so they had a building with a changing area) and start suiting up. Eventually, this guy comes in the changing room (he looks to be mid-50s, but a tough son-of-a-bitch) and he says “You motherf*ckers are wearing wet suites? What a bunch of p*ssies!” Now mind you, the air temperature is maybe 49F, overcast, threatening rain and temperatures in the man-mad lake/pond are expected to be 45F or below. The swim is only “300 yards”, but still that’s cold! We laugh at him and keep putting on our wet suits. About 5 minutes later he returns carrying his wetsuit.
As the race began, I heard my co-workers yelling in my head “Go For IT!”, so I dove in swimming with all my might. I’m pretty sure my technique was ok, but it was at a pace that I can’t sustain… for more than (apparently) 155 yards… As I came to the turnaround point marked by a row boat, I started swimming back to shore… and within a couple yards of the turn around, I realized I was about to die.
I don’t mean I was tired, oh sad for me… I’m sore… NO, I mean, I was going to die, right there… my heart was about to explode and my lungs were about to melt. That was it, I was done for. So I flipped on to my back and started making peace with my maker. As I tried to remember who I was supposed to beg forgiveness from, I tilted my head up and looked down my torso toward my feet… and I saw a mass of other swimmers, BEHIND ME…
What? I was actually in the lead! All I had to do was make it to shore, and I was actually in the lead. So I flipped back over into swimming position and noticed a couple of people ahead of me. So I swam my guts out the remaining “145 yards”…
As I came out of the water I was a wreck. I ran up the shore into T1, and could not get my wet suit off. I was delirious… I had never practiced taking my wetsuit off quickly after swimming… and so I had no idea what I was doing. All I remember is someone with a bullhorn yelling “Let’s go! Let’s go! You guys are wasting time! Hurry up! Get on your bikes!” Who’s idea was that? I didn’t need that? I knew I was wasting time… jeez! I’m hypoxic… let me catch my breath!
I finally got on my bike… ahh… home at last… now I can show them what I’m made of… I saw a couple riders in front of me leaving the transition area. I quickly passed them and then began scanning the horizon. I picked off riders one by one. I kept thinking “Jeeze, where did all these people come from? I thought I was in the front of the swim pack!” Then my thoughts turned back to aggression and competition… “I’ll show them… once I pass them, they won’t see me till the finish line.”
I lost count of how many people I passed, but I do remember coming up on a fit looking guy on a $10,000 tri bike. I remember seeing him in the parking lot before the race. He looked very serious about his craft with USA Triathlon stickers all over his car and gear. He seemed like someone worth catching. As I passed him a sense of pride swept over me… He actually called out to me “Good job! Keep Going!”. That was cool, I felt strong, proud, and actually kinda welcomed by this ‘serious triathlete’… that feeling lasted for about 30 seconds until all of a sudden…I was being passed by some punk kid!
Some young wipper snapper riding what appeared to be a mountain bike (ok, maybe it was a road bike like mine, but still, I was pissed). As we jockeyed for position, I noticed that Mr. USAT was getting in the mix.
The three of us pushed each other and tried to avoid drafting for about a mile… until eventually I decided it was time for me to dig deep and break away. As I pulled away from the other two, I realized we were nearing the turnaround on the bike course, and I hadn’t seen any riders coming the opposite direction. This meant one of two things… either I was very near the lead, or I was part of a distant second pack that hadn’t even started the bike course before the leaders were through T2 (not likely)… Then I saw my first lead rider… 1… 2, 3, 4… 5… 6…. …. turnaround… Holy Crap! I’m in 7th place. Cool… a top ten finish if I can hold my position. Let me see if I can advance.
With this new sense of purpose, I forgot about the kid and Mr. USAT. I picked off riders 6 and 5… and was feeling confident that I was in 5th place. I kept pushing as hard as I could… not looking back… people behind me don’t matter at this point. None of them are going to catch me. I rolled in to T2, jumped off my bike, and tried to put my shoes on as quickly as possible.
This was my first T2, and although I’d done some “brick training” before… nothing can prepare you for your first race T2. Riding your bike at full speed is nothing like like running. Sure, you’re using your legs, but not in the same manner in which you run. And even with a short bike course, you’re legs will quickly adapt to the motion of pedal strokes… and when you get off your bike, don’t be surprised if you simply can not move your legs…
In my case, this manifested as a cartoon like running on rubber legs. I thought I was running. My brain was telling my legs to move but I could tell I was actually “running” at a pace much slower than am 18 month old child would walk. Needless to say, Mr. USAT passed me in T2.
I wasn’t going to stand for that… and so as my legs adjusted, I kept him in my sights, and overtook him again within about 200 yards of the transition area. The rest was history. I didn’t run the fastest 3 miles in my life, but I did pretty good. There were no splits for the event, but I’ve estimated my pace at 7:00/mile.
As you can see from the race rankings, I came in about 1 minute before my closest competitor, Mr. USAT… but about 5 minutes behind the top 4 finishers. All in all, it was a great race.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, Lou, in 13th place was Mr. You’re Wearing a Wetsuit?… I made a point of giving him a hard time as I passed him on the course. I think my taunts went something like this…. “You’re #1…. ” as I passed him on the bike. Then “You’re #1… in your age group!” as I passed him on the way back on the bike. Then when I saw him on the run I said, “You’re #1 in the dinosaur age group!”. After the race he came up to me and congratulated me for my trophy. He introduced me to his wife and said… “This guy can take it… and he can dish it out too!”
This year, I think I’ll dedicate my race to Lou!
6 Comments so far...
When we last left our hero... « ZappoMan.wordpress.com - Fitness Blog Says:
[...] Read the rest on ZappoMan.com… [...]
Karl McCracken Says:
Great story - if only you’d followed Lou’s advice and skipped the wetsuit . . . you’d have breezed through T1, and won the race. Either that, or they’d have waited for the spring thaw to recover your frozen body from the water . . .
Eric Says:
Ha I like this story made me realize how crazy you actually are. Keep it up, and I’m rooting for you to make up that 5 minutes and come in 1st.
Karl McCracken Says:
Oh, and you missed out the part of Race Day that really gets my blood pumping . . . .
Getting that race number magic markered onto your arm and leg!
I treat my number markings like I would have treated a kiss from Debbie Harry when I was younger, and see how long I can keep ‘em visible for as a badge of honour. Actually, who am I kidding - I treat them like I’d still treat a kiss from Debbie Harry
zappoman Says:
Eric, it’s true… I am crazy…
Karl, I too love the race number… but I forgot to mention that this race was very very low budget, and did not include body painting. We had “bib numbers”… but no body painting.
When I originally wrote this up, I described the swim course, but wordpress went crazy and ate my first post. If you had had a chance to read that description you would have seen that body paint wasn’t a likely feature of the race.
Just so you don’t go crazy wondering about the swim course, let me describe it… it was in a man made “lake”… really a pond. And one of the volunteers took a row boat with a buoy line attached to it, and rowed out as far as she could, while another volunteer held the line on shore. Picture a game of tug of war.
There were no timing mats, thus no splits,…
But they had a huge “post race buffet”… which since it started raining cats and dogs, we all consumed huddled under a small 15′x15′ tarp/tent. The spread included deli meats, cheeses, muffins, and my favorite “peanut butter and marshmallow spread”.
Karl McCracken Says:
Sounds kinda ammature-ish . . . but the absolute best possible fun. Makes you feel like you’re taking part in an event with people rather than part of some corporate thing.
The best Tri I’ve done was the Hebburn / Tyne & Wear Fire Service Triathlon. The pre-race briefing’s superb (fire chiefs know how to give a briefing), and the course is superbly marked - every bump and pothole on the bike route is highlighted in day-glo paint. But best of all is the monster-sized post-race buffet served in the pub next to the pool. This is the kind of buffet that beats even a triathlete’s “eat all you can” urge. Oh, and the finisher’s T-shirts are just great too!
