Pocomoke Sprint Race Report

Pocomoke Sprint Triathlon
Race Report # 6: May 30th, 2009


Background

After the decidedly unsatisfactory results of the week before at Hammonton, I headed down to the eastern shore of Maryland looking for a little redemption, or at the very least a bit of a rebound. I had heard good things about this small, old school triathlon run by the folks at the Pocomoke YMCA.

After registering and driving the course late Friday afternoon (my father’s 75th birthday), I made my way 20 miles south to my hotel on Chincoteague Island. I dropped my gear off and headed across the short bridge to Assateague Island hoping to see the famous wild horses. I did not succeed in that endeavor but did manage to see quite a few of an apparently endangered type of squirrel during a very pleasant run.

It was absolutely beautiful out and I was feeling considerably better than the week before. I felt ready for a good race. I grabbed some pasta, which I ate back in my hotel room. I watched a spectacularly violent storm sweep across the bay in front of my hotel and repaired to bed early.

I awoke at 5 am to a power outage but was able to get everything down in the car and I was on my way back north to the race site by 5:45, having scarfted down my pre-race PB&J and banana. The weather had cleared after the storm and it looked like a good day for racing.




The Swim

Exactly 300 people started the swim separated into 5 waves. I started in wave 4, six minutes after the first wave. I was to learn latter that there were 17 people in my AG. I only knew about the 9 of them who had pre-registered and was mostly concerned with one competitor, Bob Huber, Sr.. He looked like a pretty good triathlete who ran sub 19 5Ks in open road races. Coincidently, he had showed up at Registration the same time as me so I knew what he looked like. He seemed to also perk-up when he heard my name—perhaps the race was on! As for the others, I really didn’t know who they were and since there was no body marking, I had no way of identifying them out on the course. It was going to be a tactically blind race.

The swim was advertised as a half-mile in small spring fed pound. It was shallow, murky and surprisingly warm—76 degrees. I found my full wetsuit a bit uncomfortable by the end of the swim. I started to the right side, away from the buoy line once again. I was over by Rick Brokaw a good buddy of mine whom I’ve raced with many times (I’ve only beaten him once—at White Lake in 2007). I swam nice and steady and stayed out of trouble in what was a crowded swim. With only 2 minutes between waves we soon began to weave through a ton of slow, breast and backstroking stragglers from the waves in front of us. This required a lot of heads-up swimming and course changes. I seemed to do this pretty well.

I kept my HR under control and felt pretty good about the swim. That said I had only been in the pool 3 times in 15 days due to my Australia trip so I suspected I was going to be quite slow. After climbing up on a little Island and jumping back in, I hit the beach in 11:18 for what was clearly a short swim (probably something like 0.4 miles). My HR averaged 155bpm, so I worked pretty hard. After the race I was not surprised to find that I was 70th OA (77th %-tile) and 4th in my AG (82.4 %-tile). This is really not that bad considering everything. My swim fitness is declining with my estrangement from the pool and it’s likely to get worse with the Rainier Expedition this coming week. I’ll have to put some significant time in when I return from Rainier to get back some decent swim fitness. Here is where we stood after the swim:

1. Graham ----------
2. Horsey + 0:50
3. McGagahin + 1:32
4. Christofferson + 1:35

The good news was that I had opened up a 55 second lead on Huber. The bad news was Douglas Graham, whom I never saw during the race, who turns out to be a very experienced and accomplished triathlete who just aged up into my AG, was way out in front. As it turns out he has posted some impressive IM times and has qualified for Hawaii where he did very well.

Transition One

The transition involved a modest run across a grass field (during which I passed a lot people) to the racks where I had secured the prime position (having been the first to arrive at the race site). I felt pretty slow in transition but eventually got everything off and out on my bike. My T1 split was 1:34 and my HR averaged 169 bpm—I was definitely pushing it! As it turned out I had the fastest T1 in my AG and was 26th OA (91.7 %-tile). All in all, an excellent T1 for me! Here is where we stood:

1. Graham ---------
2. Christofferson + 1:24
3. Horsey + 1:48
4. Paul + 2:20

The Bike

After the initial pass through the gravel parking lot of the local Elk’s Club, the bike was contested on basically flat but in a lot of places, twisty and winding backcountry roads. The course was fun, a bit like a video game and in marked contrast to last week, I felt pretty good right from the start. I was seeing a lot of 240-260s in terms of power and early on a lot of 25-27 mph. I suspected there was a westerly tail wind in the first part of the course (which makes sense given the front that went through the night before) as it didn’t seem I should be that fast.

I passed a ton of people but of-course had no real sense of where I stood. I felt pretty positive and was able to keep good pedal pressure all the way through to the finish. I dismounted the 14.3-mile course (which is what they advertised) in 36:55, which works out to 23.2 mph. The back half of the ride was definitely impacted by a solid head wind. More importantly was my power, which ended up averaging 242 watts with an 83 average rpm. While, this shows my lack of fitness, it clearly is a return to current form and I was definitely very pleased with the ride. My HR averaged 164 bpm, so I clearly gave a good honest effort.

Shockingly, I was out split on the bike for the second week in a row, although this week it was just 2 seconds (I was 17th OA or 94.7 %-tile). Graham was the real deal and proving to be too much for me. If I was in the prior couple of year’s form I might have been able to open up a bit of lead on him but it would take a lot more fitness and a perfect race for me to beat him. The good news is I put a lot of time on everybody else and entered T2 in a strong position:

1. Graham ---------
2. Christofferson + 1:26
3. Huber + 7:58
4. Horsey + 8:24

Transition Two

I efficiently dismounted and sped through transition feeling very satisfied with my ride and on top of my game. My T2 split out at 0:58 and my HR averaged 164. Graham was two seconds faster so I had the second fastest T2 in my AG. OA I was 43rd or 86 %-tile. While I was now racing for second, I did manage to build a little more cushion on my pursuers:

1. Graham ---------
2. Christofferson + 1:28
3. Huber + 8:30
4. Horsey + 9:05

The Run

The run course first traversed an open field for about 500 yards and then we made a left turn onto a quite flat out and back paved course. I felt pretty descent—certainly as good as I would expect with my current run fitness.

I motored along for a while and hit what looked like the 1st mile at 7:37. The lead runners started coming the other way and I looked carefully for anyone that might be in my AG but saw no one (I’m still not sure what Graham looks like as he did not show at the awards ceremony). I saw Mark Facciani laying down the 2nd best run split (!!!!!—way to go bud!) on his way to an impressive overall win. I hit the turnaround around 11:50 and I began to think the run was probably short of its advertised 3.5-mile distance (or else somehow I was now running 6:45s!).

I saw Huber a bit after the turnaround and figured I was about 4 minutes ahead or so—more than enough—I settled into a nice groove and chugged home towards the finish. I was passed by a guy who looked like he could be in my AG (turns out he was 45) about 800 yards from the end and I hung with him and then re-passed him. I tried to pull away but when we hit the open field he turned it on and I had no answer. I smoothed it home with a 23:37 split and average HR of 170 bpm—again, a good solid effort. I ended up with the 4th fastest run split in the AG (82.4 %-tile) and 64th OA (79 %-tile).

This was good enough for 2nd, about 7 minutes behind Graham and 3:21 in front of Huber. I finished 24th OA (92.3 %-tile). This was my highest OA %-tile of the season to date. I felt great about my race—like I did everything I could and that even if I had been in the best shape of my tri career I still would have finished 2nd.

So I have this to build on as I turn my attention away from the triathlon world for a while. On Wednesday I meet Anders in Seattle for our prime objective for the year: summiting Mount Rainier. I am hopeful but as a novice I don’t know quite what to expect. I’m sure it will be a memorable experience!