Trimax Pinchot Triathlon Race Report

Trimax Pinchot Triathlon
Race Report #11: 8/9/9

Background

I decided to take a trip back into central Pennsylvania, as I was bound and determined to finally race once in this northern neighbor of Delaware. I had tried to race at Patriot’s the prior week but was turned back by horrible weather (the swim was cancelled in that event due to lightning). As I drove through Lancaster at about 5:30 am I was once again engulfed in a torrential downpour. My heart sank as it looked like another potential washout. However, I was very eager to race and with a 9am start and another 50 miles to drive I was hopeful conditions would change.

My perseverance was rewarded as the rain finally abated as I arrived at the race site. I decided to drive the course and found it to be very hilly with several sharp climbs and screaming descents. The pavement was soaked so I was pleased that I had brought both my TT and my road bikes. I decided to go with the Cervelo SLC-SL road bike, even though I knew it was quite a bit slower than my BMC—safety first.

When I checked in I saw that this was a small “grass-roots” kind of a race—not even chip timing. The director told me that there was likely to be 135 in the race. I was happy to learn wetsuits were to be legal. I looked over my training wheels on the Cervelo and saw several chunks of glass embedded in the rubber. I contemplated changing over to my BMC race wheels but the procedure looked like it would take too long (adjusting the SRM and brakes) and just didn’t seem worth it. I decided instead to deflate the tires, remove the glass and I inserted a couple of strategically placed dollar bills to protect the tubes from the holes in the tires. I was laughing about my low-key approach to the race but I thought I was good to go.
The Swim

The swim venue was a large, fairly attractive lake in a heavily wooded state park. The swim was a two lap counter-clockwise triangle that was 3/4ths of a mile in length. The water temp was 76 degrees and I noticed that only 4-5 people had wetsuits of any kind. This struck me as very strange as I was happy to have my long-john on to keep my butt high in the water.

We started as one wave and I positioned myself to the far right, away from the buoys. I went out hard at the gun and pushed for about 50 yards before I did a real survey of my competitors to the left. I was shocked to see that there was only one guy in front of me and that I was right next to the 2nd fastest starter! Whoa! I backed off a little bit but then happily settled into the back of the chase pack (2 guys off the front). I found I was very comfortable there and could think of no reason to change my position.

After the first lap we ran around a flag in foot deep water and I took the opportunity to see where I stood. I guessed I was in the top 10 and as I looked behind me I could see that I had a nice gap on my chasers. Sweet!

The second lap was more of the same as I just tracked a group of 5-6 swimmers. I exited the water feeling great with an elapsed time of 20:16 and an average HR of 153 bpm. This was awesome news as it translated into a 27 minute mile pace, which I’ll take any day for sure! The 153 indicated I worked a little harder than normal but perceptually I felt great—I was pumped!

Competitively I was 9th out of the water (not sure how many in the race as the spreadsheet was truncated at 49). From an age group perspective I was 1st, 57 seconds ahead of my main competitor, David Miller, who is an Eagleman veteran.

Transition One

I moved very quickly through transition, as I was interested in leaving before Miller arrived so he would not know how far ahead I was. In so doing I passed two of the folks who had beaten me in the swim and I completed my transition in 1:41 with a 168-bpm average HR. Given the lengthy run from the water’s edge to the transition area I figured I had at least a minute lead on Miller (who was racked next to me). And the fun part was about to begin!

The Bike

Leaving the lake we immediately faced a half-mile climb, followed by a fast (38 mph), steep descent of a quarter mile or so and then a very challenging 11-13% grade climb that took about 5 minutes. Yikes! My HR was pegged and I was very glad I was riding my Cervelo’s compact drive train. A youngster I had passed in transition, briefly passed me on this climb, but I was seeing power readings of 300-350 watts so I wanted nothing to do with his aggressiveness and further I thought he was probably making a mistake. This proved to be true as we crested the climb and he sat up huffing and puffing and I didn’t see him again until the bagel table at the end of the race.

I was generally pretty conservative on the first lap. It was slippery and at 18.2 miles (RD announced and RC measured) and a hot and humid morning I thought patience was probably the right call. I sat up and coasted or soft-pedaled on most of the bigger descents and I knew this would be reflected in my final average power readings. I did pass two riders during the first lap and figured I was anywhere from 4th-7th OA. I finished the first lap right around 28 minutes.

The second lap, despite my growing fatigue on the climbs, was a lot more fun as familiarity allowed me to push the descents more. I lapped several triathletes on their first bike lap (wow—I was more than a half hour ahead of them!), as there were a number of folks walking their bikes up the climb. On the final big descent (a long 5-6 % affair), I briefly hit 42.4 mph, which was about as fast as I wanted to go (having just spent two months riding at the Jersey Shore and it’s never-ending flatness).

I zoomed down the final descent with a couple of triathletes not too far in front of me and hopped off my bike with an elapsed time of 55:24. My power averaged only 231 watts (although I guess if I loaded the ride into training peaks I’d see a Normalized Power Output closer to 260—lots of coasting). My cadence reflected the coasting as well and averaged 73 rpm. My HR averaged 159 bpm so I probably was a little conservative on the ride.

Competitively, I out-rode Miller by 3:26 and was now 4:23 ahead! Surprisingly, I only had the 6th fastest bike (a reflection of my hilly-course riding skills no doubt).

Transition Two

With two younger competitors right there in transition I really pushed it. My T2 was a very fast 37 seconds (HR of 158), which was faster than the other two guys and I exited T2 about 50 and 100 yards behind the two men in front of me. Although I didn’t know it at the time I had moved into 5th OA—here is where we stood after the bike:

1. Fesler --------- (local pro)
2. Gibson + 12:19
3. Yourkavitch + 13:24
4. Kruper + 14:14
5. Christofferson + 14:33

,

The Run

As I started the run the RD yelled that I was in 5th! I had 3rd and 4th dead in my sights and I thought that maybe I could go top three overall. Why not? I decided to go for it.

The run was a 3.35 “lollipop” through the woods on trails near the lake. It was billed as a flat course but I was soon to find out that this was not true.

As we turned away from the lake, about a half-mile in, I could see that I was staying even with the guy in 4th, (a 19 YO). When we hit the first water stop he walked and I closed to within 10 yards. Maybe I could catch him and then go after number 3!

My close approach (and no doubt thudding footsteps) seemed to spook him and I would get no closer. My HR was above 170 and it began to occur to me that maybe this going after third thing was not a good idea. Then I hit this longish hill and I was certain it was a bad idea. I eventually heard footsteps behind me and struggled to hang in there as four runners passed me and dropped me to 9th.

As I reemerged from the woods, a half-mile from the finish, I panicked a little because I realized I hadn’t seen Miller, which meant he was on the smallish loop at the same time as I. I didn’t know how long the loop was but I was certain he was closing on me as I bet I was more than a half-mile ahead of him as he started his run. I kept glancing over my shoulder but as I neared the picnic area about 400 yards from the finish I relaxed as no one had emerged from the woods behind me.

I crossed the finish line with a run time of 24:56 (7:27/mile) and an average HR of 167 bpm. Not very good by objective standards but a solid effort given my fitness and good enough for me to secure my 6th victory of the 2009 season.

As it turned out, Miller out-ran me by 2:13 but my finishing time of 1:42:52 was good for a victory margin of 2:10. After loading my car with my stuff, the RD was kind enough to give me the 1st place medal and I was on my way back to Stone Harbor (4 hour drive) long before the race was over.

Undefeated in PA! lol