Lakeside is a small community less than half an hour from my house, so it was nice not to have to get up at some insane hour to get there on time. The campgrounds there host two triathlon weekends a year, June and September -- both are a full weekend of racing, with sprint triathlons and duathlons both Saturday and Sunday, plus a "Give it a Try" event and kids of steel racing. I was registered in the Saturday sprint tri, a relatively short 600m swim, 20k bike, and 4k run -- I was looking forward to testing my end-of-season fitness. I arrived with plenty of time before the start and got busy getting my race number and setting up my transition space. My wife opted to sleep in on this fine Saturday, so I pretty much kept to myself, briefly chatting with a few other competitors here and there. Then the wetsuit went on and I hit the water for a bit of a warm-up.
The lake is quite small, so the water was very calm. It was also very shallow, however, so we had to walk out quite a way to the start. The shallow water also made for some serious weed-swimming. It was quite creepy, actually -- it felt as though hands were constantly grabbing at my arms, legs, and face as I swam. Eventually it got a little deeper and we could swim without any problem. We were all forced to stop swimming once we returned to the shallows, though, and when I stood up I realized I was still quite a long way out from shore. The shin-deep water made dolphin diving impossible, so I ran/shuffled toward the beach. Then without warning the water suddenly went waist-deep, and the bottom got very soft -- running became difficult, and even an attempted dolphin dive or two didn't really go that well, since it was hard to propel myself up into the air with the soft sand. Then shallow again, and close enough to shore that I could tell that it didn't go deep again. Up onto the beach, through some rather deep sand, and into T1.
Total swim time was 11:19, or about 1:53/100m pace... this smashes the old dan-world record of 2:03/100m, so I was happy about that. Of course as usual, I will wonder if the course was actually 600m, or a little shorter, which would make the pace not a true 1:53/100m.
T1 was actually quite good for me, with a total time of 1:20, which included a bit of a run and wetsuit removal. It also included putting on my bike shoes, since I'm still too chicken to try a running, shoes-in-pedals mount during a race. Maybe next year.
The bike course is an out and back on mostly rolling hills, overall downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back. No crazy hills, but a couple that made me sit and spin. The bike has been a weakness for me this year... mostly because I don't work at it often enough. I've been trying to change that, and I felt pretty good out there. My only real complaint had nothing to do with the course... my feet were frozen! It's a good thing my shoes were locked into the pedals, because I couldn't feel anything below my ankles.
During the bike I traded and re-traded spots with the same 3 or 4 riders, including racer #57 on a yellow Giant, and a fast-looking chick. I managed to stay aero for most of it, with the exception of the occasional drink of eLoad and a hill or two. I really paid attention to my cadence, and shifted whenever I needed to spin a little faster... sometimes I get caught up in a macho game of mashing big gears when some dudes go past me. Not today, though -- I totally rode my own race. Upon turning the final corner and heading back to transition (about 1k to go), racer #57 on the yellow Giant and the fast-looking chick left me in their dust. I probably could have gone with them, but I was already thinking about T2 and the upcoming dismount. I got my feet out of my shoes and cruised into T2.
Total bike time was 39:00, or about a 30.8 km/h (~19.1mph) average. I would like to have been faster, but it's still not bad for me. Looking back, I know I could have pushed it more, but I felt like I was on the cusp of pushing too much... as though it would have a negative effect on the run. I realize that 30.8 km/h isn't exactly kicking it out there, but I look forward to improving that this winter with some serious trainer time.
T2... let's see, how can I put this... T2 sucked ass. It took me longer than T1, at 1:34, which is entirely ridiculous. It was mainly because my feet felt like frozen balls of skin. When I put my running shoes on I was certain something big was jammed in there, so I took the time to remove my shoe and pull it out... except nothing was in there. Cursing at myself, I pulled my shoe back on, grabbed my hat, and hit the ground running -- literally.
The run course is also an out and back deal -- the first (and last) half-mile are paved, the rest is on gravel roads. It wasn't until I hit the gravel portion that I could feel my feet hitting the ground. But at least they didn't hurt, so I tried to take that as a positive and put T2 behind me. I went out way too fast, realized I was going too fast, but then said screw it, and tried to pick up the pace. Not my smartest plan ever. I didn't really succeed in picking up the pace, but I managed to move along not too badly. I was running along, picking people off, and who am I approaching from behind? My old friend, racer #57. As I passed him I was going to say that I almost didn't recognize him without the yellow Giant. Instead I just smoked him. The rest of the run was uneventful until the final quarter mile or so. During that time I passed at least 3 guys in my age group, which felt good. I was also approaching a fast-looking chick -- it was the same fast-looking chick from the bike! But, I ran out of real estate and she held me off by a few seconds. Turns out she won the W30-34 age group, which is more than I can say for me.
Total run time 19:51, or 4:58/km (just under 8:00/mile). I really thought I'd be faster than that... I certainly felt faster. This run course does have the reputation of being a little long, so who knows. I felt good out there and finished strong, so I'll take it.
My overall time was 1:13:01 -- good for 41/265 overall and 6/22 in M35-39. Definitely my best placing ever, although this race tends to be a little less competitive than most of the others I've been in. But, numbers aside, I can only race the way I race, and the times and positions will take care of themselves.
That's it for the triathlons this year. I have a road race or two I'll run in October, then hopefully crush it this off-season. Next year I'll either tackle two half IM's, or possibly one half and one full. It's kind of a wait-and-see game as to what the summer brings next year. Either way, my winter plan is to focus on the bike, where I think I stand to show the most gains.
As usual, time will tell.
