#luray triathlon

[mackeyturner]

Back on track - at least for today 

Back on track – at least for today 

12 September, 2021 Back on track – at least for today  Photo by Evelyn who told me “That dog would follow you into a burning building.” Two days later Evelyn and I each went to work in the morning. That afternoon we came home and loaded Mackey in the car and the three of us drove up to our vet’s office. Behind their office is a grassy, shady space surrounded by the building on one side and…

[malloryrunsthis]

I did the Luray International Triathlon over the weekend (signed up waaaay back in the winter). It’s a notably hilly course in the Shenandoah Mountains. These photos were taken at the top of the last hill around mile 24 (out of 25) of the bike course. I think my face says it all!

And yes, these were the only photos of me taken at this spot on the course

[cyclingevans-blog]

Don’t miss out !! Repost from @racinemultisports using @RepostRegramApp - ONLY HOURS REMAIN TO SAVE! Price increases at midnight for Luray Triathlon & Duathlon. Race Dates: August 17-18 Location: Luray, VA More Info Here>> http://luraytriathlon.bmeurl.co/8E40B0E #luraytriathlon #luraytri #racinemultisports https://www.instagram.com/p/BzWANbvDEOP/?igshid=1s2pfvob2lo9q

[triathlol]

Owning Noobs at Nation’s

INTRODUCTION

Two years ago, after coming to the conclusion that I was truly empty inside, I decided to sign up for my first triathlon. I had been a bike owner for about two and a half weeks, had three whole running races under my belt, no social life to speak of, and had seen people swim on tv before. 

That doesn’t look hard. I’m in fucking amazing shape. This will be fine.

So I signed up for the local race, Nation’s Triathlon, and and two years later, well, you’re reading my blog

Things to know about the course: it’s flat, fast, and close to home–there is no reason not to sign up. Except one:

That’s right, the capital city of the richest, most powerful country in the world can’t even get its literal shit together for a one-mile swim in its famous river. Three out of the last four years, this has been Nation’s Duathlon. Last year, after getting burned by the ecoli gods, I vowed never to give them my money again.

Which is a vow I kept. Two weeks ago, however, I was offered a free bib (read: sponsor’s exemption) and jumped at the opportunity to massage my fragile ego after its destruction in the Shenandoahs last month.

PREPARATION

SWIM  1500 Meters // 27:53 // Strava File

As the strava file notes, wetsuits are indeed good. The plan was to lay up during the swim in an attempt to not sabotage the entire race in the first half hour, which pretty much worked. Turns out that treating an endurance event as such has some benefits.

This swim went smoothly, but was not without its share of crippling fear of cramps. Other highlights include touching the bottom of the Potomac upon jumping off the dock (I would describe the bottom as both hard and soft; both dead and alive), and passing lots, and lots of people. No river rats or Hillary Clinton assassination victims to speak of.

BIKE 25 Miles // 1:14:37 // Strava File

This course is as fast as it is confusing to look at. After taking a few eons in T1, I hit the bike and put it in cruise for the next hour and change. The two-lap setup means you get passed by all the real cyclists on the first go round, and then return the favor to the plebs on round two. This is series of events is great for the ego, because you feel like a god between miles 10-20, the dog days of olympic distance triathlon racing.

At the end of the ride, I was greeted by some tough love from Nation’s Tri Volunteer/DMV Triahtlon Legend/Vietnamese Royalty, Tuan Nguyen. I dunno who gave this dude the power to run the bike dismount line, but he took his job, very, very seriously. Upon on a casual dismount:

WHAT ARE YOU DOING? THIS IS A RACE! THE CLOCK DIDN’T STOP, SO WHY DID YOU? LET’S GO GO GO!

I’m paraphrasing in an attempt to keep this family friendly. What a guy. Not only does he hook me and fellow tri-bro Dan up with free entries, he gives us motivation along the way. Who needs to throw down all that money for a fancy coach or a pay-walled training plan when you’ve got profanity laced mid-race tirades? Not me–thanks again Tuan. 

Feeling somewhat energized, but mostly afraid, I hauled ass into transition. 

definitely, 100% not drafting

RUN 6.2 Miles // 46:01 // Strava File

Two legs into this race for great insta pics, I was coming to grips with possibly the worst decision I made all day–not pooping in the morning. This may sound like another pathetic series of jokes, but in fact, it was a critical error. By the time I started the run, I was being chased by the gingerbread man. I said as much to my insta boyfriend/real life girlfriend Lindsay–all the photo cred goes to her btw, who seemed extremely confused.

hi there and i really need to shit

They say don’t trust a fart after twenty miles in a marathon, but what’s the triathlon equivalent? Does this apply to the swim, too? Is swooping really in play? Can you get penalized for this?

The only answer I had was to finish as quickly as possible. Which, fortunately, I did. The cool weather and flat track really made this one easy. I clocked my fastest run split ever and finished with some gas in the tank. The Luray stomach-cramp demons had been vanquished.

CONCLUSION

As long as you don’t look at those criminal transition times (I need to practice taking off my wetsuit, and also putting on socks?), this is pretty fucking good for me. My goal for the entire year, which I considered genuinely lofty at the time, was to finish in the top 30% of my age group in an olympic distance race. That goal was achieved today, and with it a sense that I had not wasted the hundreds of hours training. Phew–I can put off knitting for another year.

That is unless I die during my upcoming Half Ironman. Stay tuned, folks, that one is coming up next.

[newwaveswimbuoy]

from @swim_box . . Thanks to everyone who came out to our Luray Triathlon race prep clinic this past Saturday! It was a little gloomy but thankfully the rain held out. It's always great getting to meet new faces in the triathlon community! . . . #swimbox #luraytriathlon #lakearrowhead #lakeswim #ows #openwater #openwaterswimming #swimclinic #raceprep #ironman703 #ironmantri #olympic #triathlete #triathlon #tritraining #trihard #tri365 #swim #swimlike #triswimpics #swimcoach #swimminglessons — view on Instagram http://bit.ly/2wnagqN

[entirebodyexercise]

Is Your GPS Watch Lying To You On Race Day?

* Material politeness of competitor.com

As I passed the 12-mile mark at a recent fifty percent marathon, I glanced down at my watch and grinned.

" I'm on pace to complete in 1:45," I thought. "Sweet!"

Seven mins and also change later on, 1:45 came and went as well as I was still running.

Huh?

At completion of the race, according to my Garmin watch, I had run 13.4 miles.

I considered it some more. My watch beeped and ringinged as I hit each of the initial couple of mile markers previously in the race. Yet as I obtained additionally along, something happened and also I started running greater than the advertised race range. My watch would seem the alarm that I had actually run an additional mile prior to I crossed the indication along the training course. By the time I got to mile 12, I had to do with a 3rd of a mile off.

Race distances hardly ever sit, as they're established up with the newest technology called the adjusted bike approach. Jim Gerweck, a USATF program certifier based in Connecticut, stated the approach has been in place given that the early 1970s and involves using a bike furnished with a counter that keeps in mind each time the wheel makes a revolution. At the end of the ride, some math estimations are made as well as the training course distance is disclosed. The option is ridden 4 times, as well as then, once the range is found out, 2 even more times. The much shorter path of those last 2 trips is the last distance.

Knowing this, there was no question the race I did was 13.1 miles, since it was a USATF-certified course. However, to be candid, I was discouraged. Exactly how was it feasible that I ran a 3rd of a mile even more than I should have? Did I not take the fastest course along the course? Perhaps I should have taken some walkways and reduced via some front grass.

" Training courses are gauged along the Shortest Feasible Path (SPR), which means cutting all the tangents, etc.," Gerweck said. "Nevertheless, like a track race, the running training course is specified as being 30 centimeters from the curb. Unless especially permitted, going inside this line would be cutting the program and premises for DQ."

Taking the SPR, nonetheless, is more challenging compared to you might assume-- even for skilled specialists, Gerweck said.

The various other problem at play here is GPS watches. They all interact with satellites to establish rate as well as distance, but points like cloud cover, thick crowds, structures as well as a high concentration of GPS machines can affect their accuracy. Still, it's finest to attempt and take the SPR during a race-- that indicates embracing the aesthetic around edges and also keeping away from zig-zagging excessive. One more possible concern, although less common, is individuals starting their watches prematurely or stopping them also late. Heck, I forgot to stop mine after finishing a 5K a couple of weeks ago. Always make certain to start your watch when you cross the surprising line, not when the gun goes off and you're back in the beginning corral.

I spoke to triathlon coach and race director David Glover, who mentioned my issue in the context of a multisport race. Triathlons are harder to measure accurately due to the fact that the whole training course is more varied and also has more area for mistake-- such as the swim training course, which is nearly impossible to swim on the straightest line, in addition to shift locations, turn-arounds, and so on.

" The very best method to stick to the distance is to recognize the program, swim straight in between the buoys as well as stay on program," stated Glover, MS, CSCS, developer of ENDURANCEWORKS training strategies and also race director for the Luray Triathlon. "Lots of professional athletes do not sight well so they swim additional. Athletes additionally make errors by either going off program or doing an inaccurate number of loops-- either too several or as well few-- on a looped course. Know the course."

The lesson below is basic: Begin and also quit your GPS view at the correct times, take the shortest option you could while remaining on the program and, at the end of the day, don't put all your stock right into the watch on your wrist. It's simply a gizmo.

[emilydoesscience]

Done! Forgot to take garmin, so I went watchless. It was liberating! I had a great time at Luray, I would recommend is race to anyone!!! Will post my results later, I crossed the finish line as the clock read 3:12:something, but I we had wave starts. I think it will be about the same as my usual 3:08ish. Hey, at least I'm consistent.

[malloryrunsthis]

littlecondo replied to your post “Easy 5 Miler”

What’s next on the race schedule?

My next race is a VERY local 5k this Saturday(I can walk to the start)! It’s timed but not competitive so I might combine it with a little bit of a longer run. 

Since I’m running NYC for “fun” in November, I decided I can have more fun this summer too! Currently I’m registered for:

July- Endless Summer 6 Hour Relay (third year in a row)

August-Luray International Triathlon (my first Olympic distance, gulp)

September-Dogfish Dash 8k (fifth year in a row? I didn’t run it last year but I spectated so I’m counting that). I REALLY want to PR this one. 

And I am pretty sure I’m going to register for the Dogfish Head Grand Fondo in October and the Parks Half Marathon (hoping to PR) in September. I’m also a member of the local tri club and they have some casual workouts/races that I may throw in for fun. 

[malloryrunsthis]

Coffee Date

When was the last time I did one of these? A long time ago! It’s odd, I feel like in the past year or so I’ve gotten a lot busier at work so I don’t do just casual, hey what’s up posts as much.

I had a nice little weekend in Shenandoah. My friend and I went out to Luray to do the triathlon out there. They let me switch to the aquabike which was lucky so I didn’t have to DNF! But man, did I miss the run. I was giving all the other racers envious looks and trying not to act too pathetic when I slooooowly brought my bike into transition and walked to the finish to get my medal.

The actual tri was really REALLY pretty. And swimming in a lake so much nicer than the bay or Potomac River! I want to go back and do this one again, except better. Basically, with running involved.

I made a decision over the weekend too: I am not running the Berlin Marathon. Please believe me when I say, this decision sucked. I’m still mad. But I am a month out and haven’t run in a full week (not to mention the week and a half before the when I had the PF issues). I have tried the elliptical but the pressure on my toe is pretty bad and stationary bike is not quite the same. Basically, I do not see myself being able to train for at least a few more weeks and I am not risking reinjury or something worse for pride. 

My main goal right now is not to turn into a massive bitch to everyone because I can’t get my cardio fix. Going from 40-50 miles a week PLUS walking and biking a lot to absolutely nothing is hard. So I’m looking at alternatives. Swimming isn’t great because the pressure on my toe still hurts but I think it’s doable. And I’m bike shopping on Craigslist for something sort of cheap to get me through until I can budget for a better bike. I’m also considering some sort of strength training/bootcamp class. 

I don’t mean to sound like I’m down. I’m half down but also half up because I know it’s not the end of the world. Taking a few weeks off from exercise only seems crazy because I haven’t done it in so long. I just need to remember there was a time I never really exercised regularly and I was okay then too! 

[malloryrunsthis]

Graphic T-Shirt Friday

Since I’m heading out for triathlon (aquabike) number two this weekend, thought I’d rep the shirt from this summer’s first triathlon!

So, as just alluded to, I am not doing a full tri this weekend. Because I can’t really walk more than a maybe a quarter of a mile without my toe and then my knee and then my hips protesting, running is pretty much out of the question. I keep thinking maybe it’s just a bad bruise and now it’ll be better but I walked half a mile to and from the county fair last night and it was terrible. I’m going to the podiatrist about my PF next week anyways so I’ll have them xray then.

However, since my bike was stolen last week, I had already paid for a tri bike rental so we’re going out to the Luray tri! I emailed and messaged the organizers to ask if I can switch to the aquabike but haven’t heard back yet. If they don’t let me, I’ll just DNF after the bike portion.

To be fair, I also went swimming yesterday morning and my tape fell off and that was no picnic either.

For those of you wondering, this is the worst. I am vacillating between feeling pretty zen about the situation to anger to sadness. Mostly, I just hate the inactivity of it all. I like running because I can step out my front door and go. Waking up to go to a gym or a pool or something else takes a lot more motivation than I have most days. A bike ride would be good except, no bike (the tri bike is worth more than my life so it’s staying inside for the most part). It’s such a weird place to be in.

 Mercury is in retrograde through September 5 so wish me luck to get through the rest of it!

[malloryrunsthis]

Not really a Race Report: Colonial Beach

Remember how on Friday I was all like, oh I don’t care about triathlons, they’re just for fun, it’s not about me being competitive?

I lied.

Because it turns out, I am pretty competitive when everyone and their mother is passing me. 

The swim, once I got over my initial (and unexpected) panic attack, was totally fine and I actually did okay. Result: 18:11 for 750 meters, 39/98. 

But the damn bike! My bike is a hybrid commuter which is just fine for everything I need it to do most of the time. However, it was not equipped to hang with other people on the road. I was being passed constantly. At first, I was like, that’s okay Mallory, you don’t have the lightweight bike with the clip-in pedals or road tires. Just do you. 

Except...then I started getting "on-your-lefted” by random people in Nike’s and gym shorts! I realized at that point, I was merely cruising on the roads instead of racing them. So I decided to start pushing a little more. My quads and lungs did not love this. Finally, after about 10 miles, I got passed a little less and actually passed other people! Result: 52:52, 72/98. Sigh.

By the time I got to the run, I was officially annoyed and over the whole thing. I also got mad because my legs obviously felt weird and come on, running is my THING. I think that irritation fueled me further. So I banged out that 5k in a respectable time and then ate about seven slices of pizza and a billion cookies at the finish. Result: 24:24 10/98. 

Overall: 1:38:54, 45/98. Just so you can see how sad my bike time is compared to the people with the same overall time around me:

It should be noted, 1. the course was lovely and flat. 2. the volunteers were super duper nice. The weather was gorgeous and I loved everything other than being slow. Interestingly, I came out of it with a 2nd place finish in the novice category! Mind you, I was TEN MINUTES behind the first place novice. 

So I did a few things: when I got home I rode to my local bike co-op and got new road tires. Of course, while I was there, they showed me a used road bike that they just got in and would be maybe perfect but at $660 it might be cash money I can’t afford to spend right now. 

I also switched out of the novice category for the Luray Tri in August and moved into the Age Group category. Because I think when you win a novice prize it may be sandbagging to stay in that category. 

I don’t know how you tumblr triathletes do this all the time. I did the sprint distance and basically was DONE for the rest of the weekend. Nothing but respect for you guys. 

[cyclingevans-blog]

Can’t wait to do this Duathlon !! Repost from @racinemultisports using @RepostRegramApp - LESS THAN A WEEK TO SAVE ON LURAY TRIATHLON & DUATHLON! Race Date: August 17-18, 2019 Location: Luray, VA More Info>> http://luraytriathlon.bmeurl.co/8DFC864 #luraytriathlon #lurayduathlon #luraytri #racinemultisports https://www.instagram.com/p/BzFkHBLjNxj/?igshid=11fcjcxcdm64i

[triathlol]

Lost in Luray

INTRODUCTION

When I started this stupid blog, it was to serve a few, key purposes. Some were tertiary: spending more time writing, making the race memories last, amassing twitter followers, etc. But the primary, unflagging motivation for spending hours searching for perfect GIF’s and crafting grammatical incorrect sentences was straightforward: elaborate humble bragging.

Two races in, this plan was unfolding like the plot of Ocean’s 11. I exceeded expectations in the first half of 2017, and got to come here and act like it was NBD.

But in real life, it turns out, sometimes you do short it. If Yen hadn’t made that jump, he would have set off the alarms, gotten arrested, and foiled the entire operation. That was this race. 

If you are one of the people that hate-reads this blog, hoping that cosmic justice would ensure an epic face-plant, well, are you comfortable? Do you have something to drink? You’re gonna want to savor this.

And for those of you who don’t feel like sticking around for ten more minutes of insecurity peddled as self-deprecating humor--here are the highlights of the three hour and six minute tire-fire that was my 2017 Luray International Triathlon.

PROS

Pain tolerance gains

Some hilarious photos

Five-star rating on my Turo

Cool t-shirt

CONS

Everything else

I had talked to some fellow tri-bros about how this was my “check-in” race before the half-ironman next month. “This will be a good test--it’ll be great to see how much progress I’ve made this Summer after crushing both races this Spring,” I said. Welp...

My goal for the race was something in the 2:45-2:50 range. Last year, on the same course, in similar conditions, I clocked in at a respectable 3:01. Surely a year of grinding and progress in all three disciplines would be enough to scratch ten measly minutes off of the previous total. Instead, I fucking collapsed. My body showed signs of rebellion in the water, brought nothing to bike, and then completely melted down during the run. What follows are the juicy deets.

SWIM

1500 Meters // 31:22 // Strava File

Oh shit.

That face right there sums up my overall mental demeanor during this race: no bueno. Still not really sure whether this was the result, or the cause of the physical issues that I was having throughout the day, but it sucked dick. Before the sirens officially started blaring a half mile into the run, there were plenty of smaller, less threatening canaries dying in the coal mine. The steady level of panic in an open water swim is normal for me in any race, but on this day it was unhinged.

“Why is there no one around me? Am I going too fast? Should I speed up? Are my abs cramping? Is my form shitty? OH FUCK MAN BREATHE. How long have I been swimming? Did I lock the keys in the car?”

This, my friends, is [spoiler alert] the recipe for failure. In what seems like another life, I played golf at a semi-competitive level, and you could always draw a straight line between where my head was and how many birdies I made. I don’t think triathlons are much different.

All of that being said, the swim time was fine. Maybe this was because I was going too hard (which could explain the cascading trainwrecks in the next two legs), but I doubt it. 31 minutes in a non-wetsuit race (the water was a balmy 82 degrees) is totally within the acceptable range for my training. If only the race ended there.

BIKE

26 Miles // 1:30:35 // Strava File

The most important piece of information you can get from the assault on your eyes that is this “course map” above are the green mountains on the logo. At ~1,700 ft of climbing, it’s more of a roller coaster than a venue for a nice morning ride. I made it around the 41K loop in 90 minutes in change--about 2 minutes SLOWER than my split last year. If anything, I have made huge gains on the bike, so WTF? 

Who knows, but the parade of folks in their 40 or 50s passing me was horrifying (for those who don’t know, every athlete gets “body-marked” with their age on one of their calves--this means that when someone scoots by you, you see their age). The echo chamber of negativity between my ears was churning much quicker than my legs. I thought “there has to be something wrong with my bike.” Turns out, however, that it was my body that needed a tune up.

The top of the steepest climb in the race is a particularly cruel place to take a photo

RUN**

10K // 60:46 // Strava File

I would do the zooming thing again but it’s the same face--except maybe with less profanity and more despair. 

**This is a very loose definition of the term.

After scarfing down a couple shot-blocks in transition, I started the 6 mile death-march. At this point, I knew I wasn’t going to go out there and light it up, but was still holding out hope of something respectable. The run is my strongest leg--maybe I would actually get to pass some people!

“You just forgot how tough this course was. Of course you’re going to be hurting. PMA MAN. JESUS CHRIST LETS GO.”

No amount of positive self talk was going to put out this rolling dumpster fire. 

About a half mile into the run, the entire right-side of my stomach cramped up. A few hundred yards later, the left-side also got in on the action. The feeling of knowing that you are going to be massively disappointed with the result of the race, and also knowing you’ll be dealing with hot knives in your gut for the next hour, is, demoralizing. I immediately thought about the fastest way to get to the car and the hell out of Luray. 

But rage + self-pity subsided, and I just did my best to keep moving. The goal, at this point, was to finish at least half of the run course and then re-asses. I walked the aid stations, dumping all of the water I could get my hands down my neck in a desperate attempt to keep my body from literally exploding. The cramping never went away, but it didn’t get worse, either. I kept trotting for the rest of the race, finishing probably a minute or two before my left quad got FOMO and cramped up, too.

CONCLUSION

Tragic, yes. But one bad race because of cramps is a blip on the radar--everybody has bad days; I’m not immune. 

What’s truly terrifying about this result is that it has happened before (last Summer at another Olympic distance event in Columbus, Ohio). With this half-ironman less than a month away, I’m going to be having nightmares about a repeat on what’s going to be at least a five hour day in Atlantic City.

So between now and then I’ll just be spending my time doing brick workouts, hydrating, and doing planks. If I stick to that plan, then maybe, for everyone’s sake, I won’t have to re-up this sob story in September.  

[triathlol]

I'll Make a (Peasant)Man Out of You

You must be swift as a coursing river With all the force of a great typhoon With all the strength of a raging fire Mysterious as the dark side of the moon

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the 2017 Peasantman Race Report. This annual test of endurance pits newbie triathletes and veteran scrubs alike against the ferocious tides and epic cliffs of Lake Anna State Park in Northern Virginia. Known for its relaxed atmosphere and totally NSFW official race emails, this is truly a can’t miss race for anyone looking to get their season (or career) off on the right foot. If the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler’s trademark is “The Runners Rite of Spring”, Peasantman is the “Wannabe-Triathlete’s Gauntlet of Forever.” Come for the race, stay for the cupcake buffet.

My goal for the race was the elusive and arbitrary, 2 hours and 30 minutes mark. This would be a 13 minute improvement on the same race last year, and a rather epic PR, but hey, I didn’t wake up in the dark in January to lay-up in May. Let’s get to it.  

PREP WEEK

Gonna keep this part short because of how god damn embarrassing it is. 

If I told you that my week of prep not only violated the ice cream rule, but also involved copious amounts Mexican food, and 4 nights of boozing, you would probably be disappointed, but not surprised. The finishing touches of which were applied at renowned super-foods distributor, Taco Bell, the Saturday before the race.

Seriously, what the hell?

PRE-RACE

WAHOOOOOOOO-----OHHH MAN

Let me first introduce you to “The Monster” (the vanity plate’s literal translation from Al-Wa7sh). As you can tell, this thing does not play games. I mean look at it. Reaaaaaalllly look at it. We didn’t have to worry about leaving our bikes in the bed unattended because human beings aren’t tall enough to see what’s inside.

And then there was our lodging. This quaint horse farm was as romantic as The Monster was masculine. The night before the race, we ate a few metric tons of pasta, had a marine make us a fire, and tricked some horses into thinking we had food so that we could pet them. 

Normally, my editors would force me to omit trivial details of the race report like “mode of transportation” or “lodging,” but I insisted for obvious reasons. (Editors’ note, the fact that the above verbal flab made it into the final version of this report proves that I don’t exist)

Morning of, we hopped in our mini Grave Digger and didn’t stop pumping the tunes until last possible second. For the fellow race-goers who haven’t figured it out by now--we were the assholes blasting the Disney playlist in the parking lot while we changed. Thats right--Mulan, Little Mermaid, Aladdin, all of it was coming from the freaking monster truck. We received one positive comment, which only reinforced this ridiculous behavior. 

To everyone else who cursed to themselves as we disrupted their world record attempt preparation--sorry we’re not sorry.

SWIM:  0.9 MILES  // 32:29 // Strava file

One of the cool things about PMan is that cheating isn’t frowned upon, in fact it’s encouraged! This leaves plenty of room for debate when it comes to navigating the buoys on the swim course under normal circumstances, but the extra wrinkle on this day was one of the buoys getting unhooked and going completely rouge. That made navigation kind of hard, but also kind of hilarious. 

After surviving the standard washing machine melee in the first 100 meters, it was a lonely, choppy two-lap slog around Lake Anna. The current, wind, and the waves slowed everybody down, but the biggest hurdle for me was the wetsuit removal process.

After triumphantly completing my swim, I heard someone yell “USE THE WETSUIT STRIPPERS” (volunteers who take off your wetsuit for you) who, I thought, were the people standing right in front of me at the time. They weren’t, and when I stared at them like an idiot, they just stared right back. 

This lasted for probably about 20 seconds, and then I realized that I was in fact the idiot (most often the case, in any situation), and ran off the beach to the people who were actually assigned with this task. 

Dan -- “Ahem yes, I’d like to phone a friend”

BIKE: 22 Miles //  1:11:27  // Strava file

If you look closely, you can see the The Monster in the background, talking shit to other cars.

Once I got my wetsuit off, T1 was a wild success. I hadn’t put my cycling shoes on while riding the bike since last September, but I somehow managed to check this box without crashing the damn thing (expectations game folks, remember?). 

I took this momentum with me throughout the bike course. That, combined with a Spring of training with dudes who made a habit of leaving me in the dust, made for a five minute improvement on the leg from last year. The grand plan was to chill on the first loop, and hammer on the second. In the end, however, my laps ended up being within 30 seconds of each other. Whatever. My plan probably didn’t make sense anyway. 

Every time I passed Dan going the other way I yelled ARF, an obscenity, or a flywheel line. We keep each other grounded--that’s why it works. I had 3/4th of a gel at the halfway point of the ride, and my handlebars had the rest. Not sure if Double Stuffed (my bike’s birth name) benefited from the sodium and caffeine, but I didn’t have time to think about it. 

def getting a long look from the lady in blue

RUN: 6.2 MILES // 47:29 // Strava file

Hopping off the bike and starting to run in every triathlon usually goes something like....

“Heh, well, this feels awful.  This run is going to be awful.  Why do I even do this stupid shit?  What other hobbies should I be googling?”

BUT NOT TODAY. I think my eyes were wide open when, to my disbelief, I felt good as I gracefully tossed my bike back into transition. I grabbed a couple of shot blocks, donned my Picky Bars lid, and set off to rectify this good feeling.

That didn’t take long. The run course is two laps, the first half of each being basically all up hill--so I was back into “questioning-life-decisions” mode before I even ticked off a fucking mile. Smooth dude. Somewhere in that transition, I checked my total time and realized that I had no chance to break 2:30. The swim was way too slow, and I hadn’t really made up that time on the bike, either. Oh well. Let’s find another goal.

Coming back down the hill I caught up with another olympic distance competitor, Ben, who was trotting along at about the same pace. We ended up chatting for a while, until he left me in the dust on a downhill and I returned the favor during the second lap.

Triathlons, while on the one hand a masochistic undertaking that is littered with type A personalities, seem to promote quite the camaraderie among “competitors.” I never really get that feeling during a running race, but in a tri, it kind of feels like everyone is in it together. Who cares if you pass a few more people at the end of the race? “Triathlete” goes in your twitter bio no matter where you finish.

Laughing at my own jokes that I’ll use for this post later, probably.

The goal for the run was 47 minutes, which I ended up missing by about 30 seconds. This was still my best run in a tri by far, on a hilly course nonetheless. When I crossed the finish line I was hauling ass, and crucially, not dry heaving.

CONCLUSION

2016 TIMES

2017 TIMES

Things that got better:

T1 Bike T2 Run

Things that didnt:

Swim

Overall, about the best I could’ve done for my level of fitness going into the race. A PR by eons, driven by huge payoffs on the bike and the run. Take out the tsunami swim conditions, and this race would have been almost perfect. On top of that, I finished fifth(!) overall, and almost certainly first in the ice cream & beer division. 

Next up, a summer of hell in preparation for Luray in August, and a half ironman distance event in September. Until then, cheers folks. 🥂