Post-IM…no discipline, no structured training…it’s been a lazy few weeks. Overall, this is a good thing to “let loose” after an entire year of training and monitoring everything. Now, though, I think I’m ready to move back into the world of structure. There are no super-aggressive, all-encompassing Ironman training schedules to dive into, but I need to start my goal setting and building schedules again. Due to my internal wiring, I don’t do well without them. I had “planned” this few weeks of having no plan to unwind from the 2010 tri racing season, and hadn’t set a hard deadline for when it was to end.
However, this past Sunday I raced a super-small, low key sprint tri that I had won the open division last year, and this year it set me back on track. Going into the race I felt unprepared and a little blah about the whole thing. The main 2 reasons for going were: 1. to visit the University of Dayton campus again (my undergrad home) and 2. to defend my open division title and attempt to win the overall event (including collegiate division). After the race, I was reminded immediately of the joy of racing, especially trying to go fast…and since that will be the aim of next tri season, I was rejuvenated and could tell it was time to refocus and start 2011 planning.
The rest of 2010 will be laying some ground-work, but will still be pretty laid back. The major goal other than base training is to get my diet and sleep schedule back to healthy levels. The only other official events of the year are looking like the Bourbon Chase in KY (a 200 mile, 12 person relay run) in late October and a 50k trail run in early December.
Anyways, I wanted to use this post to throw down a quick race report for the University of Dayton Sprint Tri. So here it goes…
The race is consists of a 400m serpentine pool swim in the UD RecPlex, a ~11.25 mile flat and fast bike course, and a ~3 mile winding, undulating run all over the heart of UD’s campus. The run is probably my favorite part since it’s like taking a reminiscing tour in fast-forward. The weather race day was about perfect…I love fall (or almost fall) weather.
400m pool swim
We were self seeded for the swim and my goal was to be aggressive since the whole race is short enough to be lost in one leg. At the same time, I’m not the strongest swimmer, so didn’t want to be THAT guy that over-seeds himself and then blocks everyone else attempting to pass them. That being said, I put myself somewhere near 15th or so in line (next to a guy a couple years behind me at UD that rowed with me and was doing his first tri). Normally on serpentine swims, you start in the water…not the case here. Everyone lined up around the pool and was told to start at ~15s intervals while on the deck. Then, the person starting would walk around to the first lane and pass over the starting timer mat in the process before jumping (see: diving) in to start swimming. I executed the ugliest dive of all those preceding me (and was caught in the act by the wife) and away I went. Obviously, 400m isn’t very short so it was time to go, go, go! I made it through the first 100 easily enough before hitting the traffic jams caused by THAT guy (or 3 separate THAT guy’s spread throughout the pool) who were doing breaststroke. Each time, violence ensued as people attempted to pass only to get whip-kicked in the face/chest/etc… It was easily the most chaos packed 5 minutes of my tri career, and that’s an impressive feat. Either way, I passed the entire swim and was never passed myself, so something must have gone right.
Time: 6:52 (17th OA)
T1: Eliminated a lot of the accessories from longer course racing and went simple…much quicker. Time: 0:44
11.25ish mile bike
Angry Face! Clipping in is difficult!
There was a little trouble clicking in, but otherwise I was able to get up to speed quickly. The course is an out and back that leads from campus to the Great Miami River, and along the river for a bit before doing the 180 back. For being a flat and easy course for beginners, it’s by no means a speedway. There are a lot of turns to navigate early to before getting to the river, once there you can fly, but some of the roads are in less than ideal condition. I passed people consistently until just before the turnaround…then I started counting. There were 3 riders behind the pace car, the lead group, then another 2 riders a few hundred meters back or so, and 1 additional rider ahead of me. I was 7th on the road, but of course all these guys started before me, so it wasn’t clear my actual placing.
After the turn, the return trip was uneventful as I was unable to make up substantial ground on the leaders. Before long, I was grinding up through the UD Ghetto (nickname for the student neighborhood) and back into transition.
Time: 29:05 (4th OA)
T2: Nothing notable, another racer was in transition when I arrived, but got going before me…a rabbit for the run. Time: 0:40
3 mile campus run
The run starts downhill back through the “ghetto” before winding into campus behind the engineering building. From there it’s a lot of turning between and around many of the classroom buildings before climbing Stuart hill. I was slowly gaining on my rabbit, but could tell I wasn’t pulling back enough time on the leaders who I could see crossing paths ahead. I didn’t want to pass him too early to engage him in a duel; my goal was a quick and definite pass that wouldn’t be countered. Past experience with running Stuart hill while on campus was invaluable since that’s where I made my move on the pacer. It was uncomfortable, but I knew how much effort was needed and that I could redline it since my HR would drop to a comfortable level on the run down the backside. By the time I hit the base of the descent, I had gapped him by about 200m. From there, all that was left was an out and back through the longest parking lot on campus before wrapping around the RecPlex to the finish. At the turnaround of the parking lot I had opened my gap to about 30s or so which allowed me to cruise to the finish since there was no one else in sight to chase down.
Time: 19:19 (6th OA)
Total Time: 56:38 (5th OA of 108, 1st in Open div of 53)
I was 6th across the line, and 5th in the final results overall, not too bad. I did manage to repeat as the open division champion by about a 5 minute margin, but would have needed an extra gear to compete for the overall. I guess I’ll have to try and go for the 3-peat next year and take another stab at winning it.
So, the next couple weeks are my planning and goal setting phases, so I’ll probably be posting some 2010 season reviews along with 2011 tentative race schedules and goals. Also, I have a mini-vacation with the family in early August, so will work another vacation report as well.
With that, I’ll leave you with a cute puppy who was a spectator Sunday’s race.
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