20 minutes better. Racing the Columbia Triathlon 2008 I managed to shave 20 minutes off my previous olympic distance triathlon time (Mooseman 2006 – 3:53), which I’m sure says more about my lack of preparation for the previous one than my admittedly more able participation for Columbia, but regardless, it was a happy, happy thing to see.
The day started out a bit out of sorts. I’d not gotten to sleep as I’d have liked to, so I woke up almost 40 minutes (!!) after my alarm started going off. Thankfully I had set it to give me an hour to get ready, so I was only about 10-15 minutes later out the door than what I’d planned. Packing the night before was a huge help for that.
Got all set up in transition in plenty of time to get out and drag my stuff over to the club tent. Get wet-suited up, and hopped over to the dock to get into the water for the swim start. It had been so long since I’d been in my wetsuit I’d forgotten how much more buoyant they make you. I’d been practicing swimming out into the pool to tread water for a bit, then start swimming without a wall to hang onto, and in the wet suit the treading part was a heck of a lot easier. The announcer told us to go and off I went. The leg to the first buoy was interesting – I was swimming pretty well, when I decided to try flipping over into sweet spot for a brief rest and orientation. Mistake! Flipped over and immediately got dizzy. Dunno if it was the waves or the cold water in my ears, or maybe I was a little dehydrated, or what, but that was not exactly fun. Just like Diamondman last year, though, once I was about halfway through the swim I found my groove and it was great after that.
Oh, and this time I had prescription goggles for the first time at an open water swim. Best. Thing. Ever. I could actually see where the heck I was going without having to guess based on the other swimmers around me. That alone was a major factor in calming me down in the water. Result: I shaved 9 minutes off the swim time and came out of the water much more relaxed than I ever have.
Calmly went into transition, got changed up and out on the bike (lost 1.5 minutes here). I have got to work on uphills this year because those all kicked my butt. Downhill and flats I was flying along – I’m much more comfortable now at faster speeds, especially on downhills, and it showed. But man, put me on an uphill slope and I’m down to barely a crawl. Regardless, I shaved 13 minutes off my bike time, a large part of which I attribute to the better, more relaxed swim (though riding the course two weeks before helped a lot with that, too.
Once in off the bike, I changed quickly (made up the minute and half I’d lost in T1), and headed out. Did a run & walk, but more confidently than on previous tris. Again, having run the course two weeks prior I knew I could do it, and I knew what to expect. Saw a ton of DC Tri Club folks out on the course, both running and as volunteers, and that was a huge boost. Getting and giving high-fives, thumbs up and/or shout-outs was wonderful. Funniest moments were entering and exiting the neighborhood north of the park, where neighbors had set up an aid station for the “Dollys” – all of them were dressed out in blonde wigs and/or fake chests, a la Dolly Parton. Absolutely hysterical to go past, and another great boost on the run. I actually lost 2 minutes on the run from Mooseman (which surprised me), but didn’t consider it a bad run. I might’ve been able to run a bit more and walk a bit less, but I’m still happy with the results. Finished in 3:33, as I said, a full 20 minutes better than my last olympic distance race.
And I wasn’t dead at the end, or injured, so all in all it was a great race for me. I know some things I need to work on that’ll make the next race even better, and I’m very much looking forward to that next one, the Nation’s Triathlon here in DC in September. Gonna be a fun one.
