Diamond in the Rough Race Report

Background:

Racing this weekend as a final tune up for Placid was always on the schedule, where we were racing was up for debate as of a few days before the race. It was either this race up in Perryville, MD or race the General Smallwood Intl much closer to home. Some how I let myself get talked into racing the more expensive race that was twice as far away ... sometimes I question my ability to make rational decisions. Especially since the course does not play to my strengths: 1 mi swim, 27 mile bike, 5 mile run. Either way, game on.

Pre-race:

I woke up 3:30 so i could out the door at 4:00 and at Baldwin's by 4:30. Its been hotter than ish here but I still wore my normal pre-race attire (superstitious much) which happens to include a light weight tech pull over. That lasted all of 5 minutes when the car said it was 92 out at 4 am. Scott, Shelly, Slake and I got to the race by 6:30 and had plenty of time to kill before the 8:30 start. We could caught up with Ryan and all chilled out under the tent until it was time to get moving. This was a pretty small race with only 182 total competitors.

Swim:

Soon after we got to the race site the Director announced that the water temp in the Susquehanna was a cool 87.5 degrees. No wetsuit, no skinsuit, no problem. This was a final tune up so working a little bit more won't hurt me. The swim was a mile long diamond shaped course and water was pretty calm. I set up in the middle of everyone to get more practice of fighting at the swim start. I set the cruise control like I do and paddled away until I reached the dock to get out. I looked down at my watch and it said 32 minutes. I'll never break any speed records in the water but this was about the same pace I did at White Lake Half WITH a wetsuit. I'll take it! Of course then I had to get out of the water and run to T1 where the first timing mat was. Total Swim time including run was 33:51 (104/182).

T1:

This was short sweet and to the point since there was nothing to take off. I even took my time putting on my helmet and sunglasses. Time in transition was 58 seconds (33/182).

Bike:

This was the fun part since I was got to ride with a disk rear and 808 front.

If things went well today this was going to be my wheelset for IMLP, however, no dice if I couldn't handle them here. The course wasn't bad, just a little long for an International distance race at 27 miles with easy rollers and 2 climbs. Outside of the climbs it was full throttle Zone 4 effort for the entire ride. I played cat and mouse with a couple of guys but no one from my age group. This was actually getting a little annoying since I had no idea where I was with respect to my AG. No matter, results weren't important today. The best part of the ride was the wheels. They were bloody fast and I had no issues with control. IMLP here I come! Overall the bike was fine. A little course recon beforehand would have been helpful, but whatever. Total bike time was 1:23:29 (32/182). Not my best performance by any means.

T2:

This was another quickie. I normally wouldn't put socks on for this distance but I'd been dealing with a few small blisters so I decided to go with them this time. Total time in T2 was 54 seconds (34/182)

Run:

Let's be honest. This SUCKED. It was over 100 degrees for just about the entire race and the sun was out in force by the time I made it to the run. I got off the bike having taken in too few calories so my plan was to go out and get as close to T pace as possible and hold on. That plan lasted a little over a mile or so. I had passed one guy in my AG at the start of the run, but outside of him I still hadn't seen anyone in my AG so I decided to throttle back. I just didn't see the point in pushing if I wasn't going to pass anyone. However, I knew I had the reserves to kick if necessary. So yeah, I just cruised in to the finish with a ice cold towel draped over my head and soaking wet feet from dumping more water on me than I drank at the aid stations. Total run time 38:05 (28/182).

Take-aways:

Overall I'm happy with the race as a max effort training day and test run on the wheelset. Once again, the swim does me in ... oh well, that's for dealing with in the off season. Final result: 2:37:20 / 39th overall and 4th in Age Group.