Tri for Ole Glory 2014 (Triathlons are tough, even tougher without a saddle.)

Race report for Tri for Ole Glory 2014

Let me start this by saying that last year’s Tri for Ole Glory was a blast despite the torrential downpour.  Although not without hiccups, the race was lots of fun and was not one that I could justify being a spectator for this year.

This report can’t be written without the obligatory pre-race prep.  My expectation for this race was to “have fun.”  I have not ridden my mountain bike since last year’s Tri for Ole Glory, not that I don’t enjoy mountain biking.  I just can’t find the time to fit it in the schedule.  After borrowing a friend’s 29’er for last year’s race, I was not motivated to ride my 26-inch mountain bike for “fun.”  I did, again, borrow the 29’er for this year’s race.  I made it to the course late Thursday evening to do one loop, check out the two jumps and preview some of the other “gotchas” on the course from last year.  I also discovered the river rocks that were used to fill in the erosion areas on the powerline, which added a little bonus pain to the top of the hill climb.  The last lesson from my preview was that tinted glasses on this course would not be a good idea.  Although it was late in the evening, I could tell the dense canopy kept the wooded area very shaded and clear lenses would be important to prevent unplanned delays (aka crashes).

Friday was planned to be a light day of road biking to maintain my training for road triathlons.  This plan was soon subverted when I was invited to do 104 miles with a few friends, none of whom were racing Tri for Ole Glory.  I gladly accepted and proceeded to do my first century ride on Friday.  This first also included a “second,” that is my “second” dog-instigated bike crash in the last month.  Fortunately, the result was less troublesome than the first.  Minus a scratched brake lever and cracked helmet, I escaped with just a few minor scratches and a sore shoulder and was able to complete the 104 miles.  I followed this ride with a late night of Huntsville Stars baseball and fireworks to celebrate Independence Day.  Nutrition included a ballpark hamburger and water.  Please don’t try this strategy for your “A-race”.

Race day morning, I violated the rule of “superstition nutrition,” and only fueled with a banana and peanut butter toast.  After putting some lock-laces in my running shoes and getting my transition area set up, I did down a Honey Stinger waffle.  Last business was a quick team pick by Melissa Johnson with fellow Fleet Feet Tri Team members, Paul Erickson, Wendy Tyler, Donny Neal, Jess Ahrens, Dink Taylor and Tonya Hardy.

I was in wave#2 for the start and managed to get my goggles on prior to entering the water this year – improvement.  The swim was uneventful, although it was very difficult to see the first buoy due to the sun.  T1 was slow as a result of the extra gear associated with mountain biking: socks, lace-up bike shoes, gloves, and Camel-bak.

Then the fun began.  About a half mile into the mountain bike course, I felt my seat tilt to what I thought was a very steep inclined angle.  Thinking the bracket must have loosened, I continued.  The two jumps went okay, but the log just prior to the wooden bridge proved fatal to the seat post. It wasn’t the bracket that was loose. The carbon seat post had broken right at the clamp, and it fell to the trail as I crossed the log.  What to do now?  My first thought was, ‘this race is over.  How can I ride this course without a seat?  I am not a mountain biker.  This is not a good idea (unplanned colonoscopy).  Explaining this to the ER nurse would be uncomfortably comical.’  I stopped, picked up the saddle with its broken post, got back on my bike and started to carry it with me.  It’s hard enough to mountain bike without a saddle – don’t try carrying an item in your hands too.  Realizing that wasn’t an option, I threw it off the trail and went back to racing.

Conveniently pushing the ER nurse situation out of my mind [until Julio Driggs speeding up behind me was kind enough to remind me of the risk].  Seatless mountain biking does change your strategy.  And I must say, if my legs weren’t fatigued from the previous day’s mileage, they were on fire by the end of the mountain bike course.  I also discovered how important a seat is for things other than sitting.  It is also a big part of steering and maintaining a good center of gravity while mountain biking.  Although I was passed by a few bikers, I finished the two loops (sans saddle).  I hope this was due to my fatigue as a result of standing the entire course… or maybe the ballpark hamburger.

T2 was relatively quick since I “parked” my bike in the bushes next to transition.  I mean you can’t really hang it on the rack without a seat.  I switched shoes, dropped the helmet and Camel-bak, and grabbed my hat and sunglasses.

This year’s run course went around the lake and then back to the power lines for an out and back.  Powerline hill was not fun.  Legs are toast.   At least I got to hit the water station twice.  On the way back in, Gregg Gelmis, had retrieved my saddle with the broken seat post and passed it to me as I hit the pavement coming off the powerline.  I felt like I was at the Olympics’ opening ceremony, and he had just passed me the torch.  Thanks to the hill (and the seat post) I can say that I negative split the   run, even though it was a slow 5K.All of this effort resulted in 2^nd place in my age group.  I guess it does pay to be in the same age group as the Overall Male Winner, Jonathan Krichev.

Thanks to RD Dan Pline, the sponsors, and volunteers that kept this race going:  Eric Broyles, Dink Taylor, Rick Greif, Mike Gerrity, Melissa Johnson, and many more.  As always, a huge shout out to Gregg Gelmis for taking incredible race photos.  I hope this race will grow and mature, as it has great potential as a local favorite and a perfect beginner race for off-road triathlon.  

Team Rocket Tri Club has a host of quality races, so get out of your comfort zone and sign up!

Race Report for Mountain Lakes Sprint Tri, Guntersville, AL 10 Aug 2013

Mountain Lakes Triathlon, Saturday August 10th, 2013.

600 yard swim, 16.2 mile bike and 3 mile run.

It was nice having a couple of weekends off and enjoy some family camping and the Summer Sizzle Super Metric Century.  Training has been pretty good overall the past few weeks, considering that my kids soccer season is underway and school has started back.  I know some people wouldn't think much of it, but I was a little concerned about doing a 75 mile bike ride the weekend before Mountain Lakes Tri.  I'll let the results (or impact) speak for itself.

Enjoyed some family activities on Friday night and as usual did not get to bed as early as  I would have liked.  Normal routine race morning.  Loaded up water bottles, bike and  consumed my superstition nutrition.  For those of you not in the known on superstition nutrition, it is whatever you tried that worked and didn't cause intestinal distress during your race.  Mine just happens to be caffeinated coffee, a small glass of OJ, 1 slice of peanut butter toast, and 1/2 serving of quick oats with craisins, brown sugar and cinnamon. 

I took about 50 minutes to drive to the rec center in Guntersville.  No rush to get a primo rack spot since this race racks you by bib number. I arrived about 0545 and went through the packet pick up, which was painless.  I was bib #351.  Got my transition area set up and went for a short jog, then followed that with two 1-minute openers on the bike.  Last bit of nutrition was a Strawberry Honey Stinger waffle about 20 minutes before race start.  This is one race where the "bucket people" are on to something.  I usually don't see the need to bother cleaning my feet after the swim, since you're gonna pick up more gravel on the way out of transition. However, I used it last year, and again this year decided to put a small square plastic container just big enough to step in and out of in transition.  It washed all the grass/mud off my feet and then I stepped onto a small towel before sprinting out of transition.

Swim start is time trial start and I think the bibs started with 317.  I thought the swim was

overall pretty average.  Looking at my time, I could tell that I did not push it hard enough.  I think this was attributable to being in the front of the swim pack and also not being able to find a set of fast feet right off the start.  I didn't have any problem with the turns or sighting.  Although, the final turn towards the beach was looking right into the sun. I just swam towards the burning reflection of the rec center roof. This worked as the lone buoy on the final stretch surprised me directly in my path, as I was blinded by the sun most of the way in.  I didn't pass as many people on the swim, but that seems to come with being in the front of the swim start line.  Did I already mention the wet grassy mess between the swim exit and getting to transition.  I must say it was a wet July in Alabama.

Transition was pretty fast.  Considering the distance between timing mats and the other racers in my age group (who have been doing this a lot longer than I have) I am very satisfied with 1:14.  If you're not racing in T1 & T2 you are giving up precious seconds.  Flying Batman bike mount and off to the [cycle] races.

The bike course has a lot of shade, it is a pretty smooth course and has a few rollers on the backside of the loop.  I started strong hoping to maintain a 22 mph average for the course.  I started passing some of the relay team bikers and then around mile 6 the "fast group" on their really cool Tri bikes

"Waldo Whisenant."

(someday soon) with disc wheels rolled by (swoosh, swoosh, swoosh).  This was to be expected and I didn't let it bother me.  Once they were out of the way, I began to focus on passing the USAT junior triathletes (no small task).  Those kids were strong swimmers, and proved to be pretty fast runners, too.  As I made the turn onto the causeway, I noticed the two law enforcement vehicles with lights blazing heading the opposite direction.  Apparently, a motorist made the left turn off the causeway, straight through the cones and had a head-on with a cyclist.  Fortunately, the cyclist was reported to be okay, except for the landing that ruined a perfectly good bike helmet.  I guess that is better than ruining a good cranium.  In other news, let it be known I kept a good eye out for Waldo Whisenant on the bike course, and I suggest you do the same.

Quick transition (4th fastest in my AG) and onto the run course.  I started off fast and ran my first half mile at a 7 min/mi pace.  Slowed this down to reality and was aberaging a 7:39 pace at the turn around.  I remembered that Dennis Mix said he was going to catch me on the bike, well that didn't happen.  And I didn't see him on the run, so after the turn-around I was expecting to hear him come running by me and heckling as he did it.  So what do you do under these circumstances?  I think it's called "Run like you stole it!"  And that is what I did. I picked up the pace and high fived most of my teammates on the way back into the finish line.  I ran the last 1.5 miles 25 seconds faster than the first half!

Final finish time was 1:19:42.  Strong bike with an average speed of 22.2 mph. My run pace of 7:35 was a new PR pace for sprint triathlons.  I must credit Dennis for this motivation, even though he still beat me by 30 secs overall.  I placed 6th in my age group and beat my time from last year by 5 1/2 minutes.

Mt Lakes has a great venue and is well directed.  The transition layout is done very well and the mill foil was considerably less of a factor this year.  The swim distance mapped out very close to 600 yards per my Garmin's calculations.  After race pool party and shower facility is always nice to have. Thanks again to Gregg Gelmis and WeRunHuntsville for the awesome photos.  Congrats to fellow Fleet Feet Tri Team members, Jeff Schertz and Dink Taylor for taking 1st in their age groups.

Two weeks to get ready for the second Olympic distance of this season and THE best race in all of North Alabama......[drum roll] Rocketman!!