Just did the Sandy Hook TT in NJ. A simple 7-mile out and back on the isthmus that makes up the beaches of Sandy Hook. (One of them's nude!) It's super popular, though. Over 80 registrants in Cat 4/5 alone! Went off early in perhaps the windiest conditions imaginable. I looked like a sailboat leaning into the wind the whole way out and back. According to the trusty iPhone, winds were 25 MPH with gusts up to 50. Yup. I'd say that sounds about right. Nothing like sand blasting you in the face at 50 MPH. Good times... (and I still have an earful!) Couldn't even go with my sexy HED Jet in the front, WAY too windy. Bummer.
Ended up in 6th with a 17:34, just 13 seconds out of 3rd. Decent enough considering that I'm still feeling my legs a bit from Thursday's TT. I'll take it. However, I did bring my dad who's never done a race before. He was a bit nervous but did fine. Considering the gale force winds, quite the baptism by fire! Now I just need to teach him to swim...
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Always a bridesmaid, GU IronMed Triathlon
Ahh, the Yates Pool at Georgetown, my second home. I spent practically every day of college slogging it out for hours in lane 8 (the distance lane) during my four years swimming as a Hoya, but I never thought it would be the venue for the swim leg of a triathlon I was in! (As a swimmer, I certainly never thought I’d do ANY race that involved running in any capacity.) But when the opportunity arose to participate in the 3rd annual Georgetown Medical School IronMed Sprint Tri how could I say no? Especially as it meant the first chance to race after months of nothing but workouts.
Because it’s such a low-key triathlon, things were a bit more ‘casual’ than usual. No chips, bike racks were just railings you could lean your bike against and the swim and run legs were on the Capital crescent, so no police or road closures. It was really just a fun way to test the legs for the upcoming season, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to be fast!
Since it was a 750 yard pool swim, the whole field was divided into groups of 16 and formatted into heats based on approximate swim times - two swimmers per lane, per heat. I was hoping to score a spot in my old home, lane 8, but instead ended up in lane 1. I guess this was technically an advantage as I was closest to the door that led to transition, but I missed that far side of the pool. We got a brief welcome from DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, himself an enthusiastic and very decent triathlete and the first wave was off on our 30 lap leg.
Now, normally I do pretty well in the swims at these things, and I’ve been putting in a lot more time in the pool this year, so I was hoping to get an even bigger jump on the competition with there being no wetsuits and 29 flip turns to my advantage…so imagine my surprise when my lane-mate started to pull away only 50 yards into the swim! Assuming I must be swimming a little off my pace I tried to hang with him for the first 200 yards (which it turns out we covered in about 2:00) before backing off in the name of keeping my heart in my chest. He ended up lapping me completely and I exited the water about 35 seconds after him in 3rd (though one swimmer was part of a relay, so I was really 2nd) More on this to follow…
I jumped out of the pool and headed up a short hill to transition (behind the rarely used Georgetown Observatory) and donned my brand new Sugoi jersey (Hurrah for a sponsor!) and headed for the line… then realized I’d never zeroed my bike computer. (Duh, first race glitch…) Fortunately I managed to hold the reset button as I ran and it was right into a long steep downhill that led off-campus and to the trail.
Of course, hitting 30 MPH instantly can make it kind of hard to get your shoes on and I nearly kicked one completely off before getting my foot into it. (It may be time to reconsider Crank Bros pedals… They’re super convenient but have very little tension. I don’t want to risk losing my shoes again!) Eventually I got everything secure and made the tight turn onto a sidewalk that leads down through the scariest tunnel imaginable (like, I’m pretty sure vampires live there) before depositing you on the Capital Crescent Trail. After the series of technical turns required to get there, I was quite happy to be on a straight and nearly deserted bike path. (It was 6:45 AM, no rollerbladers or dogwalkers out yet…)
Cruised along at a decent clip for about four miles, my elbows absorbing some nasty bumps from the rutty pavement and spotted the leader of the race, about 150 yards ahead. He was moving fast, but I was definitely gaining on him! And then – ‘Bang, rattle, rattle, rattle…’ – my entire rear bottlecage had come off! I turned around to see my flat kit rolling along the path about 100 yards behind me and the cage was nowhere to be seen. I turned around, grabbed the kit, stuffed it in my jersey pocket and turned around AGAIN, losing about 45 seconds all told. I caught a glimpse of the leader again about 200 yards from the turnaround, but the twists and trees of the bike path would keep him hidden by the time I had turned around myself.
The ride back to GU had a slight downhill and was a good deal faster than the first half. I saw quite a few of the other racers coming the opposite way, but I seemed to have a good lead over all of them. I had just started hoping the leader wasn’t too far ahead when he appeared with two miles left on the bike. I kept a nice clip and managed to pass him about a ½ mile before the dark tunnel that led back to campus. (Fortunately, as a South Central PA resident, I’m pretty sure I had an advantage coming into last ½ mile climb. The DC flatlanders on the other hand…)
Hit T2 in first by about 30 seconds and could only hope 2nd place was a horrific runner as my running is average on my best day…though it was exciting to be cheered on as the race leader leaving the observatory for a quick turn on the canal towpath.
Unfortunately, glory was not to be mine… Less than a ½ mile into the run I was caught. The other dude and I kept pace for about another ¼ mile and even managed to have an enlightening conversation:
Him: “Hey, you’re a fast cyclist.”
Me: “Thanks. Your swim was crazy fast.”
Him: “Swimming’s my best part. I swam distance at Purdue.”
Me: “That explains a lot…”
(For those who don’t know, Purdue has a SERIOUSLY fast swim team. I didn’t feel so bad at all being second out behind this guy…)
Ended up trailing by about 30 seconds at the finish for a second overall in 1:05:XX. No splits posted yet, but I’m guessing I was about 8:15 for the swim (WAY too fast in the beginning) and 22:30 for the 5K, the bike average was right around 24 MPH which I was quite happy with. Even better, I beat the mayor. That poor guy definitely has a target on his back every time he races. Maybe you can’t beat city hall, but you can at least beat the guy who runs it!
Next up, Jerseyman in early May! But first, us old Hoyas take on the whippersnappers at Georgetown’s Alumni Swim Meet this weekend! With swimming, sun and open bar all part of the weekend, I can’t wait!
Because it’s such a low-key triathlon, things were a bit more ‘casual’ than usual. No chips, bike racks were just railings you could lean your bike against and the swim and run legs were on the Capital crescent, so no police or road closures. It was really just a fun way to test the legs for the upcoming season, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to be fast!
Since it was a 750 yard pool swim, the whole field was divided into groups of 16 and formatted into heats based on approximate swim times - two swimmers per lane, per heat. I was hoping to score a spot in my old home, lane 8, but instead ended up in lane 1. I guess this was technically an advantage as I was closest to the door that led to transition, but I missed that far side of the pool. We got a brief welcome from DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, himself an enthusiastic and very decent triathlete and the first wave was off on our 30 lap leg.
Now, normally I do pretty well in the swims at these things, and I’ve been putting in a lot more time in the pool this year, so I was hoping to get an even bigger jump on the competition with there being no wetsuits and 29 flip turns to my advantage…so imagine my surprise when my lane-mate started to pull away only 50 yards into the swim! Assuming I must be swimming a little off my pace I tried to hang with him for the first 200 yards (which it turns out we covered in about 2:00) before backing off in the name of keeping my heart in my chest. He ended up lapping me completely and I exited the water about 35 seconds after him in 3rd (though one swimmer was part of a relay, so I was really 2nd) More on this to follow…
I jumped out of the pool and headed up a short hill to transition (behind the rarely used Georgetown Observatory) and donned my brand new Sugoi jersey (Hurrah for a sponsor!) and headed for the line… then realized I’d never zeroed my bike computer. (Duh, first race glitch…) Fortunately I managed to hold the reset button as I ran and it was right into a long steep downhill that led off-campus and to the trail.
Of course, hitting 30 MPH instantly can make it kind of hard to get your shoes on and I nearly kicked one completely off before getting my foot into it. (It may be time to reconsider Crank Bros pedals… They’re super convenient but have very little tension. I don’t want to risk losing my shoes again!) Eventually I got everything secure and made the tight turn onto a sidewalk that leads down through the scariest tunnel imaginable (like, I’m pretty sure vampires live there) before depositing you on the Capital Crescent Trail. After the series of technical turns required to get there, I was quite happy to be on a straight and nearly deserted bike path. (It was 6:45 AM, no rollerbladers or dogwalkers out yet…)
Cruised along at a decent clip for about four miles, my elbows absorbing some nasty bumps from the rutty pavement and spotted the leader of the race, about 150 yards ahead. He was moving fast, but I was definitely gaining on him! And then – ‘Bang, rattle, rattle, rattle…’ – my entire rear bottlecage had come off! I turned around to see my flat kit rolling along the path about 100 yards behind me and the cage was nowhere to be seen. I turned around, grabbed the kit, stuffed it in my jersey pocket and turned around AGAIN, losing about 45 seconds all told. I caught a glimpse of the leader again about 200 yards from the turnaround, but the twists and trees of the bike path would keep him hidden by the time I had turned around myself.
The ride back to GU had a slight downhill and was a good deal faster than the first half. I saw quite a few of the other racers coming the opposite way, but I seemed to have a good lead over all of them. I had just started hoping the leader wasn’t too far ahead when he appeared with two miles left on the bike. I kept a nice clip and managed to pass him about a ½ mile before the dark tunnel that led back to campus. (Fortunately, as a South Central PA resident, I’m pretty sure I had an advantage coming into last ½ mile climb. The DC flatlanders on the other hand…)
Hit T2 in first by about 30 seconds and could only hope 2nd place was a horrific runner as my running is average on my best day…though it was exciting to be cheered on as the race leader leaving the observatory for a quick turn on the canal towpath.
Unfortunately, glory was not to be mine… Less than a ½ mile into the run I was caught. The other dude and I kept pace for about another ¼ mile and even managed to have an enlightening conversation:
Him: “Hey, you’re a fast cyclist.”
Me: “Thanks. Your swim was crazy fast.”
Him: “Swimming’s my best part. I swam distance at Purdue.”
Me: “That explains a lot…”
(For those who don’t know, Purdue has a SERIOUSLY fast swim team. I didn’t feel so bad at all being second out behind this guy…)
Ended up trailing by about 30 seconds at the finish for a second overall in 1:05:XX. No splits posted yet, but I’m guessing I was about 8:15 for the swim (WAY too fast in the beginning) and 22:30 for the 5K, the bike average was right around 24 MPH which I was quite happy with. Even better, I beat the mayor. That poor guy definitely has a target on his back every time he races. Maybe you can’t beat city hall, but you can at least beat the guy who runs it!
Next up, Jerseyman in early May! But first, us old Hoyas take on the whippersnappers at Georgetown’s Alumni Swim Meet this weekend! With swimming, sun and open bar all part of the weekend, I can’t wait!
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