DATT race report May 2008

Fri, 05/30/2008 - 07:41 — Anonymous
  • Friday 5pm:  250m swim  5 mi. bike  1 mi run
  • Sat. 7:30am:  1500m swim  40k bike  6.55 mi run
  • Sat. 3pm:  40k bike 1500m swim  6.55 mi run
  • Sun. 7am:  1.2 mi swim  55.5 mi bike 13.1 mi run 

 

I was nervous about doing this weekend of races.  The Triple T is actually 4 races in 3 days, covering roughly the ironman distance.   It took about 5 and a half hours to drive down to Portsmouth, Ohio, where we were staying at the Ramada Inn.  The Ramada had a decent breakfast spread, and very nice beds.

We drove down on Thursday, and the first race was at 5pm on Friday.  That gave us enough time to be at packet pick up early on Friday, we were there right at noon.  Then we drove the first 3 bike courses.  To say they are hilly would be a gross understatement.  This would be a tough weekend.  A bite to eat at Pondarosa, which I haven’t been to since I was a kid, and should have kept it that way, back to the hotel to get our race stuff and we were on our way to the start of this adventure. 

Everyone arriving at the race site on Friday was in good spirits.  We found out the water temp. was only 56 degrees, so that squashed any ideas I had about skipping my wetsuit for such a short race.  My friend Kelly decided to skip it.  I was really glad I wore mine.  The start order was determined by your race number, and as I was #319 out of 350 people, I was one of the last ones to start each race.  Just before Friday’s race, it started raining.  So we were all warned to use caution on the bike. 

The swim was really really cold.  I found myself screaming as I hit the water.  We had a dry land start, 3 seconds apart or so.  My feet went numb almost right away, and the water was brown and murky.  Thankfully, it was over pretty quickly.  The bike leg was pretty much straight up hill, then turn around and come back.  I used caution on the downhill portion as it hadn’t been raining very long and was likely slippery.  The 1 mile run was over very quickly too, and there was plenty of food after the race. 

We packed up, and headed back to the Ramada.  I had some trouble sleeping, I was nervous about tomorrow’s day of racing, plus I knew we weren’t coming back to the hotel between races so I had to be ready for the entire day. 

Sat. morning was early.  The water temp. hadn’t changed a bit, much to my futile hoping.  It was still brown and murky, but oh well.  I felt pretty good in the water.  It was a two lap affair, requiring a trudge out of the water, around a cone, and then back in.  I was warm enough for the second lap, but I think the cold water gave me a headache.   

The bike ride was everything the race event folks promised it to be.  Hard, harder, and hardest.  Thompson Hill Rd. was the stuff of legends.  I had my husband put a 12-27 rear cassette on my bike and I was sure glad he did.  Thompson Hill Rd. is one of those roads that it would be terrifying to drive on.  On a bike, it was like a San Francisco hill but longer.  I was alternating between sitting and standing and my heart was beating in my throat.  Not too long afterwards there was a very very steep downhill with volunteers that had flags and things to warn you to slow down.  I heeded their warning.  Apparently another competitor had not.  The left hand hair pin turn at the bottom of the hill was also off-camber.  Then there was an ambulance parked smack dab in the middle of the road.  If I hadn’t slowed as much as I did, I would have hit it.  I saw a bike on the side of the road and hoped the athlete inside was not too bad off.  At least their bike was in one piece.  The hills on this course never let up.  You are constantly either going up or down.  The only thing to get you through is the scenery is incredible, and hardly a car on the narrow twisting roads. 

Coming off the bike, I started the infamous run.  My feet were still numb, and they felt really weird to run on.  They didn’t come back to me until about 2 miles into the run, and then for the rest of the run I had “pins and needles”.  Since I had started nearly last, I also finished nearly last.  I ran the whole run, which isn’t as bad as the trail half marathon on the Poto.  It is a huge uphill until just before mile 3, then you descend again to the turn around at roughly 3.25 or so.  I also took this run very conservatively, I had to keep telling myself to hold back so I could finish the weekend. 

After the race, I downed a recovery drink, put on my long sleeved white shirt, and long lightweight pants, and waded back into the cold water.  Then we ate and chilled out in the shade until the afternoon race.  Apparently there were sandwiches after the race, but I never saw them.  There wasn’t much food left at all when I finished. 

Saturday’s afternoon race was bike first.  I was hoping someone would be in T1 to help me put on my wetsuit, I was sure that was going to be hilarious.  We started again, in time trial style start, one at a time in race number order.  This bike ride was very different from the morning’s ride.  Straight out and back on a road with very little shade and 2 major climbs that were about 2 miles in length, each.  Going down sure was fun.  Going up was a fairly slow process.  Again, I saw that someone wound up in the ambulance on one of the descents.  I kept thinking, wow.  That’s awful.  The highlight of my ride was the guy sitting in a lawn chair drinking a can of beer that said “way to go, beautiful”.  

Putting a wetsuit on after biking was pretty tough, plus you have all that race adrenaline going.  A friend had tipped me off to use grocery bags on my feet to get the wetsuit on, and it worked like a charm.  I didn’t bother doing it on my hands, and it wasn’t too bad, it helps that I don’t sweat much.  The cold water felt better, since I had just put a wetsuit on after biking and then ran in it down to the water.  It felt refreshing.  My second transition was slow too, but oh well.  The run was the same, I ran conservatively and was able to run the whole thing.  I finished the afternoon race about 12 minutes slower than the morning’s race.  Again, no food left after the race, but we headed immediately back to the hotel to eat at Damon’s.  I did have more recovery drink first though. 

We all ate, and had lights out at 9:20pm.  I still had trouble sleeping, but eventually I got there. 

We were up again at 5am to load all our stuff in the truck and checked out of the hotel. 

Everyone rolled into the transition area a little more leisurely than before.  The race started late, likely because we were lazy in heading on down to the swim start.  Again, I got to be the #319th person to start the event.  The swim went pretty well, as I am used to swimming with tired arms, and me and my friend Kelly who started right behind me swam the whole way together, even going around the cone on the shore together, holding our hands up in victory. 

This bike ride was brutal too.  There is one long gruesome climb near the beginning I have heard is called Godzuella or something similar to “Godzilla”.  It was appropriate.  After that you got to go downhill for a bit, but then the relentless hills came back.  I made it to the turn around / bottle exchange finally and was glad to see people stopped, taking their time, stretching, using the porta-johns, and seemingly not in too big of a hurry.  My feet didn’t warm up until lap #2 of the bike.  I ditched my jacket at the bottle exchange.  It had been chilly that morning.  Lap #2 of the bike was brutal.  At a few spots, I wondered if I was going to “make it”.  I also had the fun of playing “chicken” with a local kid.  He was screaming down this hill on his hybrid style bike on the wrong side of the road, ho helmet no nothing.  I was totally panicked and had no idea what to do.  I decided I would head for the ditch if need be and held my course.  At seemingly the last minute, he swerved around me.  Whew.  Then I was piggy-backing with this husband and wife team.  The husband kept waiting up for the wife and I was chatting with him as he did so.  It was nice to not be alone – for most of the weekend on the bike I was far and away the only one I saw.  Finally I found myself on the last climb of the day.  From the peak of this one, it was all downhill back to the park.  I thought I was never going to get off my bike. 

Then it was off to the run.  Right when I started I saw some of the top guys finishing.  Ugh.  Oh well, I headed off to the run course anyway.  It was more brutal than yesterday.  I was able to run the whole first lap.  At the second lap, I started power walking up the hills, and running all other parts.  That strategy worked well.  I also walked the aid stations to get water and a gel or two down.  Almost everyone who passed me said “good job” or something similar.  I spent a lot of time saying “you two” or other similar things myself.  That was great.  I even passed some guys and people who must have gone too hard the previous day.  That felt pretty good.  Everyone on the run on Sunday seemed to be in good spirits, taking it as it was, and there were some silly outfits going on.  One guy had big white Elton John style sunglasses on, and another lady was wearing streamers in her tri-brief.  Not to mention another guy in board shorts.  I started feeling better and better on the end of run lap #2, and was able to pick up the pace.  My friend Heather came out to meet me with half a mile to go and ran me in.  She and her sister did the event as a team.  They were great all weekend long.  Finally I was done and I immediately put on my finisher’s t-shirt.  Of course there was no food left for me, but I didn’t care as we were headed to the showers and then BW-3’s. 

I was so glad to be done.  It was really extremely tough.  My reported bike average bike speeds were just awful.  I was much happier with my swims and runs.  The humor of everyone there couldn’t be beat, mostly at the absurdity of what we were doing.  I also especially liked seeing a lot of my friends on the course.  Amy, Cheryl, Ryan, my friend Heather and her sister Samantha, Kelly, Bruce, Rob, and even some new friends made the tough weekend fun, cheering each other on as we suffered.

2009 Traverse City Triathlon Report

Mon, 08/24/2009 - 18:14 — rusty

I heard about the Traverse City Triathlon from a friend of mine last week and signed up just before the online registration deadline Thursday night.  Sadly, this meant that I missed out on the great TC Tri t-shirts that were included in the early bird race packets.  Sigh.  Next year I'll make sure to sign up on time...

The triathlon took place midway up the Old Mission Peninsula, just north of Traverse City.  For those who have not visited the peninsula, it is formed of steep glacial hills covered with vineyards, orchards, and woods--beautiful and challenging for biking.  The transition area was located on West Bay in a sheltered cove overlooking Power Island.  The harbor drops off precipitously from shore and contains some of the deepest, bluest water on the bay; it was a perfect place for the swim leg of the race.

I awoke to the pitter-pat of showers on Sunday morning and felt a sense of foreboding that the race would take place in the rain.  This dread increased as I drove through more rain from my folks' place in Suttons Bay on the way to the race.  Fortunately, the rain ended by the time I got to Traverse City and the roads were dry when I arrived at the race site.  Even better, the sky was beginning to lighten and I could see broken clouds off to the west. The day soon dawned clear, cool, and glorious. What a relief!

Packet pickup was in a park near the transition area and only a handful of racers had arrived when I drove up around 6:30am.  I wasn't expecting to see anyone I knew and so was pleasantly surprised when a fellow club member, Jason Adams, pulled into the space next to mine in the parking lot.  He was in town on vacation and had had the foresight to sign up for the race before he left. 

Jason is a great guy and a formidable triathlete, being an especially fast runner.  This was to be his first Olympic distance race and he was eager to compete after a week off from training.  I have to say that it was really enjoyable racing with him and representing the Ann Arbor Tri Club together.

The race was put on by Endurance Evolution, a new company started by two members of the Traverse City Triathlon Club.  If this was the first triathlon that Endurance Evolution put on, you couldn't tell; the event was very well planned and executed.  It's clear that they benefited both from Running Fit's triathlon equipment and expertise; I didn't notice any of the hiccups that are common in first time races.  Kudos to EE and Running Fit!

Setting up in transition, I met up with a racer from Team Toledo and one from the Tri Kats club in Kalamazoo.  Being the perpetual good sport, I made sure to congratulate both on their teams' performance in MERCRS.  (Team Toledo once again took first place and Kalamazoo came in second.)  Both men were good natured; the guy from Tri Kats was especially gregarious and soon was regaling an ersatz group of athletes with triathlon stories.  It was nice to finally be competing without the pressure of winning points for the club.

The swim course consisted of two laps around a set of buoys in Bowers Harbor.  The race director claimed that the water was 74 degrees, but I think he was referring to the Kelvin scale and not to Fahrenheit; it was chilly!  I felt sorry for the handful of racers without wetsuits.  Despite the cold, the crystalline water was a delightful counterpoint to the mucky swim I endured in the Ohio River last weekend during the Buffalo Trails Triathlon.

I was in the first wave and we started precisely at 8am.  Thankfully, my wave was small and we spread out quickly and didn't swim over the top of each other.  I took it easy and had a steady, pleasant swim.
 
Nearing the end of my second lap, I was momentarily worried that I would still be in the water when the first sprint wave started at 8:30am, but surprisingly I made it out with several minutes to spare.  Even more surprisingly, Jason was only a few body lengths ahead of me.  I'd expected to be far behind, but must have swum faster than I thought.

We exited the water and were happily off on our bikes in no time.  By this point in the morning, the clouds were a distant memory, there was no wind, and the temperature was about 65 degrees.  What could be better?  I threw myself wholeheartedly into the ride.

I have biked the peninsula in the past, but had never ridden this exact course.  We rode north from the transition area up the gentle, rolling hills of Kroupa Road, eventually wending our way to Center Highway and over to the east side of the peninsula.  The only major hills on the course were on Smokey Hollow Road on the east side and on Gray Road as we crossed back over the spine of the peninsula to the western shore.  The hills were not murderous, though I did pass one cyclist who was walking his bike on the Smokey Hollow hill.  Fewer than ten cars passed me the entire ride and the scenery was phenomenal.  Talk about gorgeous!

Endurance Evolution did a very good job of stationing volunteers along the bike course so that it was difficult to make a wrong turn.  The volunteers were also very friendly and helpful; they cheered loudly as we cycled past giving us a nice boost.  Clearly, they succeeded in recruiting enthusiastic people.

For me, biking is the weakest leg of the race and I was passed by quite a few people.  Still, I kept up as best as I could and tried to maintain a speed above 20mph on the flat with some success.  I managed to tail the last guy to pass me and keep him in my sights for the remainder of the course.

Returning to transition after about an hour and a quarter, I encountered the only minor glitch of the race:  Congestion.  I had expected most of the sprint athletes to be gone by the time I got back, but instead arrived to find a mass of people running (and still biking!) out.  The volunteers were doing their best to direct everyone, but it was still chaotic. 

Here, too, I had another surprise:  My parents had made it to the race to cheer me on!  Since my father has advanced Parkinson's, I knew that they were going to try to come but harbored no great hope that my father would be up for it.  Fortunately, he had felt OK and, with the help of my partner Kevin and my sister, they had made it.  Seeing him there, perched on the seat of his walker and smiling brightly, I got choked up; I knew that this could be the one and only race of mine he sees...

Somehow, I kept it together enough to wave to him, fight through the crowd, rack my bike, don my shoes and take off.  This is when I realized that I'd taken it too easy on the bike course; my legs were itching for a fight and I was obliged to let them pound it out.  Even though I knew I was passing mostly sprinters, I relished the glory of speeding past runner after runner. 

The Olympic run course overlapped the sprint course for the first mile and a half so it was awhile before I was alone with the long course folks.  Here reality set in and I saw that a lot people were ahead--far ahead--and I would have to push it hard to pass anyone.  My legs said, 'No problem!' though, and duly sped up.   I picked up enough speed to catch at least five other runners, including that gregarious guy from Tri Kats.  He was good natured about it, though, shouting 'At least you're not in my age group!' as I ran past.

The run course was eccentric and doubled back on itself twice before heading for the finish.  Unbelievably, on the way back, I saw that Jason was still behind me.  He was running hard and faster than I was, but I had put enough distance between us on the bike that it was unlikely he would catch up.  I had expected him to run exultantly past me at any moment.  All of my planets must have aligned for this race.

The finish line was a bit of a chimera.  Just when I thought I had made it and could see the finish line shimmering in the distance, I was instructed by the all-too-jovial volunteers to run in the opposite direction!  The fatigue was beginning to catch up to me by then and all I wanted was for the race to be over.  Please, sir, can I just be done?  No way.  I was told firmly that I had another half mile to go.  I felt my resolve sag, but what could I do but continue to run?  It was like taking a victory lap without the victory.  I pressed on and ran around the park before finally being allowed to finish.

Fortunately, the race officials made up for the tease of the finish line by packing it with plenty of cheering fans.  I felt truly adored as I staggered across to roaring applause and saw my parents waiting for me at the end.  It was like a race out of fiction; a once in a lifetime event.  I will be forever grateful.

Epilogue

It turns out that this was my fastest Olympic distance event so far.  I placed fifth out of 13 in my age group and was 24th overall out of 84 participants.  While this may not sound exceptional, for me it's darn good; I've struggled to be in the top half in each of my previous triathlons.

After the race, we packed up and headed over to the Jolly Pumpkin for a well-deserved post race meal.  The perfect finish to a perfect day!