Mightyman SPRINT Triathlon

Mightyman Sprint Tri – Montauk NY September 29, 2007

First things first…..

I’ve mentioned that I didn’t race much this year because my partner was diagnosed with lymphoma in March. It has been a long seven months, but on Friday we found out she is CANCER FREE inCOMPLETE REMISSION!!!! I can’t tell you how it felt to hear those words. We would have gone out to Montauk regardless of the news, but it turned into a weekend of sheer joy.

I decided to race the sprint only about 4 weeks ago. We knew Carolynn would be done with Chemo and figured it would be a good time to take a 3-day weekend and relax. I’ve been back in the training groove only since the end of august and have been just working on building base with no “race” to cap it off. Racing is like the punctuation at the end of a sentence. It makes the sentence complete. I feel that way too. Racing makes me complete. In a life filled with loose ends and many unknowns, a race is the one point in time I can see something to the end and then when it is over, look to begin again. With my family beginning the ascent out of the shadow of cancer. It made perfect sense for me to just give it my all.

Saturday, race day, was a beautiful day, very cool (53 at the start) and VERY windy. The winds were sustained at 16-18 MPH with gusts to 26 MPH out of the north. I was so excited to be there. I had a secret goal of a 1:30 finish, but really I was just happy to be there.

Got to the transition area ridiculously early, set up and went for a little bike ride. It was still dark when I back, put my running shoes on and went for a mile run. I was way to peaceful. Normally I am a bundle of nerves before a race. I was chatting with some other athletes; many had chosen not to wear their wetsuits because the water was so warm. I put on my wetsuit and headed for a warm up swim in the calm fresh water of Fort Pond. Calm my a**! It was like a blender! The wind was coming in straight out of the north and whipping up 2+ foot chop in the lake. Oh man, I thought, this one is gonna be rough. The first 300 meters were due north, right into the wind and chop. I was the only athlete who jumped in to warm up, everyone else just stood and watched. Back to the transition area for one more gear check and I was ready.

Swim: Wave 3, chest deep start. The water was so choppy I couldn’t see the kayak to my left over the white cap. Also, since it was a fresh water lake, you didn’t rise up with the wave like in the ocean, it just crashed on your sorry head. I started to scull and get prone, the gun went off, and so did we. The usual kicking and beating commenced, but the water conditions made it really hard to swim and sight. Two strokes and a white cap would stop you mid breath. I stayed calm, but it was the hardest swimming I’ve ever done. Lots of carnage, 2 and 3 people hanging on the kayaks and more than a few cries for help. I rolled over on my back for a few strokes about every 50 meters just because I was swimming so much harder than I should have been I needed to catch my breath. Even that was rough, because more than once a wave would crash right over my face and put me underwater. Made it around buoy 1 and changed direction to head north west, Swimming was easier, but sighting was still a nightmare and I probably added 50 meters by getting drawn off course. Around buoy 2 and I made it home. I was hoping that the chop would help take us in, but again it wasn’t like a wave or a current, and it was only a little helpful. It wasn’t pretty, but it was over. I was confident that I could swim this in 15 minutes, but that was before I saw the water conditions. I did the best I could. No regrets. Probably went 18-20 minutes.

T1: No big problems here. My wetsuit came off easily. I did do one foolish thing. I put my garmin on my handlebars and had trouble getting it off. No biggie. Hopped on my bike and took off.

Bike: I’ve ridden this course several times. There is one big climb about 1 mile in, but other than that, only small inclines and declines. I have learned to love hills, but headwinds I can do without. At one point, I came around a corner and hit a headwind so strong I swear it almost stopped me in my tracks. I went from 17 MPH to 6.6 MPH in a matter of yards. Oh well. My HR stayed in upper zone 2 most of the time and climbed above only on the hill. I stayed seated and aero on all of the climbs. I actually stayed aero the whole ride, except to shift (my next bike will have bar end shifters).
I don’t have my splits yet, but my garmin clocked me at 15.6MPH for the leg. Much slower than I knew I could do, but with the wind conditions, I was ok with that.

T2: Seamless. Invested in yankz. 1:30 in T2.

Run: Since I wasn’t preparing for a race per se, I didn’t do any brick work. I expected to feel like crap for the first mile, but it didn’t happen. After the first 100yds or so I felt great. According to my garmin I ran 10:30, 10:05, 10:15 HR around 160. I was VERY pleased. If my Garmin is right I ran a 5k PR!

The finishline clock read 1:35:40, since I was in wave 3 the offset was 4:00, so I missed my secret goal of 1:30:00 by a minute 40. No worries here though, after only 5 weeks of training I sliced a whopping 8 minutes off my best sprint to date and 14 minutes off my sprint from June of this year. So maybe with a little work ethic, I could really be good at this? I’m beginning to think that the whole “training” concept has some merit. Kona 2009 here I come.

Two great points I have to mention. I got a high 5 from my triscoop friend Tom (Ram) just about a mile before the finish. That was a great boost.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the race was Carolynn, cancer free and smiling at the finishline. She is the real champion in the family.

There is 741 days to Kona 2009!