Rain, much fun and a great result
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2010
Yesterday I wound up doing the sprint at the Lake Geneva (WI) Triathlon, the race I had decided to do last minute, rather than the Olympic. Buddy Kevin Kelly did not realize that credit cards could not be used for on-site registration, so I used my available cash to cover both of us and it only would pay for sprint distance.
It poured rain pre-race and then at various times during the race. We soon were so wet that we no longer cared about the rain. The lake water was prefect temperature - it was a toss up between being faster with a wetsuit and slower in transition or slower without a wetsuit and faster in transition. I choose the former to stay warm pre-race.
The supposed 800 meter swim was only about 375 meters (!) by my measure; I swam it in 6:41. My transition was SLOW getting my wetsuit off. I think it was partly because in the rain I did a poor job of lubing myself. I had two large plastic bags with me and this helped keep my gear drier and more organized than in the deluge at the start of Steelhead earlier this year, but my normal set-up routine was stiill disrupted in the pouring rain.
The bike was really good; I like this course. Right after the start we climbed a steep nearly mile long hill. For flatland Midwestern triathletes, this is unusual and tough. But after riding IMC so many times, I know how to stay in a higher gear, crank and suffer up the hill. Didn't even go to my small ring. As usual on this hill, I cut through the field like a hot knife through butter. Just a bit later we were stopped by police to walk our bikes across wet angled railroad tracks where other riders had already wiped out. After that the road was very winding with two rough railroad crossings. But then it straightened out and I got down and pushed hard for most of the distance. It was windy and a bit rolling, but I was able for most of this part of the race to keep my speed above 20 mph. We ended with some great rollers. There were several turns where we had to slow down a lot because of the wetness; I watch two guys I had passed ealier on the flats buzz by me on a downhill with a sharp left at the bottom. One guy made the turn. The other lost control, but amazingly did not go down and instead skidded around and careened into a private drive and managed to recover. I'll bet his heart was in his throat!
The rain had been spotty for a while, but just as I wheeled into transition it started to pour again. Oh well, no problem being on two feet, but I felt for Kevin who was still riding. This transition was quick (yes!) and I felt like running fast. And (for me) I did. The hills were pretty steep as always as we ran out of Fontana up toward the George Williams College campus. Most were reduced to walking; I ran every step, with my heart just about popping out of my chest on the steepest grade, heart rate a constant 169. Ouch, that hurt! But I did it. My mile 1 split was 9:04, but I earned that big time. I missed the mile two split, but for miles 2 and 3 averaged 7:55 and that still included some of the toughest uphill, as well as a lot of downhill. During the run I had a lot of fun kidding and motivating other runners. "You gonna let this old guy pass you?" "Come on you hard bodies, chase me to the finish!" I was grinning as I pushed across the line. 1:36.41.
I grabbed some food, chatted a little and decided I would run Kevin in. I ran back to the half mile mark - with people cheering me on thinking I was just going out on the run. It's always fun to run out on a run course after you have finished the run. I could not find Kevin, but I did run another friend in; she said she loved having "an escort." Turns out Kevin was only 11 minutes behind me, which was a good race for him.
We got reorganized in transition, then went back to check our results while the half IM competitors were coming into transition from the bike. With the rain and wet gear, it would be a long day for them, I thought. I was first in my age group by over 6 minutes! (It pays to be old...) I was 146 of 552, roughly the top quarter of all finishers. My 5k time was 25:44, which I was a really happy with given the hills. Kevin was 12th in his age group. My award was a memory stick/key ring with nothing imprinted on it to indicate that I had been an age group winner. Oh well, I know I had a good result and best yet we had a great time in this last minute race!
