Yesterday I did the Celebration triathlon as a relay. As usual,
I'm responsible for the swim and bike and get a pinch runner; for
the second time this year my wife. Celebration is a "sprint" triathlon,
which in this case meant a .62 mi swim, 17.5 mi bike and 3.4 mi run.
Celebration is very convenient for us; it is in Centennial park where
we did the Columbia tri and is just down the road from where we
live. As a local sprint race, the field is notably less competitive than
Columbia or Eagleman. It is intended to be friendly to newcomers
to the sport and thus has a field largely comprised of less experienced
triathletes.
To skip to the end, we ended up in second place in all the relays
by about 27 seconds. This second place by seconds thing
might eventually get old, but for now I'm pretty happy with the result.
Celebration 2010
Last year we also did Celebration and got 4th place mixed relay,
but it wasn't exactly the highlight of my season. It was my first
non-wetsuit open water swim and I wasn't happy with my
gear choice (bike shorts and a tight tri-top). The top chaffed and
dragged. I just didn't have it that day on the bike and frustratingly
did the course 3 minutes slower than I rode it two days after the
triathlon (3 minutes is a long time on a 17.5 mile course!). I even
got into an "accident" where I grazed some dude who had stopped
in the middle of the bike lane and bent over to examine his bike. I
saw him at the last second, swerved and knocked him over.
Fortunately it was on an uphill part of the course, so it wasn't really
bad for either of us, but I think we both came away thinking the
other guy was a jerk. So while this wasn't exactly a redemption
race, it was definitely one I was hoping would go better.
Race Morning
Guess when my wave went off. Last. Don't worry, I'm used to that.
My wave is supposed to leave at 8:22 and I'm supposed to be there
by 6:30 to get body marked. The race morning was pretty much a
clone of Columbia, minus having to carry around a wetsuit. I got up
at about 5:30, made some coffee and went to park at my super secret
local spot and walked to transition. We went one better than Columbia
and I body marked my wife the night before, so I didn't even have to
call home to tell her what to do. I setup my gear and was ready pretty
quickly. I had some friends who were less experienced doing a relay, so
we killed much of the time chatting about triathlons. We took our time
and wandered over to the start after having spent most of the long wait
hanging out in the transition area (it was nice not to be kicked out).
The Swim: (16:55)
At the swim start, I saw a number of friendly faces, which is always nice.
I recognized a girl from Columbia who I've seen at the last couple of
relays. I said hi to a friend who had just done Eagleman and was also
doing the first two legs of a relay here. I walked in to the nice warm
water with my friend who I had hung with in transition. As we treaded water
waiting to start, I'm trying to eyeball who I'll follow. So the gun goes off
and I start pretty hard. After the first hard push, I lookup to see if I'm on
line and try to find who I'm going to follow. Much to my surprise, there
isn't anyone. Looks like I'm the big dog here, which is certainly a first.
I swam very comfortably in my new tri-suit as I did at Eagleman. It is
certainly a big upgrade over last year's chaffing. I was basically on my
own till about half way when I started passing the wave ahead. It was
largely uneventful, with some very minor congestion at one of the turn buoys.
I was really happy with my open water navigation. Every time I looked up I
was right on line. I think having done a couple of other races recently has
definitely helped with the open water technique. I believe that I came out of
the water first in my wave, but as of this morning the splits aren't posted in
the event results.
T1: 1:21
T1 was pretty good, but not flawless like Eagleman. I got to my bike, put
on my helmet and ran off. Halfway through transition, my sunglasses fell
off the place I had stuck them on my bike and I had to go back and get
them. Not a big deal, but felt stupid.
Bike: 45:09 (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95204622)
Once again I did a flying mount. Getting on was fine and I planned not to
put my feet into the shoes till a flat section, which meant a minute or two
riding with feet on top of the shoes. I'm still not as fast as I'd like getting
my feet in while riding, but nothing went dramatically wrong. I think I had
gone out pretty hard on the swim and felt it a bit at the start of the bike.
My heart rate was at 184 or so for the first minute, which was pretty similar
to Columbia, but this time felt a bit worse. I had done a fast dry-run of the
course on Friday with a time I would have been happy with for the race, so
I had a good idea of what sort of splits I wanted at various points. I was a
bit behind my Friday pace at the turn around, but not by much. After the turn
around it is net downhill, which can be a lot of fun since you really fly. Sunday
it was fun, but also frustrating at times. I kept getting blocked by cars on the
course that were getting blocked by bikers who were not far enough to the
right. There is nothing more frustrating than being forced to use your breaks
during a race on a long straight downhill. This happened to me two or three
times. In the end I finished strong and was relatively happy with my time. It
was slightly frustrating to be slower on race day than my Friday ride of the same
course, but given the added up front swim and the traffic issues, I really can't
complain.
T2: :38
T2 is just handing off the chip and saying "Go go go".
Kid Retrieval
As with Columbia, I did have a third leg that needed to be done at race pace,
only I had even less time since the run is half as long. I had about 30 minutes to
get home, get four kids in the car, drive back to the park and get setup for
pictures of my wife finishing. I grabbed my back pack of stuff, got back on my
bike, and headed off to where our car was parked. I think I got to the door in
about 15 minutes from when I came in to transition, which was good, but cutting
it a bit close. I stashed my gear, put some clothes over my tri-suit and got
everyone in the car. We were at the park with what I guessed was about 5
minutes to get in position. I hustled the kids up the quarter mile or so from the
parking lot to where we could see the race and we quickly setup to watch.
Within about two or three minutes, we saw my wife from a few hundred yards out.
I got some video of her running and some stills and we cheered as she went by.
We were setup maybe half a mile or less from the finish, so she still had a little way
to go till the finish. Shortly after she passed us, we saw some tall lanky kid scream
by like he was being chased by a lion. Turns out that kid was on the winning relay
that passed my wife not long after we saw her.
Run: 33:35
My wife seemed pleased with her race. She told me how much better she
felt this year than last and how easy this seemed compared to Columbia (it
is half as long!).
Post Race
We got our medals, said hi to a few folks and took off. We were hosting a
small get together of friends at our house after the race, so we had to go home to
shower and setup. I did run into the overall female winner on the way out and
congratulated her on her race. I had seen her at masters swimming on Friday
and we had briefly talked about triathlons. It was nice to see someone that I
(sort-of) know win.
Summary:
There was no "big mistake" that cost us the race this time. To win we just needed
to have been a bit faster (or to have tripped that kid running by). Still, I improved
on both my swim and bike times for this same race from last year and my wife
improved on her run time. My cumulative time up to T2 would have put me in
third overall place for the race. Can't ask for much more than that. I'm looking forward
to a bit of a break from racing for a few months. My next race is not till the first
week of October.
I'm responsible for the swim and bike and get a pinch runner; for
the second time this year my wife. Celebration is a "sprint" triathlon,
which in this case meant a .62 mi swim, 17.5 mi bike and 3.4 mi run.
Celebration is very convenient for us; it is in Centennial park where
we did the Columbia tri and is just down the road from where we
live. As a local sprint race, the field is notably less competitive than
Columbia or Eagleman. It is intended to be friendly to newcomers
to the sport and thus has a field largely comprised of less experienced
triathletes.
To skip to the end, we ended up in second place in all the relays
by about 27 seconds. This second place by seconds thing
might eventually get old, but for now I'm pretty happy with the result.
Celebration 2010
Last year we also did Celebration and got 4th place mixed relay,
but it wasn't exactly the highlight of my season. It was my first
non-wetsuit open water swim and I wasn't happy with my
gear choice (bike shorts and a tight tri-top). The top chaffed and
dragged. I just didn't have it that day on the bike and frustratingly
did the course 3 minutes slower than I rode it two days after the
triathlon (3 minutes is a long time on a 17.5 mile course!). I even
got into an "accident" where I grazed some dude who had stopped
in the middle of the bike lane and bent over to examine his bike. I
saw him at the last second, swerved and knocked him over.
Fortunately it was on an uphill part of the course, so it wasn't really
bad for either of us, but I think we both came away thinking the
other guy was a jerk. So while this wasn't exactly a redemption
race, it was definitely one I was hoping would go better.
Race Morning
Guess when my wave went off. Last. Don't worry, I'm used to that.
My wave is supposed to leave at 8:22 and I'm supposed to be there
by 6:30 to get body marked. The race morning was pretty much a
clone of Columbia, minus having to carry around a wetsuit. I got up
at about 5:30, made some coffee and went to park at my super secret
local spot and walked to transition. We went one better than Columbia
and I body marked my wife the night before, so I didn't even have to
call home to tell her what to do. I setup my gear and was ready pretty
quickly. I had some friends who were less experienced doing a relay, so
we killed much of the time chatting about triathlons. We took our time
and wandered over to the start after having spent most of the long wait
hanging out in the transition area (it was nice not to be kicked out).
The Swim: (16:55)
At the swim start, I saw a number of friendly faces, which is always nice.
I recognized a girl from Columbia who I've seen at the last couple of
relays. I said hi to a friend who had just done Eagleman and was also
doing the first two legs of a relay here. I walked in to the nice warm
water with my friend who I had hung with in transition. As we treaded water
waiting to start, I'm trying to eyeball who I'll follow. So the gun goes off
and I start pretty hard. After the first hard push, I lookup to see if I'm on
line and try to find who I'm going to follow. Much to my surprise, there
isn't anyone. Looks like I'm the big dog here, which is certainly a first.
I swam very comfortably in my new tri-suit as I did at Eagleman. It is
certainly a big upgrade over last year's chaffing. I was basically on my
own till about half way when I started passing the wave ahead. It was
largely uneventful, with some very minor congestion at one of the turn buoys.
I was really happy with my open water navigation. Every time I looked up I
was right on line. I think having done a couple of other races recently has
definitely helped with the open water technique. I believe that I came out of
the water first in my wave, but as of this morning the splits aren't posted in
the event results.
T1: 1:21
T1 was pretty good, but not flawless like Eagleman. I got to my bike, put
on my helmet and ran off. Halfway through transition, my sunglasses fell
off the place I had stuck them on my bike and I had to go back and get
them. Not a big deal, but felt stupid.
Bike: 45:09 (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95204622)
Once again I did a flying mount. Getting on was fine and I planned not to
put my feet into the shoes till a flat section, which meant a minute or two
riding with feet on top of the shoes. I'm still not as fast as I'd like getting
my feet in while riding, but nothing went dramatically wrong. I think I had
gone out pretty hard on the swim and felt it a bit at the start of the bike.
My heart rate was at 184 or so for the first minute, which was pretty similar
to Columbia, but this time felt a bit worse. I had done a fast dry-run of the
course on Friday with a time I would have been happy with for the race, so
I had a good idea of what sort of splits I wanted at various points. I was a
bit behind my Friday pace at the turn around, but not by much. After the turn
around it is net downhill, which can be a lot of fun since you really fly. Sunday
it was fun, but also frustrating at times. I kept getting blocked by cars on the
course that were getting blocked by bikers who were not far enough to the
right. There is nothing more frustrating than being forced to use your breaks
during a race on a long straight downhill. This happened to me two or three
times. In the end I finished strong and was relatively happy with my time. It
was slightly frustrating to be slower on race day than my Friday ride of the same
course, but given the added up front swim and the traffic issues, I really can't
complain.
T2: :38
T2 is just handing off the chip and saying "Go go go".
Kid Retrieval
As with Columbia, I did have a third leg that needed to be done at race pace,
only I had even less time since the run is half as long. I had about 30 minutes to
get home, get four kids in the car, drive back to the park and get setup for
pictures of my wife finishing. I grabbed my back pack of stuff, got back on my
bike, and headed off to where our car was parked. I think I got to the door in
about 15 minutes from when I came in to transition, which was good, but cutting
it a bit close. I stashed my gear, put some clothes over my tri-suit and got
everyone in the car. We were at the park with what I guessed was about 5
minutes to get in position. I hustled the kids up the quarter mile or so from the
parking lot to where we could see the race and we quickly setup to watch.
Within about two or three minutes, we saw my wife from a few hundred yards out.
I got some video of her running and some stills and we cheered as she went by.
We were setup maybe half a mile or less from the finish, so she still had a little way
to go till the finish. Shortly after she passed us, we saw some tall lanky kid scream
by like he was being chased by a lion. Turns out that kid was on the winning relay
that passed my wife not long after we saw her.
Run: 33:35
My wife seemed pleased with her race. She told me how much better she
felt this year than last and how easy this seemed compared to Columbia (it
is half as long!).
Post Race
We got our medals, said hi to a few folks and took off. We were hosting a
small get together of friends at our house after the race, so we had to go home to
shower and setup. I did run into the overall female winner on the way out and
congratulated her on her race. I had seen her at masters swimming on Friday
and we had briefly talked about triathlons. It was nice to see someone that I
(sort-of) know win.
Summary:
There was no "big mistake" that cost us the race this time. To win we just needed
to have been a bit faster (or to have tripped that kid running by). Still, I improved
on both my swim and bike times for this same race from last year and my wife
improved on her run time. My cumulative time up to T2 would have put me in
third overall place for the race. Can't ask for much more than that. I'm looking forward
to a bit of a break from racing for a few months. My next race is not till the first
week of October.
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