USAT Long Course Nationals

2102 USAT Long Course Nationals aka REDMAN

 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was the site of the final installment to my 2012 Triathlon season. The REDMAN triathlon was hosting the 2012 USAT Long Course National Championship (as well as Club Nationals and a Full Distance triathlon). Dot and I were last there in 2009 when we competed with the Midwest Extreme Tri club in their quest for club points.

Background

This was one of my A races for the 2012.  My goal for the year was to win my age group at the USAT Olympic Distance Nationals, Hy-Vee 5150 Championships, and USAT Long Course Nationals.  It was a package deal. I wanted to stretch myself this year and this was the third leg of the stool. I accomplished the first two legs but for my stool to stand on its own, I needed to do well in Oklahoma. Coming into the race, my bike and run workouts had been going as well as they had all year. I was confident that if I didn’t screw up the race execution, my fitness would not let me down.

We left Cedar Rapids early Friday morning for the ten hour drive. If you like easy, boring drives then the trip through the farm and oil fields of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma is one you have to try. It was uneventful and thankfully went by quickly.

We arrived at the race site and did the usual check-in, bike and run shakeouts. For the first time ever, I used the local bike tech support to help with fixing an issue on my bike. As I was putting the race wheels on Thursday night, I noticed that the rear disk was sitting in the rear drops cockeyed. It was sitting off to the left and not tracking in line with the bike. Picture a dog running with its hind legs off to the side. That’s how my bike looked. I tried to fix it on Thursday but couldn’t get it in line. The tire was rubbing on the frame. I’m not sure what happened since the last time I used it, but it was effed up and I wasn’t able to fix it. Oh boy! The only option was to use the on-site race support when we got to the packet pick-up the next day. Needless to say, the wheel issue ruined any chance I had of getting a good night’s sleep on Thursday.

The good folks on site were Schlegel Cycling. They were never able to completely fix it but they got the wheel centered to a point where it wasn’t rubbing on the frame or the brakes. I had to run with the brakes wide open but the wheel spun freely. Whew!  

Dottie finished her workout; we loaded up the bikes and headed to the hotel. Got all checked in and headed to Chiles for some well-deserved carbo loading.

Race morning

Pre-race Nutrition: Two bagels and 48 oz of Diet Coke was the prerace meal in the car on the way to the race.

We arrived at the site and made about a ¾ mile walk in the dark to transition. For whatever reason, I’m always amused by these walks. It’s fun to try and pick out the athletes and guess if it’s their first race. They are usually the ones chatting up other athletes they’ve never met before like it’s 4:30 in the afternoon rather than 4:30 in the morning.   Some athletes look confident and are ready to race. Some athletes look like they are walking to their doom.

I got everything set up in transition with no issues and had plenty of time to relax before the swim. Well, that's not entirely true. I was relaxing and Dot was running back to the car to find the CO2 adapter for my spare tire. She made it back with five minutes spare.

Swim

34.01 / 1^st in age group

As are most lakes in the Midwest and Southwest, Lake Hefner was low. Really low. It was about a 100 yard walk from the normal bank to the actual edge of the water. But, it was wetsuit legal.

Red mud and a low Lake Hefner 

This was the first swim start I’ve ever been at that ran parallel to the beach. There was a cinder block on shore and a buoy placed about 25 yards out. We were instructed to line up behind a line between the two. It was a no brainer. I lined up behind the brick in about 2” of water. When the gun went off, about 8 other guys and I ran along the shore and through knee deep water for about a hundred yards. I’ve seen the pros do it at ocean swim starts that have serious rip currents. The gun will go off and they will start running down the beach and enter the water so the current will carry them to the first buoy. As I was doing my last dolphin dive I glanced over to my left at all the folks that started the race swimming. I had a legal ninety yard head start….hot damn.

The rest of the swim went fine. I was really focused on sighting well and not as worried about swimming hard. I stayed smooth and there were only a couple of times when I popped my head up to sight and I wasn’t able to see the next buoy. I never struggled and felt that I was having a good swim. My brain was quiet and as I got out of the water, I had good sense that, so far, the race was going smoothly. As an aside..this was the first time I’ve ever had someone draft off me for an extended period of time. There was a guy whacking my feet and calves for about 75% of the race. It was really annoying and amusing at the same time. Annoying due to the constant hitting of my feet and amusing because the guy was following ME! I kept thinking that the guy was nuts. If he only knew who he was following he would have found someone else’s feet after about 100 yards. It still makes me smile.

Bike

2:24:00/ ave 23.2mph / 1^st age group

Nutrition - ~ 300 cal Power Gel and ~70oz Gatorade Endurance

All of the races I’ve done this year have been Olympic Distance. The bike portion is about 25 miles long at that distance. I can work really hard for 25 miles. Heavy breathing and snot coming out of my nose are normal in an Olympic effort. This race’s bike portion was 56 miles. I really needed to dial the effort back to make sure I lasted.

T2 was uneventful and I made my way out on to the course.

Sporting the BMS kit

I felt really good right away. The goal was to keep it between 225 - 230 watts average for the entire ride. This is one of the advantages of a power meter on the bike. I was rested and constantly having to dial the effort back and not ride to what felt “easy”,  but to ride to what my training told me I could ride for two plus hours.  If I had ridden to perceived exertion, my guess is that I would have paid for it at the end and struggled home.

The ride went by fast. It was nice to be able to race and not have snot pouring out of my nose from working hard. I was able to stay aero and keep my pedal strokes smooth. There was on long section of the course that went over some really crappy road.  The divots and chunks were well marked but it was still a chore to ride over/through. I wish I would have thought to count water bottles that were ejected on this stretch of road. There was one hundred yard section that had four scattered in the middle of the road. I’m guessing there were at least fifteen over the course of three or four miles. It was during this section of road that I ejected my gel flask with all the nutrition I had on board.  Uh oh….I made a quick game time decision to not go back for it. It was a pretty cool sequence of internal debates I had with myself within 15 seconds of hearing the flask hit the pavement. The first thought was to stop and go back for it. But I knew that I had Gatorade in both of my water bottles and that Gatorade was available at the upcoming aid stations. I also knew that I’d already consumed most of the gel and that I was past the halfway point of the ride. I also knew that I had a full gel flask waiting for me in T2 that I had prepared for the run.  I also knew that I had more calories between the two flasks than I would actually need. I decided to roll with Gatorade. (Well, I may have exagerated a bit with the 15 second internal debate...by the time I came to the conclusion that I was going to be ok with calories, it was probably a mile down the road and there was no way I was going back :-)). It turned out to be an ok choice. I didn’t bonk on the bike and made it to T2 feeling strong. The only downside to replacing the gel calories with Gatorade calories was that my biking shoes were sopped at the end of the ride. I peed two times.

The ride was over before I knew it and I was able to ride the last four or five miles averaging over my 230 watt average. I felt I may have left some watts on the course but wasn’t too worried about it. I was just looking forward to begin the run.

Run

1:30:01 / 6:53 pace per mile / 1^st age group

Nutrition – 600 cal Power Gel and a mouthful of water at ever aid station (10)

 

I got off the bike in good shape. There were no bikes racked around me yet, so I knew that I was the first one in my age group off the bike. And the good news was that I felt like running.  I was worried about the heat on the run so I had Dot tell what the temperature was as I left T2….75 degrees. Perfect. I do well in heat until around 82 – 83 degrees.

 

One of my favorite sensations in the world is when I’m just “running” and everything is just flowing.  I call it RAIF…Running As I Feel. No stopwatch… no GPS… just running. It took me about a mile and half to work the bike out of my legs, but from that point, to about mile 10.5, I was RAIF’ng. I knew I had a good lead. There was no reason to risk anything and push too hard. I was wearing my Garmin but I never looked at it. I didn’t want ruin the moment.  The course was deadpan flat with two laps on a paved bike path. The aid stations were frequent and well stocked. I took water at every opportunity and finished my gel flask by mile seven. Nothing of any note happened during the first lap, except for the first time ever in a race, I saw Dot and ran over and gave her a kiss. At the time it seemed like a great idea…but if you notice the time at the top of this section, you’ll notice I missed going under an hour and a half by 1 second. One of my triathlon goals is to run the half marathon in a race under 1:30. Dang! Maybe next year.

I started the second lap still confident that I was leading my age group. No one had passed me during the first lap and I didn’t see any old wrinkled guys within striking distance. Dot confirmed that as I passed her. I asked how far back the next guy was. She said she didn’t know, they were too far back for her to keep track of. Miles 7 – 9 were fun. I knew I had enough in the tank to finish and had a really good chance to win.  As much as I would have cruise the entire run, that wasn't going to happen. Starting around mile 10, things started to degrade. I was no longer RAIF’ng. I had to work to maintain my pace. It wasn’t a bonky feeling, it was just a slow decline in my comfort level. At about mile 11 I remember consciously making a decision to try and shut down my brain. Just work hard and finish strong. It didn’t work. Miles 11 and 12 were two of the longest I’ve run in a long time. I could feel the heat and I was really starting to sweat. I remember my mouth being dry and slowing to taking water at the last aid station. That's something I normally don't do. Usually I just blow by the last one with my sights set on the finish like. I was really uncomfortable and glad to see the finish line. Dottie said it was 85 when I finished. I wasn’t surprised.

I was hurt'n for cert'n

Wrap-up 

4:31:50 / 1^st in age group / 17^th overall

Overall, I was happy with the race and the result. I met my expectations.

 

Back in the fall of last year when I was trying to decide how the 2012 season was going to look, I wondered if anyone had ever finished 1^st in their age group at both the USAT Nationals Olympic distance and Long Course Championships. It seemed like a good goal to shoot for. As I sit here, about a week after the race, it’s still hard to believe that things worked out to allow me to accomplish it.

 

I was lucky to not have any injuries that kept me from consistantly training.

I am blessed to have a supportive wife and kids who makes it easy to set lofty goals and try to attain them.

I’m smart enough to work with and listen to Daniel Bretscher, an extremely talented Triathlon coach.

And, I’m just screwy enough to like to spend my spare time swimming, biking and running.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

2012 Age Group Nationals - Burlington Vermont

Pre-Race and Background Info.

This was my “A” race for 2012. My goal for that last eight months was get to Vermont healthy and leave as the national M55-59 age group champion.

Some say that all you can really control is your effort and preparation. To focus on a result is probably not real smart. There are too many variables that are out of your control that can affect the outcome of a race… and all that’s true. But….I really, really wanted to win the age group.  As I was explaining this to Dottie on the way to the race, she reminded me that I can’t control who shows up to race and that I could race the perfect race and still not win.  Of course, she was right (as she is about 99% of the time) but I wasn’t having it.  I was focused on the result. If I raced the perfect race and still lost, I’d be disappointed and consider the effort a failure. If I had crappy race and won, the weekend would be considered a success.

Dot and I left our vacation spot at the Birches Resort in Springstead Wisconsin on Wednesday and made the 23 hour drive to Burlington non-stop. I didn’t sleep at all on Wednesday night. The trip went as well as could be expected and we pulled into Burlington at about 1:30 Thursday afternoon. We took care of the packet pick-up and made our way to Lake Champlain for an open water swim. That didn’t go very well. With no sleep, I was totally discombulated and could never really find my stroke. I was still glad I made the effort to get in the water, but as I look back, the feeling I had while swimming was a harbinger of things to come. We collapsed at our hotel about 8:00 pm and were asleep by 8:30. I was dead to the world for the next 11 hours.

Friday was spent setting up my bike, doing a shake-out ride and run an then doing touristy things highlighted by a Ben and Jerrys factory tour and dinner in downtown Burlington. My legs felt rested but not “magical” during the shake-out effort. I went to bed Friday night confident that I would have a good race on Saturday.

Swim

27:03

21^st out of 90 age group ranking.

Saturday dawned clear and crisp. The swim was wetsuit legal. Barely.  As we arrived on site, I didn’t notice any wind or chop on Lake Champlain.  I made a concerted effort to get things in order and not be rushed prior to lining up for the swim. My age group was the third age group off.

At some point prior to putting on my wetsuit, I noticed that the wind had picked up and there was a serious chop on the lake. The swim was behind a break-water so it wasn’t as bad as out in the lake, but it was definitely going to be a challenging swim. Dot and I made our way to a restaurant that was on the water and had a birds eye view of the course. From there you could see the flags whipping and the waves really starting to pick up. My brain went into “freak” mode. Dot brought that to my attention gently (“Dude, your freaking out. Settle down.”). It took me a few minutes to realize it but I eventually settled down. The rest of the swim pre-race was normal and in control.

The race began with a deep water start and as I was treading water, the only thoughts I had were to get off the line fast and execute a good race. I wasn’t thinking about the swim conditions. I was ready.

As the gun went off, I started hard but immediately noticed that guys were flying by me. I focused on trying to find a good line to the first turn buoy thinking that I’d eventually find my spot in the race…probably about 10 guys back. By the time I got to the first buoy, it became apparent that more than ten guys were ahead of me. I looked over to my right and noticed a guy with a terrible stroke passing me….WTF. I was swimming hard but not going anywhere. Within the first 500 yards of the race, I thought my race was finished. I knew I wasn’t going to come out of the water with my goal placing of the first ten guys. I distinctly remember the moment I thought that. My next thought was to just keep working as hard as I could and not give up.

The waves were brutal. I could never find a rhythm or work hard enough to get my heart rate up. I was bobbing up and down, swallowing one mouthful of water after another. I just kept swimming. As we turned back to the swim exit, we swam directly into the sun. I was completely blinded. I couldn’t find a buoy to swim at. I stopped twice and tried to sight something…nothing. I put my head down and kept swimming eventually ending up about 50 yards off course before I was able to figure out where I was at. At this point, it was almost laughable. I was swimming slow and off course. Not a good combination at your biggest race of the year.

I finally found the exit ramp and made my way out of the water. As I ran past Dot, she told me I was 21^st and 6 minutes down on the leader. At that point I had already beat myself up enough in the water so I only kinda surprised and didn’t dwell on the actual standings. I just thought I had some work to do and maybe I could finish in the top five.

Bike

1:03:46/23.4 mph

1^st age group

Nutrition: ~24 oz of Gatorade

The run up from the swim was uneventful. I had chopped off the bottom eight inches of my wetsuit before the race so it came off quickly with no problems. My shoes were already clipped in and secured by rubber bands so I had a good run to the mount line. As I got on the bike, the first 100 yards were not real smooth. It was a narrow bike path with barriers on both sides. I abandoned any thoughts of slipping on my shoes and just started pedaling hard with my feet on top of my shoes. It took me about four blocks before I was able to get my shoes on and strapped.  At his point, I wasn’t focused on anything. I was still trying to work through what the heck was happening. As my head cleared and I mentally got back into the race I started to focus on pedaling hard and sizing up how it felt to pedal while holding 270 watts.. (about 10 over my goal). It didn’t feel too bad.  I thought that was a good sign. About that time I passed a couple of guys in my age group. That lifted my spirits a bit. For the next 15 miles, I was just trying to work hard, keep the watts up and stay aero. I can’t say I ever thought that the race was coming back to me.

The day before, while doing my normal bike course recon, I made a concentrated effort to memorize the course. I felt there was a chance of me coming out of the water high enough to put myself at the very pointy end of the bike field. As I look back, that’s really funny. It was so far from reality. I always had someone to follow and never had to think about where I was.

Before I knew it, I saw guys coming my way after they passed the only out and back. Normally, I try to see who’s up ahead of me and size them up. There was none of that today. I just kept riding.  My focus was to keep my watts under 325 ascending the many hills and work as hard as I could going down.  That was it. It would be a better story to write that I was pissed and hell bent on tearing through the course but I never felt that way. I just was focusing on working hard like I normally do during a race. As the ride went on, I was continually passing guys in my age group. I lost count after about the 8^th guy so wasn’t sure of where I was when I got off the bike. My overriding thought as I was coming into transition was that the ride went by fast and I had a decent ride behind me. Not a great ride, but good enough to partially dig myself out of the hole I made in the swim.

As it turns out, I averaged ~260 watts for the ride. That’s my best effort since the 2011 Memphis in May race. It was a good time for a good effort!

Run

38:55/6:16 mpm

1^st place divisional finish

Nutrition: a mouthful of water at each aid stations. Two Powergels – one at mile one, one at mile three.

As I finished up the ride, Dot yelled at me that there were four ahead me and I was four minutes out of first. Hey, I thought, that’s not too bad.

T2 was kind of a cluster as I’d thrown my wetsuit on top of my shoes. As I racked my bike, I didn’t see them and it took a few seconds to figure out where they were. I’m guessing I lost about 10-15 seconds digging under my wetsuit twice to pull out the shoes and then get the heck out of dodge. Immediately upon exit of transition, the run course went straight up a 500 yard hill. I had already decided that I wasn’t going to hit the gas going up the hill and that I was going to go up at a controlled pace and then let it go at the top. After hearing Dot say I was in fifth, the thought went through my head that maybe I should attack the hill. That thought was fleeting as I figured the risk of gaining the extra 10 or 15 seconds by working hard wasn’t worth the chance of blowing up in the first mile of the race. I cruised up the hill next to a 55 year old lady.

 

We were at the highest place on the run course as we crested the hill. It was all downhill from here.  It took me about 200 yards to start to get my legs under me but when they did, I knew immediately that I was going to have a special run. My cadence was quick and my breathing was under control. I didn’t have a watch so I had no idea how fast I was running but I knew I was running as good as I have ever run off the bike. That was all in the first half mile of the race.

I didn’t see anyone up immediately up ahead and it wasn’t till the first mile marker that I passed the next guy in my age group. It was at that point, I had my first thoughts about how high I might be able to place. It was at that point, that I thought I was back in the race. The first 2.5 miles went by in a flash. I had passed another guy. I was running well and at my limit. I lost count of the guys again and I couldn’t remember if Dot said I was in fourth or there were four guys ahead of me…about this time, I heard footsteps behind me and knew someone was coming. The guy behind me immediately said he wasn’t in my age group. For some reason, at that point my thoughts switched from trying to look ahead and pass guys in my own age group to helping to drag the guy behind me to win his age group. (M50-54). I have no idea why that crept into my head, but it gave me a sense of “responsibility” to help this guy. It was nice to have something else to focus on for a while.

At about mile 3, the course dropped back down to the lake. I still was running well. My legs weren’t going away. I passed another guy in my age group at about the four mile mark and thought I was in third place. It was also at this time that I lost the 50-54 guy going through a water stop. I actually thought about slowing down to let him catch up and hang. It dawned on me quickly that probably wasn’t a good idea so my thoughts turned to running harder, leaving nothing on the course and hoping I’d run my way into 2^nd place.  I saw the next guy just past the five mile marker. I thought he was second place. I made a decision to run up to his shoulder, match his pace and catch my breath. I announced my intentions to the guy as I ran up to him but misjudged the closing speed and ran into his shoulder. What a bush move. No one within 200 yards of each of us and I run into the guy. He was pissed. I didn’t blame him. That plan didn’t work out that well so I just moved by him and picked up the pace again. He couldn’t match it. I ran extremely hard for the last ¾’s of a mile to the finish… as hard as I’ve ever finished a race. I was totally out of it as I ran down the chute. Dot was along the finish and said she told me I was first and I that I looked at her… but I don’t remember it. I crossed the line thinking I was second. I remember thinking that I was OK with 2^nd after what happened in the swim.

After about three or four minutes Dot found me and told me she thought I was first. She was pretty confident.  I was still pretty shelled and it didn’t hit me right away. As time went on, it sunk in and I couldn’t believe it. I had won. I came from 21^st place after the swim and biked and ran my way into the lead…Holy shit, that is bad ass!

Post Race.

Within the first couple of minutes, the guy I had basically run over came up to me and was not happy. I was very apologetic and told him I was sorry about five times. I think he eventually realized I didn’t do it on purpose. . His name is Tom McGee. He’s a tremendous triathlete from Ontario Canada and a very understanding guy.

I’ve had time to absorb the race and I still can’t figure out what the heck happened on the swim. What would normally be a 24 minute swim turned into 27 minutes.  I just couldn’t swim fast and I’m not sure why. My last wetsuit swim was at Leon’s in June and I had a great split. The water temps at that race were in the 60’s. The water temperature at this race was in the mid to high 70’s. I may have been overheated in the wetsuit or I may just be a sucky swimmer in tough conditions.  I do know that the same feeling I had during my shake out swim on Thursday showed up again on Saturday morning. Weird. I’m hoping this is one off and we’ll give it another go soon and see what happens.  I’m not sure what I’d change except to not race in the wetsuit top and just use the bib johns.

I checked the race results and found only two other age group winners came out of the water farther back than I did. As I look back and remember my overriding thoughts after I got out the water, I was focused on just racing and to go as hard as I could at that moment. Even though I thought my goal of winning was out the window, I was never demoralized by it.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say that some negative thoughts crept in and I was tempted to just shut it down and cruise in, but I was able to quickly push those thoughts to the background and keep myself motivated.  I didn’t let myself get too low after the swim exit and I didn’t let myself get too high as I was passing guys. I guess the moral of the story is that you never really know and how the race will turn out and that it pays to have a “low arousal” frame of mind while competing…you need to be aware of your surroundings and the situation you’re in, but don’t let yourself get too high or too low.  Focus on the moment. If you’re lucky, as I definitely was, the results will take care of themselves.

 

I have two races left; Long Course Age Group Nationals in Oklahoma City and Hy-Vee 5150 Championships. I’m still motivated and if I'm as lucky as I was in Vermont, things will work out.

 

 

 

 

 

Another Web Gem

"You don't play triathlon. You play soccer; it's fun. You play baseball. Triathlon is work that can leave you crumpled in a heap, puking on the roadside. It's the physical brutality of climbing Mount Everest without the great view from the top of the world. What kind of person keeps on coming back for more of that?
That's why your state of mind is so important. You have to be honest with yourself about suffering: it's going to come, and it's part of the wholeness of being a triathlete, and it's totally real. It's you versus you. If you can be at peace in your mind and accept the pain, then you can see it as a part of the whole amazing experience. But if you're dreading the suffering because you approach it from a negative frame of mind, when it finally comes you're going to check out." Chris "Macca" McCormack

Web Gem

Jasper Blake is a professional triathlete I've followed online over the last couple of years. He retired from the sport this year and here's an exerpt from his blog anouncing said retirement..

"Never underestimate how much work you will do and how much you will have to give of yourself to get good. If you want to win you have to earn that rite every single year, every single month, every single week, every single day, every single workout. But don’t look at it as a sacrifice; consider it a gift that you have the opportunity to go down that road. Win or lose, it’s an awesome road to be on!"

To some, that may seem scary.
To some, that may seem a waste of time and energy.
To some, that may seem like a challenge.

To me, it's a reminder of what it takes and an afformation that I'm still motivated to "go down that road".