Fall Creek Falls Triathon

So I raced my third triathlon of the season Sunday. I have to say that racing and training in triathlon was the best way to spend my summer. It has given me a new found confidence and I look forward to many more seasons of racing. Next year I will be stepping up to the half Ironman distance of 70.3 miles and possibly even a full Ironman of 140.6 miles.

Anyway back to Sunday. I got up at 4:20 despite setting my alarm to 4:05. It wasn't a problem though. Still learning this new droidX so it was more than likely user error. I got dressed packed up and ate a hammer gel, cracker barrel biscuit, half of a 32oz Gatorade and took off. I had about a 55 min drive to Fall Creek Falls. About 30 minutes from the race I ate a power bar and started working on my 1 liter of water. I typically do not each much the day of a race. When you know you are gonna be on the course for over 2 hours racing you don't want to get stuck needing to visit the porta potty. I aim for quality versus quantity.

I got to the race just as transition opened and was able to get a spot on the front rack about 10 ft from the transition exit for the bike and run. Prime time parking haha. When I started setting up it was an hour and a half from the start of the race. I like to be early to avoid feeling rushed. I set up my transition then took my bike out and rode the first 1/2 mile of the bike route. I do this just to get an idea what transition will be like. It was going to be an up hill transition so I knew I needed to top the hill before worrying about putting my feet in my shoes, then there was a flat spot where I could slip in just before taking off on a downhill. During warm up and during the race I was in my shoes within 100 yds of leaving transition and was hammering down the hill. i had 3 races and 6 perfect transitions this season. I hit all of them just as planned.

After i warmed up on the bike I stretched a little then put on my shoes and ran the first1/4 mile of the run course, again to get a feel for the transition. We had to climb the same hill as the bike and take a different down hill turn. it's nice to go downhill right off the bat after the bike...not so much fun to go back up that hill at the end of the race though...more to come on that later.

After my run it was about 30 minutes til the start of the race. I loaded my bottles, as always with Base Performance Amino. that stuff has been the difference maker for me. I have learned a lot about nutrition this summer and have learned that water alone will not cut it when it comes to endurance sports. You have to constantly replace what you are burning otherwise you will crash. No gas in the tank and you quit moving. Water hydrates but doesn't fuel. anyway, I loaded my bottles looked over my transition set up one last time which is very minimal. my helmet sits on my handle bars, garmin watch and sunglasses are inside of the helmet, and my shoes are already clipped to my pedals. my run shoes sit on the towel with my visor and race belt in front. that's it, plain and simple.

I grabbed my swim cap, which i hate wearing but that's what they use to identify us, and my goggles and headed down to the lake. I swam the first 200 yards of the course and came back to the dock. I don't warm up much for the swim, heck I don't even warm up when I swim in training haha. After i got out I walked over to the exit and watched most of the other swimmers doing their warmups. I noticed as the people were exiting that the ground was unstable or rocky. Mental note taken so I wouldn't be shocked at the end of the swim when I went to stand up. I listened to the head kayaker guy(who I will nick name Superguard) give his lifeguards instructions. I was quite encouraged when two of them said they had never kayaked and that none of them had ever seen a triathlon. wow! Superguard then proceeded to tell them not to worry about the first wave, my wave, because we were the "fast swimmers" and we "all" knew what we were doing. um incorrect. we were the first wave because we were under 30 years old or over 50. It had nothing to do with speed or ability. So I'm glad I'm a strong swimmer because superguard had just told his group of non-kayaking-no-triathlon-knowledge lifeguards not to pay much attention to us. If a less experienced swimmer with a fear of the water had heard that I'm sure their anxiety would have gone up.

For those of you who fall into the same category as Superguards band of kayaker misfits. In triathlon we can not receive any type of outside assistance or we are disqualified. You may have seen in the Tour De France that riders hold onto team cars while receiving food or medical treatment. Not us. if anybody helps us our race is over. The only exception to this rule comes in the form of a kayak. A swimmer who finds themselves in distress can hold onto a kayak or course buoy until they fill ready to continue. as long as the kayak does not make any forward progress. The swim portion is the most dangerous part of the race when it is held in a lake, river, or ocean. If you quit swimming you drown. Sometimes you get water in your goggles or catch a cramp or get kicked in the face. so it helps to know that there are kayaks in the general area that can come help if needed.

1.5K Swim 19:16 3rd in my age group. 1:10/100 yard avg
The swim was a wave start. This means that we entered the water in age groups, you tread water at the start line then take off when they blow the horn. this is an interesting start because there is nothing to push off of. I'm pretty sure my first four strokes were right across the guys back right in front of me. it took about 5 seconds to find a opening to get moving. i didn't do an all out sprint but i motored out of there in a hurry to get clear of the rugby style mass behind me. there were probably 45 guys in my wave and i was on the front line. i didn't want to start in the middle or back and get trapped behind everybody. i settled into my pace pretty quick and began to push it, or at least i thought it was my pace. turns out it was much faster haha. I read an article last week about swimming the swim in 4 sections. 1st section was hard, 2nd section settle into your pace, 3rd section push the pace again, and 4th section settle into your pace until the end. so i followed that game plan. i pushed the opening, cruised a little in the middle, pushed the later part of the swim, and cruised into the finish. i kept wondering what was wrong because i thought i was on pace but my arms were killing me. However there is no reason to save your arms because you don't need them after the swim. my legs felt good and relaxed so i kept it up. when i got out of the water and looked down at my watch i was shocked. it suddenly made sense why my arms had been hurting. i swam 6 minutes faster than planned and 10 minutes faster than my last race.

T1 3:53
We had to run about 4 tenths of a mile to the transition area and it was all up hill. good thing i have tough feet because that was a long way to go barefoot. once i finally got to my bike, i took my stop watch off and put my garmin on. i didn't wear my garmin in my first two races. i decided to wear it this time because i wanted to do better on the run. anyway i grabbed my bike and actually carried it instead of rolling it. we were in grass and had to cross dirt and roots to get to the pavement. i didn't want to risk my chain bouncing off so i just carried the bike. no big deal. i got to the pavement stepped on my left shoe, swung my foot over and i was off.

40k Bike 1:08.12 3rd in my age group. 21.8 mph avg
I slipped into my shoes just as I had during warmup and hammered down the first hill. i passed the first two guys within a 1/4 mile. some people don't ride as hard so they can save for the run. I like to go fast and so I will probably always have painful runs because of that. The bike course was a 12 mile out and back route. I had read a review a few weeks ago saying that the ride was more up hill going out so i knew not to go to hard on the way out and that i could make it up coming back. for most of the ride out i was in no mans land. nobody in front or behind. I was passed by two guys early on and I think another 2 towards the end. This was a fun course. there were several hills as well as several flats. i had three separate miles where my avg speed was 29 mph! my top speed was 37 mph. it feels so good to go that fast. I took 1 GU pack at mile 4 of the bike and again at mile 22. The second one was for the run. It takes about 30 minutes for the GU to take effect so I always take one at the end of the bike so that it kicks in during the run.

T2 :57
As i practiced during warm up i unstrapped my shoes at the top of the hill, rounded the corner, then while coasting towards the dismount line i slipped my feet out and put them on top of my shoes. swung my leg over my seat and coasted while standing on my left shoe. i hopped off my bike at the line and took off running into transition. when i rounded one of the corners my bike decided it wanted to go right while i went straight so i dropped it haha. no worries just pick it up and keep moving. i got to my spot, racked my bike slid on my shoes and visor on then took off while still putting my race belt on.

10K Run 50:04 6th in my age group. 8:03 pace
As i left transition I remember thinking that my legs actually felt decent. I knew i had ridden pretty hard and that my run could be tough. But still being pretty mad at myself for such a terrible run at Music City i was determined to improve Sunday. my goal was to make it hurt. When it hurt at Music City i caved in and walked. Not today! I ran my first mile in 7:30 and thought i could possibly hold that til the end. then the hills came. threee quick steep hills. it was like each hill took a part of my soul with it. after those i was reduced to a pace between 7:50 and 8:30. Most of the run was in the park of Fall Creek Falls so we were shielded from the sun which was great. it was a decent course. despite the first three spawn of satan hills at the beginning, the rest was a typical rolling course with one really long decline inside the 4th mile. that was fun because i was running 6:30 pace going down it. i stuck to my game plan to only take walk breaks at the aid stations. so just long enough to splash water and sip a Gatorade then take off again. i broke the rule once in between mile 5 and 6. remember that fun downhill coming out of transition? yeah as i said earlier, not so fun having to go back up it. at this point i had been on the course for around 2:15 minutes and my legs were just about shot. i walked for about 10 seconds then took off. I pride myself in being a fast finisher. I typically take whatever is left and dump it out in the last few hundred yards. So as I topped the hill I had two guys about 20 yds in front of me and I took off. stretched out my stride and dug in. My legs were on fire and felt like silicone had been injected into my quads. But i caught both of them even as they picked up their paces. I crossed the line and in usual fashion let out a scream. There's a feeling that is hard to explain when you cross a line knowing you gave everything you had. I turned around to see what the race clock said. It was at 2:23.15 so i knew i had to have been in the 2:22 range. i was so happy. i had dropped 22 minutes off my last race.

In the end i had dropped 10 minutes off of my swim, 4 minutes off my bike and 8 minutes off my run time. my total was 2:22.20. Had i not broken my rule and kept running during the 5th mile i would have placed in my age group. I missed 3rd place by 14 seconds. A lesson learned for next season. I have a lot of work to do on my run. Its been a great season and I'm so glad I got into it. If you have ever offered me encouragement I want to thank you. I spend a lot of time alone in my training and sometimes I wonder why I'm doing this to myself. Then i get encouragement from friends and it rejuvenates me. I challenge anybody reading this to TRI a triathlon. You will be shocked at what you can do when you put your mind to it. As for me, my next move is to prepare for next summers half ironman race and possible full ironman race. I will also be running my first Marathon this December. So my goal to hopefully make it to an elite ranking if not into the pros is still intact. I can only improve and as long as I'm having fun I'll keep at it. Stay tuned as i post updates leading up to my Memphis Marathon. Shooting for a time of 3:30. until next time...

Follow your dreams, don't settle for less!