2011 Kemah Triathlon Race Recap

Sunday morning I woke up at 4am, ate a Clif Bar, hopped in the shower and got dressed. For some reason my legs usually feel tired the morning of a race, but today they didnt. Maybe I've finally figured out how to do this whole taper thing. The Passport Inn I was staying at was right next door to the finish line and transition area, so I grabbed my prepacked transition bag and bike and headed out.

It hit me as soon as I opened the door to my hotel room. For someone who's never raced in really humid weather (80%+), I never really appreciated how much it affects the body. I asked myself "If it feels like this at 5am, what's it going to feel like in 4 hours on the run?" Nerves started settling in and I more or less reminded myself I know how to swim, bike, and run. My training program hadn't let me down yet. What was I getting so worked up about?



Chris Lieto's transition area

 The transition area was buzzing at 5am. The boat taking us out to the swim start would be leaving in 30 minutes, so everyone had to get set up quicker than usual. I had a great rack location, 2 rows from the bike in/out and about 20 feet from the pro rack. I walked over to check out Chris Lieto and Terenzo Bozzone's set ups. Right then it was easy to see one of the differences between a pro and a beginning age grouper. Yes, the bike probably costs 5x as much, but what surprised me the most was the lack of "stuff" in a pro's transition. It was practically empty. Mine on the other hand had a towel on the ground, extra towel to wipe off my feet, water bottle, bike shoes, running shoes, hat, race belt, etc. Lesson learned: stick to what you need. Dump the rest.

View from the beach

The boat ride out was about 35 minutes once we got going. Pro men led off first, followed by the pro women, then elite age groupers before the rest of us started our time trial starts. 3x3 we jumped the 5 feet into the murky bay and began our mile swim. We had about 1-11/2ft chop and a slight cross current. The water tasted like a mix of salt water and diesel fuel, and for my first open water swim in about 6 months, I think I handled myself ok. I had forgotten my Body Glide at home, but a trip to Target for some Aquaphor Healing Ointment saved my neck from any wetsuit chafing. I climbed up the ramp and was out of the water in 29:57 with the 2nd fastest swim in my division.

It was about a quarter mile run from the beach to transition and I ran past the wetsuit strippers. T1 time was longer than I'd like at 4:06 probably because I took my time catching my breath, putting on my socks and shoes, grabbing a drink, and making sure I wasn't forgetting anything. Eh, this will improve with practice.

The bike ride was nice and flat with a couple out and back sections. The outs tended to be into a headwind and the backs were rewarded with a strong tailwind. It took me a little bit to settle into a comfortable cadence but I started passing people from the waves that took off before me. On the last 6 mile stretch with the wind at my back I got up to the fastest I'd ever gone on a flat road before. I'm still not 100% comfortable with my road handling ability at high(ish) speeds, but I felt good getting up to 27.5mph. It's all about achieving small goals. I dropped into a smaller gear about 5 minutes from the bike finish just to get my legs ready to run, had an uneventful dismount, and finished my bike 3rd in my division with a 1:14:52. My average pace over the 24.85 mile course was 19.9mph.

T2 was short and sweet. Drop the bike and helmet, switch out the shoes, pick up the hat and race number and run out. I was out in 49 seconds including 5 seconds of running the wrong way because I didnt check earlier where the Run Out gate was located. Another newbie mistake.

I've always had a pace/heart rate monitor when I ran, but I didnt bring it with me for some reason this race. Instead I just wore my trusty timex digital watch and ran the stopwatch function beginning at mile marker 1. Right out of transition I felt tired. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe I pushed too hard on the bike. Maybe I didnt hydrate enough earlier in the race. Whatever the reason, I eased up a little and found a perceived effort that I could sustain. As the miles ticked by, I checked the lap function on my watch and was usually around the 9:00 mark. It was a little upsetting considering I was running 7:30's a couple weeks earlier, but if I tried to run that at this point, I never would've finished.



Kemah bridge



Around mile 4, we had to go over a 10% grade bridge. Slow and steady, I picked out guys ahead of me that were walking and challenged myself to beat them to the top. Eased down the other side, turned around at the bottom and went right back up picking off more walkers. Nothing helps you forget your own pains more than out-toughing the guy next to you. Mental toughness is a key aspect in triathlon training and it shows itself at the end of every race.  

At the bottom of the bridge I knew I had less than a quarter mile left so I kicked into a higher gear and pushed as much as I could. Making the final turn into the finish chute, I saw that it was about 100 yards long and there was a guy about halfway down ahead of me. I am going to beat this guy. I used whatever I had left, probably even borrowing some from the crowd as they started cheering for me, and outsprinted him to the finish. When I looked at my run splits later, the last 0.2 miles was run at a 6:00 pace and I've never gone that fast before. Totally pumped and exhausted and covered in sweat, my race was over in 2:44:05. Beat my goal of 2:45:00, so I considered today a success no matter how the results ended up.

I grabbed a bottle of water and some HoneyMilk (which is now my favorite protein drink) and headed next door to my hotel for a shower before checking out the results. With a time trial start, you don't really know how you finish until more people cross the line, so I was in no hurry. When I got back, I looked at the board...Clydesdales Under 40...2nd place. Wait...WHAT?!? There were 16 guys racing in my division. Surely my slow T1 time, my inexperience on the bike, or my slow run had me finishing in the middle of the pack. I had to check this out. Ran over to the awards table and found out there was a timing mistake in my category. Oh, ok...that makes sense. And then:

"Sir, you're 3rd place. Here's your award."

To see the race from the eyes of the pros, Terenzo Bozzone (2nd place) posted this vid:

Preview: Kemah Triathlon - International distance

I'm heading down to Kemah, TX for an international distance triathlon this weekend. Like a lot of Texas cities, I didn't know Kemah existed until I signed up for this event. Here's what I know: 1) It's just southwest of Houston, and with the Final Four in town, I'm sure it will make for some fun traffic. That's all.

The main reason I signed up for this event was that the international distance race, also called an olympic distance, is a qualifier for the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco this summer. I had heard of the Alcatraz tri when I was younger living and living in Orange County, but always thought those people were crazy. I mean who'd want to do that? Turns out, I do.

I'm racing in the Clydesdale division for what I hope is the last time. I'm sitting right now at 204lbs and have been dropping about 1-2 pounds per week with all the training I've been doing since the end of January.

The swim course is kind of interesting. Instead of a beach start or rectangle course, the race organizers herd all of us onto a paddleboat, cruise a mile out into Galveston Bay, drop anchor, and then we jump off. From there, it's a straight line into shore. Kind of boring without any turns, but hey...free boat ride!

The bike course is pretty flat 25 miles and consists of 3 out and backs with turns, so there's plenty of opportunities to see your competition. I hear it gets windy because of how close it is to the water, and with the bike being my weakest discipline, I'm not really looking forward to it. We'll see.

The 6.2 mile run winds through a Kemah neighborhood before sending us past the roller coaster and games on the boardwalk, and finally over and back on a 10% grade bridge. With the bridge sitting at miles 4-6, this could be mentally challenging.

I've raced the International distance once before, so at least I have something to compare it to.  My goal is to beat 2 hrs 45 mins with a 30 min swim, 1 hr 20 min bike, and 50 min run. I'm a little concerned with the heat and humidity. It's supposed to be 80F and 85% humidity at the race start. Yuck.

Also of note, is the fact that there are several pro triathletes competing with me. There's no better way to measure your abilities than seeing how you stack up with Ironman winners and world champions. They'll probably be starting their run by the time I finish my swim, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing these guys, if only in transition before the race starts.

Rock N Roll Dallas 1/2 Marathon

I wasn't planning on running this race, but thanks to Al Gore and the internet, I was able to get in at the last minute.

With a perfectly fantastic starting temperature of 50F and cloudy race day morning, there was no heat or sun to deal with. And leading up to the race, I haven't really done any tempo runs or pace training, just working on maintaining my heart rate at 150 beats per minute. Being that this was a race, I jumped up a zone and tried to stick at 165 the whole time.

It was pretty packed in each corral and took a little while for the crowd to spread out. The long uphill soon thinned the running masses and I found a nice groove. I don't know why exactly, but things just seemed to click for me. No pain, no random sweat drop stinging my eye, no blisters. Things just...worked.

I forgot my timing chip, so checked my watch at the end. 1hr 45 mins! It's a new PR for me at this distance and is just another reminder that if you have a training plan and stick to it, things generally work out how they're supposed to.

Splits: 8:41, 8:00, 8:05, 7:59, 8:09, 7:59, 8:11, 8:00, 7:36, 7:37, 7:50, 7:45, 7:43, 6:47. The course was a gradual uphill and then downhill. Easy to see where the downhill starts.

Athens Triathlon Race Recap

We'll start with some crazy news: The race started on time.

My Super 8 Motel alarm clock woke me up at 4:30am and the howling winds creeping through the cracks in my door made sure I didn't fall back asleep. The forecast had called for rain overnight so I was a little concerned about the road conditions. I threw on some clothes and went for a 20 minute jog to get a sense of the weather and wake my legs up. The air temp was high 40's, there was a decent wind with strong gusts, and puddles/gravel blanketed the roads: damn.

I showed up at the Cain Center at 6:45, took my bike in to get inspected, and got body marked. Go #44!

The transition area was a parking lot, and though the ground was damp, I was thankful it wasn't soaking. Had the transition area been in a grass field, it would've just been a huge mud pit. Point, race organizers!

As the racks filled with bikes I started talking with neighboring athletes. For the most part, those competing in this sprint event were somewhere on the "first time" to "completed a Half Ironman" end of the spectrum, but I did spy a couple M-dot calf tattoos.

At the pre-race meeting, the race directors were incredibly thorough going over key points for each leg of the event. The swim was a time trial start where we would go off in 10 second intervals and were seeded by our race number (my 5:00 estimate for 300 yds ranked me 44th out of 250). But they were quick to remind everyone "that meant there would be some people flying by you when it got to the bike leg, so please stay to the right. Also, the pool is 78 degrees. The outside air temperature is 48 degrees. A wet body on a bike in 25+ mph wind gusts would freeze. Check your ego and dress warm."

I didn't get in the pool to warm up, because I didn't want to stand around freezing for 7:20 before my start. Once I jumped in I fell into an easy groove and started snaking through the pool. I ended up catching the guy in front of my by the first 75 and passed a total of 5 guys before finishing the 300yd in 5:10. I didn't push hard at any part of this swim thinking I'd save my energy for my weakest leg - the bike.

Running out of the indoor pool area to transition was ok and it wasn't quite as cold outside as I expected. I made it past the uneven brick path without stubbing a toe and the parking lot was mostly rock/pebble-free. Remembering what the race director said about staying warm, I quickly toweled off my legs, put on my running jacket, grabbed the rest of my bike stuff and walked 20 yds to the bike mount. No way was I going to slip in my cleats on the wet parking lot. 3:35...whoops!

The hilly bike leg had its ups and downs. No pun intended. We started going south on 19 with the wind at our back, but for some reason I didn't think what that meant for the ride back. Turning onto Loop 7 the fun begins. Enter the 25+mph gusting crosswinds. Trying to stay aero on the shoulder of the road in gusty conditions made for tough handling, but I just focused on keeping the legs going. The "long" hill after the turnaround that I was worried about wasn't so bad because the wind at my back basically pushed me all the way up. Use it if you've got it. Enter the crosswinds again after a sweeping turn and then headwinds to finish. Ended up holding 17.4mph and was mildly happy considering the limited time I've spent on the bike.

T2 was nondescript. In, switch out the bike stuff for run stuff, out.

I couldn't really feel my feet for the first mile of the 5K. Later, I learned I wasn't alone. The winds took a lot out of a lot of people on the bike. My heart rate was up and I was tired, but I tried to keep pushing. A guy in my age group passed me at mile 2 and I tried to keep up, but he had a good kick at the end. I was hoping to keep my pace from the 10K last week, but I ended up running a 7:52 pace and finished in 24:33.

Because of the time trial start, I didn't know how my 1:21:54 time would hold up, so I enjoyed some pizza and Gatorade and talked to a couple other guys about their upcoming races. When the final results were posted, I finished 5th in my age group (would've finished 2nd in Clydes). Looking closer, I missed out on 4th by :04 and 3rd by 1:14. I think actually racing on the swim next time might help as would training time on the bike. The minute I gave up to the 3rd place guy in T1 sure didn't help either. Ahhh...things you learn.

How good are small town events?

In about 10 hours I'll be starting the 26th Annual Athens, TX triathlon. If you didn't know there was an Athens, TX you wouldn't be alone...and that's exactly why I picked this race.

Having moved to Dallas from Los Angeles last November, I haven't really explored much outside of Uptown, White Rock Lake, or Addison where I work. It took me a long time to branch out when I first moved to California, so I'm trying to do what I can to not repeat that.

Athens, TX is about 90 miles of rolling hills and farmland southeast of Dallas and has a population just shy of 12,000. From what I hear, there are about 250 total competitors in this sprint event (300yd pool swim, 13.8mi bike ride, and 5K run) with the majority being from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. For the time trial start with 10 second intervals, I'm seeded 44th. Seedings are based on an estimated swim time. I expect to swim about :30 faster than what I signed up for so I hope to be passing people as we snake through the 6 lane pool.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the event is run and how I do in a small(er) field. It's supposed to rain tonight and maybe continue into the morning. That should make things interesting.

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Post-Race Update

Tech shirts in the swag bag. Cervelo. Felt. Trek. Specialized. Quintana Roo. Cannondale. Pinnarello. Shimano. Gatorade. Nuun. Honey Stinger. Gu. Powerbar. Pearl Izumi. 2XU. DeSoto. Zoot. Brooks. K-Swiss. USAT officials. Timing chips. Volunteers. Police closing traffic. Medal ceremony. Veterans. First timers. Overly competitive athletes. People just out for a good workout.

They were all there. As was a place to swim, a course to bike, and a road to run. It was a triathlon. I sweat just as much in Athens as I have in Los Angeles or Dallas. I saw the results of my training. I joked with strangers. I learned some things to do next time. Big city, small town...it doesn't matter. A successful event is a successful event.

Truth be told, I think the race directors did a great job. Like the ratio of students to teachers, there is an optimal number of race volunteers to participants. Whatever it is, Ironhead Race Productions knows it and also ensured everyone's safety through bike/helmet inspections, clean roads, and excellent course markings.

As multisport events become more mainstream, small town races will continue to pop up across the country, and if you ever get tired of feeling like runner #429 out of 20,000, I suggest you check one out.