This race was billed as a local Columbus race ideal for 1st timers. 1/2 mile swim, 16 mile bike, followed with a 5K run. I got to the race site at 5:45am to check in and set up my bike area. The transition was a small one right next to the quarry on a hill:). You could see that the yellow buoys were in a rectangle shape as usual. The announcer stated that it was a no wet suit event, due to the water temp was at 85.5 degrees. USAT states that over 84 there is a mandatory no wet suit rule. However, I know that I'm still much faster with a wet suit on than without. Once I was able to set up my transition area with my of shoes clipped in to the pedals and helmet on my bars, my bike was ready. I layed out my visor, sun glasses, and shoes and I was ready!
Since I'm in the 50-54 age group I started in the last swim wave in the race. I thought I would have to pass the entire field by the time I finished if I had a chance to come into the top three in the race. By the way, Ross Hartley was racing today. I don't think that he has lost a race all year long, so I know I would only get 2nd at the highest. There were close to 200 races registered for the Du and Tri.
At the start of the race the tri was 5 mins behind the Du and my swim wave was 8-10 minutes behind the du. It was pretty difficult to be already to go and just have to wait for the last wave. However, when you are old that is life in racing.
Finally, my wave started. I was able to stay on the heels of the lead swimmer in my wave and just relax on the way down to the turnaround. On the way back I kept feeling another swimmer hit my heels with his hands every other stroke that really disrupted my pace and swim stroke. Finally coming out the water I noticed that my watch said 15:15, very slow. That was the slowest swim of the year. It was probably due to no wet suit and my heels being hit all the way back from the turnaround from the swimmer in the yellow cap.
My transition was pretty fast with 38 seconds and while running out of the transition, I slipped on gravel and dropped my bike. Thankfully nothing happened to my bike and I was off and riding.
I was able to get a good pace going averaging 28mph heading to the turnaround slightly going downhill and with the wind to my back. On the way back the guy that was hitting my heels came flying past me on his bike with a great aero position. I stayed with him and saw him shake his head at me like that I was drafting off of him. I came up to him and said that I was the one that he was hitting in feet during the swim. I just took off and felt that he would have to stay with me if he could. He could and came by me again a mile later. I was sucking a lot of air at this point and decided to just let him go and stay as close as possible to him. Coming into transition I was 10 seconds behind him and I knew that he was in my age group due to his age group letter on his calf. My bike time was a little over 40 minutes averaging 23.6 mph. Second fastest bike spilt in the race behind the guy that passed me.
Coming into transition I came in too fast and almost missed the whole entrance. I had to sneak under the yellow tape to keep going and I knocked down a BIG orange cone. Going to my rack I noticed my shoes and I was able to rack my bike. I got my shoes on but couldn't find my visor and glasses. Looking around I noticed that I was on the wrong rack. The shoes I had on were not mine. They were identical shoes with the same size. Mine were 2 racks over with my visor and glasses. That was wild, 2 transitions in the place of 1 in just 1 minute and I was off and running again. I was thinking what an idiot I am putting on someone's shoes.
I noticed that the guy that passed me on the bike was still only 10 seconds in front of me running. He must have had a slow transition as well. I just set into a good pace and started to catch him going at a 6:30 to 6:45 mile pace. Within the first mile I was able to pass him with no problem. At the one mile mark Ross comes from the other direction heading to the finish line. He was at least a mile ahead of me even with the adjusted start time. The run course was nice and flat going off road at the turnaround. I was able to continue my pace and head to the finish line with my best run time of the year, 20:53 a 6:45 mile pace and no cramps again.
I ended up coming in 3rd overall behind a 39 year old and Ross, and 1st in my age group. The 39 year old beat me by around a minute, and the guy that kept hitting my feet came in 1 minute behind me. If I would have known he was there I probably could have been with him during the run. However, my bike to run transition was horrible. I managed to pass almost the entire field, because only 6 racers were finished by the time I was done at the finish line area. Next race is Caesar Creek this Sunday.
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