Music City Triathlon

Well I guess you saw the results?  37:21 swim, 1:04:41 bike (~23mph), 43:52 run (~7:05 pace).   Did a 2:29:48 that got me 47/393 OA and 12/39 AG.  Not my best race.  I say I’ve never raced an Olympic before but that’s not entirely true.  I went to age group nationals in 2009 when I won my AG in a tiny little tri that barely even had a swim (my biggest weakness).  I had no idea what I was getting myself into and just suffered for well over 3 hrs… so, this really was my first Olympic distance to race.    

Keep on reading for Music City details….   

I hoped in the water and lost it.  My mind wasn’t in the race, I wasn’t in the mood, Hopfenspurger and I were up top talking when we realized the Olympic had started… so I got in the water pretty late.  Just an altogether crappy start.  I hoped in and instantly couldn’t breathe.   I have bad asthma from time to time so I don’t know if it was that or just nerves.  Anyway, it took me a good 5 mins to get my crap together.  After my episode, I felt really good.  I felt strong, long, consistent.  Felt like I was pulling really good, sighting good, and swimming really well.  So I guess that’s good right?  My friend David, who is training for his first tri and attempting to learn everything he can, was on the pedestrian bridge and asked to another friend, “oh look, he’s on his back now, what does that mean?”  They replied with, “means things aren’t going very well”. 

T1 – someone needs to learn how to do a triathlon without socks.  Had a good split but I could have saved 10-15 seconds there.  I always wonder if it’s worth bleeding for three weeks after the race to save 15 seconds.  Probably not.

The bike was good.  I had given up a little after the swim so I wasn’t pushing that hard at first and it cost me a little bit of time.  Bruce Gennari (my coach) passed me; I decided to keep him in sight, so I picked it up.  Then on the second loop, I passed Kevin Crossman and I knew he’d keep me in sight, so I kept the gas going.  I actually did the second loop about 2 mins quicker than the first loop.  There were a few inclines that slowed me up some but I just maintained a consistent effort and didn’t look at my speed.  Kevin and I came into transition together.

T2 – FLEW through it.  Third best time I believe.  I can transition here quicker than the headwinds blow on the Trace.

Run was good.  People say it was hot but I didn’t notice the heat that much…. Just focused on good form.  I think my pace noticed the heat though because I should have be high 6s instead of low 7s.  But the good news is that I ran negative splits on miles 4-6.  The hills did slow me some and I actually slowed to a very short walk at the aid stations to get in good amount of water.  Given the race conditions, it was more important to lose a few seconds on the run in order to hydrate appropriately. 

Anyway, I finished feeling like I could have done that bike and run two or three more times.  It felt good.  I just need to spend more time in open water with more people.  Maybe I need to be racing more?  I struggle with that because I like to get several back to back weeks of solid training.  That swim pissed me off because I can swim.  Heck, I’m getting nearly 15,000 a week in with the three pools and open water… and my times are getting better.  I think it was all a mental issue that turned into a breathing issue on Sunday. 

Anyway, the McCain/Minton battle continues.  As predicted, McCain won this one.  He asked “is it bad of me that I’m glad you floated on your back for 10 mins since that allowed me to beat you?”  HAHA, no, it’s totally cool to feel like that... we both got chicked by your girlfriend (Whitney... holy cow, 2:10 and 1st Female OA, great athlete).  I don’t want to speak for him, but I don’t think either of us had the race of our life there… we both have a lot of work to do before Ironman.  Thanks for coming over to race bud!  Thanks to my friends who came to cheer me one.  Also, many stayed around after their sprint to yell encouraging words to me and I really appreciate it.  Thanks.