Dark Horse
Wispy, white clouds fingered through the Chugach mountain range, making their last ditch, frozen deposits onto the hilltops before spring finally gave way to summer this 31st of May. Despite the previous three weeks of fantastic, clear blue skies, the precipitation was having its way this weekend.
It had been over a year and a half since last I competed in any sort of multi-sport event. For whatever reason, I decided to focus on cycling for a while and got terribly distracted from the type of racing I somehow seem to do very well in.
The Anchorage community makes the most of its summers and racing is certainly not least of those activities so many people dive into.
When I pulled up at 0605, I was expecting to be fighting for a good parking spot; surely every other racer has that mindset of arriving at the transition area asap and setting everything up just right. Turns out, all of 3 people think that way up here. When I noticed the transition area void of racks, I asked my fellow early riser if they hadn't put them up yet. "Well, this is a...BYOR event." I stared at him, incredulous. He nodded, "yup." To my great fortune, one of the volunteers had an extra one, bless her. Crisis averted, I got my brand new TT bike all set up and ready to go, going through motions long removed, but well remembered.
With a forecast of rain and sadness, the pool swim got underway around 0800. With only six lanes and a field of at least 350 racers, there was a lot of standing around waiting for a lane. Those seeded in the first wave, my competition for the day, had finished the race by the time I even got wet. I was later told those individuals watched the chip-timing screens eagerly watching my splits.
3, 2, 1...the race I had spent the last five months or so preparing for was underway. I tried not to think of it like that but here I was, testing my mettle against some of the best Triathletes in the state. 500 yards later, I ripped off my goggles and swim cap and made for the doorway to the 45 degree drizzle to T1. I couldn't have chosen a better spot for my bike in the transition area. It allowed me quick access to both the bike start and finish so I would have minimal time pushing around my newly acquired steed. Two days removed from a fresh fitting and only about 90 minutes of training time on my new TT bike, I mounted and rode away whilst old, well worn memories of transitioning flashed back.
With no fewer than 22 ninety-degree turns, the ride course today was very technical by any race standards, not to mention 850 feet of climbing and moist roads. Still, with my new speed machine and amazing Zipp 808's, I flew through the ride averaging over 23 mph. The run, ironically, was the one screw ball in the race. With a nagging pain in my left achilles, my run training has gone by the wayside a bit over the last several months. I determined I would fall back on my running background and focus on swimming and riding while it healed up.
The run was easily the hardest part of the race. In the past, I savored the run, couldn't wait to get back to my forte, passing, passing, crushing the competition with my running...shall we say, prowess; alas, I was beset with wretched abdominal cramps (no doubt due to all that core work I did last week during four days of army combatives) and was just barely able to hold on to a 6-minute pace for the most part. Hilly though it was, I managed to navigate the 5k course in a good enough time to knock off the previous third place finisher. But wait, a podium finish? My first race back in so long!? I was STOKED! In the last few months, I was getting worried that my training and racing regime was slowly loosing that spark that burned so fiercely in my college days. Today, though, there wasn't nearly enough rain to put it out.
It had been over a year and a half since last I competed in any sort of multi-sport event. For whatever reason, I decided to focus on cycling for a while and got terribly distracted from the type of racing I somehow seem to do very well in.
The Anchorage community makes the most of its summers and racing is certainly not least of those activities so many people dive into.
When I pulled up at 0605, I was expecting to be fighting for a good parking spot; surely every other racer has that mindset of arriving at the transition area asap and setting everything up just right. Turns out, all of 3 people think that way up here. When I noticed the transition area void of racks, I asked my fellow early riser if they hadn't put them up yet. "Well, this is a...BYOR event." I stared at him, incredulous. He nodded, "yup." To my great fortune, one of the volunteers had an extra one, bless her. Crisis averted, I got my brand new TT bike all set up and ready to go, going through motions long removed, but well remembered.
With a forecast of rain and sadness, the pool swim got underway around 0800. With only six lanes and a field of at least 350 racers, there was a lot of standing around waiting for a lane. Those seeded in the first wave, my competition for the day, had finished the race by the time I even got wet. I was later told those individuals watched the chip-timing screens eagerly watching my splits.
3, 2, 1...the race I had spent the last five months or so preparing for was underway. I tried not to think of it like that but here I was, testing my mettle against some of the best Triathletes in the state. 500 yards later, I ripped off my goggles and swim cap and made for the doorway to the 45 degree drizzle to T1. I couldn't have chosen a better spot for my bike in the transition area. It allowed me quick access to both the bike start and finish so I would have minimal time pushing around my newly acquired steed. Two days removed from a fresh fitting and only about 90 minutes of training time on my new TT bike, I mounted and rode away whilst old, well worn memories of transitioning flashed back.
With no fewer than 22 ninety-degree turns, the ride course today was very technical by any race standards, not to mention 850 feet of climbing and moist roads. Still, with my new speed machine and amazing Zipp 808's, I flew through the ride averaging over 23 mph. The run, ironically, was the one screw ball in the race. With a nagging pain in my left achilles, my run training has gone by the wayside a bit over the last several months. I determined I would fall back on my running background and focus on swimming and riding while it healed up.
The run was easily the hardest part of the race. In the past, I savored the run, couldn't wait to get back to my forte, passing, passing, crushing the competition with my running...shall we say, prowess; alas, I was beset with wretched abdominal cramps (no doubt due to all that core work I did last week during four days of army combatives) and was just barely able to hold on to a 6-minute pace for the most part. Hilly though it was, I managed to navigate the 5k course in a good enough time to knock off the previous third place finisher. But wait, a podium finish? My first race back in so long!? I was STOKED! In the last few months, I was getting worried that my training and racing regime was slowly loosing that spark that burned so fiercely in my college days. Today, though, there wasn't nearly enough rain to put it out.
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