The Longmont triathlon in Colorado is the longest running triathlon in the state. Today was the 26th running of the event. I did this race many times in the early 90’s when it was an Olympic distance race. Now days it is more of a sprint but still it is the first triathlon of the Colorado season. After my hamstring troubles at my duathlon I had to schedule a triathlon to test my fitness again. My participation on this event was also doubtful all week as I injured my hamstring last week. (Different hamstring trouble amazingly enough) Fortunately my 15 minute run Saturday went reasonable well so I decided to enter the race.
The race distances were 525 yard swim, 16.5 mile bike and 3.5 mile run. These are sort of odd distances and a little heavy on the bike. Not my ideal but it has all three sports in the right order. That is all I need.
The swim is a pool swim with 13 waves of roughly 20 to 30 people. The faster swimmers went last. Since swimming is my best leg I was going to have to wait until 10:00 AM to begin my race. That was fine with me. I need the heat training. I did have to arrive at 6:30 AM to pick my packet since I could not come the day before to do this. With nearly 3 hours to kill I went and drove the course. This turned out to be a great idea. The first three miles of the bike had many turns. It was good for me to see this.
My lane on my swim heat had two other guys. We talked and decided that I would lead the lane. They seem calm and cool. One was a young guy doing his second triathlon and the other was a big guy that looked like he could swim. The gun went off and the big guy went second behind me. He started about 8 seconds behind me but quickly caught up to me and sat on my draft. We lapped the young guy twice. I averaged 1:17 per hundred or so. Not a great swim but good enough. I found out it was the 4th fastest swim overall of the day.
My swim to bike transition was a bit slow but I got out fine. Remember the young guy on my lane. He came by at mile 4 of the bike. He did tell me he was a bike racer. But that is one fast catch. How can someone I lapped twice in the pool catch me so fast? As the ride went along I passed a few people and a few people passed me. But for the most part, the bike was a lonely affair. I rode between 155 to 165 heart rate most of the way. You would think that would be a good effort. But at the end of the day my bike ride was slow relative to others. This is typical for me. I only seem to ride well in Ironman races. But I have to find a way to change that somehow. This high end short effort stuff on the bike does not seem to be my cup of tea.
The bike to run transition was good. The run was my big test of my hamstring. Would my hamstring hold up? My hamstrings have two issues. One is the injury from a few weeks ago while running on the treadmill and the other issue is dehydration cramps. I drank almost two big water bottles of the MarkAllenOnline fluid energizer on the bike to insure I was not dehydrated. That worked great. I had no issues with my hydration and I even did No 1 after the race, all clear :-).
I did feel the injury just a tad but not any worst that any of my test runs and it did not affect my gait or anything. I got out after a girl in front of me. Everyone had different start times so I was not sure who this girl was or where she started. I did see her on the bike and was barely making ground on her. She was tough. I caught her and a few others. No one passed me on the run. My heart rate started in the 160’s and almost hit 180 on the last quarter mile to the finish. My time was about 22:30, that is fast for me on a 3.5 mile run. Maybe this course is short. My hamstring held up and I ran as hard as I could. What else can we ask for? How about an age-group win? Well that was not in the cards this time but second in the age-group is not bad. I am happy. I had the fastest swim and fastest run in the age group by quite a bit. Unfortunately I am a chicken on the bike. The guy that won my age group out biked me by 4 minutes! Geez! I have some work to do.
All in all this is typical for me so I am glad. It signifies that I can at least get back to typical status after 10 years. Now I have to find that top fitness. I am not sure I can do that by my half Ironman on June 25th but you never know. I should do better with a longer race. I just have to keep the fluids and electrolytes going. Oh yes, some salt tablets are essential. I need to practice with them in the next few weeks. These will help me keep those cramps away. Hopefully I can give the old guys a run for the money.