Pre-Race:

The Manitou Sprint Triathlon is a 1/2 mile swim, a 13.5 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run. I was looking forward to the race because of the relatively longer swim in comparison to the bike and run legs. But with my wedding just a week before, I hadn’t really trained as much as I’d have liked to leading up to the race so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As I would come to realize later, the race was also a 2006 USAT Age Group Nationals Qualifier so there was a plethora of talent out there on the course. At least I’m assuming more than normal.

The day before the race, one of my friends was having his bachelor party which was fairly tame and consisted of basketball with the guys and a dinner of meat, meat, and more meat. So I was fat and protein loaded, but that’s pretty typical of my diet as of late. :P

I arrived to the race about 80 minutes ahead of the start time and got setup in the transition area. It was pretty chilly out, but I didn’t want to waste time in T1 with arm warmers or long sleeves or anything like that. I talked with some friends and met up with their families. I kissed my wife (!) goodbye, and proceeded into the lake.

The Swim:

(That’s me in the left most yellow cap in that picture, BTW :) )

I was in wave 4 with the elite wave, men over 50, and men 25-29 in the waves front of me. The swim is always the part I know that I’ll do the best in, but I always know that the first open water swim of the year hurts more than I expect it to. The water was a brisk 62 degrees, so I was happy to get going. Before I knew it, “BANG!” The gun went off and we were on our way.

I started up near the front of the group this time. I usually start in the back because I’m lazy and I usually end up getting to the start line late. :P But I figured I’d go right up front so I didn’t have to fight through the crowd too much. After just a couple minutes into the swim, the pack thinned out and I found myself around folks who were mostly swimming the same pace. Soon after, I started seeing some folks with green swim caps on… and red swim caps on. The good news is I was passing folks in the waves in front of me. The bad news is that I felt pretty flat during the swim. That and I was worried my wedding ring was going to go flying off into the murk of the lake never to be found again. Every few strokes, I had to hesitate and use my thumb to try and push my ring back towards my palm when it got too close to my knuckle. I probably could get it re-sized 1/4 a size smaller, but I anticipate being a little heavier during the winter months and don’t want my finger turning purple. :)

As usual, the swim seemed longer than I thought it was going to be - the turn around seemed to take forever to get to. On the way back, I couldn’t see where we were heading towards on the beach and people were swimming back in all directions. I just kind of stuck to the middle of the mass of people and kept swimming. Once I hit the shallow water near the shore, I tried taking my wetsuit top off but it just wouldn’t come off. Normally, the top just pops right off but for whatever reason (probably that I’m still fat for the season :( ), I couldn’t get it off. I probably spent a good 10-15 seconds messing around with it in the lake until I just said screw it and ran with it on into T1.

Time: 12:56 - 1:29/100m pace - 6/48 in AG.

T1:

I fought some more… and a bit more with my wetsuit top in T1. I was getting really frustrated and annoyed, wondering what would happen if I couldn’t get it off because I don’t think you can get assistance from anyone? I probably wasted a good 30-40 seconds just trying to get my top off.

(My top is current en route back to DeSoto to get a zipper retrofitted onto it so I never have this problem again. :P)

Time: 2:01

The Bike:

I remember the course from a couple years ago and thinking that the whole first half was up hill and the whole way back was downhill. I guess my memory was right because it seemed that way again. Someone said that we had a slight headwind on the way out, so I guess that probably contributed to that feeling some.

For pretty much the entire ride, I was riding all by myself which was a really strange feeling. The folks that were in front of me were way in front of me and the folks that were behind me were way behind it seemed.

Sadly, throughout the entire ride I felt flat. I was working, but I knew I wasn’t going very fast. I just haven’t ridden enough this year to post any kind of decent bike splits. :( The headwind out made for a nice tailwind back home and before I knew it, I was making my way back into T2.

Time: 37:04 - 21.9 ( :( ) MPH - 11/48 in AG

T2:

No wetsuit battle = yay! But without socks and with wet feet, my insoles were bunching up making it a bit difficult to get my shoes on quickly. I should probably put speedlaces back on my running shoes too. Getting my running shoes on right took a couple of attempts.

Time: 1:13

The Run:

After a weak showing at the GearWest Duathlon, I told myself I was going to run hard this time. There was this very minor uphill coming out of T2 that nobody would even normally call a “hill”, but boy did it feel like one just coming off the bike. I felt sluggish and tired, but kept telling myself to just keep my cadence up and just to keep moving my feet as quickly as possible.

I approached the mile 1 marker and realized that I hadn’t taken any splits on my own watch since the race started. Oops! So I hit the lap button for the first time at mile 1. The run course was nice and flat and ran right by the lake. It would have made for a really pretty run, but I was too busy gasping for air to really notice too much. I kept waiting to be passed by my friend who was in the wave behind me. Finally, at the turn around I saw that he was 10 feet behind me. He gave me his usual, “Already?” taunt and I told him that I saw someone in his age group pass me about 30 seconds ahead of where we were at and to go chase him down.

I clipped off my second mile in 7:0X and my third in 6:5X according to my watch. It seemed too fast to be true, and the official splits would confirm that something was, indeed, messed up. But although it wasn’t a sub-7 effort, it was still a good run for me.

Time: 22:27 - 7:15 pace - 23/48 in AG.

Summary:

Total time: 1:15:38 - 12/48 in AG - 94/542 overall.

Looking back, I expected my swimming to be considerably better, but I didn’t expect to be doing one arm drills during the swim, so I guess there was probably some time lost there. And my wetsuit top… that damn top. That’s only the second time that I’ve ever had a problem taking it off and the other was during a relay so it didn’t really matter. I definitely lost time and several places as a result of that.

My fitness is OK considering my lack of training in comparison to years past. At this point for the past couple of years, I bet I was already close to putting in 200 miles a week on the bike. I think my biggest week of the year thus far has been 150 miles and I bet my average week is probably closer to 60-70. As disappointed as I am with a 21.9 MPH average, I can’t expect to ride fast if I don’t ride my bike. :( That has to change soon. Hopefully, I’ll get a handful of 4-5 hour rides in before I leave for my honeymoon.

I’m happy with my run split. I was really hoping that I’d have run sub-7s, but even at 7:15 that’s the fastest pace I’ve ever posted in any kind of race, so how can you complain about a PR? My running still needs a boatload of work seeing that I’m at around the top 10% of my age group on the swim, the top 20% on the bike, but can barely manage top 50% on the run. Ugh… the run. That damn run. Slowly but surely, it’s getting better. I just wish progress happened a little more quickly!

Overall, it was a great day. The course was great and the volunteers were plentiful and helpful. We got a pair of shorts instead of a t-shirt which was a nice change of pace from other races. Mantiou is always a great season opener!

Sorry I missed you out there, Heather. Maybe next time. :)