Powerade Tri the Rock Duathlon Recap 5.7.11

Yesterday morning I loaded up my bike and headed to Rock Hill, SC for the Powerade Tri the Rock Triathlon and Duathlon.

Everything started last night after a long day at work. By the time that I had completed my prerace logistics i.e. packing clothes, shoes, accessories, and pre test ride of my bike it was nearly 8pm and I still had to have dinner.

Let's just say that when my head hit the pillow, I was out and didn't wake up until my alarm sounded at 5:01 AM this morning. Upon which, I loaded up a few last minute items – cold Gatorade and water bottles and was on the road by 5:15. At 5:55 I was pulling into the parking lot of the Rock Hill Y. Expectations were that I would be one of the early birds. After all, when I looked at the race info, the race didn't start until 8 AM.

Typically, if I can, I will try to pre-ride the course and if this isn't possible, I will at least do a drive over the course. This morning, I just wasn't able to fit it in. This was a decision that would come back to haunt me later in the race.

By 6:50 I had my bike stuff setup in the transition area and was heading out for preview of the run course. There were a few extra turns, some grass sections, some side walk sections, and some neighborhood sections, but all in all, it wasn't a bad 5k course. It wasn't hilly at all.

Around 7:20, I rolled back to the transition area and heard them giving the swimmers and runners the prerace instructions. OMG, were they starting now? Actually, no, I had all of 8 minutes to hustle back to my car and switch over to my racing flats. Luckily, I had already put on my race number and just needed to switch out my shoes. There wasn't any need for extra strides or accelerations before the start because I got them all in going between my car and the starting line. I pulled up just as they were getting lined up only to learn, we would be delayed by 3 minutes. Well, at least, I got a chance to catch my breath.

Looking around at the start I saw Wes. We had raced together last week at the University Duathlon. I had barely nipped him during that race and I wasn't so sure about it this week.

Finally, we were off. They had to synchronize the run and swim starts. Some guy took off. Neither Wes nor I knew him. He was fast for the first ¼ mile, but I had run him down by the turn around.

I made it back to the transition area at the same time as the first swimmers. I pulled off my shoes, grabbed my headed helmet, and headed out. This week I was trying something a little different. I clipped my shoes to the bike beforehand and ran to the mount line bare foot. This is the first time that I had ever tried this technique in competition. I must admit something. Pedaling, putting on your shoes while riding down the road was far easier when I practiced earlier in the week. Doing it while out breathe and trying to get out fast, well, this isn't as easy as these guys make it look in the videos and in the big time races.

Needless to say, my goal was accomplished on the shoe front and going forward I will continue to work on this technique. I will get it mastered sooner or later – hopefully sooner but most likely later.

Wes was right behind me coming out the transition and would soon pass me on the road. Try as I might; I could not seem to match his speed on the bike. He was probably a minute and ½ ahead of me at the turn around.

The fog was unreal this morning. I couldn't see more than 50 yards ahead of me. For the first time that I can remember, my bike was actually soaked. Water was actually dripping from the bike over the last 8 miles of the ride.

Toward end of the ride, the fog was lifting so everything looked different. There was this one funky "Y" shape intersection where 161 and 601 split. I started down the wrong way so I had to make a U-turn come back and then U-turn on to the correct road to reach the transition area. Fortunately, they didn't access us a penalty for leaving the course. Possibly they thought the time we lost was penalty enough.

There are a couple of other points about the bike course that I would like to make. I had thought the bike course was flatter than it was. This led me to use my disk wheel which wasn't one of my better ideas. The course was actually very hilly with lots of long up hills and long down hills. Dragging my disk wheel along was like dragging along a ball and chain. In retrospect, I should have switched over to my Zipp wheels. I chalk this up to a lessons learned for next year.

Back in the transition area, I am trying to rack my bike and change my shoes when the race director comes up to ask about the off road course riding that we did. Well, maybe this wasn't the right time for him to be asking, but I answered his questions and then head out for the 5k run. One of the guys from the Tri matched up with me. We ran for about a ½ mile together when I guess he decided to let me go.

I couldn't see anyone in front of me and by two miles I was all alone. With nothing really to chase at this point, I put it in cruise mode and headed for the finish.

The results posted at the race for the Duathlon were a little screwy. They had this guy in the Clydesdale division beating both Wes and me. I was like "What". Only Wes and two other guys had passed me on the ride and I am pretty sure both of those guys were in the Tri and not the Du. What made it even more screwy was that he didn't have any time for the first run leg and his total time reflected the sum of his bike leg, transition time, and run leg. Yes, those math skills of being able to add something up in your head were put to good use. I brought this to the attention of the race director and he said that he would take care of it.

So I see now that they have corrected it on the posted results online.

Overall, I was happy with my run legs, disappointed in with the bike leg (I thought I could go a little faster than 22 mph for 16 miles), and really happy with the T1 transition. It stunk that I went off course during the ride, but I blame myself. I should have known the course.

Place

Name

Bib No

Age

Gender

Rnk

Time

Pace

Time

Rnk

Time

Pace

Time

Rnk

Time

Pace

Time

Time

2

Bill Shires

159

47

M

1

05:35

5:35

00:27

2

42:58

22.3

00:52

1

18:17

5:54

1:08:12

1:08:12

 

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner