Sunrise Tri – Boulder Res 2011
Having a good start to the season in Lake Havasu – and I mean just about everything going right before the race, I had the opposite experience from March 19th until just recently.
I had a great block of training in Tucson following Lake Havasu and I felt as though things were clicking. Heading into Collegiate Nationals is usually a tough time for me with keeping things organized and on schedule. My training usually takes a little 10 day and this year was no different. The only thing that didn’t help me was pulling my left calf before Nationals and not really getting it figured out for almost two months. Ugh. This happens every once in a while, and when you are on a roll it’s even tougher. There is a fine line to being ‘fit’ and being ‘injured’. Living that line is a dangerous thing.
I was to race the Oktoberfest triathlon, but the swim was cancelled and the race turned into a Duathlon. I knew I probably had a decent 5k in me, but not sure I could race a Duathlon – the stress on going from run to bike to run was probably a bad idea and I decided to not race. I heard later that the run course was rutted and I was glad I didn’t try to give it a go. I was certainly in no shape to make things worse.
I decided to jump into the Sunrise Tri at the last minute, not really caring about times as much just a place to see where my overall 2+ hour fitness was. The swim started well, but I soon found myself outside of the buoy on the way out and the same on the way in. I probably lost a good amount of time here, but exited with a few fast guys, so I wasn’t whole disappointed. I then rode pretty hard going out 36 and down Nelson. My watts stayed solid throughout and knew I was having a good ride. Part of wanting to see where my fitness stands is also to see how I run after staying aero for so long. Yep, that didn’t turn out so well. The ride went great and I even backed off the last couple of miles to give my legs a break.
Off the bike I knew I was not going to run well, but knew I had to give it my best shot. I ran pretty hard for the first 5k and was still around 7:00 pace which was disappointing. I was closing on Dave Sheanin, but lost him at the 2nd turn around and lost some steam on the way back out. My calf did a little ‘grab’ on the way up the hill for the 2nd loop and I knew right then I had to back off a bit. I suffered through the last 5k and just did my best not to make the calf worse and was able to come in 4th in my AG. My run ended up right around 7:00 pace and it wasn’t terrible, considering how I was feeling but I know I had a better run in me, had I biked a little smarter.
At this race, Dave got me by 54 seconds and I know this was almost ALL in the swim. Ugh. Swimming straight is definitely something I need to work on for the rest of the season.
Hats off to Dave – looking forward to Loveland Lake 2 Lake!