I participated in this event last year and enjoyed it so much that I wanted to come back and du it again. Ha Ha.
This event was held at Chippokes Plantation State Park in Surry which is across the James River from Williamsburg. This is a win win for my family as there is a campground at the state park. So we can camp for the weekend and I can race.
The distances were 5k run, 23 mile bike, 5k run. So last year my first run time was 26:33, bike was 1:19:59 and my second run was 29:59 for a total time of 2:19:21. So my goal was to beat those times. I feel that I am a stronger runner and I have improved my bike by upgrading. Last year I was on a Trek 440, but it was about a size and a half too small. I am now on a Focus Varido 1.0, but more importantly, the correct size.
So here is how things went down.
So we make it to the transition area and I get my bike set up. No issues there. Also, I have been working on my hydration. More specifically not taking too much in. My wife is shocked when she tells me to line up at the porta potty and I tell her that I don't have to go. Anyway, she runs with me for a little bit to help me warm up a bit.
So the time comes and I line up for the start. The waves that they had were Males 44 and younger in the first wave, Males 45 and older in the second wave, females in the third and the final was all teams.
I was in the second wave which went off 3 minutes after the initial gun.
Off we go and I felt good. We get to the turn around at the campground which is a little more then a mile into the race and the first female catches us. At Mile 2 the second female catches us. The third female catches us at about 2.5 and the forth female just before mile 3. I won't lie it was a bit humbling.
So I hit the transition area, stop my watch and switch it to bike mode. I did not look at the time but it was 26:00 flat. 33 sec faster then last year. I felt very good and ready for the bike.
I did not feel like my transition was very smooth, and I am sure it was because I did not "practice" as part of my training. Now we all know how well Mother Nature treated us this winter, not to mention that rodent from PA, but anyway, I won't lie I was a bit concerned about doing well on the bike as I was in the basement on the trainer for most of the winter.
So I am off on the bike. Had a bit of trouble getting on the bike and going but off I went. Now this was a no drafting event and there were many bikers in front of me so I was trying to pace myself but also make sure that I did not get a penalty so close to the start of the bike. I did not want to ex-spell all of my energy within the first couple of miles.
Well I was able to get past them and get into a nice groove (without a penalty, yea). The rural roads of Surry are not too bad. Lots of different farms to look at but not the most pretty either. Nonetheless I was more focused on what was in front of me the around me. I was feeling really good and pedaling strong. Not really much to say about the bike, except that by mile 20 I was starting to get tired and I forgot about a hill toward the end. I got over that and was on my way to the bike finish. I was able to stop without an issue but had a bit of trouble getting off the bike and getting my legs to move forward.
Well I got into transition and after fumbling to change my shoes I was finally able to get things going. Not sure about my official time as it did not record correctly. Neither did my transition times. I got in touch with the race director and he thought that I might have taken my race bib off. The timing chip was on the back of the bib. Well I did not remove my bib, there was just a glitch. However, per my garmin, my bike time was probably about 1:11.
So my goal for the second run was to just keep moving and above all try not to walk. My next goal was to finish it under 30 mins. Main goal, was to keep as close to a 9 min mile as possible.
As I am running along, I came up to a female. As I got closer I could tell she was struggling and she started to walk. I provided her some words of encouragement to keep going, and she did. We played leap frog for a little bit and then after mile 2 I just saw the back of her. Anyway, as we were coming into the campground I saw my family cheering me on. It was a boost. I was feeling good and kept my legs moving.
Well I was coming into the final stretch and I saw the clock. Well I was a little disappointed. Last year I completed the event in 2:19. The clock read 2:11. I was hoping for under 2 hours. Well I got my office time and it read 2:08:37. I forgot that I was in the second wave that started 3 mins after the initial gun.
I was feeling better about that.
My second run was 28:14 for a pace of 9:06.
So to break things down, my first run was 26:04, pace of 8:23 per mile and 96th place overall, 6th in my age group. My bike time did not record properly, but it had me at 2:44:25. My second run again was 28:14, pace of 9:06 per mile and 88th overall and 7th in my age group.
If I go with 1:11 for the bike it would have me at 5th in my age group, which is where I finished overall. 5th in my age group. Very stoked about that.
Over all I am very happy with my performance and I am looking forward to doing this event again next year.
I did some math and adding up the two runs comes to 54:19.12. If I take that time away from my overall time I figure that my two transition time and bike time would be 1:14:18.37. Still is not that bad, plus my run time is a minute off of my PR for a 10k.
So I have a lot to look forward to. I really like the multi sport events and look forward to doing more. Still not sure about a Tri but I have learned to never say never.
