Rematch with Shadow Cliffs

In August 2009 I completed my first sprint triathlon, the Tri For Fun held in and around the Shadow Cliffs regional park. The Tri For Fun races are a series of three identical races at the same venue with one race each in June, July and August. It makes a good, timed (somewhat) and supported brick workout. Plus it is well attended so no matter your level it is likely you'll have lots of people to race with.

Since I hate all things early morning, I got a hotel room a few minutes away from the park, which would allow sleeping in an extra hour. Got out of bed at 5:30 and put the gear and the bike in the truck and drove to the park. The coach of the Berkeley Y team I met at Lake Temescal earlier in the week had reserved a whole rack for her group and I crashed their party, said hi to her and met some of the team.



Pointed out to a few of them that they probably didn't want to come out of T1 in the big chainring as the bike course immediately climbs the access road out of the park. "That's just the kind of stuff we need."

Got registered, body marked, and remembered to pick up a T-shirt this year. Took some pictures and checked out the vendors.



Near the end of the pre-race meeting (like so)



I got into my wetsuit so I could warm up in the lake before my wave. This took a few minutes more than expected and the race had started with the "competive" wave already rounding the first buoy as I took my first plunge. That only left one other wave to warm up and get over to the start.

Forgot ear plugs but decided it would be OK. The water was warmer than Lake Temescal. 72 they said.

Started outside right mid pack swim. Definitely hadn't acclimated enough yet. Had a bit of panic about 50 yards in but knew it wasn't serious and breast stroked for about 10 seconds and regrouped. It was kind of tight quarters to the first buoy so a bit of breast stroke would have happened anyway. There wasn't room to move faster. One guy drifted over to me and it was like we were siamese twins for like 20 yards. Finally he looped his arm over my head and realized I was there and veered off. Took the inside line from buoy 1 to 2 and sighted well and tracked straight! Amazing. Maybe it was because the Baby Shampoo anti-fog treatment I learned about works really well and I had clear goggles for the whole swim. What a difference that makes.

Was able to crawl with decent form and pace and even relaxed a bit, to the point where I was saving some effort so the bike and run would benefit. There was no crowd at buoy 2. Rounded the corner at speed and followed feet to the exit. Hit the shallows and walked out. Pulled the Garmin out from under the swim cap and saw about 8:20. Not bad. Almost 20% faster than last time. Still room for improvement but it may take starting closer to the front, properly warmed up.



Had the wetsuit off the shoulders by the time I got to dry ground. Removed cap and goggles. At that point I was right about here:



[Kind of a cool feature in RubiTracks that is sort of hidden. You have to go into track log view and click on a track point to see it. It makes it pretty straightforward to go through your data and cut multi-sport events into their individual pieces.]

Walked to mid transition while I evaluated how I felt. Answer: pretty good. Jogged to bike. Changed gear carefully figuring it would save time in the end. Shirt was a bit of a struggle to put on even though it was rolled up beforehand, but not bad. Put gloves on just to be safe. Bike did not want to come out of rack. Too tall for the hang-by-the-seat method. Should have hung the bars over the top. Sat down to put shoes on. Socks were a little crooked, and the right shoe ratchet did a thing I would call cross threading if it was a screw, but those were minor problems.

Passed like 6 stationary guys at the mount area by just stepping on the left pedal and throwing a leg over the bike as it rolled. Spun up the hill and began passing a lot of people. Heading down Stanley (flat and straight) one guy came out of my draft and started eking away. I was trying to hang at his pace and we were leaping from one slower rider to another. HR was kind of high. In a range I don't think I was able to use last time. Didn't feel really strong but felt like I had a 30 minute pace I could hold. Drank maybe 5-6 ounces of gatorade. Drink. Wait. Wait. Burp. Drink. Repeat.

It was a different bike segment than last time for sure. Starting in the right wave (M40+) meant that only the "competitive" and M15-39 athletes were out front. Still passed too many people to count though. Bike course is here:



On the back half of the 10 mile lap another couple of guys played the drafting game and popped out from behind me right before the steep little hill where you cross Old Vineyard. I hung with them and repassed one on the hill and hung back from the other one. Again, could have drafted him in but decided not to. Wanted to compare my effort to last time and there was no one to draft last time. Got him in T2 though. [Apparently, because he passed me for good later on the run.] Dismount was good. Shoe change was pretty quick. Ditched glasses and didn't bring any drink. T2 was much nicer this time being in one of the early waves. Things hadn't gotten messed up yet. My spot was the way I had left it.

The run course:



Starting out on the run the mantra was simple. Remember to pick the knees up and try and keep the cadence up and wait for the legs to feel proper. HR was still up (considered this a good sign) but I was able to relax a bit and open up by about 1/2 mile. Was able to stretch it out and go faster on the level/downhill stuff. Powered up the little climbs and recovered on the back side. Tried hard not to let the pace slack anywhere. Got passed by more runners than last time but also passed plenty myself. Will be interested to see run splits.

Two guys passed me in the last quarter mile but I was so close to popping I couldn't speed up and hold it, and I had to wait for the sprint in the chute to try and out kick them. Got one but missed the other by about 20 yards.

Cold oranges sliced into quarters were good.

The data:

Swim 8:19 (~36:00 mile)
T1 3:32
Bike 28:13 (9.5 miles @20.2 mph)
T2 1:10
Run 27:22 (5k@8:49/mile) [8:50, 9:00, 8:20. Last 1/4 mile was ~7:00 pace. Last 10 sec was ~4:00 pace !]

Last time:

Swim ~40:00 mile
Bike 20.1 mph
Run 9:30/mile

Felt pretty good in this event. Mostly I was pushing max sustainable effort but overall felt like it was well in hand. In the first go round the swim and bike felt a lot harder and took it out of me for the run. Now I need to work on being able to stomach some useful nutrients. Frappucino in a can is a very likely suspect. Sugar, caffeine and some protein in a small palatable container sounds worth trying.

For your edification, there's one more thing I learned this weekend. Had to improvise a bottle opener for a frosty beverage in my hotel room because I forgot to pack one.