Well the first triathlon of the season is out of the way and its a good feeling. The race itself had nothing "feel good" about it but it was definitely good to race again. Here's a lil race report for ya:
The weather forecast was true to its word and the temps were below freezing when I loaded up my bike at 6:00 am Saturday morning. I'd driven out to Athens, Tx the night before and spent the night with my family in the Holiday Inn Express there. Race morning I was catching a ride with one of my friends clients, she had an extra space on her bike rack so I thought I might as well carpool.
Got to transition. Set up. Body marked. All that good jazz then headed out for a nice run. Ran out to the 1 mile mark and back then did some strides and stretching. The legs felt alright. There was a little bit of tightness right beneath my glute but nothing too bad. By the time I was done with warm up it was almost 7:30 when the pre race meeting was supposed to start. Jack Weiss was directing this race and he is an excellent race director. His races are well organized and safety is a big priority with him. This means that he doesn't allow exceptions and when he said everyone needed to be at the pre race meeting, he means EVERYONE. This resulted in me not getting a chance to warm up for the swim. Oh well, it was only 300m so I'd survive.
I was #15 but a couple people didn't show up so I believe I was 11th in line. This was a pool swim for which I was eternally grateful and so they started people every 10 seconds. I jumped in and within 100m, caught, and passed the guy in front of me. Running out of the warm pool area into the cold was a shock and I quickly pulled on a long sleeve shirt over my wet skin. Helmet and bib number on I was off after having passed about 5 people or so in the transition area.
The bike was freezing and my face went numb within the first couple miles. The temperatures were mid to low 30's but luckily the wind wasn't too severe. Still between the miles of chip seal, bone rattling asphalt, slight rolling hills, and cold temperatures it wasn't exactly enjoyable.
I passed more people on the bike until I was riding in second with a few miles left. It was at this point that #24 blew by me and my dreams of winning the race took a dive. I knew that this guy who had just gone by me was a superb cross country runner and had hoped that I would be able to out bike him. No such luck and I entered transition about :30 down to him and 1:30 off the lead.
I had trouble putting my shoes on because I couldn't feel my feet or fingers at all and once I started the situation didn't improve much. Essentially I couldn't feel anything from my waist down and had no perception of how fast or hard I was going. At the turn around I saw that I had actually made up some ground on the first guy off the bike. He had started 9th so I knew I only had to get within :40 or so of him to beat him.
My face had become so numb on the bike that my eyes were half shut and I couldn't open them all the way. I could see well enough to not fall over but couldn't make out facial features or bib numbers at all. This meant that I didn't notice how apparently horrible the guy directly in front of me was doing until I crossed the line and saw him laying face first on the ground. I had gained a little more on him, enough to beat him when chip timing was factored in but not enough to quite pass him. He had a mild case of hypothermia and they whisked him off to an ambulance to warm him up. My extremities were still cold but my core was warm from the heat I had been generating.
All in all it was a good start to the season. I ended up 3rd overall for which I was pleased. My splits were extremely slow, especially on the bike but it is hard to gauge in such cold weather. Next up is the Galveston Triathlon on March 29th. I'm looking forward to summer and racing in the Texas heat!!
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