Wilmington YMCA Race report

First the results

Official results master Clydesdale division
overall place swim rank/time t1 bike rank/time t2 run rank/time total time
10 WILLIAM REID 10 23:46 1:35 6 35:31 1:54 15 26:35 1:29:20

watch results
swim t1 bike t2 run total
21:12 4:46 34:51 1:55 26:35 1:29:22

This was one of my A races, and I had 4 goals for this race.
1. Swim straight and fast
2. Bike at least 21 mph ave
3. Run the last mile faster than the first
4. beat 1:30 total time

What a great day, started off at 4:45 with the alarm going off. wanted to hit snooze, but couldn't find it so I hit every button I could find until the damn thing stopped beeping. by this time I couldn't go back to sleep if I wanted to so I got up.
ate breakfast, took a shower to warm up the body, packed all my stuff into the back pack and headed out.

We were staying at the residence inn landfall which was about 2.5 miles from the race site, so instead of driving I just rode my bike. It was 5:30 and pitch black. I bought a light set from Dick's yesterday so the cars could see me and I figured all the cars on the road would be going to the race and not want to kill me :-). Got to the race all warmed up, setup transition, got chip and body marked, then did a quick 5 min run warmup before getting on the bus. This race is a point to point swim and they bus you to the start. Once at the start I had an hour to wait until my start time, so I sat down, ate half my power bar and chatted with some other waiters. Two coworkers found me and I had some people to pass the time with. About a half hour before my start was the official start so I wanted to get in the water and warm up before that. the water temp was about 80 and felt so good compared to the air temp of 60. After warmup I had to get out again and freeze for 20 minutes before getting back in for the last 10 mins before my group started.

The swim: my goal, swim straight and fast. Let the shoulders burn. Started off in front and when the gun went off followed some feet for a while, but they were going right so I let them go and stayed on my line. There was a big boat I wanted to head for and was not going off course. Most people were on my right which is good for me as I like breathing right and it helps keep me in line. I guess they were all following someone or the current was taking them because the big pack kept drifting right. I stayed on course and headed for my boat. As we got closer, I could see the big pack having to adjust course and when we rounded the boat, I was in front.woo hoo. This is a little over half way and my shoulders were feeling the burn, but didn't want the pack to catch me so I just kept pulling hard. Next you have to swim to the dock. Couldn't see it yet, but I knew it was a slight right followed by a left to get around a small Island. There is a marker that you can sight on. Once again a big pack started going right and I gained some more ground. Hit the ladder in 20 something, got out and started the long run, about 1/4 to 1/2 mile to transition. Took about 3 minutes and my feet were not happy about running on the road without shoes.

T1: After the jog to transition, I changed quickly and headed out on the bike. Sucked down a gel as well, just in case. There were 1300 athletes in this race, so transition was huge, and at 6:15 when I left my spot it was till dark. Luckily I scouted the area out and found my bike and stuff easily.

Bike: It was windy today but luckily the wind was at our backs to start so transition from swim/run to bike went well. You start off going over a drawbridge, and you don't have room to pass. They tell us over and over don't pass and every year I see some dufus passing on the bridge. Amazingly, not this year. Last time I did this race, there were potholes galore after the left turn as you come off the bridge, Amazingly again, they were filled. That was where I got my flat last time and I took these two things as a good omen for the bike and tried to get into a rhythm. Unfortunately, it was crowed on the bike, and they was a lot of traffic for 7 am on a saturday morning, so dodging cars and other bikers meant the first part was out of my aero bars. Finally we hit Oleander and I could get into them and really go. when we made the turn into the wind I had been averaging 23 mph, that didn't last long. The wind was brutal at one point and I was red lining and looked down to see I was doing all of 17, but I was still passing people. The wind finally let up and I rolled into transition with my 21 mph ave :-), two down, two togo.

t2: nothing to see here, move along...

Run: This report is too long for my coach to read ;-), so I can tell you she called me during the week. I was having a nice stress free week, not worried about my big race and she apparently thought I was taking it to easy. With words like "This is a big race for you" ok, so now I'm all nervous. I started running and wow, this isn't too bad, so let's go faster. I wanted to do about 9:15 to start and then get faster as I went and of course run my last mile all out. I got to the mile 1 marker and my watch said 9:35, now I wasn't going fast, but I wasn't going that slow either. later I would realize that this marker was long. I picked up the pace and was actually passing people on the run which gave me more adrenalin. At the last waterstop I grabbed a cup and walked for 5 seconds to get some down then started my final push. Went over the last bridge and every time someone passed me I would try to pick up the pace, eventually I felt like I was at my 400 pace on the track and I had about half mile to go. When we hit the final turn into the finish area, the guy at the corner said 1/4 mile to go and just then a MC went by me. I tried my best to stay with him, but I was at the limit and he was still pulling away. They moved the finish around the corner from last time so when I made that turn to where the finish used to be I was all like where the hell is the finish. Luckily it was just one more turn and then finish. If I had to guess I would say I did 9:15/9:00/8:21.

I was definitely euphoric after this race as I hit all 4 of my goals and they had these amazing brownies at the finish. Three brownies later I was on my bike for the short ride back to the hotel. My legs were spent and riding back was tough with the 20 lb back pack, but the legs did feel better by the time I got to the hotel so it worked out well.

If you do this race I would highly recommend the Residence Inn landfall and biking to/from the race. It was much easier not having to deal with traffic and parking getting to and leaving the race. And the hotel has a full kitchen and fridge, and a hot tub :-).

up next Pinehurst, Can't wait :-)