Today's was Leons Tri, "worlds fastest triathlon" although it should now be renamed to "worlds wettest triathlon." To be fair, before I begin, the race officials did a great job handling a less than perfect situation. Kudos to Lifetime Fitness, Hootie and the rest of the crew. I cannot imagine how tough it was to handle everything the weather threw at them today.
We all had seen the weather reports so we expected some issues for the day. Most of us came prepared for rain. I had a whole box of large garbage bags to wrap up everything from my backpack to my shoes and helmet. Good thing too. I handed out about half dozen to others to wrap their backpacks as things got wetter.
We had set the tents up the day before so Chris banded them together to keep them stable when the winds picked up.
We all settled in about the same area for a Trimonster transition area, but the official came and took down our Trimonster sign saying it was against USAT rules. Ok. We were all together anyway. I pumped up my tires with a pump borrowed from Pierre (thanks Pierre!) and wrapped up my bike gear in one bag and running gear in another, placed them one behind the other in the box, put my bike computer into my new waterproof bento box and put a bag over my gears and seat and strapped my helmet to the seat to keep it in place. I should have gone back into transition when they let us in briefly before the race started after the rainstorm and opened stuff up but I didn't. That cost me a few minutes but I'm not complaining.
The race was to begin later than normal because Leon's has a focus on the armed forces. This year they had the national armed forces championship and those athletes had a 7 am start. They got out just fine and did their whole race but as they returned from the run, the rains began. Then the winds and lightening on the water stopped all waves of the race from entering for about an hour as we waited for the rain to dissipate. The storm cell on radar looked extremely bad. Had it hit, we might've been much worse off. However, we appeared to have gotten the edge of the storm and about an hour later the weather appeared to be clearing. The race officials were working to decide how to handle all the racers who stuck it out. I saw a few people give up and just leave. It was very cold and wet waiting, even if you had a jacket or rain poncho etc. We all put our wetsuits on for warmth and that helped a lot. I had chastised myself for wearing an extra pair of tennis shoes this morning, thinking I was wasting space, but I was very glad I had them instead of flip flops today. My feet would have been far colder. I also had a rain coat but I really wished I had brought my squall coat instead, it has a nice soft lining. Anyway, we all survived.
The announcer was making announcements to let us know what was going on in the officials minds. They gave us about the right amount of information for the morning. Not enough to upset us but enough to keep us abreast of the possibility that the race might go on.
Finally they announced that the race would be a mandatory Sprint tri and that the distances would be .23 mile swim, 9 mi bike and 5K run. The officials did a good job of reordering the cones and getting volunteers out on the new course. They had to shorten the bike due to water covering the roads making them impassable. They also had the timing for road closures in Hammond to deal with. I was impressed with the organization and how well it was changed and the signage clarity for such a quick change. It wasn't even a full sprint so changes to the sprint course must've been made. It was fine.
We all hopped in the water in our various waves. The hard part of the swim wasn't the temperature or even the condition. Surprisingly the water condition was pretty good after high winds and rains, it was pretty smooth. Better than yesterday! My problem was I didn't know what the course was. Of course a short one like that doesn't have many ways to go wrong but small mistakes affect that time more than for a long course. I swam into a boat at one point, not hitting it but the guys were yelling at me to go to the buoy, which was behind the boat so I lost a few seconds hunting for it. I did the swim in 9:47 so that's okay.
I got out and ran to my bike. It's a pretty long haul to the transition area but I managed to run it. I was feeling pretty good. I got to my new Scott bike, never been ridden outside yet, and got my shoes and helmet on. Forgot my clear sunglasses to I was looking into the rain and doing a lot of blinking today. Not terrible but another issue. Oh yes, I didn't start my Garmin multisport timer right so I was just hitting the lap button for each phase for time but it didn't track speed or time for me. I was irritated at myself about that. I do have my bike computer though so I could see my speed.
We did three 3 mile loops today. I tried to use the tailwind and the downhill to my advantage and revved up my speed faster on each successive loop. The last one I got it up to 24 mph. I was happy about that. The returns got harder as the winds and rain returned. I was doing like 12 mph at times battling heavy cross winds and head winds, they kept shifting, and rain. Finally got off the bike and to my amazement my legs were still fresh. The new bike is 2 inches larger so I think I'm using my legs differently and much better. I could run off the bike today. That is very new for me.
I did 38 min on the bike for an average speed of 14 mph total if it was 9 miles. At 10 miles it's more like 16 mph which I think is more accurate.
I headed out on the run and struck a speed I thought I could maintain. I carried my water so didn't stop at any aid station today. The wind and rain was an effect at the last 1.5 mi as it became a heavy head wind and cross wind over the lake. It was actually a very pleasant run though, cool and not too rainy, making it a very comfortable run. Not hot and humid like it got a bit later. I hustled myself around the course and came around the pavilion where a bunch of folks said, it's almost done so I started to sprint more...only to find out that I had yet another loop of about .25 mile to do so I slowed down to keep my HR under control. When I did see the finish I picked up my speed and hurried across the finish. I walked for about 2 mins on the run thinking I might do better with a run/walk plan but several people passed me and I never caught up to them again, although they remained in my sights. I wish I had not walked at all. I didn't need to today. I'll only walk/run for 10 mile or longer races in the future. I finished the run in 36 mins, which is a 12 min pace. That's pretty good for me. I can go faster but I wanted to keep my HR lower and be able to sprint to the finish.
I accomplished my goal today I think. It was a good training race, although half the distance I had planned. If I had done a full Sprint, the time would have been 1:36 with a consistent pace from this race. That was completely doable. I was not over exerting myself at any point and had a good HR throughout. Had I done my Olympic at that pace, I would have done a 3:12. Both these times would be huge PR times for me. My best Sprint has been a consistent 1:47 for two years and my Olympic best time was 3:42 last summer. I believe I would have been able to maintain the pace I set for this race through the Olympic without a problem. I'm very encouraged at the level of improvement this race indicates. My last half indicated I was doing better, but the run was awful. Probably because the bike was my old bike.
LEONS RACE REPORTI had been using a bike that was 2inches too small for me so this one has my legs in much better position apparently. I'm feeling a great deal more energetic off the bike these days and looking forward to some new better times with Ruthless. Oh yes I also got to wear my new wetsuit, never been worn; Vendetta sleeveless which picked up my legs and did make me feel I was swimming faster. I guess I'm on a road to vindication this year...proving I'm a better athlete than I ever was in Triathlon and building myself up in preparation for the IMLOU full iron man. I am thinking that I can do this more and more now. So glad I got my new ride. She's an amazing filly!
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