Presque Isle Triathlon

Race: Sprint Triathlon
Date: August 25, 2012
Location: Erie, Pa.
Time: 1:24:47.10
Overall Rank: 100 out of 356
Age Group Rank: 12 out of 25
Results: http://www.runhigh.com/2012RESULTS/R082512FA/AgeGroups.htm

This was my last triathlon of the season and I had a blast. Not only did I do well athletically but I was in the company of many friends. The location was on a peninsula extending several miles out into Lake Erie from near Erie, Pennsylvania. The date was Saturday, August 25th, which is significant because if I wasn’t doing this with friends, I would have missed the event completely. On my calendar, I had entered August 26th and was not even aware of my mistake until the afternoon before the race! Good thing I still had time to eat a big dinner and start drinking a lot of water to manage my hydration.

SWIM segment, 640 yards
Time: 13:34.10
Age Group Rank: 7 out of 25

The swim course was laid out as a 640-yard triangular course in Presque Isle Bay. This shallow body of water is located between the peninsula and the mainland, so it was supposed to be warmer and calmer water than if we were swimming on the Lake-facing side. Key phrase here is “supposed to be.” The wind was stiff (14mph gusting to 18mph) and the waves were significant (for swimming). Water temperature seemed to be in the mid 70s, which wasn’t too bad. However, the water was murky with visibility measured in inches and there was some floating, stringy seaweed. Except for the challenging wave action, I have swum in these conditions before. But one more thing made the swim a challenge: the swim was run as a time-trial start in alphabetical order of the swimmers’ last names. This means a slow swimmer with a last name starting with ‘A’ would be quickly overtaken by a faster swimmer with a last name listed later in the alphabet. This is an inconvenience for the fast swimmer and something really terrible for the slower swimmers, as they might be inadvertently pushed around by surrounding swimmers in addition to the nasty waves. The waves were really terrible, even for me, a fairly strong swimmer. I swallowed lots of water in the beginning but soon adjusted by rotating far to my side to take breaths between strokes. My biggest challenge was staying on course. I think I naturally swim to the right of center, and after the first turn of the triangular course I veered far to the right. A lifeguard on a Sea-doo watercraft intersected me and pointed the way. I looked up and saw about two dozen swimmers at least 25 yards to my left. That’s where I was supposed to be! I think I lost a lot of time being so far off course, and I got discouraged a little. Plus, with the heavy wave action, I found I was kicking with my legs a lot more during my freestyle than normal. So with some concern for lost time and wasted energy, I pushed hard to finish the third side of the triangle and I exited the water and ran to the transition area near the beach. I passed at least 10 people as I ran to the transition area. These folks were clearly fatigued by fighting that choppy water and seeing their distress made me feel a lot better about my own condition (sorry for them, though). My swim time was 13:34.10, which ranked 7 out of 25 in my age group.

T1 TRANSITION
My transition time between swim and bike was 2:25.95, which ranked 191 out of 356 non-relay race participants.

BIKE segment, 13 miles
Time: 37:09.00
Age Group Rank: 10 out of 25

Triathlon bike segment was along a park road

My pre-race strategy was to swim and bike as hard as I could and then run with whatever energy I had left. Running is my weakest area and in past triathlons I think I have held back on the bike segment so that I wouldn’t fatigue on the run. For today’s race, I was just going to go all-out and risk fatigue on the run. I can’t say that I swam as hard as I could on the swim segment because I simply wasn’t concentrating on my pace. I was concentrating on beating those terrible waves. So now that I was on the bike, I pedaled hard and didn’t stop until the end of the 13-mile course. The wind was still a problem at the beginning; a headwind made me work hard to maintain my average 21 mph speed on this flat course. The wind was the only challenge though; Presque Isle is basically a giant sandbar and the highest point on the whole peninsula is 7 feet above the Lake’s surface! I passed a bunch of folks on the bike and was only passed by racers who wore the teardrop-shaped bike helmets that have become popular among the top triathletes. No offense to anyone who wears one of those, but I think they look dorky and wouldn’t shave enough time off my race time to warrant wearing one (or warrant buying one at $175). Nevertheless, those folks passed me, so something has made them fast. I just doubt it’s the helmet.

Within the first mile on the ride I passed a friend of mine with a last name starting with ‘A.’ This didn’t mean I was going to beat him in the end, since he is a much faster runner. So I kept charging on that bike. About a mile before the end of the bike segment I passed another friend with a last name starting with ‘K’ (just like my last name!), so now I knew I was competitive and I tried to stay ahead of him the rest of the day. My bike time was 37:09.00, which ranked 10th out of 25 men in my age group.

T2 TRANSITION
My transition time between bike and run was 1:44.15 and ranked 276 out of 356 participants. One of my friends asked me later why I took so long to change into my running shoes. I have no good answer to this. I think I just go slow because I’m mentally preparing for the run (a big challenge for me) and that occupies my thoughts. I was never good at multi-tasking.

RUN segment, 3.5 miles
Time: 30:09.90
Age Group Rank: 14 out of 25

The 3.5-mile run course was out-and-back on a paved road for most of the way. My legs felt great but I was out of breath in the beginning. I consumed a GU for fuel and by the time I was done I had gotten into a sustainable rhythm. For a short while I was running pretty fast (for me), but I slowed down just a bit in order to manage my energy and be sure to complete the race. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t done this because I still had energy to burn as I crossed the finish line.

Near the finish line of the triathlon run segment.

Just before the turn-around point, my ‘A’-named friend that I passed on the bike segment passed me on the run. I expected this, but because he started the race earlier than me, it wasn’t clear how much he would have to beat me in the run in order to beat me overall. Since this was an out-and-back course, I looked at people who were racing in the opposite direction. I was both looking for my friends as well as the peoples’ race numbers, which indicated their placement in the alphabet and thus their start time in the race. I saw a satisfying amount of people behind me that had race numbers below mine. This meant that I was going to beat them in the overall race. I hate to admit that I am such a competitive person, but knowing I am beating somebody (anybody!) helps me keep going. For example, I saw my friend ‘C’ and then my friend ‘K’ and they were both behind me. I was beating them. Yay!

At the finish line, my friend ‘A’ called out and said “Jim, this is where you can sprint!” and since I still had energy left, I followed through with the advice and sped up. I finished the run in 30:03.90, which ranked 14 out of 25 in my age group. Overall, I finished the sprint triathlon in 1:24:47.10, which ranked 12 out of 25 in my age group and 100 out of 356 overall. I beat all my friends, and I am surprised that I feel less jubilant about that than I thought I would. I’m pleased about it, but beating them was really not that important. We finished the race; we supported one another; we bonded in the experience. That’s why I’m happy tonight.