My good friend and long time cycling buddy, Mark Nash, has, in recent years, been doing triathlons. In fact, he has completed two Ironman's - Coeur d' Alene 2009 and Lake Placid 2010. Last weekend he did the 8th annual Ironstar "half iron" triathalon on the north side of Houston at Lake Conroe. We always tease Mark about his slow transitions, the interval between the swim and the bike and between the bike and the run. We figured in the past that if he had simply had the average 'T" time he would have moved up several places in the overall. Hence, the emphasis on transitions in the following write-up. From the athlete himself...btw, it was around 38 deg F Sunday morning at the start of the race.
This story started last year same race. Last year was almost glory. I missed finishing in the top spot of my age group by seconds, just a few seconds. I knew that last years top finisher aged up so with some hard training this race could be mine. Pre race I survey the competition and it does not look tough. I figure if I stick with my plan this race could be mine.
Race day starts at 3:30am, time to get up and drive to the race. It is cold and dark but I’m ready. The 60 mile trek is uneventful. I eat my breakfast, drink my pre race drink, otherwise make good use of the drive.
I get to the start of the race and set up my transition area. It is still cold, damp and dark. Nothing like being next to the lake to make cold feel colder. I put on my wetsuit just to keep warm. I march over to the swim start with all the other brave athletes.
The start of the race is delay do to fog. My feet at this point are blue. Finally the race starts but I’m in the 4th wave, more waiting. My wave is finally sent into the water which I’m hoping is warmer than the surface air but it is not. I’m shocked and stunned by the cold which really effected my swimming. I struggle forward. I never really get into a good swimming rhythm and my feet are still frozen. It feels like I’m dragging 2 blocks of ice behind me. I struggle forward. I finally get out of the harbor and into the lake only to get off course and end going really wide. As I attempt to get back on course I see that the main body of swimmers are now walking. We have not had much rain lately and the lake is low. I stop trying to get back on course where everyone is walking thing that I can swim faster than they can walk. At this point both my feet and hands hurt from the cold. I struggle on.
I finally make the last turn and head for the exit boat ramp only to miss the carpeting. I stumble onto the raw concrete trying to balance myself on 2 frozen feet. As I continue to try and get my balance I hear this kind voice from one of the volunteer. She see that I’m having trouble and said "Just follow my voice honey" and I did. I stagger up to the strippers and find the 2 most inexperience stripers possible. They tried hard and it was almost like we were fighting each other trying to get my wetsuit off. I give them credit because they persevered and finally managed to get my wetsuit off. From there I headed to the bathroom and finally to T1. It was a tough swim and challenging transition but eventual make it to my bike.
By the time I got on my bike the weather had improved 100%. I had figured I was going to have to steal some warm clothing from someone but that was no longer necessary. The bike route headed north into the rolling hills of the park. I was riding well and feeling good. At the small town of Richardson we turned west and at this point I realized why I was doing so well earlier. The wind was out of the south heading north and thus I had been riding a tail wind. So much for the easy ride. As I went west I battled the cross wind and eventual when I had to head south back to T2 I battled the head wind. I did manage to make it back for those of you in the know I did not lose one water bottle the entire ride. That was a major victory.
I get back to T2 and drop off my bike and slowly change into my running gear. At this point I notice that there is one bike already in my age group area. I figure I will just have to catch him on the run. As I leave T2 I lose all my electrolytes and all but one of my Gue. I move onto the run course.
The run course is a 3 loop course with about 100 turns per loop. I think it was designed after a formula one race track. It had the extra bonus of running through some freshly cut fields. Nothing like adding a little cross country workout into the event. I ran on. By the 3rd lap I had it figured out and started to feel comfortable. I started to air it out but realized that the last lap even thou it was the last lap was 4 miles long. It was way to early to start my sprint so I backed it off. This was a wise decision because at that point the heat was starting to take it’s toll on me.
I never did find that age grouper that was ahead of me. As it turns out he was 27 minutes ahead of me. So once again I finished 2nd. Well there is always next year.
My final report card.
Swim was 38:21, 5th out of the water in my age group. I guess swimming is faster than walking.
T1 was 7:26, basically last
Bike was 2:49, 4th
T2 was 6:25, really last
Run was 1:43, 2nd.
This is my story and I’m sticking to it.
This story started last year same race. Last year was almost glory. I missed finishing in the top spot of my age group by seconds, just a few seconds. I knew that last years top finisher aged up so with some hard training this race could be mine. Pre race I survey the competition and it does not look tough. I figure if I stick with my plan this race could be mine.
Race day starts at 3:30am, time to get up and drive to the race. It is cold and dark but I’m ready. The 60 mile trek is uneventful. I eat my breakfast, drink my pre race drink, otherwise make good use of the drive.
I get to the start of the race and set up my transition area. It is still cold, damp and dark. Nothing like being next to the lake to make cold feel colder. I put on my wetsuit just to keep warm. I march over to the swim start with all the other brave athletes.
The start of the race is delay do to fog. My feet at this point are blue. Finally the race starts but I’m in the 4th wave, more waiting. My wave is finally sent into the water which I’m hoping is warmer than the surface air but it is not. I’m shocked and stunned by the cold which really effected my swimming. I struggle forward. I never really get into a good swimming rhythm and my feet are still frozen. It feels like I’m dragging 2 blocks of ice behind me. I struggle forward. I finally get out of the harbor and into the lake only to get off course and end going really wide. As I attempt to get back on course I see that the main body of swimmers are now walking. We have not had much rain lately and the lake is low. I stop trying to get back on course where everyone is walking thing that I can swim faster than they can walk. At this point both my feet and hands hurt from the cold. I struggle on.
I finally make the last turn and head for the exit boat ramp only to miss the carpeting. I stumble onto the raw concrete trying to balance myself on 2 frozen feet. As I continue to try and get my balance I hear this kind voice from one of the volunteer. She see that I’m having trouble and said "Just follow my voice honey" and I did. I stagger up to the strippers and find the 2 most inexperience stripers possible. They tried hard and it was almost like we were fighting each other trying to get my wetsuit off. I give them credit because they persevered and finally managed to get my wetsuit off. From there I headed to the bathroom and finally to T1. It was a tough swim and challenging transition but eventual make it to my bike.
By the time I got on my bike the weather had improved 100%. I had figured I was going to have to steal some warm clothing from someone but that was no longer necessary. The bike route headed north into the rolling hills of the park. I was riding well and feeling good. At the small town of Richardson we turned west and at this point I realized why I was doing so well earlier. The wind was out of the south heading north and thus I had been riding a tail wind. So much for the easy ride. As I went west I battled the cross wind and eventual when I had to head south back to T2 I battled the head wind. I did manage to make it back for those of you in the know I did not lose one water bottle the entire ride. That was a major victory.
I get back to T2 and drop off my bike and slowly change into my running gear. At this point I notice that there is one bike already in my age group area. I figure I will just have to catch him on the run. As I leave T2 I lose all my electrolytes and all but one of my Gue. I move onto the run course.
The run course is a 3 loop course with about 100 turns per loop. I think it was designed after a formula one race track. It had the extra bonus of running through some freshly cut fields. Nothing like adding a little cross country workout into the event. I ran on. By the 3rd lap I had it figured out and started to feel comfortable. I started to air it out but realized that the last lap even thou it was the last lap was 4 miles long. It was way to early to start my sprint so I backed it off. This was a wise decision because at that point the heat was starting to take it’s toll on me.
I never did find that age grouper that was ahead of me. As it turns out he was 27 minutes ahead of me. So once again I finished 2nd. Well there is always next year.
My final report card.
Swim was 38:21, 5th out of the water in my age group. I guess swimming is faster than walking.
T1 was 7:26, basically last
Bike was 2:49, 4th
T2 was 6:25, really last
Run was 1:43, 2nd.
This is my story and I’m sticking to it.
Mark A. Nash
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