Race Report: 2013 Giant Acorn International

The stats: 2:27:10. Swim - 28:22 (1500 meters). Bike - 1:10 (26 miles). Run - 44:29 (10 K). Rank: 6th in Age Group.

2013 was a strange year for training & racing.  Although I hit ideal form in mid-June, I didn't have a race to run, and when the new baby came in early July, my fitness dropped off significantly.  I did, however, keep one race on the calendar -- the Giant Acorn international-distance triathlon.  I have done pieces of this race in previous years, and the course is similar to the Rumpus in Bumpass (though not exactly the same, as I would find out).  But this would be the first time I ran my own race.

The Bishop of our Ward has a fantastic lake house at Lake Anna, and he graciously invited all the triathletes to stay overnight on Friday night.  I just can't emphasize enough how nice it is to sleep in and drive only 15 minutes to the race start.  Sure, traffic between DC and Fredricksburg is always a nightmare on Friday afternoons, but I had a nice relaxing evening, slept in a comfortable bed, and got to spend time with some great people.  A big thank-you to the Forsyths for the great "local-race" experience!

In training, I did my best to get back to my mid-June fitness level, but I was still not at 100% in my swim and bike.  However, after swimming with Team Z for a year, I have improved my swim substantially.  Plus, I believe the swim course was a bit short, so I turned in my best swim time ever.

The bike course is almost the same as the old Rumpus course, except that there were an extra 3 miles or so of hills.  I didn't think it would make much difference, but my bike time was almost SEVEN MINUTES slower than my fastest Rumpus pace.  So the time I had gained in the swim was completely gone by the time I started the run.

The run went very well.  When I set out my Iron goals in 2012, the only goal I did not achieve was a sub-45 minute 10K at the end of an olympic-distance triathlon.  At last, the goal has been achieved!  A 44:29 10K will probably stand as my PR for a while.

As in every race, I had one technical problem -- this time, my watch malfunctioned, leading me to believe that I completed the race about 2 minutes faster than I really did.  So while I was hamming it up at the finish, believing that I had narrowly conquered my PR, in fact, I had missed my PR by 51 SECONDS! 

The good news is that I came a little closer to finishing on the podium at this race.  I ranked 6th in my age group, my highest ranking so far at any triathlon distance.  But most importantly, the race gave me this totally sweet photo-op ...



Race Report: Cherry Blossom 10-Miler

Official Time:  65:57, or 6:33/mi.
Ranks:  416/17,530 total, 343/7,209 men, 44/1141 men 35-39.

While I have not been blogging as often lately, I have certainly not stopped training for the random mix of races I have signed up for this year.  I had an opportunity to buy a bib to Cherry Blossom 10-Miler about 6 weeks before the race.  Although I had earlier declined to enter the lottery, that was before I signed up for 30 miles of Ragnar Trail running.  So it made sense to set an intermediate running target.  Here I am with Owen, the friendly competitive runner who works in an adjacent office.

This course gave me my previous personal best -- just over 67 minutes.  It's flat and beautiful.  Unfortunately, this year the cherry blossoms had not yet popped, so the trees were not as pretty as usual.  And while it was warm, there was a very cold wind whipping off the Potomac.  I couldn't quite decide how to dress for the weather, so I decided to dress like a woman.

I wore Alisha's Garmin watch in order to "keep a lid on" my first mile (as I have a tendency to go out too strong), and to keep a relatively consistent pace.  Two years ago, my fastest mile was sub-6 minutes, and my longest was 7:30.  This time, my fastest mile was 6:18 and the slowest was 6:48.  For a 10-miler, that's pretty consistent.  The biggest challenge was between miles 6-8, when the course ran straight into a cold 20mph wind on Hains Point.  It sucked a lot of energy out of me to maintain my pace in that wind, and the result was that I didn't have a significant finishing kick at the end.  About mile 9, I was completely out of gas and ready to quit running.  Forever.

But that is the nature of these races.  I was glad to not be swimming and biking before the race, and I enjoyed just focusing on a single discipline for a change.  I was able to let my mind wander free while I ran.  After the race, I loaded my arms with post-race treats and let the kids pick what they wanted.  They were quite disappointed that I didn't get a medal for this race.

I have the best wife in the world.  She is very methodical about taking photographs, and she has figured out the best spots from which to watch the race.  I say this every time, but I think this is my last PR in the 10-miler.  I just can't get any faster without hurting something!

50 Mile Ride with Tri-RATS

I have mixed feelings about today's ride. Not crazy about the 34 degrees at start time, but finishing at 54 degrees in full sun was fantastic.

Ragnar's Reefer-Smoking Kid Brother

What is on the race calendar this year?  Dear reader, I'm glad you asked!

Ragnar is experimenting with trail relays.  They are like the regular Ragnar relays, except totally different.  Yes, each team runs continuously through Friday night into Saturday, but there are significant differences:

• 8-man or 4-man ultra teams run a total of around 125 miles.
• The relay is focused on a campsite in WV, where teams establish a permanent camp.
• The course is three looping trails, each of which will be run by every member of the team (or twice for 4-man teams).  No 200-mile point-to-point.
• No vans, limited volunteer responsibilities, no running on the shoulder of a 55mph road in the middle of the night, live music and campfires, etc.

The West Virginia edition of the Ragnar Trail is taking place June 7-8 about a half hour west of Cumberland, MD.  I look at it as a trail-based Ragnar with none of the irritating stuff.  I suspect that the race will attract a slightly different crowd.  Fewer mommybloggers and more dreadlocks. Fewer minivans with soccer ball stickers and more jeeps with Grateful Dead stickers. 

http://www.ragnartrailrelay.com/locations/appalachians-wv

The current plan is to run this as a 4-man ultra team.  15 miles seemed like too short of a running assignment; 30 miles each might be the end of us.  Stay tuned!

Back In The Saddle

What better way to honor a 55 degree Saturday than to consume it?

My version of Black Friday

Thanks Alisha. The two hour ride today meant a lot to me.

Only triathlete WAGS will understand how funny this is.

Only a wife or girlfriend of a triathlete will understand the truth of this video.  I'm embarrassed on behalf of all triathletes.  Thanks Rob Stone for sharing it!  And thanks Alisha for (pretending to) listen to all my ridiculous, nonstop triathlon dreck.