Those of you who follow my blog regularly know that I had post from June this year called “How NOT to win a triathlon”. This post will be a fitting counterpoint and end to the summer as it appears that I’ve got my health issues under control and finally put together a quality race effort. Of course the title gives away the drama of the post, but the details might still be interesting for you to read.

Yesterday was fourth annual Camp Kinser Reverse Triathlon. Many of the Marine Corps bases here on Okinawa host these ‘reverse’ triathlons. They all start with the run, then the bike, and finish in the swimming pool. The pool is the reason for the reverse aspect of the race because starting 200 athletes all at once in a single lane of a pool would be quite chaotic. By reversing the order, the racers are usually spread out quite a bit by the time they hit the pool and that alleviates the potential for crowding.

The race was a 5.2 k run, followed by a 15.5k bike, then 8 laps in a 50m pool (400m total). Kinser is a long skinny base with a section down on the ocean and a section up above on a higher level. The run and bike both climbed a short hill straight away, then the rest of the course was long straight stretches of road among warehouses with the occasional turn to another long straight stretch. The roads were open to traffic but most of the intersections had crossing guards. The run was one lap and the bike was two laps. The transition zone was ideal for the race. It was a long narrow parking lot that paralleled the race course so you entered and one end and exited out the other. The racks were clearly marked and there was plenty of room for gear between the bikes. Overall, this was the best organized MCCS Triathlon I had done.

The race started at 8:00 AM with dead calm air. Normally that would be a good thing, but when that air is 85 degrees and 80% humidity, a little breeze goes a long way for some comfort when running or spectating. That’s a heat index of 97% if you are wondering. Very uncomfortable, but typical August weather here. There were just over 200 racers this year, up quite a bit from previous years. Only the first 100 got tee shirts (I was 106).

My goal was to run as hard as possible, then do whatever I could on the bike. I had done a stand alone 5k two weeks ago at 19:45 without maxing out, but the conditions were less brutal when I ran it at 5:30 AM. At the race, my goal pace was 4:00 minutes per kilometer to end with a 20 minute 5k. My new Garmin 310xt allowed me to see my current pace at any time, and it recorded my pace for each kilometer as I ran. I strived for a negative split so I tried to take it easy at the start. My heart rate for 5k at race intensity is usually maxed out at 175. I was above that before 200m had gone by, but I felt fine so I kept going. My first split was 4:06 with the hill so I was pleased with that. The next three splits were all around 4:12, a little slow but my heart rate was at 178 so I knew that was all I should put in at that point. The people I had been pacing with started falling away after 3k. I was well behind a group of about 20 that pulled away from everyone early on, but I ended up running the last k at 4:05, so I accelerated to the end instead of fading. That was good. I usually fade hard on runs. My heart rate for the final k was 182 and I felt great. Normally 182 is above the redline for me. I finished at 21:22

I tried leaving my bike shoes clipped on to my pedals for the first time in this race. I did practice several mounts and dismounts last week and felt very comfortable doing it. During the race, it worked great. I didn’t have to run in my bike shoes and it was a snap to get my feet into the shoes after getting some speed on the bike. My total transition time was only 60 seconds. That’s a huge bonus in a short race like this to get through that quickly. I’ve since figured out a couple of ways to shave another 10 – 15 seconds off that time.

The bike went well. In the race simulations I had done leading up to the event, I found out that my cycling legs took a while to come around. My first 4 or 5 k typically felt awful, but after that I regained some strength as my legs adjusted. During the race I didn’t notice being heavy at the start of the ride though. I was able to power up the hill and catch up to some of the leaders pretty quickly on the first lap. I didn’t see anyone in front of me on the second lap so I knew that rest of the guys up there were keeping clear of me. I averaged a heart rate of 172 on the bike, which is great for after the run. I typically can’t get that high of a rate on the bike after a swim or run. The race director setup several water stations for the bike leg, but they were all in the middle of straight flat sections. I wasn’t interested in slowing down from 28 mph for a cup of water. They figured out throwing the water on you worked too. However, I found out that a cup of water in the face hurts like hell if you keep your eyes open. After that first one, I closed my eyes for each one after. I’m not sure what my split was because a software bug in the Garmin locked it up during this part of the race and corrupted the data file. Hopefully a firmware update will fix the problem. I know that I had good speed and I didn’t fade either. At the end, I took my feet out of the shoes about 500m before T2 and had a smooth jump off the bike and run back to the rack. I grabbed my goggles and ran to the pool to discover three guys all getting in the water right in front of me.  So much for being spread out at the pool.

In the pre race brief, they did tell us to stay to the left side of the lane and pass on the right in the pool. We had to swim 8 laps by going down in one lane, then moving over and coming back in the next. You end up zig zagging through the entire pool this way. The swim has historically been my weakest leg. It’s also the one that is easiest for me to redline on and get freaked out. When you can’t breath and you then can only breath when the stroke lets you, panic can set in quickly. I also have found that my steady, smooth, strong pull technique will often times be faster than when I try to sprint. Today, all my practice time in the pool paid off because I found that immediately I was faster than the three guys in front of me. That’s great, but passing in the pool is tricky; especially when two or three or four of you arrive at the wall together. I was able to rest a bit behind them after the first turn and sprinted around two of them before the second turn. I chased down and passed the next guy after the fourth turn. At the next turn, I looked around the pool to see that the next closest guy was two lanes away so I just settled into a steady rhythm to the finish. I couldn’t believe that I actually passed guys in the pool. I’ve never been faster than someone else in the water. That was exciting.

After finishing, I looked around and didn’t see very many guys in the finish area and it finally occurred to me that I might have had a high finish. Gina confirmed that she thought I was fifth and after looking at the pictures she took, I agreed. This morning I found out from the organizers that I was fifth overall, and first in my division. Regardless of my finish, I was pleased with the race because I finally got everything right. I maxed out my heart rate without blowing up and didn’t fade on any section of the race.

Oh yeah….and I didn’t feel like I was having a stroke during any section of the race. That’s always a bonus

This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 1:47 pm and is filed under Military Culture, Triathlon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.