New Olympic PR: A Buffman and Squeeky Race Report

My Olympic PR takes a dive…FINALLY. I have not had any luck at the Olympic distance so far even though I have suspected I could do fairly well at it. I have done 3 prior Olys, not many in my area, and have done stupid things at each and every one; let me enumerate:

1) The Buffman and Squeaky 2006 – ran with fractured hip – time – 3:14:01
2) The Grady Williams 2006 – ran with cold, drank giant carbonated energy drink within ½ hour of the race starting and spent most of the day vomiting foam – time – 2:56:10 (my old Oly PR)
3) Las Vegas (NM not NV) Triathlon – drank 1 QUART chocolate soy milk within one hour of race start and spent the bike wishing I could throw up and spent the run actually trying to throw up without success – time – 2:58:00

I assure you that you, the reader, could be no more puzzled at my pre-oly-race behavior than I but today…oh, today I got it right.

I awoke at 5 a.m. and had my usual bowl of oatmeal and soy latte, 3 hours before race start, went to the race course and set up. Me and the GEEKGRL were the first ones there. We hung out talking to friends and visiting until time to start and then headed over to the beach for the mass swim start. The water temp was 64 degrees and it was overcast and cool. I have been having trouble the last couple races acting like a completely spastic moron at the beginning of the swim. Essentially I have added to my swim routine some vigorous thrashing and flailing and gasping…just as a warm up you know and then I swim normally. Today I decided to dispense with all that and swim normally from the very beginning so when the starting horn went off I casually sauntered into the water and waded in to just above my knees and languidly lurched forward into the water and began swimming nice and easy.

Now as I was about my happy business there were people all around me charging into the water arms and legs flying in every direction with panic stricken looks on their faces. The funny thing was…they weren’t going any faster than me, I mean, they were certainly making a variety of very speedy motions in comparison to me but as far as actually forward motion…not so much. I was like Neo from the Matrix and the rest of the race just unfolded from there.

Everything, I mean everything I did on the swim today was better, my breathing, my sighting, my drafting, the length and depth of my stroke…everything and what was my time? 27:19…a 1:49 per 100m swim pace. I was amazed because I knew I was swimming faster then usual, I could feel it I just didn’t know by how much. I was rewarded with the sweat sound of hearing fellow Master Clyde, E.P.’s name called out as he was exiting the water while I was getting ready to depart T1. I couldn’t believe it, I beat E.P. out of the water…maybe he got attacked by one of those buffalo’s that are purported to hang around the water, I don’t know but this was a first for me.

I cleared T1 in 1:34, pretty average, and hit the bike. The bike is a real quad crusher and it begins right out of transition, I guess so you don’t have to wait in fear. I was really hoping to be able to write this race report and go on and on about how fantastically fast my Lucero is but it was not to be, the winds picked up early and everyone, including me, was getting blown around pretty good. There were lots of gusts and headwinds so the bike split was fair, 1:17:22. Here is one thing I can say about the new bike though, I climbs much better than the old Trek. I can tell that I’m going to do some damage on this machine.

I came screaming back down into the canyon and cleared T2 in 50 seconds and was off on the run. The run is basically flat with a few short rollers. Unbelievably I was the leading Outlaw until about 20 yards after the run turnaround when Muffin Man caught and passed me. I feel like I had a pretty good run. I did experience some knee pain around mile 4 and that slowed me a bit but nothing dramatic. Also, I have learned that if I can keep my HR below 180 for about 4 miles during a 10K then I’m running about as fast as I can…once my HR passes 180 is starts to creep upward and by the time it is sitting at 183 I can go very much farther without a dramatic slow down. Anyway, I completed the run in 52:13.

Now, to put this in perspective, the overall male finisher ran this race in 2:07+. His name is Hector Tovar and he’s been to Kona, as a matter of fact, I think he was 2nd or 3rd in the Military division at Kona 06. The #2 overall male is an ex-USA Olympic team pentathlete…he finished up in 2:11+ and so on…in other words, it’s not a fast course.

My finish time…2:39:20…at least that’s what my watch said…it may have been a couple seconds faster. First place Masters Clydesdale, 1st place overall Clydesdale…oh, and yes, I once again got to have the experience of being called out for 3rd in my age group and then letting it roll down to the next guy…I’m beginning to think Mike and Marty are just getting a kick out of tooting my horn.