8/20/2011
Enfield, NH
Summer/Training: Searching for an August Half to sign up for earlier this summer, I stumbled upon Mascomaman, a small, first-year event with an incredibly appealing price tag ($130, vs. the $275-300 for 70.3 races). Since I’m self-centered and care more about my own race time and goals than other people or prestige of the event, I decided this sounded like a good one. When I signed up in May, it seemed almost too far away – I didn’t think I needed much more training/preparation, since after road season I was in pretty good shape anyway.
Well, as the summer went on, I was glad I had so much time before the race. I will never be an exceptional triathlete because I don’t have the right discipline to train “properly” since, to me, the actual training needs to be enjoyable, not just the end result of the race; so, I tend to skimp on speedwork and hard runs, to my detriment, but at least I feel unlikely to burn out since the rest of the training is either fun or satisfying. I got to open-water swim at least twice a week all summer, which was awesome! (although swimming at Mystic Lake after rain, even when they haven’t posted a bacterial advisory, is sometimes a bit scary). Went on lots of nice bike rides, out to Walden or Harvard MA or Rhode Island, including some good hard hill repeats and time trials. All in all, I think I trained well for this race, although a couple more brick workouts may have served me well.
Pre-race: We managed to get together a carpool to drive to the race, which was nice. Sam Nicaise and I were both doing Mascoma, and Zuzka and Matthieu Talpe were headed to Burlington, VT for age group nationals; they dropped us off in Enfield on their way. We rode to the course for packet pickup (~8 miles from our hotel), swam a little bit in Mascoma Lake (very warm and pleasant), then rode back and got rained on. The next morning, we woke up at 4am to eat breakfast and ride back to the course; Sam had a flat tire, so we delayed a bit leaving, but that was probably good because it was still really dark out and so foggy it was impossible to see anything, so at least it started to become a bit lighter. The weather was chilly (60 degrees F), and I hoped that by some miracle it would stay that way ;)
Swim: 38:52 (inc. run to trans), 22nd
They delayed the swim start by almost an hour, because the fog lay so thick over the lake that no one could even come close to seeing any of the buoys. Since it was so cool out, I decided to wear my sleeveless wetsuit despite the warm water, no longer fearing overheating; this was a good plan, felt very comfortable. When eventually we did start, it was quite an interesting swim; there were 5 waves separated by 1 minute, and each wave only had 15 people in it! No getting clobbered by people in this race. Sam and I had a tentative idea of trying to draft off one another to save energy, but within the first 100 yards I lost him as I veered off towards the shore. It was madness, not being able to see the buoys at all until they were around 100m away; sometimes, the crowd would all go off in one direction, but I don’t think it was always the right one. Everyone just wanted to follow someone and assumed that maybe they knew what they were doing. The course was made into two counterclockwise loops with three buoys and a bunch of boats theoretically helping to define the course.
Considering how off my angles were when I tried to guess where the buoy might be, and how much I veered around, I was pleasantly surprised with my time; I decided to aim for somewhere between 35 and 40min, because going any faster would mean I might be over-fatigued for the rest of the race, and it didn’t seem worth getting tired so early on for an extra minute or two. Anyway, I came through in 37?? And went on to the run.
T1: 2:02 Slow, kind of on purpose – an extra 30 seconds to recuperate and not feel disoriented might be worth it on the bike (that’s my excuse, anyway).
Bike: 3:03:19, 2nd female, 19th
The bike was awesome, so much fun. It was one big loop, essentially with only 3 turns. The whole course was quite hilly (~1800ft elevation gain), but mile 10-36 included a LOT of slightly-downhill sloping flats, which I excel at. Since I knew the last 20 miles of the course included some very long climbs, and I’m not much of a climber, I decided to be very aggressive up until that point to try to make up some time; after all, if I felt well-rested I might climb a little faster, but probably not a lot (and I applied the same logic towards the run vs bike – well rested might run a little faster, but probably not much…) Anyway, my “A” goal would have been 3:00, but when I saw the course profile I thought that would be nigh on impossible, and that I would be quite happy with anything under 3:15. At mile 36, my cumulative average was 20.0mph, coming through at 1:48; so, for the last 20 miles, I hoped to go sub-1:30. (I tend to do a lot of mental arithmetic while riding, keep my mind occupied…)
I guess there were some large hills, but to be honest I barely remember them (or blocked them out). I was feeling great, not disheartened, and that made a big difference. At mile 51 there was a huge downhill, which felt great. The last two miles included some big hills that weren’t all that fun, and I obviously must have tried very hard to forget about them because they completely surprised/dismayed me on the run. I hadn’t seen any other riders at all since mile 27, which was a somewhat odd experience, but it allowed me to focus on myself and my own race rather than worrying about other competitors, so it all turned out very well.
My nutrition strategy worked pretty well, considering that I rarely eat/replenish that much during training; there were 3 aid stations, weighted towards the beginning of the course, giving out Heed or water. I actually quite like Heed and think it’s one of the few sports drinks that tastes good (and mild), so I ended up drinking 3 bottles on the ride, in addition to half a packet of powerbar gel blasts and one powerbar. Note that trying something new that sounds like it might make it easier, such as removing the powerbar wrapper and sticking the bar on your leg half-under shorts, is disgusting and an incredibly unpleasant strategy.
T2: 1:01, stopped to stretch for a second and heard some unpleasant popping sounds in my legs…
Run: 2:18, 33rd
I hate running at the end of races. Unless it’s a sprint, I just hate it. Running in itself is nice sometimes; I usually enjoyed my long, easy, introspective runs, and every once in a while even track workouts feel good. But trying to run hard when I’ve just given everything I had to the bike was totally miserable. At first, I was elated, because upon starting the run at a time of 3:45, I figured I only needed to do a 2:15 half-marathon to make my overall time goal of sub-6:00. In training, I can do around 2:00, so 2:15 sounded quite generous. However, it took me over 3 miles to speed up my pace beyond 12-minute miles, which while maybe inevitable, really messed up my overall run. Sam whizzed by me at mile 3, probably going double my speed. My shins only bothered me for the first couple of miles, for which I am very thankful, but my quads and calves felt for most of it like they were about to seize up (and I knew if they did, I would probably fall over). So, I took my time, stopped at most of the aid stations for more Heed and gels (drank 2 bottles and 4 gels during the run), and just kept jogging along at a ~10-min-mile pace; there were only 2 places with mile markers, so it was hard to tell the actual pace.
The course was quite hilly. Miles 2-6 ran along the lake and in the shade, with a nice gravel road for part of it. Then, we emerged into the sun and surprising heat and up a long, grueling asphalt hill with rather scarce aid stations and overall discouraging speeds. One of my main obstacles has always been the heat, and I thought I acclimated a bit from running outside in Boston summer, but it turns out that, in a race at least, I’m not much better at it than ever before. I don’t know what the temperature was, probably mid-80’s, but very sunny and bright. I tried to keep my pace decent by counting strides and doing 20 hard, 30 easier, things like that to break it up; it worked for a while, until the pace-changing made my left quad seize up.
Towards the end, at a point where I might have just barely made my time goal, I had forgotten about the giant hills, and I all-to-slowly ascended and descended them, finally coming in at a finish time of 6:03. Upon starting the run, I was the third female overall, upon finishing, the fifth. I need to somehow get better at the run section, but I don’t really have the motivation to work on it more than I already have; it seems like the amount and intensity I train for the run doesn’t seem to vary the speed I race (although at least in a 5k I can do a more respectable 22-23…). Maybe I should try Aquabike racing.
Overall: 6:03:55, 1st in F25-, 5th/16 woman, 24th/51 total finishers
Overall, I am very pleased with the way this went. My swim was just right, the bike was better than I could have even hoped for, and the run was bad, but the run is bad so frequently that it’s hardly surprising. While racing, I sometimes wonder why I do such a painful sport, but afterward (besides the soreness and not being able to walk, etc), I delude myself that the experience was extremely fun!
Also, greedy as I am, I was thrilled that upon winning my age group I got not only a certificate of achievement, but also my pick off a rack of new, expensive tri clothing, and they gave us 3 nice water bottles (more if you felt like carrying them while racing). The event was extremely well-organized for a first-year race, and I will consider doing it again next year, although I would like to do a flatter, faster Half sometime. No doubt, it was much more fun racing with a friend and having teammates to drive with than it was going alone to the one I did last summer!
What I Learned/Tips for Next Year:
1. Following people on the swim doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going the right direction.
2. A powerbar is impossible to eat while racing without a bento box or something. Buy one.
3. Going all-out on the bike is a good way to make up tons of time, but maybe take the last couple of miles easy to let the legs recover
4. Run hard more often
5. Small races can be an awesome value
