The panhandle of Texas. Flat, hot, windy, full of feedlots, cotton fields and oil derricks, so what the hell am I doing here? I'll tell you what; pushing myself once again to the limits of my physical and mental boundaries against the best competition out there!
Lubbock, TX; not exactly your number one tourist destination, or the perfect spot for a tri-cation, however for the intrepid few who dare to brave the hellacious heat and challenging winds it's a perfect spot to test one's racing mettle. Once again wetsuits were the big issue and the day before the race the organizers were saying unequivocally that "it would be a no wetsuit race, don't even bring your wetsuit, go buy a swim skin..." It seems that Ironman may be in cahoots with the swim skin manufacturers for they probably sold 100 skins at the expo that day, maybe more, who knows? Me, without 300 bucks to drop on a whim, it was wetsuit or trishorts for me on race day. However, the water testing gods again smiled on the wetsuit swimmers of the world and the morning of the race was declared wetsuit legal, and one could hear the palpable sigh of relief from the collective masses gathered except for those who had left their wetsuit in the hotel thinking there was no way I will need this. Another lesson brought to you by Ironman; Plan for everything and take nothing for granted.
So the gun goes off ( well, in this case, a guy with a megaphone saying"GO!") and the swim starts. Swim goes well, new blue seventy axis long john wetsuit feels brilliant and I must confess that sometimes having a nice piece of equipment is well, nice. Swim distance was short, I don't know how short but the times were low for 1.2 miles. Got out of the water 14th in age group, but don't feel too bad for me, I was saving some energy for later.
The bike course slaps you right in the face right off the bat with about a two minute climb right out of the gate! The course does not get much easier as you continue to climb up onto the flat, windy, high Texan plateau. With 5 or 6 climbs and the equivalent number of fast twisting descents, this course keeps me interested and on high alert concerning hydration and nutrition. Feeling very strong until about mile 45, back up on the plateau heading back to the transition area. The wind and the heat were starting to chisel away at this little white boy from the suburbs, and I began to think that the unmerciful Texas landscape would crush poor, little old me! A few riders pass me and then another, however, I made a decision right then and there to stay with this one, and if my legs snapped, they snapped, but I could not and would not continue to pedal "backwards" as they say. Managed to stay 30-40 feet behind him and he metaphorically speaking, pulled me into T2 and onto the run. Turns out that rider was Tim Hola, a very strong, fast triathlete from Colorado, and I thanked him after the race for providing me with the proverbial carrot at that pivotal point in the race.
Starting the run, worked my way into 5th place in AG, and I was feeling good, however, I started out VERY conservative as I was extremely wary of the heat and the hills that awaited me on the course. Did not really try to push the pace until the 7 or 8 mile mark and by then I had probably lost my main competition in the group, and not having run the course before, there might have been some mistakes made in pacing, but that's water under the bridge. Ended up 4th in age group, 45th overall with a time of 4hrs 28 minutes and some change.
Overall, I have to be happy with the result. By no means a perfectly executed race, however no major cramping, no mechanical failures, nutrition plan worked out pretty well, and the recovery was scary good, almost made me think I didn't race hard enough! As I get closer to figuring this all out there will come a time, I hope, when I will be able to push myself further and harder, especially on the run where I tend to get conservative, and until that time I will work on solid, consistent results.
People keep saying to me at home after the race, why Lubbock, why this race, why drive all that way? There is only one answer that I can give them, and that is if you want to compete against the highest level competition on one of the more challenging courses out there then that is why you go there and if I've said it once, I've said it a million times, if it was easy it wouldn't mean anything!
No comments:
Post a Comment