Buckman sprint triathlon, “Going to the Movies Alone”

Buckman triathlon
.5 mile swim, 17 mile bike, 3.1 mile run

Swim: 16:08
T: 2:07
Bike: 55:59, 18.2 mph average
T2: 0:56
Run: 27:03, 8:44/pace
Total time: 1:42:11
40 out of 136


Pre race
A few days before the race I was fighting a little eye infection and I saw a doctor. He wisely advised me not to do the race, but I ignored him. Sometimes it’s good to listen to doctors, usually it’s not. The eye is fine now, and I’m glad I raced. But other than that, I went into the race feeling strong and ready to go.

Buckman Triathlon takes place in Round Valley State Park, in Central Jersey. Back in April I took a long bike ride there with my coach, Keith Cook, so I was familiar with the area. There are hundreds of horse farms there, with rolling hills and old mansions. It’s a beautiful place, and that bike ride convinced me yet again that New Jersey is actually a scenic state in places. True, the industrial sections around Newark and Eastern Philadelphia are hideous, but there are many other places in the state that are quite beautiful.

I was hoping that Team Payton (Jessica and Madeline) would join me, but it was raining steadily when we got up that morning and we decided it would be best if I went alone. I’ve only done a few races alone and the feeling is a lot like going to the movies by oneself. It’s fun to be alone in a quasi-social setting, anonymous and undisturbed. I enjoyed being able to really focus on the race and not worry about whether Madeline and Jessie were bored. But it’s not something I’d want to do all the time. There’s nothing more satisfying than crossing that finish line and seeing those two pairs of brown eyes twinkling at me.

Swim
No problems on the swim, except that as usual the first half was chaotic and I got bumped around a lot. At this point I can consistently swim a 1:50 pace in the pool or in the open water by myself, so it’s a bit frustrating that I keep coming in slightly over two minutes in the races, but I’m losing a lot of time in the first half of the swim, before the congestion eases. Perhaps I just need to be more aggressive when I’m swimming, but I’m not that keen on contact sports. Eventually I hope to get my T-pace down to 1:30 or better and then I’ll just be ahead of most everyone, with a nice clean line for swimming. For now, though, I’m fighting traffic.

T1
No problems here, though I’d like to get this under two minutes. But 2:07 isn’t bad. I just need to work on getting out of my wetsuit faster.

Bike
I really cranked on the bike. And cranked. And cranked. I wasn’t wearing a watch or heart-rate monitor, which was a good thing. If I had known that I was cranking that hard for 56 minutes straight I probably would have let up once in a while. I never felt sick or dizzy, but my heart rate was definitely in one of the higher zones for a long time. The hills were pretty intense and at times I was only going about seven or eight mph. But what goes up must come down and I also got up to 34 mph on several occassions. It rained the whole time, but I was careful. As much as I love the speed, I also don’t want to crash any time soon. I suppose a bike crash is inevitable at some point, but I do try to be as careful as possible. Things change when you have a beautiful baby girl at home and another on the way. I’m not as reckless as I used to be.

I passed about eight or nine people and was passed by two folks. I took much pleasure in passing several guys that were riding $3,000 bikes. As Lance Armstrong said, “it’s not about the bike.”

T2
My best yet. Under a minute.

Run
This went pretty well. I can easily run a 8:30 pace in training, and the other day I ran my first 7:30 mile, so 8:44 is a bit slow for me, but those hills on the bike really chewed up my legs and I was really feeling it the entire run. I felt a mild cramp coming on about mile two and walked a bit to let it go, but otherwise I plodded along with confidence. I remember that in the last quarter mile there ended up being a pack of six or seven of us sprinting towards the finish line. No matter how much I try not to be competitive with my colleagues on the course, I still try to pass as many of them as I can. Sometimes that competitive spirit can make you go even further. I did end up passing several of them, but there was this one 20-something girl that I just couldn’t catch. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t catch her. She went over the finish line only a second before me. Who knows, deep down maybe I didn’t want to pass her. She was quite attractive!

Conclusion
This was a great race for me, and in terms of placement I set a new personal record. I ended up 40 out of 136, which puts me squarely in the top third. Considering that only a year ago I was placing fifth from the bottom, this is HUGE improvement. I’m grateful to Keith for his guidance, and also Jason and the rest of the crew at Team NRGY for all their help. And I’m especially grateful to Jessica for being so supportive. I’m looking forward to next summer when this pregnancy is over and we can start working out together again. I definitely won’t pass Jessica on the run. She’s the most attractive woman of them all!