Emerald Isle Duathlon (supposed to be tri!)

The Emerald Isle Triathlon has become my season ending sprint triathlon. It's qualities include a fun crowd, good organization, low key (no affiliation with NCTS), and a GREAT open ocean swim. Its an awesome, fun race.

Well, "dangerous surf conditions" resulted in cancellation of this year's swim portion. Personally, I think it was just too dangerous for newbies. But that's my new swim confidence talking. At any rate they decided to turn it into a 5K run first then the 20K bike. Sounded kind of lame but ended up playing right into my strength.

They only had three waves and mine started first. I decided I would try to put in a really solid 5K since I hadn't timed myself at that distance in years. Then I'd just hang on during the bike. If I got frustrated I'd say "well, its not really a true race anyway" and just have fun. So I thought.

As the starting horn went off I began a reasonable pace near the front then watched about 20 runners get out ahead of me. Suddenly the competitive robot in me kicked in. I began to hammer my way through the crowd passing one after another. By the end of the run I'd be in second place going into transition with an 18:02 5K. Pretty solid for me.

But then came the bike. I had an OK transition and was off on the flat course into the wind on the first half. Still in 2nd place and cranking about 21mph I thought I had a chance at a really good race. Then about mile 2 I was passed. And again about mile 5, twice. And again about half way. I kept the pressure on the pedals and by the time we were hammering along with the wind at 24mph about 3/4 into the bike I could see nobody behind me for 200 yards and I was sitting in 5th place heading towards the finish.

Coming across the finish mat I was pretty fired up with my "its not really a race" finish. I definitely tried very hard (maxed out my heart rate and did 100% of the race in the blow up zone). I ended up 1st in my age group and 6th overall since some guy (who was 50!) in a later age group beat my time as well at the 4 who passed me on the bike.

My results were good enough for 1st in my age group as well. I still wish we swam into the surf, however. Then there would have been no single digit placement story for me.

The Big Day in Kona

I know I am a freak tri-addict because I spent my day yesterday shuffling back and forth between soccer practices and other kid related weekend activities....and every time I was home I was glued to my computer screen watching the Ironman World Championships live on a measly 2x3 inch window on the screen. I even got to see Macca win about 9 EST last night. He finally got his win. Kudos to him and Chrissie Wellington, women's champ.

I also saw that Scott Rigsby, double amputee from an accident, finished in 16:40. A few athletes I know from the Raleigh area also had great races. Very cool. My coach, who I now understand is a sick-athlete-freak-of-nature, finished in 10:07 at age 40. Unreal.

I take a few items away from watching and thinking about the Ironman in Kona.

1) I'm not sure I have the will or the way to ever qualify for that race but it sure would be unbelievable to be there and race.
2) Training for one single event only can lead to disaster. Norman Statler and Faris Al Sultan, two ex-champion athletes expected to be in the mix for the win, both exited the race due to stomach flu. That illness, while only lasting a couple days, really sucks. Can you imagine how those guys will feel next week...totally healthy and knowing they missed the event they spend their lives preparing for. What do they do? Go win some "lesser" Ironman events? Start thinking about training for a race that is 350 days away?
3) Anything can happen in Ironman. While Macca's win was no surprise there were many surprises behind him. Many of the top rated women had tough days (ie not in top 10 even...) and the top 10 men were also a mix of new and old names including the 1/2 Ironman world champ taking second place in his second Ironman and first trip to Kona. Perhaps its all about super-solid training...and mostly who has "their day" on race day.
4) Its time for me to start thinking about the 2008 season. If I want to continue to improve in 1/2 and IM distance the time to begin light base preparation is about now. 2007 will close shortly with the Emerald Isle ocean swim sprint triathlon and the ING NYC marathon. I can't believe I am not treating the marathon as an event to train for but instead a season ending, really fun, training day.

Time for a 15 mile run.