Tri Latta Sprint 2010
By: Ed Morse
I forget exactly why I decided that signing up for a triathlon would be a good idea. I had started swimming a bit in January (some of you may recall my “am I supposed to feel seasick?” email). A friend at work loaned me his road bike back in January as well, so I was running low on excuses for not trying to complete a triathlon.
I had heard that Latta would be a good tri for my first, and there were still spots available for the novice event on Sunday, so up I signed.
As the day approached, I began to get a little nervous. What if I panicked in the water? What if I had a flat tire? What if I just couldn’t do it? The whole idea of transitions was a bit scary too – would I remember to have the right stuff laid out?
But, just like running, we have training to fall back on. I knew I could swim 750m without stopping, and I grew up swimming in lakes and the ocean so ‘open water’ should be OK. Even though everyone from UCRR I rode with had kicked my butt, I was pretty sure I could ride 17 miles. And lastly, I felt I could do a 5K under almost any conditions.
Friday afternoon I went down to Inside-Out Sports to pick up some tri shorts and a top, since I didn’t have any. Janet asked me if I wore the top while swimming, and I replied “I think so?”. I also picked up my race packet at RFYL. Saturday I didn’t do any workouts, just finished laying the living room floor, cut the grass, and crawled around under the house running speaker wires (all good cross-training activities).
Saturday morning … up at 3:45 to have something to eat. Looked at the thermometer: 77 outside already, you must be kidding! Out the door around 4:30. Saw Janet before I left … she was getting ready to get the girls up to come watch – who could ask for better fans? I loaded all my stuff in the truck (yes, that truck) and set off for Latta. Arrived in the dark, and walked down to the race area as the sky slowly started to lighten. Everything was well organized: easy to get my chip, not too hard to find my spot in the transition area. I was just finishing getting my stuff organized when Théoden came by. After checking that I was doing all right, he headed off to get his stuff set up. By now it was a little after 6:00, and I found Janet and the girls, who all looked pretty chipper for the early hour.
Down to the lake, wow … pretty warm! I splashed around a little (nothing as organized as swimming) and tried on my swim cap. Ouch! Next time, I think I’ll put the cap on a soccer ball overnight so it’s not so tight. It felt like my head was being squeezed to death. OK … everyone out of the water, time to get the first wave ready to go. Théoden, by virtue of his last name, was in the first wave so we wished each other luck and he headed for the corral.
I was in the 5th wave, so I got to see lots of people head out before me. Then, it was my turn. Into the corral, and down to the water. I stood near the back of the pack, thinking that I would be slower than most people. When the horn sounded, I followed Théoden’s advice and waited about 5 seconds before hurling myself into the fray. The water was really cloudy, so I couldn’t see anything, and it was definitely different having people thrashing around nearby. When swimming in the pool, I typically take a breath every 4 strokes, but I found I was breathing every 2 strokes. This was OK, as it kept me full of air, and I got a frequent look at the shore to keep my bearings. I found that I was drifting away from the pylons a little bit, so I had to correct frequently. I later decided that I was swimming pretty straight, but the course curved a little bit on the way out and back. Not far offshore there was a kayak that seemed to be herding people closer to the pylons. Not wanting to get in trouble, I turned to go inside of the kayak. When I passed the kayak, I could see there were a couple of people hanging on catching their breath, so I probably could have gone straight on the other side. As I reached the turn-around buoys, one of the wave behind me caught up – these were female masters and the relay team folks, and some of them were really moving. Heading back now, feeling like I can do this. About halfway back I start to feel a little woozy, but not to the point of getting sick. I briefly felt sorry for myself, but decided that wouldn’t help so I just kept working towards the finish. I really liked having the inflatable wavy thing at the end to sight on, it was very easy to go in the right direction.
Hey look! I made it! I waded out of the water, immediately taking off the super-compression cap. As I headed up to the transition area, I noticed that the other competitors were walking up the path. I don’t know if this is standard or not, and I didn’t want to be rude, but I decided that after my slow (18:56) swim I should probably hurry so I ran up the trail into the transition area. The bikes near me were already gone, so I had no trouble drying my feet, getting the shoes, socks, and helmet on, and heading for the bike start. I also stuffed some shot blocks in the pockets of my shirt, and put water and Gatorade on the bike. OK, so I didn’t have real water bottles, just a bottle of Deer Park water and a bottle of G2. The Deer Park water was too small and fell out of the cage before I left the transition area. Later in the ride I found that I couldn’t open the G2 bottle without risking killing myself on the bike.
I felt pretty good as soon as I got on the bike. After I got going, I tightened my shoes a bit, and started turning away. I tried to keep a steady cadence, and never got up out of the saddle. I was impressed by the stamina of some of the folks on mountain bikes I saw – that must have been hard work! My own ride was not bad … a few people passed me, but there weren’t that many people behind me to start with. Later in the ride I was able to catch and pass several riders, much to my surprise. After being soundly whooped by everyone in UCRR who rode with me, I was happy that I was able to maintain my pace later in the ride. Coming out of the plantation at the beginning of the ride, it felt like a lot of downhill, and I was worried that it would be a difficult uphill finish. When I turned back into the plantation, I discovered that it really wasn’t too bad. Knowing there were just a couple of miles left helped a lot, too. As I reached the stop line, I made sure I had my foot out of the clip so I wouldn’t fall over. The only problem was it took me a while to get my second foot out! As the volunteer was starting to come over to help me, I finally popped free and headed back into the transition area.
By now I was thirsty! I finally wrestled the G2 open and chugged the bottle before starting off. I put on my shoes (first time, new shoes … luckily there wasn’t tissue paper wadded up in the toe!) and headed off for the run. Before I even got out of the transition area, I realized that this wouldn’t be a PR for the 5K. I started off on the run, trying to pick up a little speed on the first few hundred yards. I was already a little tired when I reached the mat marking the start of the 5K. Oh man, I thought, this is going to be a long one. Off onto the trail which was dirt and medium size fill rock (it turns out that the nasty rocks on the greenway are good training for Latta!). I was pleased to see Théoden coming toward the finish just as I was starting. He looked better than I did, but still hot and tired.
The run was hard! A little hilly, and a little crowded. Passing was difficult in spots, and when you could pass it took up a lot of energy. There were water stops before and after a big hill down to the lake and back, and I grabbed water in both directions. After the first mile or so, there were a lot of people walking. I was hot and tired, but knew I could run it in. The hardest part was coming up the hill after the lake. It was steep enough that you had to really shorten your stride to keep going. Luckily for me, no one was there to tell me to run it twice! Around mile two I heard a voice say “good job, Ed.” I was afraid to look back because of the terrain, but it was Kara from RFYL. In the final mile there was a short out-and-back, and I got to actually see Kara and say “Hi.” On to the finish, where there was a gentle downhill, and I was able to increase my pace and finish fast. This was a little dangerous because there were zigzags in the course, and some people were still going pretty slowly. I would have felt badly for passing people right near the end, but hey – they passed me first!
Done! Hanging out with Théoden and the family. All in all a good experience. I have a much better appreciation for the whole process, and a good idea of what I need to work on. Triathlons are a much lonelier experience than running races (distance races, anyway). Of course you can’t talk to people while swimming, and you don’t have a lot of time next to people while biking. I would say “good job” or “good morning” to people while biking, but didn’t get much response. The trail run wasn’t conducive to chit-chat either, since it was so narrow.
Thanks as always to UCRR for the encouragement and wisdom, and Eric for loaning me the belt and ankle strap. See you all on the trails!
