Buster Britton Race Report

What started to look like my first did not start (DNS) became my first hardware.

I did this race nearly 2 years ago. At the time it was just my second tri and my first in open water. It went really well and I was more than thrilled with my finish. So I decided to return to the race this year just for fun. Plus, it was father's day.

I was remarkably relaxed before this race. It is the only sprint on my calendar and quite frankly, it isn't a priority. I wanted to have a good race but having fun was more important. I woke up at 4:30 had 2 pieces of PB toast and some fruit. I made the drive to Oak Mountain arriving at the race venue around 6:00 to picked up my packet and set up transition.

Here is where things took a turn for the worse. Just before 7:00 am it began raining. And I don't mean a few sprinkles....it was an absolute downpour. I can only think of one time in my life where I have been outside in a worse storm. Well it wasn't letting up. Within 5 minutes there was no sense in trying to keep anything dry, everything was soaked. Transition had a downhill slope and I was just sitting next to my rack in a river of water. There was nothing I could do. I did have a gallon sized ziploc bag that I placed over my running shoes hoping to keep them the slightest bit dry.

The RD announced that they were going to delay the start of the race by 15-20 minutes because of the lightening. Well 15-20 minutes later, they are considering a duathlon format. No thanks. I don't want to risk any injury for a race this small. The last thing I need to do is go all out for one mile and screw something up. If the race comes to that, I will pack up and volunteer. However, I knew my parents were on their way so I kinda had to wait it all out.

Around 8:00 the weather began to cooperate and they announced the race was back on in the normal format. Sweet! Still I wasn't excited about racing on soaked roads and in wet shoes. Finally, I made my way to the beach and got in the water for a few warmup strokes. The water felt like bathwater. It was probably low to mid 80s. Quite the contrast to Triple T. When I got out, my teeth were chattering.

Swim:
Swim start was time trial fashion every 3 seconds. I had estimated my time for the race was 6:40. Heh. Boy were their some slow swimmers that mis-estimated their times. I have never caught so many so quick. My plan was to go as hard as I could for the first 50, then settle into a pace and find feet. The first 50 went really well as I passed about 10 people. I was really good at rounding the buoys as there was no log jam there.

For the first time in my life, I swam over people. Sorry. It happened twice. I wasn't about to go around them so I went right through the middle and basically over the top. I felt bad for a brief moment. I even looked back to make sure bubbles weren't surfacing. I could tell that I was hauling on the swim so I was a bit surprised to pop out of the water at 6:41. Hmm. Maybe the course was a bit long because I felt fast.

T1:
Transition was totally different than it was 2 years ago. Out of the water and up three sets of stairs. Ugh. There was no quick way to do this. However, I did manage to pass 2-3 people. Because I got to transition early, I secured the end rack. I found my bike and put on my helmet only to have water pour down on my head. Nice. Off I went.

Bike:
As mentioned, the roads were soaked and to make matters worse the course was full of winding descents. I spent the first few miles settling into a comfortable race pace. My plan was to go as hard as I could on the bike but my concern was the wet roads. I pushed the hills hard out to the first turnaround. When I saw the leaders coming back, I had a good indication of where I stood in the race.

My race plan was to attack at mile 6 and then again at 9. I hit mile 6 at the base of the hill and blasted past people. I was still feeling good at the top and decided to get aggressive on the downhill. Gulp. Wet roads, hard turns, carbon brakes = HR through the roof. But it worked. I was gaining confidence in my cornering. Now I set my sights on picking off people.

At mile 9, I just dropped the hammer and went for it. By mile 10 it was like people were standing still and I felt good. The final .5-.75 miles back to transition is up hill so I got out of the saddle and just pushed. When I could see transition, I settled down my HR, got my feet out of the saddle and knew that I was having a good race




T2:
Fast as lightening. Ok, not really but it was quick. I hopped off the bike right on the dismount line, picked it up and started running. This approach seems to work for me and I like it. I grabbed my wet running shoes and I was out.

Run:
The plan all along was to have a killer swim and bike then just hold on for 3 miles. I knew this would be my weakness, I hadn't done any speed work in forever and my running volume is down due to an injury. If I felt pain from my IT bands, I was to shut it down immediately.

I came out of T2 and saw my parents, I gave them a smile and they knew I was having a good race. I went out hard. And this course had more hills than it did two years ago.

I hit mile 1 at about 7:30 and still hadn't been caught. I could hear a pack of wolves behind me and I was trying to power it up the hills. The second place female caught me on a hill and I tried to go with her. At the turnaround I saw the wolves and thought...crap there are some people my age right on my heels.

I hit the downhills as hard as my body would let me. Mile 2 was just over 7:00. Then I was caught. A small peloton of runners came by me. I was starring at every left calf. Whew...they were younger. I hit the final half mile and I was completely out of gas. There was nothing. I could hear others kicking behind me but I was unable to pick it up.

Then I was passed by some one in my age group. I pushed and the body pushed back. No go. I let out a string of expletives. At this point, I had no idea where I was in my age group but I felt like I was close to the top five. I tried to push again...nothing. I made it to the last turn and had to watch an age grouper beat me by less than 20 feet.

Post race:
So this is where it got interesting. They posted results and I could see that I finished in the top 30 and beat my time by nearly 5 minutes on a more difficult course. I was more than pleased with that. I frequently race with a guy I went to high school with, so I found him and told him that I think he pulled 3rd in the AG. He was stoked but he tells me that he thinks he got called for drafting (he was being blocked and didn't drop back). Sure enough, 2:00 penalty dropped him behind me.

Then the age grouper that passed me in the last half mile? Well he started about 20 spots ahead of me in the swim. The time in which he beat me was less than the time in which he started ahead of me. So I slid into 3rd place. Talk about a surprise! My first hardware!!!!



Note: I need to remember to push it 100% for 100% of a sprint race. I only beat 4th place by HALF of a second. That is why you sprint the last 25-50 meters of EVERY race. Had I let up on more inch, he would have taken the spot.

What can I say? I really surprised myself. I was even more shocked to grab my first hardware (or glassware in this case). I went into the race hope to shave 2-3 minutes off my time from 2 years ago. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought 5 minutes were possible. Much less in horrible weather. And to think I didn't give it 100% of the bike. Increasing my intensity on the bike is one of my goals for the remainder of the year (stop grinning Arnett).

	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	Total
Avg Time	8:22	3:09	0:47:14	1:40	26:47	1:27:12
Best Time	4:36	1:21	0:32:25	0:39	14:50	0:53:51
My Time	6:41	1:55	0:37:01	0:59	22:14	1:08:47
Rank	59	26	21	36	53	28