Indian Springs Sprint

Saturday marked another race on the calendar. With everything that has been going on mentally and physically I wasn't quite sure how to feel about the race. I was really run down so my expectations were low. I was also hoping that by racing it would once again remind me why I love doing this...and maybe change my attitude.

I departed around 5:30 after my typical peanut butter bagel and a banana. The race was about an hour south so the drive provided me an opportunity to zone in to the race. That didn't happen. I felt very sluggish and unenthusiastic. I arrived at the race venue and went through the motions of setting up transition and catching up with friends I haven't seen in months.

I managed to get in a small warmup before the race but my body was feeling a bit lethargic and resisted the temptation to move any quicker than what was required. I made my way down to the swim start and still found myself chatting with less than 30 seconds before my wave started.

I had no real goal for this race outside of a solid effort. I want to work on my drafting in the water. I want to continue to push hard on the bike. Finally, I want don't want to get dropped on the run.

I hit the water and had a solid first 100-150m as I navigated through traffic. As I made my way around the first turn buoy, I settled into a comfortable pace. I was very relaxed. More importantly, I was sticking to this guys feet perfectly. I could tell that it wasn't a super aggressive pace. I looked around and didn't see any other feet so I stayed with my fish until the end. I popped out of the water in 11:05, which is about 45 seconds faster than High Falls.

Swim time: 11:59 (includes hill run)

The run to transition was straight up hill. As I pushed up the hill, the body pushed back a bit and I realized I was lacking the pop in my legs to run up that hill. I made my way through the world's narrowest transition and to my bike and spotted Kirk a few seconds ahead of me.

T1: 58s

The first mile was a technical descent down and out of the state park. I took the opportunity to settle down and think through the bike. I wasn't feel good for the first few miles on the bike. At the last turn buoy I caught consecutive waves of water and my stomach was letting me know that it doesn't enjoy drinking lake water. To make matters worse the first few miles were uphill and my heartrate was not settling down. I was doing all I could to not get mentally defeated.

I caught Kirk a few miles in and try to motivate him to come with me on the bike. I began picking up the pace and taking aim at the next few athlets. Around mile 5-6, my heartrate finally came down a bit and I was ready to really begin pushing the bike. About that time Whitwell caught me and pulled ahead. I used him as a carrot to make me push. I passed Chuck, offering him a congratulatory good swim, passed Street telling him to quit being such a p*ssy. And then I repassed Whitwell calling him an old fart in an attempt to light an fire under him.

At this point I was finding a solid groove. I also could tell how tired I was. I definitely didn't have any pop in the legs today so my strategy became to just hammer the bike. My run was going to suffer either way. Whitwell came roaring back and took off (guess I did my job). And then I was stuck out in no man's land for a while. The course was fairly challenging. Not hard...but not easy. It had moderate rollers for the first half that prevented you from getting into a solid groove. The back half was F-A-S-T as I ran out of gears 3x and was spinning 36 mph.

Bike time: 39:53 (21.6 mph)

T2 really sucked. You had to hop off your bike on and incline, rack the bike and run straight up a hill to get out. I fumbled a bit here getting on socks. I still feel like such a clutz in transition this year.

T2: :55

I headed out on the run not knowing what to expect. My HR was zone 5 instantly and I just trotted along. I didn't quite know how challenging this course would be. Oh my. I came out of transition right behind another guy so I stuck to him as long as I could. At the first turn around I saw Kirk and Street. I waited for both of them to catch me.

At the first mile, I was only running an 8:15. Wow, I am slow. But oddly enough no one was catching me. That all changed a few minutes later when a group of guys, all in my age group soared past me. FAIL. I knew at the first turnaround that I was in 3rd or 4th AG place. Oh well...the story of my life.

I kept pushing through the challenging run and it was brutal. The loops through the campground were beating me senseless. After the 2 mile mark I tried to pick it up a bit and caught a few people. In the last quarter mile, two more passed me and I went with them before realizing that I am not going to fight it out over the last 200m just for 1-2 overall places. There was no one behind me so I just cruised to the finish line.

Run time: 24:18 (7:50)

Total time: 1:18:06

I felt like my performance was subpar. Overall, it ended up being a good race for me. I felt sluggish throughout but I didn't give up. I continued to push through the harder times and put together a solid effort. I am still pissed about how deplorable my running is right now but that is going to change soon.