Tri-U-Mah: The Race

This was an entirely new event and format for myself. My race partner and I arrived nice and early, vying for an early heat, but were left wanting due to the popularity of the event and stuck with a 12:45 slot.

They day had not begun well. Awaking in Washington, DC to a flight that was two hours late and the prospect of no racing at all. The proverbial bullet was bitten and after an expensive cab ride to Washington National Airport, I was back on time, headed home to the cold tundra and the first race of the season.


The format was as follows. Each discipline was allotted 30 minutes to go as far as possible. The setting was the University of Minnesota's glorious swimming pool. Performance went well, although the floral swim suit of the young lady swimming next to me was an all too common sight as she lapped no less than 3 times!


The lack of sleep was soon to show it's face and I quickly felt the pang of sleep deprivation and hunger! However, as is the need sometimes, such pangs were suppressed for the greater good of competitiveness! "Oh yes", I said to myself, "this is a good early test event with no reason to push it". That plan was right out the window the first time the floral swimming machine passed me on lap one.


After the swim, you have 10 minutes to gather yourself for the bike. Frankly, this is where this race format is won. Ignore all requests for your legs to stop and ride until they fall off. The normal triathlon mentality ceases here. There is not a worry of saving yourself for the run, as the winner is one who accumulates the most miles. Thus, a "smash festival" on the bike will do that more so than on the run. An enormous effort on the bike and a steady consistent effort on the treadmill will win this race. However, this did not occur to me until the 5 minute warning on the bike, which, by most arguments, was a tad late in the day.


Thus, a serious effort on the run was needed. All "steady as you go" mentalities were a thing of the not so distant past. Sticking to any reasonable mentality was not helped by the information I had accrued on the bike. The fact that England had lost to France in the rugby and without doubt my phone was being bombarded by texts from Napoleon. With that to drive me on, the treadmill speed was steadily increased to a speed that made me weak at the knees (exaggerated by the lack of food and sleep) and slightly hallucinogenic.


The positives were clear. I had learnt a great deal from this race. That my body was capable of more than this time last year. That I recovered well from the hard effort (with help from Hammer) and that I really don't enjoy the high intensity of a short race! Long and slow, that's the way to go!


With less than two weeks to official training start date, this was a nice test and a well organized one at that. I will definitely do it again. Why, even though the high intensity was a misery? Largely, in a twisted way, the pain and suffering was great fun (just not for the immediate 20 minutes after the finish!).


Now off to buy an expensive training plan from TrainingPeaks.


Good luck to us all!