Overall Place 7/150
AG Place 2/11
Normally I do the Olympic distance event at Evergreen, but not this year.
This race report starts about a month prior to the race. I spent the week in San Jose on business, away from my bike. The combination of bad eating, abnormally high run mileage (compensating for the bad eating), and hilly topography resulted in a hamstring strain of some type. I’ve had a weak hamstring on my right side for a long time, and that became a big problem after that week.
At first I did what every runner with pain would do, I ignored it. Then I started bombing some runs, and seeing my run pace drop. I couldn’t ignore it anymore, I was hurt. So, I took some time off. Then I stretched, strengthened, and rehabbed the best I could. But as the Evergreen Olympic got closer, I realized I was in no shape to run a hard 10k.
Luckily the race director let me move my entry down to the sprint. The evergreen sprint is an interesting event in that it keeps the 40k bike. I hadn’t done a 40k all year, but in general I’m pretty strong on the bike, so I wasn’t incredibly worried, and who knows, because of the smaller race size I might even be competitive in my AG, which I’m certainly not in the evergreen Oly.
On race morning I got to the event, got setup, and started my warm up. I went into the race somewhat recovered, but mostly not tapered, haven’t really only taken about 3 days easy. As I got on the bike that morning, my hamstring immediately started complaining. I thought it was doing better, but maybe not.
Swim - 10:29 / 600m / 1:55/100
The swim was a little long, based on my GPS. I also swam it very conservatively, having over done it just a bit at the Trishark sprint tri a month before. Overall I think it went well, however I left a ton on the table. In a 600m swim though, that’s just a few seconds, so no big.
T1 - 1:21.1
My T1 went pretty well. I’m not fast at transitions, but I’m much improved this year.
Bike – 1:01:20.4 / 24.8 / 24.31
My bike went pretty well. I struggled a bit with the flying mount this time around, having maybe gotten just a little cocky about how well it went last year. I struggled just a little keeping my head in the game on the bike as there wasn’t really anyone to race on the course. The sprint started after all the Olympic groups, so I was able to use a lot of folks to slingshot down the course. I felt just a little guilty using the pass zone of slower folks to accelerate me, but it’s all part of the game on the bike. I even got a “thumbs up” from a draft marshal while I was doing it.
I got passed by local athletes Kevin McCarthy and Mick Hannah, each on a turn, later in the race, and had to work to pass them both back. Both made it very clear that my bike is all speed and no finesse. That’s something I’m going to seriously work on. I’m still skiddish in corners after a crash in 2010, and a general lack of experience, but enough is enough. I’m probably losing a minute on my 40k cornering like an old woman in a Cadillac.
The hamstring started whining with about 5 miles left, and I backed off just a bit.
According to the split I was around 24.3, but there’s no way. I think the course was a bit short this time. The winds were good though, so who knows.
T2 – 1:29.3
My T2 didn’t go so well. My transition spot was pretty much on the other side of transition from bike in, and I unclipped wearing my bike shoes to run my bike through T2. That cost me a ridiculous amount of time, it was a really long run in cleats.
If I were going to focus on this short course stuff, I’d learn how to take my shoes off on the bike and run barefoot… But I’m not a short course athlete, so I’m not going to stress about it.
Run - 24:59.8 / 3.1 / 8:02/mi
My run went pretty well, considering the hamstring thing. It didn’t really start bugging me until I started racing someone else in my AG. In the last mile it really started threating to cramp up, when I was descending a small hill, so I shortened my stride and cruised home. In the end it held me a back a little but I still had a pretty decent run.
Afterwards
Post-race I found out I did well enough for 2nd place in my AG, which I’ll happily take on a good day. Being that it happened on a short course race while injured, that’s a bonus.
Lana got 5th in her AG in the Oly as well, with much more fierce competition!
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