I was waiting to do my race report after they posted results, but last time I did this race, they were pretty tardy on posting results.
The Camp Yuba tri is a smaller tri an hour from my home. I went down by myself last night and slept in the back of the van in the parking lot. I even got to sleep before 10PM and got a great sleep.
There were 300 total participants in the two races, 130 were the olympic and 270 in the sprint. I did the olympic. I competed in 06 and took third overall, but there were only about 20 participants.
In 06 I remember freezing before the swim and then the water felt great. I bundled up more this morning and then put my wet suit on 15 min before so warmth was not an issue this year.
Swim. The swim was typical hectic start with smashing into people. After a few minutes of frenzy swimming, I settled into a good stroke pattern. The swim was a triangle with big orange boays to sight. I found if I breathed every stroke as I approached the boay for the turn, I was better off, since it made sighting easier. I peeked at my watch after the first lap of 750 meter (half way point) and saw I was at high 13s, that made me feel really good since I turtled out a 36 min swim on 06. The wet suit felt great as far as boayancy. I kept a decent line and did not zig zag too much, but I still had my moments. I came out of the water at 28 something and stripped the wet suit, ran up the ramp to the first timer at 29: 37. I will take a 7-8 min improvement anytime. I was not too winded and feeling good. I estimate I was 16-20 place coming out of the water
T1: Since I already had by wet suit off, T1 was pretty easy. I went sockless--eventhough on a race like this, I knew that 20 seconds would not make much of a difference. In large races, that mean places. I put on my helmet and glasses and ran out of transtion.
Bike: I had my shoes attatched to the bike and put them on after 40 seconds on the bike. The bike route is a long loop, with some hills and bumpy roads and cattle guards. I was praying that I would not get a flat, since I got one the last two times I rode. I quickly passed one or two people then got smoked by two riders. I thought I was going fast 24 mph, but the first one just zipped right by. I think he won. I picked off a few more then the roads got extremely long. You could barely see a rider up a head and I knew I had to chase him (or her). I picked off a few more doing that. It took miles to catch one person. That is a disadvantage to this race . . . .no one to race. At about the 18 mile mark there was a few miles of out and back. Then I could see at least someone. I saw I was 10th. Then I picked off a few more and then went into T2 with no one close. Some of the roads were bumpy and that was not fun. 1:12
T2: Took my shoes off before. Met up with the sprint athletes. I did well in t2. I attached my Garmin to my fuel belt and turned it on before the swim. I never did get it on my wrist, so I carried it. I ran out of GU on the bike, so I was glad to have a carbo boom in the fuel belt for the run.
Run. The run was quite hilly and was hard to establish a good pace. I wanted to beat 7 min miles.
Mile 1: Mostly flat but needing to recover from the bike. My feet were numb (from cold and stress of the bike). 7:16 mile
Mile 2: 7:32. Some uphill. I was in the mist of many of the sprint runners--especially the slow runners, so it was fun to pass someone, but no one to compete against with a good pace.
Mile 3: 7:10 Got to go down the gravely hill, finally saw an olympic athlete and passed him. He was 43. I also saw Shane who is 40 a ways back on a short out and back. He beat me at Spudman so I was thinking I was going to get beat by him today, but he did not compete that well.
Mile 4: Still up hill 7:38. I see a guy way up there, I set my sights on him and figure I can catch him.
Mile 5: 6:32 The guy a head take a nice long water break, lets me catch up a little more. Now we have down hill. I used the hill and ran well. Passed him. After I was barely be able to see the next olympic so I knew the "race" was over.
Mile 6: 7:26. Back up some hill and on the flat. I was putting good distance on the guy behind me so no reason to go too fast. Total time 46:16 and I had it as 6.36 miles. Garmin said 7:16 average. That is the first tri race with the garmin and it kept nice company. I like having the pace split and knowing how much longer to go.
The awards were a bust. The organizer went with a new chip company and it was flop. I think I got first in AG since if any ahead of me would be overall winners. I was pretty tired, but felt good about how I competed. It was a hard course compared to spudman. It threw me off a little to go the extra half hour on my gels, but it worked out. | 