This was the second (not-so) Olympic race of the season. The third and final one will be Westchester in two weekends.
The reason I say this race was not really an Olympic is because it really wasn’t.
0.60 Mi SWIM --- 38.2 Mi BIKE --- 6.2 Mi RUN
It ended up being probably a 0.8 mile swim, 39 mile bike, and a 10k. And based on my powertap, closer to 40 miles for the bike. It was a brutal race, but a kickass one as well.Eight out of the 12 Stevens kids racing made their way to Nick’s house on Friday night at 7pm. Nick’s car had Nick, Aaron Perelman, and Jamie. Nicole’s car had Nicole, Gabby, Luke, and Matt. The other four (Isaac, Orlando, Will, and Aaron) had gone to Isaac’s house earlier in the day. We ate some food and tinkered with bikes until bed time. Nick’s parents were very nice in letting us stay at their house for the night.
6am wakeup! Breakfast. Isaac’s car arrived to join us. Load the bikes. Go!
Wait……..
Isaac can’t open the car door!... they’re locked out, no joke. And I was getting blamed for it, but it wasn’t me! When I opened the car door to mess with Will, I never hit a button, the doors just locked. But we will never know what happened. All that mattered was that Isaac got the door open with a coat hanger.
And we’re off to Nockamixon State Park!
We had ample time to set up for this race and warm up. The Half went off at 8am and we weren’t taking off until 9:30am. This was the first race I have ever warmed up on my bike beforehand and I think it helped me tremendously. My legs were ready to go.
Transition set. NECTC photo taken. Wetsuit on. Goggles on. Jump in the lake to warm up.
The race date was September 11th, 2010. 9 years after one of the most important days in our generation’s lives. The Star Spangled Banner was especially meaningful this morning. Never forget.
Swim= 16:45 – 3rd out of the water behind Matt and Nick! Stevens 1,2,3!
I need to get better at being aggressive and not being timid at the start of the swim. It’s so annoying because I always end up surrounded by huge douche bags who think they’re good swimmers and who think it’s okay to do anything in their power to get ahead. I know I’m good at open water swimming, but if I can’t get ahead from the beginning, I’m screwed. Like during this race, for example, some guy grabbed my shoulders, pushed me underwater, and swam over me. I thought I was going to drown for a split second.. then the adrenaline kicked in and I hauled but past people and wound up swimming next to Luke all the way to the first buoy. I also had quite a few leg grabs, and elbows all over. Another stupid swim start.. those college kids are ruthless.
Once around the 1st buoy, it was Matt Smith up front, Nick behind him, and me right there. The three of us just swam a fast pace for the rest of the way til the exit. As we neared the shore, I saw Nick get up and try and walk on the rocks.. but he failed miserably and ended up face diving back into the water and swimming further until it was safer to run out. After I saw Nick attempt to stand, I started to stand as well, and also failed miserably as we both crashed and burned at the same time. There is photo evidence of this, and proof that Matt somehow tiptoed over the surface tension of the water and out way ahead of us magically lol.
T1= 1:23
Bike= 1:55:45 – 14th fastest collegiate bike time!
Average power = 178
Average power lap 1 = 184
Average power lap 2 = 171
Average speed = 20.8 mph
Average HR (swim & bike) = 179
Very very very very very very happy with the bike!!! It was sooooooooo much fun. I just had a blast the entire time I was riding. I loved the fact that it was two laps because I was able to pace myself much better.
Interesting point to note though, although my average power was much higher on the first lap, the second lap had the higher average speed. This was because in order to get out from the Marina park area to the main road, you had to go up. And then at the end of the second lap, everything was downhill back to the transition area. Makes sense.
The shoulder was wide, there wasn’t much traffic, it wasn’t too windy, everything went well.
The most hysterical moment, however, was the moment I saw THE WALL. There was a super fast downhill that ended at the base of a huge steep hill and coming down the hill, my face must have been priceless. I’ve never seen such a straight line uphill like that, it was just a wall in the distance that I had to make my way up. Granted, my speed heading down the hill into it was reaching 40mph to get momentum. Doing that twice was super fun!
So, very fun bike course. Only got passed by 2 guys, Colin and the Northeastern kid.
I felt like this course was a much better display of the power I have right now. My average power was higher than the Cranberry for 40 miles! Rest does my body good. Let’s just keep it up for these next few races, legs.
T2= 0:48
Run = 49:31 – 31st collegiate run time – @ a 7:59 pace!!! Scooooooore!
Average HR = 183
And I was excited two weeks ago with a 52 something. Scratch that PR, I went my best Olympic 10k in this race!!! Under 50 minutes!!!!
But it wasn’t all fun and games. There was a moment of fear when I thought I wasn’t going to finish the race. The first 2 miles was a false uphill run that curved and winded, so you couldn’t really tell it was consistently going up. I guess I didn’t drink enough right before the run because I cramped so painfully a little after a mile. It was on the two inner thighs and then once I stopped, the hamstring of my right leg. It was horrendous. Stopping was a terrible idea because I just seized up, and then collapsed to the ground in a squat position trying not to die. I was doing anything to get control of my legs. Three people passed me, I thought this was the end. I sat there for probably 30 seconds to a minute. But I grit my teeth, stood up, and ran about 40 of the most painful steps of my life and slammed a mini Cliff bar down my throat. Almost instantly after the Cliff bar was down and I was nearing the top of the hill near the first aid station my legs loosened up. I stopped and drank a cup of Gatorade and a cup of Water. The legs seemed to say thanks as I sped up and powered on. Instantly I felt amazing because not only was I finishing, I knew I was going fast.
At the turnaround, I drank another Gatorade and water and told myself to just sprint this 5k home. I saw Luke not too far away and I yelled at him to catch me… big mistake. After flying down a couple hills and booking it as fast as my legs could go, Luke finally caught me with about .2 miles left and ended up finishing 17 seconds ahead of me because I had zero burst energy left. Damn him.. so close. But it was okay, I really couldn’t complain because I blazed through my fastest 10k ever. I would have been happy with that time without having swum nearly a mile and biking 40 miles beforehand, so I’m pretty stoked about it. Bring on the 5k next weekend and let’s do some serious running!
Overall time = 3:04:12.25
Awesome for the Olympic PLUS race! My goal was actually 3:05 because I looked up the fastest female time from last year and that was it. So I got the goal and won, I’ll take it : )
What a killer day.
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| Top 3 guys and the top 2 girls from the race. |
Stevens did amazing overall as well! Out of the 36 guys, Nick came in 7th, Luke 12th, Aaron Perelman 17th, Aaron Williams 27th, Isaac Spingarn 30th, Will Gerboth 31st, Orlando Martinez 33rd, and Matt Smith 34th (with 2 flat tires). Out of the 14 girls, Gabby came in 4th, Jamie came in some place shortly after, but she wasn’t placed in the collegiate category on accident, and Nicole was 12th.
Final post-race note: I was stung by a bee for the second time in my life, and the second time this year. bee stings suck. After the race we ate some grub at Nick’s house. His parents were very generous again. And then we went back to Stevens. Solid day. I like races on Saturday because it leaves Saturday night all free for fun and Sunday for school work
7 days to the Buckman Sprint!!!
Good to see that you have beaten your own timings. Good thing is you have passion for the sport and I am sure that you will do best in coming races as well
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