SavageMan Triathlon {recap}

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - SavageMan is my favorite (and hardest) triathlon of the season! I’m in my 4th year of racing (of the 5 years in existence) and it just keeps getting better. I love the course, the volunteers, the other racers, and the laid-back feel of the entire weekend.

Of the 4 years, this year was by far the coldest and most windy. The morning had a slight chill - but I was hoping the sun would come out and warm things up. Wishful thinking - the sun never came out and it was cold the entire race (about 45 degrees with a strong wind)

Pre-race: The race started at 9:30am (race directors take note - this is the *perfect* time for a race), with transition closing at 9:15am. I pushed it to the last minute because I did not want to take off my cozy, warm clothes. Little did I know that the swim would be the warmest part of the whole race!

Swim: I usually hate the swim, but I make an exception one time/year - for SavageMan. Deep Creek Lake is beautiful and I can see the bottom of the lake the entire swim. And since it’s a smaller race (but getting bigger), I don’t feel like I’ve just gotten into an all-out cat fight when I exit the water (not that I know what a cat-fight feels like).

I’m a slow(er) swimmer - I’m totally okay admitting that - but I’m excited to announce that I had my 1st sub-30 minute swim on Saturday! Time: 29:55

T1: One of my slowest transitions in triathlon history. I did, however, attempt to dry myself off as much as possible and wiggle on some arm warmers before heading out on the bike. Time: 3:06

Bike: I’m not going to spend much time talking about the bike, because I don’t want to sound like a major complainer - but this ride was hard and challenging. It was cold, it was windy - and I was still very wet from the swim. If I wasn’t wearing arm-warmers I probably would have called it quits (BJ was certain that he would see me on the side of the road, waiting to be taken back to transition). I wanted to cry on every.single.downhill and could not feel my feet for 23 miles. At one point, I was {only} going 5mph up hill with a major head-wind. {day-dreaming about the run} Time: 1:26:18

T2: I could barely tie my running shoes because my fingers were frozen. Time: 2:41

Run: I spent 1 hour, 26 minutes and 18 seconds dreaming about the run. Even though it took 3 miles for my toes to finally thaw out, I felt really good on the run (especially since I have only done one brick workout all season, and it was at the Columbia Triathlon, ha). The run is one of my favorites - hilly and shaded but with plenty of flats to recover on. One bystander recognized my Brooks I.D. uniform and cheered for me throughout the run - it was great motivation and just what I needed for the last mile. I pushed hard for the last mile and finished in... Time: 51:03 (8:13 pace)

Overall Time: 2:53:01 (2 minutes slower than last year, but I'll take the weather and wind into consideration)

Recap: I placed 4th in my AG group for the 4th year in a row! I kind of feel like I should earn a medal or plaque for consistency. Each year I think “If I just train harder next year, I’ll get 3rd” - but the field keeps improving and I keep getting 4th. Now, it’s just funny!

Post-race = Freezing

Trying to stay warm, with BJ

I love this race, absolutely love it. After we raced on Saturday, I said to BJ: “We should start charging our friends a fee for introducing them to this race”. I was joking, of course, (kind of), but this year we had 5 friends join us for SavageMan weekend. We rented a huge house (log cabin-esque), and celebrated with lots of wine, hot tub excursions, and (real) fires - it was so much fun. I already can’t wait for 2012.

A HUGE thanks to race management, race officials and all of volunteer for making SavageMan an awesome triathlon experience!