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!

World's Most Expensive Triathlon

How much would you pay to do a triathlon?

In June 2010, I paid $300 to race EagleMan 70.3.  EagleMan is part of the Ironman brand - which I think automatically adds a few extra dollars to the entry fee. After the race I paid $200 for an ambulance ride and a hospital visit. Awesome.

Post 70.3 - medical tent (pre-ambulance ride/hospital visit)

How much would you pay to do an Ironman 140.3?

If everything goes as planned, New York’s Inaugural Ironman, on August 11, 2012, will cost $1,000.00 to enter. 

TriTown USA

Think your’e Type A? Welcome to the club.

If you are a triathlete, especially in the Washington D.C. area, this article is for you: “Triathlons in Washington: Why Tri?” It’s an interesting look at the sport of triathlon, most specifically in D.C.

“The Mid-Atlantic has the highest concentration of triathletes in the country. With two triathlons a year—and enough type-A personalities to fill them up—DC might be the epicenter.”

D.C. - dubbed TriTown USA by aficionados - has been named the fittest city in America by Forbesmagazine for the past three years. So, it comes as no surprise, that a city full of Type-A’s and fittest-people thrive in the sport of triathlon.

I’m a ‘part-time’ triathlete, meaning that I love the sport of running first and don't take triathlons too seriously, but tend to agree with a lot of points in the article. While I’m not even close to being a local Maggie Shapiro-esque hero, I like the challenge of triathlon and use my competitive (read: type-A) personality to fuel me.

Are you a triathlete? Are you Type-A? What do you think about this article?

The Columbia Triathlon

With the tiny exception of posting this race on the “Race Calendar - 2011” side-bar, I didn’t tell many people that I was doing The Columbia Triathlon.

Tri-mobile

For starters, I wasn’t sure how I would feel after my marathon. Would I be able to do an Olympic distance triathlon 3 weeks after my marathon?

Secondly, I wasn’t prepared. I took 1 week off after my marathon - which gave me 2 weeks to train for the race. In preparation, I swam twice and rode my bike 3 times (since September 2010). I had a strong running base but I didn’t do any double or brick (bike/run) workouts. In a word, I was nervous.

BJ told me to treat the race as just another training day. My friend, Betsy, reminded me that I finished EagleMan 70.3 with less training than mentioned above (granted, I ended up in the hospital but I still finished). I knew I could do it, I just wasn’t sure how fast I could finish.

Race Day: I woke up to beautiful weather, finally. I completed the race in 2009 and 2010 - and it poured both years. In 2009, it also hailed as I was getting into the water for swim start. It’s hard enough to wake-up at 4:45am for a race - I don’t want to wake up to rain. 2011 weather - thank you very much!

Swim: Wow, I felt like I was in the middle of a major girl-fight. I have never been in so much physical pain from a swim. It was a large group - 150 women in 2 age groups (25-29 & 30-34). About 1 minute into the swim, I was punched in the face - obviously not on purpose - but the blow was so hard that it knocked my goggles completely off my face. I had to stop, tread water, and try to get them back on. The pain continued the entire swim - I was hit more times than I can count, swam on top of people, had people swim on top of me, and was punched once more at the end. This time the pain was so intense that I started crying. No joke, I have bruises on my eyes from the swim. I know that the hitting and swimming on top of people is normal at the start of a swim, but it usually “breaks-up” a few minutes into the race. Not this time - it was a full on girl fight for 31 minutes.

Okay, for only 2 swims and each lasting no longer than 25 minutes and a treading water/goggle adjustment penalty, this wasn’t a terrible swim.
Time: 31:34

Bike: I can’t bike or race this course without my chain falling off my bike. I can’t make this sh*t up - my chain drops every time I bike Columbia. The 1st year it happened, I had NO idea what to do or how to put a chain back on. Thankfully, I was more prepared this year. But preparation aside, it’s still annoying to lose a few minutes getting off the bike and trying to fix it. Double dagger: when it happens while you are going up a hill.

Other than the chain drop, I felt really good. I was able to re-pass everyone that had passed me while I was fixing said chain, but wasn’t able to catch (back) up to the pack I was riding with prior to the chain drop. It was a beautiful day for biking and I was excited to be on the bike and experience little to no pain.
Time: 1:26:56 (includes 3 minute chain dilemma)

Run: Ahh, my sweet spot and the only thing I was actually prepared for. I felt good considering I had not practiced a bike-to-run run (aka brick workout). It wasn’t my best run ever but it also wasn’t my worst. The last mile is really flat (a nice change from the rest of the course, which is extremely hilly) and I was able to sprint it in. The run is where I make-up for my lack of speed on the swim and bike - so, no matter what my time, I love passing people on the run.
Time: 51:21 (8:16 pace)

2011 Columbia Triathlon finisher!

Statistics:
Time: 2:54:09
Swim: 31:34
T1: 2:48
Bike: 1:25:56
T2: 1:33
Run: 51:21
Age Group Place: 9/56
Female Place: 122/539
Overall Place: 655/1633

The Columbia Triathlon is a great, local race. The volunteers are amazing and really put a lot into making it a great race. There are some heavy hitters (in the tri world) that race Columbia - and it’s so cool to see them on the course. It was a beautiful day for a “training day” and I’m happy with the results. Oh, and I should mention that my 2011 time (with very little preparation) was 14 minutes faster than my 2009 time - a testament to marathon training (thank you marathon). Overall, it was a great day - and I got to spend time with BJ and my friends - I can’t think of anything better {with the exception of the beer we had a brunch}.

BJ and Me: Pre-race