Race Report, Lake Perris 1997

Lake Perris Triathlon, September 28, 1997, Race Report

1k swim/ 30k bike/ 8k run
.62 mi swim/ 18.6 mi bike/ 5 mi run

Results

I was 15th in my age group. I don't know out of how many people.
I was 50th overall out of 112 men.
My time was 1:48 and the winner was 1:26
I think the above results were mixed Triathletes and Duathletes. When I get the printed results, I will fix this page. I think the Duathletes had an advantage because I passed a bunch of slow Duathletes on bicycles and they were pretty far ahead when I got out of the water.

Pre-race

Larry, Jane, Elle, Garret and I camped at Lake Perris on Saturday night. We arrived about 4:15 and tried to get our race entry, but the booth closed at 4:00. Lot's of loud partying people all night long at the camp ground. It didn't bother me and I was able to get a good nights sleep. I woke up starring at Orion through the top of my tent and a sliver of a moon in the easter sky at 5 am. I ate my breakfast and Larry and I left for the race as first light started to touch the horizon. Collette, Judy and my dad were there to watch and help cheer. I was really worried the Larry would beat me in this race. He is a great runner and this race was run heavy.

Swim

Tough swim. I've been trying to decide what happened to my swim? First of all, we went down to the water the evening before the race and it looked disgusting! It looked like an oil spill had happened the day before. My mind wasn't all that interested in swimming. I choked on some water on the way out to the first buoy. I kept up with the main group of swimmers until the last 300 yards and don't really know what happened. I'm thinking that I may have swum too hard on Friday evening. The last set I did was 2x500 yards. The first I did on 6:14 and the second on 6:09. Maybe I just wore myself out? I was 14th out of the water in 15:28. Very disappointing performance.

Bike

Killer bike in the hills around the lake. The bike course was actually very short at only 23k. Not that I minded, I think one more massive hill climb would have killed me. As I rounded the last corner going up the last massive climb, there was a bicycle down in the intersection. The night before, we drove the bike course and I could see there was a lot of sand in the middle of the intersection. Maybe the race sponsor should have swept the intersections? I took it easy as a policeman was warning me to slow down. The bicycle rider was getting back on his bike and followed me up the hill. I was passed by a number of cyclist at the beginning of the bike, but no one passed me after the 1/2 way point. There was one point on the way back that I was maintaining around 30 mph in a flat valley. I was really feeling good at that point.

I thought Larry was going to pass me on the bike. It sure helps you go faster if you know someone is on your tail.

There was an idiot running the entrance to the transition area when I got back on my bike. This guy was yelling and screaming "get of your bike now!" I didn't appreciate his tone. All they have to do is draw a chalk like and tell everyone, if you are riding your bike past the line, you will be penalized 1 minute. No need for yelling idiots to take your mind off the race.

Run

Entering the transition area I could hear my family yelling for me. I got my shoes on and headed out for the run. I heard them all yell again and thought for sure it was Larry as I left the transition area. I kept up with the runner in front of me for about 2 miles then he started to pull away. What a hot long run! At one point I looked back and saw someone wearing shorts that looked like Larry's in the distance. The person passed me a few minutes later and I was relieved it was not him. I finally made it to the turn around at 1:28 into the race. I looked at my watch so I would know how far Larry was behind me. 1:30 went by, then 1:32. I started to get worried that he got a flat or something? At 1:33 I saw him and told him what time I passed the turn around. I didn't think he could catch me, but I wasn't going to stop and find out. I passed a number of people that had stopped to walk. I always try to give them encouragement and tell them to keep running. The end of the race was very deceptive. You could see the parking area with the finish in the distance, so I started to put a little more energy into the run (I think everyone did). Then you come around a grove of trees and see this 200 yd gradual hill that you have to go up. One guy stopped in front of me and I just groaned as I passed him. I saw three people walking on that short little hill at the end.

Larry finished 6 minutes behind me. He made up a lot of time after the turn around. He said he was walking off the bike because of cramps in his legs.

Post Race

I got a massage from Marilee (Larry's sister). She told me that some of my muscles were working overtime because others were not developed enough. Larry gave me some exercises to help out.

Lessons Learned

I have to talk to my coach tonight about my swim performance and my Friday workout. See if they are related?

My run still stinks. This winter I am going to be a runner.

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