Swimming with the Beavers

Event: Holliston Lions Triathlon Date: 7/9/2006 Location: Stoddard Park, Holliston, MA Weather: Sunny, temps 75-80 degrees Course: 800m swim, 15 mile bike, 5 mile run

Report: This was an unusual race in many respects. For one, the distances were really strange for a “sprint” tri. Never-the-less, it turned out to be pretty fun. I woke up at 5:30 a.m., and drove over to pick up another MIT triathlete, M, and then we headed to Holliston. There was no parking at the race start, so we parked on the street like ¼ mile away. Registration was easy. I told them my name and they handed me a bag with everything in it. K, the MIT captain was hanging out near registration, and gave me my sweet ass MIT jersey. I then set up my transition zone, which was in prime real estate close to the run/bike interchange, put on my wetsuit and headed to the beach. The water was warm and murky, but not overly weedy, so I warmed up and waited for the start.

Right before the the race start, the Lion's Club guys (who organized the race) played the national anthem, the version of which they had chosen was only slightly better than the one with Rossanne Bar. It was HARD not to laugh. The 40+ men got to go off first, and then the sub 40 men, and finally the women all with 3 minute intervals in between. The swim was typical: grabbing wetsuited legs and getting kicked in the face for 200m and then open swim for the rest. In the absence of current and 3ft swells, swimming in straight lines was pretty easy. I was out of the water in about the middle of the pack, which is about my speed these days. I suspect that the 14-year-old version of myself, country club champion no less, would be faster, but, whatever. I ran out of the water and had my suit half off by the time I reach my rack. I then peeled the rest off, jumped into my bike shoes, and started out again much, much, much faster than last time.

The bike course was sweet: 3 laps around a 5 mile loop with short, steep uphills followed by long gradual downhills (link). There were no flats and the course ran fast. The first lap I was feeling the swim, but by the end I was cranking pretty well, turning decent gears. I got in with a group of dudes and we worked off of each other. The second lap was pretty much the same, but I was feeling much better on the uphills. On the third lap, all racers were out on the course, and it was crowded. In places it was like being in a peleton, and the yellow line and no drafting rules got violated like the prime directive. Still, we were moving along well. With two miles to go I noticed another MIT racer pass me. It was M. I climbed the final hill and slipped my feet out my shoes. This proved well, as the people in front of me Mau-Maued the transition zone and took each other out after jamming the brakes and slipping on their cleats. I dodged and jogged through. Racking my bike and putting on my racing flats took all of about 20 seconds and I was back on the course.

The run loop was the bike loop, only in reverse. Think about that for a second…do you see a problem? Yes, that’s right, we were running against bike traffic, which was a bit scary as the main group was coming in when I left. Still, there were no close calls, so, all turned out well. My legs didn’t feel dead, just not terribly fast. Also, I should not have worn my 8 year-old cross country waffles. They now have several blood stains, and I think its time to grab some road racing flats. Anyway, I soldiered on as best I could. The course was actually pretty challenging with long, gradual climbs and short steep downhills. The first 1.3 miles took something like forever, but afterwards I sped up a bit and passed a bunch of people. At around mile 4, someone behind me yelled “go tech!" It was M. She passed me, and we ran together to the last hill where I pulled ahead again for my kick to the finish. We finished around 1:33:25 on the clock, a final time of 1:30:25 for me 

So, in the end I finished around 40^th out of 250. I was hoping to finished sub 1:30:00, but I was pretty close, and I’m psyched about my bike split and my transitions. If I’m going to get back to being as fast as I once was, I’ve got to work the run and swim more (my run split was 35ish and my swim was 12ish). The MIT triathlon people were really fun, and we hung out for a while after the race waiting for awards; M took second in the women’s race, not bad for her first ever tri, and another one of the women, C, took an age category award.

Overall, a fun morning and a good race!

My next tri will be the Boston Triathlon, which will certain be an adventure, what with the swim in Boston harbor and the bike on Mem. Drive.

That’s assuming I survive the Jay Challenge MTB race :)