Today was the Culpeper Sprint Triathlon in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I think I should probably start this report with the day prior. I just got back from a recruiting conference in Kansas City, where I had enjoyed my fair share of BBQ and beer. Okay, more than my fair share. Right after landing in Richmond after 6:00 yesterday, drove to meet my buddy Brian. He is a kayaking volunteer for the race, and we were heading up to the race site together. After a yummy dinner of pizza, and beer, we made the drive to Culpeper. Pulled into the Red Carpet Inn for our room, which I had purchased online at Priceline. No surprise, the owner had no knowledge of my reservation and no rooms left. Chalk up yet another victory for William Shatner. After some searching for 20 minutes, we ended up in a smoking room at the Best Western down the street. Full of triathletes.
We settled in, showered, and got to ready to get some shut eye. Of course, then out of the blue, a huge thunderstorm rolled in and it POURED. Like Ark building rain. This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact Brian's kayak was sitting upright on his car without a cockpit cover. So out we went in the cold, stinging rain to flip his kayak, which in twenty minutes had filled with a good inch or two of water. Wet cold, we tried to get some sleep amongst the smell of fresh menthols.
Woke up feeling good this morning. After a quick breakfast of some Sunchips and a RedBull, we arrived at the site. Gray and overcast, but warm during check in and body marking. Of course, the rain from last night had made the parking lot and transition area a mud bath. Yuk. Luckily, there was a vendor there and I was able get some new swim goggles, which I had of course left at home. Lots of the typical fronting prior to the race, just found myself a quiet spot and waited for the start.
Water temp was 83. Wetsuit illegal. The water was indeed warm, almost too warm, surely not refreshing. Lots of plant matter too. Even some fish. After warming up, settled in mid pack and on the left, closest to the inside of the first turn buoy. Gun goes off at 8:00 and kicking and splashing we went. Settled in pretty quickly behind some guys and drafted the whole way. No problems at all. Some pushing and shoving, including by myself, but no major kicks to the face. Came out swim pretty fast, but Im still waiting to hear the results.
Into transition, was feeling a little more tired than usual. Got everything and headed out for the bike. I must say, I find the course for this sprint extremely annoying. I appreciate the fun in a hilly course, but this was like they wanted a course that had no flat areas. Even out of the transition area, I had to run up a 30 feet embankment with my bike to get to the road for mounting. Literally, as soon as you start riding, its up a hill. First few miles went okay enough. Road was wet, but not super slippery. After the first 15-20 minutes though, had some bad stomach cramps and bloating. Legs just felt dead tired. Right about that time, a huge field of guys in my age group went roaring by me. I kept up for a few miles, but then they were gone. That was also about the time it started raining on us to boot, so the downhills I took a little slower than normal.
Anyhow, depressing time of around 57 something. Came into transition just glad to be done with the bike. Into the shoes and out I went. Like the bike, the run starts immediately with some little embankments, then a full on hill. Started pouring by that point. At least I wasn't hot. Kept a pace of about 8:00 minute miles, which with the hills, I am pretty happy with. The depressing thing is that it was pain for me all the way. Gritting teeth and yelling at myself pain. Finished up in around 24:00.
I'm still waiting for the official results, but I'm thinking in the top 50% of the men, and around the middle of the pack for my age group. Still though, I beat last year's depressing time by 11:00 minutes. I have to admit also, that I have been destroying by body with BBQ in the past few days; I will have to take better care in the future prior to the race.
Next up, international distance triathlon in 2 weeks. Onward and upward.
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