#culpepertri

This past weekend, the Health Diagnostic Laboratory (HDL) Triathlon Team raced in the Culpeper Sprint and International Triathlons in Culpeper, VA.  What an awesome and challenging race!  The course was loaded with hills (on both the bike and run course – which is just mean if you ask me) and it was my first lake swim (complete with imaginary sea creatures looking to eat me at any given moment). 

This race was not on my calendar at the start of the year, but my company is gracious enough to contribute to the team’s race registrations every quarter as long as we have six people willing and able to take on the challenge.  We found a race where we had six people willing and able to race, which is no easy task.  Aligning everyone’s schedules is like herding cats.  A huge thank you goes out to the generosity of HDL for their willingness to support their employees in the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle.

At the beginning of the year, I sat down and planned on doing two Olympic-distance races this year (Chattanooga and Outer Banks).  This year I wanted to focus more attention on these longer races rather than sprints because I have a goal of completing a half Ironman race next year.  When we started talking about the Culpeper race, I was thrilled at the chance to add another Olympic race to the list.  I was even more thrilled when the registration did not have to come out of my already strapped budget.  My motto: if they fund it, then I will race it.  

My race weekend started with me teaching a high intensity cycle class at 10 AM on Saturday.  Not really the way you want to prime the legs for a race, but I had a great time in the class and look forward to it every week.  My bags were packed the night before and I was ready to hit the road.  However, I had to check off my first pre-race ritual.  I had to get my haircut.  I just had one not too long ago, but for some reason, I have to have one right before a race.  I can’t explain it so I won’t even try.  I was carpooling with one of my teammates so he came by and picked me up and we were off.  We were meeting one of our other teammates up there because he raced in the sprint that morning.  We were just three guys hanging out in the bustling metropolis known as Culpeper (which is never described as “bustling” or a “metropolis”).  We checked into the hotel (which shares a parking lot with several other hotels – talk about comparative shopping) and eagerly awaited packet pick-up. 

I had researched restaurants before arriving in town (because it is what gastric bypass patients do) in order to check off my second pre-race ritual.  Found an Italian restaurant to get my pasta dinner.  Corey (my teammate that raced the Sprint earlier in the day) has been dreaming about having chicken parmesan since I sent out the menu a week earlier.  I ordered your basic spaghetti and meat sauce (I thought I was pretty safe ordering that and you really have to try and mess up spaghetti and meat sauce) and Corey and Angelo ordered the chicken parmesan.  They brought out their dinner and I just started at it.  It was a little ball of spaghetti noodles, four breaded chicken tenders (that’s right chicken tenders) with melted mozzarella cheese.  It looked like something I would cook when I was in college. 

We headed back to the hotel all carb’d up and ready to get some sleep.  Got back to the hotel and packed the gear back (several times just to make sure everything was there).  I called the front desk for a wake-up call for 4:30 AM.  The lady on the phone said “4:30 AM?”  I chuckled and told her she was correct.

Race morning had finally arrived and I hate race morning.  I am too anxious to really enjoy it.  I found my spot in transition and unpacked my bag and set up my little piece of real estate.  If you were to sit on the outside and watch people set up their transition area, you would think that only severely OCD people participate in these races.  Everything is set up very meticulously and in a specific order.  It’s really funny to think about it.  Everything has its place and more thought has gone into that placement than what seems logical or rational.

After transition was all set up, I walked over to the lake (layered in fog) and stared out at the buoys thinking to myself “good grief those things are far away”.  I have yet to be able to swim an entire swim course without having to result to the breaststroke either out of physical or mental necessity.  My last race, I was able to swim a part of the course using the freestyle stroke and I was proud of myself for doing that much.  This time, I wanted to really swim more of the course.  I was standing there by the lake with my other teammates and tried to keep my nerves in check before I had to head into the dark outdoor pool for a nice 1,500 meter swim.

They sounded the horn and I was off.  I quickly got into rhythm and surprising felt at ease.  My goggles were holding up (not leaking thanks to my teammate Lynn for her advice) and it did not feel like some massive washing machine as we all fight for position.  Before I knew it, I had reached the first buoy.  I made the turn and started out to cross the length of the lake.  I actually held the line pretty well.  Most people were to my far right and I could not figure out why.  I kept looking up to make sure I was on track and the sight buoy was always straight ahead.  It was if I had invisible walls around me and no one was fighting for my spot in the water.  I had the most comfortable open water swim of my life.  I finished the swim in 36:35 and swam the entire course without resulting to the breaststroke.  I got out of the water so proud of myself.  I hope this courage transfers to the Outer Banks next month.  I was 6 minutes slower than Chattanooga, but this was a lake swim, which means no current to help speed up the swim.  Regardless of time, I had a huge accomplishment by swimming the entire course (trying to overcome a big fear of open water).

I had a nice smooth transition out of the water and on to the bike.  Everything worked like it was supposed to.  I had scouted the bike and run course a few weeks earlier with Angelo so I knew the course.  I had a different strategy with this course.  Normally, I stick with the big gears and get down on myself when I have to drop to a lower gear.  This time, I was going to use the gears to my advantage.  This was a very technical course.  The reason is this course very hilly and some of these hills are right after you make hard turns so you have to have the correct gearing on so you don’t struggle getting up the hill with less momentum.  They were different types of hills compared to Chattanooga.  Those hills were long and drawn out.  So I could muscle up those hills without having to drop too much gear.  These hills were steep and persistent (one right after the other).  So dropping the gear when necessary and maintaining a steady cadence was important to me.  I did not want to burn out my legs like I did in Chattanooga (everything after mile 4 in the run was more difficult than it should have been in that race).  I charged up these hills and held my cadence.  Sometimes passing other racers on their carbon triathlon bikes, which always feel good since I am out there on a straight bar hybrid bike (which has to catch some people by surprise).  I finished the bike course in 1:19:46.  I had an average speed of 18.1 mph, which is awesome for me given the difficulty of the course and the type of bike I have.    

This is the point in the race where you have to do whatever it takes to finish.  I have to constantly tell myself that I will not have my normal 10K time.  You are not just running a 10K.  You are running a 10K with whatever is left in the tank.  I felt good going into this run.  The legs were fine and it did not take long to get my legs under me and get that “rubber” feeling out of them.  The only problem is I had a very steep hill climb at the start of the run (again I think this is just mean).  I think one reason I felt good going into the run was because of my nutrition plan.  I had stuck 3 clif bar bloks to my bike and periodically stuck one in my mouth during the ride.  I saved the last blok for the start of the run.  I just kept it in my mouth and let it dissolve throughout the run portion.  I was never lacking for energy and never really got thirsty, which is a good thing because I really had to use the bathroom during the run.  I would grab a shot of water every now and then during the run just to get the sugary taste out of my mouth and wet the lips.  I had a great run (especially since the course was hilly).  I finished the run in 1:01:34.  This is 3 minutes faster than Chattanooga (which was basically a flat run course) and 1 minute faster than last year’s Outer Banks Olympic.  A huge thank you goes out to Robert Flanigan and Ruthie Burke for helping me with my run posture.  I know I still have a problem with keeping my arms down, but I have been making a conscious effort to work on that over the past few weeks and it is getting better.  I am staying more relaxed during my run and I think that is why I was faster in this race. 

I finished this race with a total race time of 3:02:05.  I was 2 minutes shy of meeting my annual goal of finishing an Olympic distance triathlon within 3 hours.  I was so close to making it happen.  This was my fastest race time yet at this distance.  Up next and my last big triathlon of the year is Outer Banks Olympic on September 13th. 

Angelo Montoya heading out for the run.  Enjoyed the high fives as we crossed paths on the run.

Relay Team (left to right): Maggie Barton, Jack Hester, and Lynn Morris.

They took first place in the mixed relay division.  EXCELLENT JOB!  I may need to borrow Jack's abs to wash my tri suit. Maggie had no problem passing me on the bike even though I had a significant head start.  Lynn is the female version of Michael Phelps. 

Wish I had pictures of Corey Reed racing the Sprint.  I should have taken a picture of him with his chicken parmesan.