Cape Girardeau Race Report

We woke up early to hit the road for Cape Girardeau. After fitting 2 bikes, gear, and 4 people into one (1!) car, Justin and I picked up Julie and Garrett and drove the two hours south to Cape Girardeau. Once there, Justin and I got set up with Julie and Garrett got doughnuts. Lucky.

After getting registered and numbered, I warmed up with a quick run and strech, a quick spin on the bike to make sure everything was working, and then headed into the pool. The swim start was staggered so one person started every 20 seconds. I was feeling pretty good about the swim, as I had had a couple great pool workouts in the past couple weeks. I mingled with the 10-minute-expected-finish group and got started about 35 minutes after the first swimmer. I settled into a good rhythm right away, and felt pretty strong. My breathing was good, and I only 'missed' (i.e., got a mouthful of water) once the whole swim. I passed one person and got passed by one person (who was cruising!). My swim time was great for me: 9:08! My best time in practicing was ~9:30, and my time last year was... 12:34. Great improvement for me. I felt good exiting the water.

T1 was good for me as well, I stripped my googles and cap, and threw on my number belt, helmet, and shoes. I did drop my sunglasses, which cost me a few seconds. I think I was ~56 seconds for T1. Last year I was 1:46.

After a successful flying mount, I spent the first half mile of the bike spinning my legs and strapping on my shoes. After that, I went to work. This course was much harder than I remembered - lots of short, steep climbs and a few significant climbs. Much of the first 6 miles or so was uphill. I didn't feel great on the bike, my stomach was cramping up a bit (not sure why) as well as my hip flexors. I just had to stand up a couple times for a couple seconds to release that though, no problem there. I passed a bunch of people, and didn't get passed at all during the bike leg. I pushed hard but still stayed a bit conservative on the climbs, generally just sitting and spinning up the hills. The official times are not up yet, but I think I came through in about 46 minutes, just over 20 mph, for the bike leg. Last year I went 52:20.

T2 was great. I got my shoes off on the bike, had a running dismount straight to my rack, and pulled my running shoes on. I did have a piece of tape in my left shoe, but it settled to a nice part of my foot and didn't cause any problems. I'd guess my time was about 30-40 seconds.

The first part of the run was brutal. My stomach was not feeling good at all, and cramping a bit. My legs were extremely heavy. After about a half-mile, everything started to loosen up and I picked up the pace as I picked people off. After about 1.5 miles I was feeling great (well, not great, but no cramps) and kept pushing the pace as much as I could. The run course was very nice with a few hills, but nothing major.
I ended up at about 34 minutes for the 5 mile run, so right about 6:45-6:50 pace.

My finish time was 1:30:50. That is a drop of 16 minutes (!) from my time last year. Loyal readers will also take note that my goal time was 1:30:45. I wish I didn't drop my sunglasses.

Last I saw, I was 18th overall, and 2nd on my age group (the winner went 1:25:xx).

Overall, I felt great about the race. If I had to do it over, I would have taken water on the bike instead of gatorade. That is about it, though. This race felt much, much different than past triathlons. I was extremely confident, calm, and in control the whole race. I never felt like stopping or cutting back on the pace. I really was able to trust my training and do my best. I think this was the first race I was really fit for, well prepared for, and knowing that through the planning and execution of the race made a huge difference in the overall experience.

Julie is responsible for sending me some pictures, I will post them ASAP, hopefully with the official results.