2009 Triple T Race Report: May 22 – 24, Memorial Day Weekend
This past weekend, I participated in an Epic Athletic event staged in the mountains of Shawnee State Park and Forest located in Portsmouth, Ohio: http://www.americantriple-t.com/ohio/ohio.html This 3 day event consisted of a Sprint Triathlon on Friday night, an Olympic Distance Triathlon on Saturday morning, an Olympic Distance Triathlon on Saturday afternoon and a Half Ironman distance Triathlon on Sunday morning. To say the least, the 140 mile course was extremely challenging both physically and mentally. While I finished the course with an incredible sense of fitness, ability and gratitude, to be able to experience and sustain this amount of physical and mental challenge is truly a testimony to my development as an athlete, competitor and a person. It was amazing how many like minded individuals joined me on this quest as it was truly a blessing to have shared this experience with all of them.
I have broken down this report by race. I hope you enjoy reading about my experience as much as I enjoyed participating in the event.
The Triple T has two participant options. You can race as an individual or race with a teammate. In the Team format, both individual times are added together to determine your final standings and both teammates have to finish the final 2 races together.
I chose to race as a team. My teammate, Bob Riley is an extremely strong athlete and someone I felt comfortable engaging in this endeavor with. Claudia Ducker joined us for the race as well, although she raced as an individual. Claudia is one of my Ironman buddies who always brings humor and entertainment with her. Between the three of us, this weekend would prove to be a great training block, a test of our current level of fitness and an opportunity to escape from the real world for the weekend.
Due to the logistics of the event and the limited resources of the area, we all chose to leave the family behind. The back to back to back to back racing would leave little or no time for leisure and it did not seem fair to bring the kids to only ignore them all weekend.
With all that being said, Bob and I left NJ on Thursday night and began our 10 hour + ride to Ohio. We would pick up Claudia along the way and ultimately ended up in Ohio on Friday afternoon in time to register, prepare our gear and ultimately start racing. All in all, the trip was not too bad. We broke it up into 2 parts, as we clocked 4 hours on Thursday night stopping in Hagerstown, MD and then finishing the drive on Friday morning to Portsmouth, Ohio. An uneventful trip other than the broken windshield from a rock being tossed from the back of a dump truck and the nice Ohio State Trooper we met along the way who reminded us of the speed limit. No worries though, all was good.
Upon arrival, race check in, gear preparation and cabin registration all unfolded nicely and before you knew it, we were on the starting line for our first race.
Race #1: Prologue 250 Meter Swim, 5 Mile Bike, 1 Mile Run
The race started in a time trial format sending off competitors every 3 seconds. The entire weekend would utilize this format. We lined up for the swim side by side, even on the right and odd numbers on the left based upon your assigned seeding for the event. Both Bob and I were registered as Clydesdales and received very high seeding numbers. At registration we were told we could self seed at the start of each race if we believed we would go faster than our seeding indicated; that was all I needed to hear to eliminate the Rodney Dangerfield “Clydesdales get no Respect” feelings.
I seeded myself about number 125 out of 500. Asking several participants in line what their 100 Yard pace would be; this seemed like a logical place to begin. The weather was stunning as we saw temperatures around 80-85 degrees and the water had to have been 75 degrees. Wet suits were allowed, but only a handful of people had them on. I chose to save the time in transition and swim in just my racing kit.
The swim was a beach start and I took off at the start. I dolphin swam the first 50 yards or so, passing 5-6 people in the process. I immediately settled into a good pace and pushed for the next 3 and a half minutes; I would not get passed on the swim letting me know that I seeded myself ok. I felt good and exited the water in 3.53. Not sure if the course was a bit long or I did not swim straight, but I bolted from the water and hit T1 well. A smooth transition and I was on the bike.
The bike would prove to be challenging all weekend, as I am told southern Ohio is very different than the rest of the state. This 5 mile bike would turn out to be a one mile false flat, 2 mile climb and a 1 mile descent. Immediately on the bike, I noticed my HR in the red zone registering 182; welcome to sprint racing, a feeling I have not felt in a while as I forgot how painful these short efforts can be. The challenge here was to balance your effort now to save fuel for the rest of the weekend. As I began my climb, I got into a good cadence and stayed in the saddle the entire time. I chose not to hammer up the hill and stand as I was very much aware of the risk of injury though a pulled muscle or something; clearly not an occurrence you want on day one as I was not as warmed up as well as I would have liked having just spent the past 6 hours sitting in a car. I averaged 10.8 MPH on the climb and hit 47.8 MPH on the descent. I plowed through T2 as usual and it would be a foot race at this point.
The run was through a field and onto a gravel fire road. I ran as hard as I could, but clearly, did not get into a rhythm as the running surface was a bit challenging. I also remember thinking “you will pass out before you die” as my heart was beating a solid 192 beats per minute at this point…..lol…. I would finish this race in 23 minutes 40 seconds, good enough for 41st position out of 345 racers. Not sure what happened to the other 155 people, but oh well. Bob finished about 1 minute behind me so as a team, we started the weekend on a solid note. Again, for scoring purposes, our times would be added together throughout the weekend, so each race played an interesting role.
At the end of day one, Team Maniac had 50 minutes in the bank; very successful as we both came through uninjured, solid times and had the chance to rest up for tomorrows events.
Race #2: Individual Olympic Distance 1500 meter Swim, 24.5 mile Bike, 6.55 mile Run
I did my usual pre-race routine of Oatmeal, OJ, Toast and a banana. I squared away my bike in T1 and headed down to the water for a quick warm up. Same time trial format this time around and again, I seeded myself in the same spot and I was off.
I got into a good rhythm immediately and grabbed some feet as soon as I could. I remember thinking between the wet suit and the draft I was stealing, I was not working very hard; what a nice way to start the race. I got out of the water in 23 minutes and felt very good about that. Again, this weekend for the most part was all about pacing and balance. If I went too hard in each race, I would risk blowing up and if I took it too easy, I would leave too much time on the table and risk getting crushed by our competitors in the final time tally.
I hit T1 well and took off on the bike. I pushed a bit harder on the bike as this was my only individual bike leg of the weekend and I was determined to leave this leg of the race on the field. I was flying on the bike cruising past people like they were standing still. With the TT start, I began around number 125 and as I settled into the bike, I found myself riding with the 40 range numbers.
This bike was tough, as the climbs proved to be more than anything I have seen in my biking experiences. Ironman Lake Placid immediately came to mind, but I concluded these climbs rivaled even that challenging course. The race now became even more of a balance issue as a solid bike time required you to hammer a bit on the hills. Now more than ever, you would have to be careful not to empty the tank for the rest of the weekend. I chose to dial back a bit, but still pushed some on the hills. It is easy to gap people on the climbs and I thought it would be effort well served. I looked down at one point and saw 6 mph on my Power tap…..ouch! My wattage was reading 812 as I was just settling in and I thought this is going to hurt tomorrow! I took what was available for speed while balancing my power output for the remainder of the ride. My power tap data gave me an average speed of 22.06 MPH with average watts of 346. This included a max wattage output of 974 and a max speed of 47.8 MPH. Cadence proved to be 76 for the entire ride, which told me there was plenty of grinding going on as I traversed the hills.
Around 40 minutes into the bike, I realized I was doing a poor job of nutrition and began forcing the fluids, gels and salt. My Zipp Disc and 1080 combo wheel set were insane! Speed Baby, Speed!! I got off the bike in 1:09:02, good enough for the 6th fastest bike split of the day and on this course, I will take it all day long. I was holding some energy in reserves and felt very good about my effort. I got off the bike with bib number 10, so I knew I put some good time into the field.
I hit T2 well and was out on the run in less than 54 seconds. I took a bit more time than I wanted to, as I put on socks. I normally go sock-less for this distance, but considering I was embarking on a Marathon over the next 24 hours, I did not want to risk blisters this early on in the event; a decision that would prove itself worthy as the weekend unfolded. I gladly gave up the 20 or so seconds the socks cost me.
I hit the run in good shape and got into a solid rhythm even though we were back on the fire trails. I hit mile 1 at 7:15 and told myself “Slow Down”. I needed to pace myself for the next 3 races and that was a bit too fast at this point. I was looking to settle into a 7:45 pace and dialed it back a bit. Mile 2 came up and I was at 8:25….”Jackass” I thought, that is too slow! lol….. This course was the toughest run course I have ever been on. In addition to the trail component, the first 3.5 miles were uphill and the last 3 miles were supposed to be down hill, as this was an out and back course. Funny thing was, as I hit the turn around, I remember thinking “where are the downhills!” WOW, this course was incredible. It would turn out that I would run this same course for the next two races. I focused on my footing, controlled my breathing and just kept moving forward.
At mile 3 I saw the lead runner coming back the other way. I remember thinking I was closer to the front that I thought. Considering he started 5 minutes in front of me on the swim, I guessed he was now 10 minutes in front of me. He was flying on the run as I estimated he was running 5:45 pace. The 10 minute time difference gave me strength as I felt like I was running 3-4 minutes per mile slower than him.
At mile 4, I saw the next Clydesdale behind me, coming the other way. I immediately calculated that I was a solid 2 miles in front of him and concluded he could not catch me. At this point, I was absorbing any positive energy I could grab. Then it happened, the first place Female ran by me. Audibly I said “Damn, I just got Chicked!” She turned her head and smiled, shouted some words of encouragement and kept going. She did not pass with authority, but now gapped me by about 10 seconds. We were now running 7:25’s and I was determined to keep her in site as I had about 1.5 miles to go. At mile 6, she was 15 seconds or so in front of me, well within site. She actually turned around to look back and I smiled and shouted, “What are you turning around for?” She laughed and then it was on. With a half a mile to go, I thought about Chris MacCormack’s finish at Wildflower last year. Wildflower ends on a downhill which really gives you the ability to let the legs go if you want. Macca dropped Llanos to win Wildflower and dammit, I was determined to eliminate any result of getting “Chicked” at the line.
I let it loose and hammered the last half mile stretch, and yes, I passed her with authority, so much, I ended up gapping her by 35 seconds. She crossed the line and gave me a big high five. I ended the run in 52 minutes, much slower than I had hoped for as I was gunning for 45 minutes; then again, I was not expecting to encounter the course I was put on. All in all, successful, as I escaped injury free and felt like I would have some in the tank for race #3. I finished in a total time of 2:26 good enough for 50th place on the day. Bob finished 10 minutes back, so as a team we were in pretty good shape. I hit the massage tent, fueled up and went back to our room for some much needed down time.
Race #3: Team Olympic Distance 24.5 mile bike, 1500 meter Swim, 6.55 mile Run
We arrived back at transition around 2pm for a 3pm start. This race began the team races as both Bob and I would start together in a Time Trial format and would have to finish the race together. This race had a twist, as we would begin on the bike, then swim and then finish on the run. This created a nutritional challenge, as it would be critical to fuel on the bike prior to the swim as we would need the extra calories going into the run. The swim presented its own intimidation as the thought of biking for an hour and then jumping in the water did not seem too appealing from a cramping perspective.
At the start, we self seeded ourselves and got out in the top 100 starts. I had shared with Bob that I wanted to win the bike, and he appeared on board. As a team, we were allowed to draft and immediately from the gun, we began to set up a pace line. The first few miles were hills and false flats. We made solid time, passing 20 or so athletes. On the first descent, I reached 58 MPH which carried me into a 5 mile false flat. I was cruising, making incredible time when I looked over my shoulder and “Where’s Bob?” He was no where to be seen. Considering we were a team, it made no sense to continue on without him, so I held up and waited for Bob to rejoin the team!...lol….
At this point, we slowed up the pace and began working again as a team. Clearly we slowed down and I could see our Bike split slipping away. We reached the longest climb of the day and I set up a good cadence and just worked my way up the climb. Bob shouted “good pace” and I simply maintained the effort pushing 425 watts in the effort. Again, at certain points, I was going 6 mph and watching other athletes descend as we did just 20 minutes or so ago. We crested the hill and brought it home, finishing the bike in 1 hour, 10 minutes. My Power Tap data gave me an average speed of 21.7, average watts of 315, average cadence of 74 and max watts of 875.
Transitioning to the wet suit at this point was interesting. Claudia had given both Bob and I the idea of using plastic bags on our feet to help slip ourselves into our wetsuit. Rubber and sweat do not go well together and the task of putting on a wet suit after the bike would prove cumbersome. To Claudia’s credit, the plastic worked like a charm and we were able to get the suits on in a reasonable amount of time.
I told Bob to stay on my feet and utilize the draft as I simply set out at a consistent swim pace. Bob did very well maintaining his draft and we got out on the first and second loop together. Throughout the swim, there were pockets of cold water, and as you can imagine, this felt so good. One of the challenges of the wet suit after biking was the overheating issue. The cold spots gave some temporary relief and I even considered stopping for a moment to enjoy the reprieve. I refrained though and motored on.
T2 became interesting as taking off the wet suit proved to be the ultimate challenge. During the swim, I did not kick, as I knew I would cramp and was in no mood for that. In transition, as I began to peal off the wet suit, the cramps hit quick and hard. My calves locked up and I had to take a little time to work through this. No worries though, I put on my socks and shoes and headed out on the run course with Bob.
We set a solid pace on the run attempting to run 7:45’s. We hit the 1st mile at 8:15 and both accepted the number! J We did not run fast, but did run consistent, moving forward the entire time. Mile 2 and 3 were both 8:40 as we had to conquer the hill and knew we would pick up the pace coming back down. On the way back, we did manage to increase the pace a little but, but both accepted a final run time of 54 minutes, for the 6.55 miles loop; 2 minutes slower than the morning race.
At the finish, we both felt solid with no injuries or major issues. Although I was a bit disappointed with the lack of speed on both the bike and run, I think we were both excited that we paced ourselves and were not physically drained. I still had plenty in the tank to hit tomorrow strong and hopefully put some time on the competition. I was amazed as we watched other athletes coming in on the run. Looking very weak and drained, I was thinking Sunday’s race was going to put a hurt on most.
I got a massage, refueled and slipped on a pair of compression socks. Tomorrow was going to be a challenging day and I got off my feet and hit the sack a bit early to prepare for the finale.
Race #4: Team Half Iron Distance 1.2 mile Swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile Run
Woke up ready to race, surprisingly feeling pretty good. We arrived at transition at 6:30 for a 7am start. Took care of the basics, had a quick warm up swim and found ourselves on the starting line once again.
Like before, Bob and I self seeded, only this time, we agreed to meet in transition as I was unsure Bob would be able to hold onto my feet for the entire distance. I took off at the gun and we were off. No feet to latch onto as the group in front of us were equally as fast. I believe we were a bit closer to the front this time around, but all was ok. I got into a good rhythm and simply kept my stroke smooth and tried to glide as much as possible. Ten minutes into the swim and I realized my shoulder muscles were sore, but I guess after 3 days of racing and 3 plus miles in the water, that is to be expected.
I exited the water in 31 minutes. Not as fast as I wanted to, but then again, this was not a normal race. I got to T1 and waited for Bob. This was different; as I had all the time I wanted which normally sees me flying out of the area. I ate an oatmeal bar, had an energy gel and some liquid. Shortly there after, Bob came strolling in and we were off.
I set the pace fairly quickly, but soon realized this was not going to be a full effort. Bob reminded me that he was scraping the bottom of the barrel and was not up for as much of a push as yesterday. I gave it my best effort though to set an aggressive pace and pushed as hard as I could until Bob shouted “I am going to ask you one more time…..slow the #&%@ down.” At this point, all I could imagine was Mr. FBI drawing down on me and killing me on the spot. Clearly he had had enough as his tone was obvious….lol! Ultimately, this became a good call and we had a good ride on a very challenging course. The hills were equally challenging if not more than the previous day and we hit the half-way point at 1:27……..1:27 I thought…….hell no! I told Bob I was not going to do a 3 hour bike split and he just looked at me…..lol……He reminded me that it was Pride talking now and that he did not care about a specific time goal. I spent the next few minutes strategizing as to how I was going to pull off a sub 3 hour split considering our deficit and the lack of cooperation of my partner J. I ultimately backed off and simply gave Bob some room to regroup. I reminded myself that he could burry me on the run and that I would need his help then as much as he needed my help now. With about 4 miles to go, we had just finished our last climb and it looked like we were about 2 hours 53 minutes in. I thought, “We can make it……” so I yelled to Bob, let’s go. I bolted from there averaging 29 MPH thinking we can do this. Bob, the wiser of the two, just watched in horror and let me go. I hit the final turn into transition and Bob was not that far back. I eased up as we are supposed to finish together and I thought, we are going to make my 3 hour or bust goal. As we crossed the line in T-2, I saw my watch at 3:02:53. “That Sucked” I said. My Power Tap data read: Average MPH 19.1, Average Watts 231, Average Cadence 64 (hills?) and max speed of 43.8.
Going into T2, I calculated that we were about 3:45 into the race at this point. I looked at Bob and knowing how tired he looked, said,” I am not going to do a 6 hour half! lol…” Bob responded “what is in a number? Who cares?” This was not the response I was looking for...lol.
I left transition determined to make up some time. I maintained a steady pace around 9 minutes per mile as Bob and I had agreed if we got separated to begin the run that he would catch up. Bob decided to relax in T2 and I did my normal jailbreak. Bob is the better runner; his only requirement was that I not set a crazy pace and expect him to run me down for victory if I left T2 without him.
At this point, I held to the plan. By mile 1, Bob ran up my shoulder and we were once again united. Now we simply had 3 miles up, 3 miles down, 3 miles up and 3 miles down; a few water stops along the way, a few negotiated walks on the hills and we were done! That about summed up the run for us….lol…..
Our goal was to run a 1:45 or the same pace as the previous day. Physically I think we both were ok, but clearly we had spent more time negotiating with one another on the pace, that the competitive juices were now gone. Don’t get me wrong, we knew how much time we had put on our competitors over the last 48 hours and victory was all but guaranteed. We now simply wanted to finish healthy and happy. We talked a bunch and “people watched” as many athletes were doing the death march. The race leader blew up at mile 9 and that was quite interesting the see as we watched him struggle coming back the last lap.
In the end, we shuffled our way to the finish line which ultimately was the right call. We finished healthy and not wiped out. Both Bob and I felt pretty good physically and believed we had successfully completed a solid training day. We had put in solid times the first 3 races, as we were an hour up on our competition as victory was all but certain before the day even started.
A final look at the clock read 5:52! A terrible clock time, but Bob came through as requested and did not let us go 6 hours. I told him it was a PW for me (Personal Worse) and he responded, who cares…..:-).
Total race time was 11:19 26 for me, good for 64 out of 345 athletes while Bob came in at 11:28 or 78 out of 345 including the Pros. We crushed our division winning the Clydesdale Individuals and Team by more than an hour.
In the end, this race was an incredible experience and I could not have been more pleased to have shared it with both Bob and Claudia. Both of them are passionate individuals about this sport and share a similar determination to travel this journey known as Ironman. I think racing this event as a team adds to the experience and is quite unique within the sport of Triathlon. As I write this report I cannot thank Bob enough for holding back physically as my body feels great rather than trashed now. This event was meant to be a solid training weekend as my A race is 2 weeks away. Through Bob’s wisdom, lack of fitness and skirt which got caught in his chain, we ultimately missed the real misery of this event, the aftermath.
The ride home was painless and quick. Dan Brienza, another Triathlon buddy from California, jumped in the car on the way home in route to visit his parents in New York. Between the four of us, we were able to share the driving duties, talk about the race and ultimately make it home before Memorial Day……that is daylight, as I guess 4am is technically the following day.
Sorry for the length, as 4 races do take up a bunch of space. I had taken notes each day in an attempt to remember the details of each race as you can imagine, they would tend to meld together. Not sure if we will be back next year, but I certainly would recommend this race as a Must DO for any Ironman level Triathlete!
A special shout out to my Sponsors and Supporters. Zipp Speed Weaponry is incredible. http://www.zipp.com/cranks/index.php In addition to providing me with the most advanced technology in the biking world, their level of attention to detail is amazing. The Zipp 9 Disc and 1080 wheel set is scary fast, while the Vuma Chrono Cranks do not allow any loss in power transfer, they are the stiffest and lightest cranks on the market and this course put them both to the test. Thanks Greg K and the entire team at Zipp.
SunriseTri Bike Shop: https://shop.sunrisetri.com/display/5302/0/ is simply the best triathlon bike shop I have ever encountered. Frank’s expertise and Dylan’s passion are unmatched while their customer service is outstanding. Between Zipp and Sunrise, I would not have made it to the starting line with my Cervello P3. To my many Team Maniac training partners; Gerry, Greg, Scott, and Bob R; each of you have played a role in making this seasons build up successful. I look forward to seeing just what this season will unveil for all of us. To my Coach, Troy Jacobson: http://www.coachtroy.com/
Thanks for keeping me injury free and grounded while pushing me to the next level.
Finally to my gracious wife and kids who let me escape for the weekend and the many, many, many training days. Thanks for a much needed reprieve from the chaos (at the moment) and putting up with this crazy sport. We are all better because of it, but that does not make it easy to do.
Until Eagleman, Cheers and God Bless,
-Luther