Pre-Race
After SJ finished the Deep Pond Tri and collected her hardware, we headed back to the house to get all of my gear and load up the car. We hit the road about noon and made it up to the West Point area by 2ish - not too shabby considering we had to cross two bridges and drive through the Bronx to get there. Like I said in an early post, it was a ridiculous car ride and we cracked ourselves up on numerous occasions discussing SJ's tri earlier in the day. (On a side note: I am happy that she was finally able to laugh about how ridiculous the whole morning was and to poke fun at herself for trying to run and cry at the same time. I am also happy that she is a badass and continued to run all bloodied and swollen. My wife rocks!)
We got to Camp Buckner at about 2:30 and I went inside to pick up my race packet and get myself all checked in. We hit up the "store", which was really just a few folding tables set up on one side of the mess hall with old Army Triathlon tri suits and old race shirts that they were selling. We perused the offerings and I contemplated getting a West Point Triathlon pint glass (foreshadowing), but decided on buying an old race shirt for dirt cheap ($5!). After picking up my timing chip, we heading back out to the car where I changed into some running clothes and went for an easy 4 miler to get the lay of the land. SJ gimped over to the lake as at this point her knee looked like it was growing a second head and walking wasn't the easiest thing, where I eventually met her over by where the finishing line would be the next day.
Seeing as we had a whole day to kill and not a whole lot to do, we drove ourselves over to West Point and walked around the campus for a little, taking in the view and looking at all the sights. The Plebes had graduated that morning into Cadets, so there were a few families on the lawns having picnics and hanging out before the semester started. As we had yet to check into our "hotel", we still had no idea what the evening entailed but we soon found out. Without going into too much detail, I can sum it up by this: shared bathroom, wine tastings, 12 bottles of wine, pasta for dinner, Mariachi band.
Race Day
As far as triathlons go, this one started late - the first wave went off at 8:30. To put this in perspective, SJ was done with her entire race by 8:45 the previous morning. We aimed to get to the race between 6:30 and 6:45 because we were warned about parking and how far away it is from transition. Because the race is held at Camp Buckner,which is where the cadets train each summer for military maneuvers, there is only one real way in and one way out by design. For all intents and purposes, it's a military base and thus guarded like one. SJ and I got a decent parking spot about a half mile from transition and I rode down to start to get set up while she gimped along behind me.
Transition was smack in the middle of the base, which was great for spectators. The lake was right next to transition and we would pass by on the run at least twice before the finishing chute. There were probably somewhere in the range of 500-650 racers, so transition was tightly packed, but there was more than enough space for each racer. There were no assigned spaces - just a range of numbers and then you picked where you wanted to set up your gear. I found a spot decently close to the head of the bikes and we had a big RUN sign that marked our transition line, which was great for locating our stuff in both T1 and T2.
Once I was all set up, we headed over to the swim start for a race briefing at 8:20 and at 8:30 the first wave took off. This was the paraplegic wave and the wounded combat veterans wave, and seeing those guys take off puts a lot of things in perspective right before you race. One of the racers had lost both his arms and legs in combat and was doing the swim portion of a relay - he was able to use flippers and his head as a rudder and swam on his back for the entire 800 meters. Whenever something got tough - the hill was long and my legs were screaming on the bike, or I started to fade on the run - I thought about all those veterans who were literally doing things that seemed impossible and it made me realize that at least I had the ability to do all of these things.
The Swim
The swim was a rectangular pattern and we had a beach start. We took off on one side of a little cove and swam around an embankment before heading straight to the first buoy and making a left turn and then another left turn to head back towards a different spot on the shore line. We had an all-female wave, essentially 34 and under, which was so much better than when they lump random ages together.
When the horn sounded, we took off in one giant mass. I tried to stay to the left as we went around the cove because I knew that it would be an easier course to the first turn buoy. As I made the first turn, I could tell I was towards the front of the swim pack with a few others in my wave around me and by the second turn I was able to get a better idea as to where I stood. Luckily, with five minutes between each wave start, I didn't come across too many swimmers from the other waves until about 200 yards from the exit and by that point we all started to funnel down to the swim exit anyway.
I hit the swim exit somewhere in the 15:00 mark and saw SJ and gave her a high five on my way down the chute (or at least I think I did) into T1.
The Bike
My T1 time was pretty brutal, especially considering it wasn't a long run from the swim to the bike. I felt slow and kept forgetting something - my headband, my Garmin on, then my race number - so it wasn't as smooth as it could have been. SJ let me know I was somewhere around 7 or 8 out of transition from my wave, so I knew I had some work to do on the bike and the run to make up for my slower-than-normal (but what do you expect when you skip swim practice 1 out of every 2 times) swim and T1 time, but it wasn't anything I was going to stress about that early.
I made my way down Pershing Drive and out onto the bike course for what would be a tough, hilly out and back. We stayed on the same road for the entire course and had two turn-around points at either end. Think about drawing the letter T, and that's what our course looked like. Because of this fact, and also because the entire area is owned by the US Army, there was absolutely no one on the bike course to cheer us on except at the turn around points, which made for a slightly crappy bike leg.
The hills were rolling and I wouldn't say that there were any "climbs", but your legs felt it anyway. As a result of it being one of the least technical courses in the entire world, you could get up good speed on the downhills and take back some of the time from the uphills. The road was in good condition for the most part and since we hadn't had any rain, everything was dry - always a concern for racing. By the time I hit the second turn around, I had been able to take back time from my swim and pick off a few of the other people from my wave. When I hit Pershing Drive, I started to take my shoes off and was ready for the dismount.
The Run
Because I had already had my shoes off and was able to slide my running shoes right on, I had a wicked-fast T2 time and was out of the chute and off on the run in less than a minute. Right off the bat there is a steep uphill climb - I grabbed water at the top and, feeling good, pushed the pace a bit faster. We had a short downhill before heading into a half mile climb so I wanted to gain as much time as I could when I could. The climb was steep and unrelenting until the turnaround at the top - the good thing about gravity is when you can use it to your advantage, like on downhills. At the second turnaround at the 2k mark, I was feeling strong so I picked it up a little again. I had forgot to restart my Garmin after T2 so I had no idea what my pace or my time was, but I felt strong, even after the big hill.
Knowing I was going to run down one more hill and then through transition before the final turnaround, I pushed up the back of the downhill and then came down through the transition area and saw SJ waiting for me, camera at the ready. I passed her at about the 17:00 mark and, knowing the route since I had run it yesterday, was able to push the pace closer to the red line because I knew what was ahead.
After the final turn around, there was only one short uphill and then a 200 meter flat stretch before the finishing chute. I rounded the corner and could here SJ cheering me on towards the finish and crossed the line in 1:23:09.
Post-Race Party
I really need to start doing a better job at researching the post-race parties because this was race number two of the weekend that was a dud. There was some pizza and Heed for the athletes to munch on after they finished, but as far as parties are concerned, I've been to better funerals. Really - this wasn't so much of a "party", it was more like, here's your medal, congrats on finishing, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Oh, wait, you can't even leave for another hour because in order to get to your car you have to wait till the course is cleared. Sucker. So, it wasn't the greatest. SJ and I hung around to watch some of the final finishers cross the line. Like in the beginning, it was pretty inspirational to watch some of the combat veterans cross the line. The race had a big Team Red, White and Blue contingent there, so there were a lot of current military racers as well as veterans.
Wrap-Up
Overall, I would give this race 7 1/2 stars. The actual race itself was great except for a few minor things and the only downfall was the lack of post-race celebration. I mean, I know it's the Army but can't we celebrate even a little bit? Does everything have to be so blah? I'm not asking for much here - I won't even ask for post-race bevies as I know it's a military base and that is probably a no-no. But maybe get a band or two to play or have some kind of raffles going on - maybe invite some stores in to set up shop so the athletes can spend some cash. I don't know, anything would help improve it.
Regardless of the crappy post-race, it was still an excellent race. The venue was cool - running through Camp Buckner, you pass all of the cabins where cadets sleep during their summer training and the ropes and obstacle courses they train on, as well as the parade ground where they practice - and although the bike course was somewhat lonely, it was long and straight. The swim was in fresh water and uncrowded, making it a smooth swim. The inspiration from some of the other racers is huge and a definite bonus to feed off of and the spectators on the run are all over the place, which provides a much needed boost along the course. The volunteers are mostly Cadets at the academy and it's cool to have them cheer you on, as opposed to the other way around.
Here is the final breakdown for my race:
Swim: 14:39
T1: 1:57
Bike: 44:20
T2: :35
Run: 21:40
Total time: 1:23:09
The TOBAY Triathlon is this Saturday in Oyster Bay so there is little turn around time for these legs. However, the after party at TOBAY is hosted by Blue Point Brewery - my wave takes off at 7:45 so I fully expect to have a beverage in my hand by 9:00am. Who wants to volunteer to come pick me up?!
P.S. - I have no photos of this event, however, SJ has videos so I will try to add them later.
No comments:
Post a Comment