17 June 2016 - Lookout Mountain Triathlon

When I signed up for this Triathlon I knew it would be tough. Then again I said to myself "how tough can a 525 yard swin, 10 mile bike ride and 5K run be"?  I said this without considering the elevation being over 7000 feet.  Needless to say it was really tough!

Dig Deep Sports ran the event and did a great job. The communication before the race was great and packet pickup was easy. Packet Pickup was held at Runners High running store in Golden. The owner of the store was my dental hygienist before she became store owner. It was great to see Deb and catch up with her.  The packet was kinda light as it pretty much contained the race shirt, race number tags, and a couple discount coupons. It also showed our start time. My start time was 810am. 

Hanging our with Jeff and his daughter after the race.

On Saturday, we arrived at the Mount Vernon Country Club around 630am and there was plenty of parking close to transition.  We pulled in next to my buddy Jeff Neilsen so our timing was perfect. Jeff's wife and Julie are best friends so they hung out while we raced. Next, I gathered up my bike and gear and found a spot in transition. It took me a while to setup because I wanted to make sure everything was setup correctly and that I'd be able to find the spot after the swim.  After getting setup, next was body marking and the walk to the pool. After seeing the running  surface I decided my bare feet couldn't take it so decided to take my Tevas and leave them by the pool. I guessed it would take about 5 seconds to put them on after the swim.  Definitely worth it to me.

I was kinda nervous about the swim because it was my first time competing in a pool swim. I also had never shared a lane with other people before. Everyone said the water was warm so I didn't take time to warmup. The first wave of swimmers started at 630am so this gave me the opportunity to watch and figure out the dynamics of the swim.  There were 4 swimmers per lane and they started about 5 seconds apart. We had to swim 10 1/2 laps (out and back) in the pool. When we hit the wall on our 10th lap, the lap counter indicated (by a tap on the shoulder) to get out at the next wall. Sounded easy enough. 

My swim wasn't scheduled to start until 810am but they were running ahead of schedule. It seemed the rule was to find 3 other swimmers with similar expected swim times.  There were 3 women that were looking for a 4th swimmer and they found me. We checked in, received our timing chips (they go on your left ankle) and 4 swim caps of different colors. I told the girls I would take any color other than pink!  I ended up with green. We discussed our expected swim times and it sounded like I was the slowest so I was starting 4th. Once our lane became available,  they explained the rules about passing and had us jump in the water. This was great because I was able to duck my head under and prepare for the start signal. 

Kicking off at the first wall.

Getting out after the swim.

 

Yep it was a head banger...

The rule for passing was to tap the foot of the person and at the next wall they stopped and let you go. I passed one of the gals at the first wall. Other than that I only felt one person grab my foot. I stopped at the next wall and nobody was there to pass. Was it a phantom grab of my foot?  Dunno but one of  the ladies was having panic issues so it may have been her. The swim went great and after 10 1/2 laps I tried to jump out of the pool but hit my head on the diving stand. Ouch, luckily I have a hard head! Julie just happened to capture my embarrassment after the head bang.  I put my Tevas on and ran down to T1. My swim time including the run to transition was 11:12. I was impressed that I found my transition spot and was able to change into my bike gear and get out of transition in less that 2 minutes (1:53). 

Coming outta T1.

I was hoping to do the bike ride in under 40 minutes but the bike ride was really tough. It was a mixture of tough climbs and fast downhill. It seemed I was either going 6 mph or 40 mph most of the time. The first part out of transition was downhill but then we took a turn and started climbing. After a mile or so of climbing we turned around and did a 2 mile downhill.  This was my favorite part of the race as my speed got into the mid 40's. After this descent we turned onto Paradise Road. The road did not match its name as it was a really tough stretch of climbing. This was the first section where people got off their bike and walked. I didn't blame them as it was tough to pedal even in the granny gear!  After this, there was a mix of up and down until we reached the final climb back to transition. This last hill was long and steep. Other than one 58 year old superhuman dude passing me on Paradise, this is the only place I was passed on the bike by a couple of twenty something kids. I was pleased with my bike effort as I made my way into T2. My bike time was 42;29, a little slower than I hoped but I gave it my best. 

In T2, I was thoroughly exhausted after the bike ride. I sluggishly changed out of my bike gear and into my running gear and started running. It took me 1:41 to do this. I'm surprised it didn't take longer. We were not able to pre-run the run course so I had no idea what to expect. I was hoping to do the run in 27-28 minutes.  My goal quickly changed shortly after the run started and the hills kept coming. The first 2 miles was pretty much uphill. I walked about 5 times because I couldn't breathe. At about 2 1/4 miles we started to descend. I made up some time on the downhill but not nearly enough to compensate for the walking. My run time was 30:51. Dreadfully slow but at the end I was just happy to finish.  It was also nice to have Julie cheering me on at the finish line. 

Final stretch to the finish line!

My total time was 1:28:08. Last year this time would have won my age group. This year my time was 6th out of 10 old dudes. Overall I'm glad I did this race. It was fun to compete and challenge myself. I learned a few things and had a few new experiences. I would consider doing this race again but would need to do much more hill biking and running first. Uphill is definitely one of my weaknesses!!

The breakdown

Swim time:  11:12. 

T1 time:  1:53

Bike time:  42:29

T2 time:  1:41

Run time:  30:51

Total time: 1:28:08

Age Group (55-59 year old Men): 6th out of 10

Men:  40th out of 84

Overall:  63rd out of 190 

What's next for me?

26 June 2016 - Boulder Sunrise Sprint Triathlon

7 July 2016 - Boulder Stroke and Stride (long course)

24 July 2016 - TriBoulder Olympic Distance Triathlon

13 Aug 2016 - USAT Age Group Nationals in Omaha Nebraska  (Olympic Distance)