Spring Fever Olympic Distance Triathlon 2011 - TN

Daphne post race - Spring Fever Triathlon 2011

Well, I ended up starting my triathlon season a little later than I had intended. The Paris Mtn. International distance triathlon set for a few weeks ago in April was cancelled due to bad weather. So I spent the last week or so scrambling to find a comparable race in the area. I really felt like I needed a race to "get back in the triathlon swing of things," especially before my Half Ironman on May 15th. 


I was excited to find the Spring Fever Olympic Distance triathlon this past weekend in Tennessee. I figured it would be a great race to put all the elements together before my big event in a few weeks. I signed up for the race and then realized I better find out how cold the water is, since I have a A-Fib that is effected by extreme temps and I have a sleeveless wetsuit. When I found out that last week the water was only 58 degrees, I started contacting some of my triathlon buddies to see who might have a long sleeve westuit that I could borrow. A friend of mine put me in touch with someone who works for CTS and they had a small BRAND NEW Ironman Phantom Aquasphere sleeved wetsuit that I could borrow. This wetsuit totally rocked! It was made of some incredible fabric and I was blown away at how great it felt in the water. I would highly recommend this suit if you are looking to purchase one anytime in the near future. 

Yes, this is the water we swam in...
and those are cups floating
 amongst the sludge or whatever it is...
 During the 1500 meter swim I was convinced
 I was getting ecoli, fortunately no signs of it yet!

Swim: I got in the freezin' water with my amazing wetsuit and put my face in the water and wowsers it was shockingly cold! I started the swim with the under 40 gals and we made our way across the murky lake through a cove and around to the other side of the lake. It was hard to figure out where to go, the buoys were really balloons and some girls were going inside the buoys and some were staying outside of them. I tried to draft off of two girls for a bit but they didn't seem to be going the pace that I wanted to go so I went past them. Prior to the swim, all the TN girls were talking about this one swimmer girl that was "gonna be the fastest one out of the water..." I was tickled when I spotted her and past by her on the swim too. So I kept a nice steady pace throughout the swim. I felt really good, got in a nice rhythm and just kept at it. I ended up getting to the shore first, and since I was the first female to come out of the water, I didn't have any other girls to see where I was supposed to go. So I stood up on some rocks (later to find out that in between the rocks was a small path that you were supposed to run through to get out of the water, but I didn't see it when I was coming out of the swim), and it was all I could do to keep my balance. They were sooo slippery and my feet were aching badly from stepping on them trying to get out. Finally, I reached the shore and started trying to get this wetsuit off as I was running. That didn't work out too well so I got to my spot in transition and had a tough time getting out of the suit. Then I stood there for a bit (I think a bit stunned from the cold water and my feet were throbbing from the slippery rocks) and tried to get things in order to get on the bike. I swear that transition was the longest one I probably have ever had. 


BIKE: So I climb on the bike and I hear this guy yelling to the girl getting on the bike beside me, that she is in first place. I was thinking, yea not for long chicka! So I blazed past her on the bike and never saw her again. I actually only saw one person ahead of me on the bike and that was my fellow Asheville Tri Club member Frank Melvin. I had him in my sight for the first 4 or so miles of the bike. Then we got to a spot where we made a right turn but after that right turn there was an arrow on the road going straight and then another one on the road in red going to the LEFT. I was trying to recall from the race meeting if they said what color arrows we were supposed to take... but I couldn't remember them mentioning this. So I saw that Frank went straight thru the green arrow. After a few minutes, I didn't see him anymore and I didn't see anything on the road and I just had a really weird feeling that this wasn't the right way. So following my intuition, I turned my bike around and went back to the girl that was standing on the one corner. I yelled to her, "Which way does the Olympic route go? Straight or LEFT? She said, LEFT on Butternut, buttercup" (or whatever the name of the road was). So sure enough I had made a wrong turn. I felt bad for Frank, who was long gone by that point... So I got on the "Butternut" road and high tailed it outta there. It was non-stop hills (my Garmin at end of race said 1700' elevation change), which I typically prefer and like.. but I am finding them difficult on my new tri bike. I actually let out a laugh going up one steep one... it felt like I was pulling a car up the hill on the back of my bike. The downhills were FAST and FUN but they really weren't noticeable until the last few miles of the race. I never felt like I could get in a rhythm or groove on the bike and the front of my quads were killing me!


Run: I got back into transition, not sure if I was still first female in the race, with my wrong turn but as I started running I didn't see any girls pass me on the 2 loop course. I saw 2 girls come in not far behind me after the bike leg. One of the girls looked like a strong runner and I was right about that. So the first mile, as with any triathlon, I was just trying to get my legs under me to cooperate. They really weren't that shot and my quads were actually thanking me for using different muscles during the run. I started passing guys on the run and kept picking up the pace I was going along. I really wish that they would have had mile markers on the run (and the bike) for that matter... I had no idea how I was doing with pacing with my Timex watch and no markers. I was just winging it and going by effort. I got in a good run rhythm... just felt like I could keep that pace for a long time. I noticed as I did different turns and loops during the run that the "runner girl" was gaining on me. I was holding her off but her pace was definitely quicker than mine. Coming into the last 1/4 mile, I could hear her huffing and puffing and panting behind me, I was thinking to myself that I definitely wasn't making myself hurt like that... so she went past me and I hung on her heels for a bit but she kept picking it up. She ended up coming in :10 in front of me for 1st place. I took 2nd place and was pleased with that results for my 1st triathlon race of this year and with my kinks and mishaps. I feel a lot better going into the Knoxville Half IM in a couple weeks. I feel ready for it now and was glad to have had this experience as a tune up race


Just wanted to give a special thanks to Hearn's Cycling Shop (our great bike sponsor), I realized I had a 23 cassette on my tri bike on Saturday before the race and so I took my bike in and a 25 cassette and they got me hooked up for the race. Also, wanted to thank Tracey with CTS for lending me the awesome Ironman Aquasphere Phantom wetsuit, it really was absolutely amazing in the water. 


Stay tuned for more race reports from the rest of the team!

St. Anthony's race preview

So this is what a transition area for 4,000 people looks like.  Went by the race site today and they are already setting up for the event.  The field is limited to 4,000 triathletes.  St. Anthony's is in its 28th year.  I will be competing with 450 athletes in my age group this weekend and hope to bring in a top 10 finish.  I have been in races that are 450 total participants not just my age group.  The 40-44 men are divided into three waves, 150 in each wave. This is the biggest race I have ever seen much less participated in.  Driving into transition last night I felt my pulse increase rapidly.  I am looking forward to this opportunity this weekend to see how I stack up with this large age group field. 

Lake Junaluska Duathlon 4/9

First local multi sport race of the year, and I was excited! The weather was perfect and the course was beautiful. We started out the run around the lake and I tried to put some distance between me and the current long course duathlon national champion female Gail Kattouf. I had a quick T1, and was off on the bike with a decent lead. The bike was hairy at times with the traffic and the motorcycle escort I was following. Lets just say it wasnt ideal! It was difficult to keep up the pace when I was all alone with nobody in sight! Not used to that. Coming back towards the lake the escort missed a turn, but I saw the arrows on the road and made the right turn. I wasnt sure if I had gone the wrong way, so I stopped and waited for the bike to come back and lead on.

After traversing some sharp turns and steep hills I made it back to transition and was off on one more tour of the lake. I still couldnt see anyone behind me, so I was able to take it a little easier than the first run. Coming in right behind me were Andrew Stenberge and Gail Kattouf. It was a super fun morning, I wish I didnt have to rush off to Chattanooga right after I finished. 4 hours in the car isnt my first choice of activities after a race. Shout out to Mike Lahm, back in the saddle buddy!

Check out all the race photos @: http://paulchristopher.smugmug.com/
Thanks for the photos Paul!

Group rides have started!

Join us for group rides 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at Hearns 5:30pm. Rides will be 1.5-2.5 hours at a recovery pace(13 to 16 mph average). There will be climbing as this is Asheville. Routes will usually go up town mountain or elk mountain. See you at the next ride on April 11th..

Du the farm Duathlon, Savannah GA

What a great day for a race! Yoko and I were down in savannah to visit her sister and I found this duathlon on the Savannah track club website. It was a 5k trail run around a really nice lake, then a fast and windy 10 mile bike, and then another 5k on the same course. I started out with a pretty decent lead after the first 5k, but local guys Ryan Williams and Brian Shreve were going to make it interesting on the bike. At the turn around I saw Ryan had made up a good bit of ground on me, but I had a feeling if I could get off the bike first I was in good shape. After following the police escort back into the farm area, I hopped off the bike and finished up the 5k. It was a super fun morning, great volunteers and a fantastic place for multi sport events. I am going to be in Charleston which is only an hour away on the date of the triathlon, maybe I can make it for that as well!

coming back from the bike. I wish I could have gotten a little more of a draft from the cop car! maybe next time..

done!

Top 3. Me, Ryan Williams and Brian Shreve respectively.

M

Black Mountain Marathon

I happened to be looking at my workout schedule for the upcoming weekend on Thursday, and was contemplating when and where to do my scheduled 22 mile marathon training run. It was going to be my longest run ever, and I was a little nervous about doing it as I have a sore knee and shin and havent run this week. Then I remembered about the Black Mountain Marathon and Mount Mitchell challenge on Saturday. I knew some people who went out to watch last year, so I was thinking about riding my bike out there and doing likewise this year. But wait! Maybe I could just run the marathon, knee and shin be damned! If I did decide to do it, it meant I could take the next couple of days off from running, which sounded pretty good to me. Maybe by Saturday morning I would be close to healed up! Great idea right?! Right?

Saturday morning rolled around and the nerves were in full force. Was I going to hurt myself really bad? Would I know when to call it if that started to happen? Could I even run 26 miles without complete and proper training?

The race was paired with the Mt Mitchell Challenge, a 40 miler to the summit of Mitchell then back down. We all started together in Black Mountain and headed up past Montreat then on some really great single track. The views were absolutely stunning! And I was feeling fantastic! Ah, 6 miles in anyway. It was great fun chit chatting with fellow runners and trying to figure out if my pace was good, and where I might be at in the marathon. After we exited that really nice section, the trail became a bit more difficult. Loose rocks and roots, gravel and standing water were mainly what the trail consisted of. More like your normal trail race, but this was a marathon or a 40 miler! The danger of twisting an ankle, or worse, doing a face plant were ever present. At an hour and a half I started to look for the marathon leaders to come screaming past me on the way back down to black mountain. It was at this time I tried to eat my first of three(I was hoping) energy gels. It was really tough getting it down, but I did it and washed it down with some water from my hand held. I was so happy I had a bottle with me so I didnt have to stop and get water. Perhaps I should have had some energy drink though...

I saw the leaders of the marathon coming back down, 2 of them, so I knew I was close to the turn around. Then I saw my buddy Mark Ledyard calling my name and I knew I was there. There were a few faces I knew at the turn around on the parkway, it was cool. I glanced up to the summit of Mt Mitchell and thought, man I am glad I am not heading up there! I ran into the turn around aid station and said, "what do I do now?". Monica Curwen said, "Go back down!". So I did. Its all downhill from here! Or thats what I THOUGHT anyway. And I was in third as of then. Feeling really good because I know I can get down some rocky trails pretty quick. I started hauling down the mountain calling out to the racer still coming up. Man I was feeling great! Well, almost. That gel I took was threatening to find its way back up on the jarring of the trail.

After a couple of miles down the trail, it leveled out a bit and I noticed I wasnt alone in third. Damn! I also noticed my energy was flagging alarmingly. Oops. Maybe this wasnt such an awesome idea after all. Me and the guy with me traded the lead for a couple of miles, him getting a lead on the flats, me pulling ahead on the steep sections. But then he told me we werent heading down the way we came up on the soft single track, but down another gravely switchback section AFTER we ran 2 miles of flat trail. And thats where my hopes for getting on the podium slipped away.

I knew I didnt have much in the tank, and definitely not on some flats. No gravity, no way. He pulled ahead and I was alone. All alone. My brain wasnt functioning as it should either. I came to the last couple of miles on the road back into Black Mountain and I started to think I was off course. There was nobody in sight either direction, and though there were flags to follow, I was thinking those were the flags for the course on the way out. By this time I was jogging at best. 9+ minute miles probably. I ran a mile or so and finally saw a guy and asked him if I was on the course, and I was. He then helpfully pointed out I had 12 more minutes to go. "Oh No! There is NO WAY I can run 12 more minutes!", I either thought or said. I put a really scary grimace on my on my face, head down, and kept going. I looked behind me, and inexplicably, there was no one there. Could I somehow still finish top 4? Yes. Barely. On the way around the lake to the finish two guys finally did come up behind me, but I somehow found enough to kick it in a little to hold them off. Right after crossing the line a had to liberate the gel that so badly wanted freedom from my belly. Whoa! A marathon! And a tough one to boot! Thank you to all the support volunteers out on the course, you guys were awesome! I had a fantastic time, for 20 miles anyway!

Triathlon Training Clinic this Thursday!

Our Hearn's Triathlon Racing Team was featured today in a Mountain Express Blog for our upcoming Triathlon Training Clinic this week. Check it out!

If you would like to attend the event, you can sign up here on our Facebook page.