Vermont Race Report and Vacation Report

I would like to quickly recap the Vermont race and vacation, and then next time delve into my training, and discuss my upcoming race. As my mileage and training time goes up, I have less time and energy to blog, even though I enjoy it. When I get behind on my writing, I feel like I am not getting to do all the the things I would like. Working 10-hour days during the summer makes it even harder to carve out some time to sit down and write. I find myself with a small amount of time so I will try to be brief and to the point. Yeah right.

The Vermont Sun triathlon was super fun. It was a great venue and turned out to be a beautiful day on race morning. As you may have read in Melissa's posting, we arrived the night before and had a somewhat mediocre dinner. The only thing I could find on the menu was a fried fish sandwich. And as the saying goes, "when in Rome," so I opted for the onion rings as a side. Not the best pre-race food but it would have to do and I was really just planning on taking it easy anyway. Yeah right. Me? Take it easy? I will take it easy when I die. That said, I had no goals other than to have a good time so there was little to no pressure.

On race morning, we were one of the first to arrive as usual. If you want a good spot on the rack, you have to get to transition early. After we got our bikes racked, Melissa and I took a little swim in the lake mostly just to see what it would be like. It was pretty warm and pretty darn shallow and clear. That would prove to make the swim a little less intimidating for the both of us.

I was in the second wave and Melissa was in the 4th wave. When the gun went off and I splashed into the water, I found myself in a bit of a jumble of swimmers. I got punched in the face by one guy but there was no damage done other than to startle me. I moved to the right side of the pack. This may not have been the most strategic move because our first turn was a left turn. But I am not the strongest swimmer and tend to breathe to my right side almost exclusively (something good triathletes DO NOT do). After we rounded the first buoy and swam for a bit, I pulled my head out of the water to survey my position. I had drifted pretty far out into the middle of the lake, definitely off course. I had to swim back towards to the buoy line. I ended up doing this a couple of times which must have tacked on another 50 yards or more. I was zig zagging all over the place.

When I got finished with the swim, my heart was pounding and I was breathing hard. I made my way to the bikes, had a fast transition, and took off. The first part of the course, once I left the parking lot, was uphill. I passed a couple of people on this hill but it took lots of effort and I was definitely not taking it easy. Soon, I was passed by a lady down on her areo bars. I kicked it up a notch to try to stay with her without getting close enough to get a drafting penalty. I ended up passing some more people and then catching and passing her on another small climb. She and I would leap frog that way for the first couple of miles until she found her rhythm and dropped me.

I kept chugging along, passing a few people and getting passed here and there by some others. Mostly I was passing versus being passed. After about half way, I relaxed and enjoyed the beauty that is Vermont. There are no billboards or strip malls in Vermont and there is pretty rolling farmland everywhere. I had a great time taking it all in while keeping my cadence high.

After the bike, I had another fast transition and took off on the 5K run. It was hilly and I was pretty spent by this time. The 600 yard lake swim was the farthest I had ever gone in a race and I think that took its toll. I felt slow on the run. I did pass some people and I did not get passed by anyone. Towards the end of the run, a person was gaining on me just as we crested the last hill before the downhill finish. I put the hammer down and ran a 6:30 pace into the finish line. After all, I could not let this person catch me at the end. Even though I did not have a specific race goal, I was not going to lie down and let someone beat me at the very end. Besides, I always have a good kick and downhill is my specialty so the nature of the course was in my favor at this point. Not that it really matters because after all this was just our vacation right?

I ended up 92 out of 199 so a top half finish overall at 1:24:31. I was 11th out of 15 in the M40-44 age group with the the following splits:

600 Yard Swim - 12:35
14 Mile Bike - 45:42
5K - 23:37

It sure was a fun day of racing in a really great venue.

The rest of our vacation was nice and relaxing. We went to Burlington and checked into a hotel where we watched the Women's World Cup Final. The game went into penalty kicks and the US really lost their composure and lost to a more technical Japan. But it was nice to sit in the AC and relax and watch the game before going down to the waterfront to take in the sights.

The next day we went to Ben and Jerry's factory for a tour and some fresh samples of ice cream. I don't typically eat any kind of dessert but I made an exception for this occasion. Needless to say, the ice cream was quite delicious. It was a small sample which is really all I needed. If you are ever up that way in Vermont, you must check it out.

After our morning stop at Ben and Jerry's we went on to the Northeast Kingdom for some relaxation, nice scenery and 100 miles of single track mountain bike trails. Just because we were on vacation did not mean that we would be couch potatoes.

On the contrary. While Monday was a rest day, on Tuesday we did 2.5 hours on the mountain bikes in the morning. After our ride together, we took a little break, had lunch and then I headed out solo to tackle some more technical trails. I made it about 15 minutes into my ride when everything literally came to a skidding halt. I knew right away that I had a major problem. A stick or a rock must have lodged in my rear wheel or derailleur. As it turns out, it was more than a major problem. My bike was rendered useless. In fact, it would not roll at all. So I did what I had to do and hoisted my bike onto my back and walked about 2.5 miles back to the trailhead. Uphill of course. Luckily, I was able to use my phone to send Melissa a message to meet me with the car so I did not have to walk the additional 2 miles back to our room where I started my ride.




We took the bike to the local shop and after discussing some things with the mechanic decided not to get it fixed but rather rent a hard tail 29er. I got a 3-day rental starting the next day plus daily insurance for only $85. Not too shabby at all.

After we got back from the bike store, I went out on my road bike to do my 2 X [9 z4 +3 Z5] w/5m RI. Basically I rode down to the bottom of the hill on Darling Hill Road and then crunched up the hill for 9 minutes hard and then 3 minutes all-out. Lather, rinse, repeat. I nailed the workout and my heart rate was flying.

Again, since I can rest when I die, after all that, we both entered a local 5 K trail race. After all, we could see the start from our room so why not? It was only $5 a person. It was low key with about 20 runners total. Some of them would be doing one loop which was about 1.5 miles and some would be doing two loops. At the beginning of the race, these two college runners who were running the 1.5 mile loop took off fast and I took off with them. I stayed with them for a few minutes but they were running a sub 6 pace down the hill. I let them go but now found myself in the lead since they were only doing the one loop and I was doing the two. During my second loop, I noticed a guy who was starting to gain on me. I could not let this happen as this could be my one and only chance to win a race. I was probably about 25 to 50 yards in front of him. I decided to put the hammer down after I went around a turn. That way, when he went around the turn and did not see me, I would have a psychological advantage. It is always easier to chase someone when you can see them. Now, he would not know what happened to me. Plus, after I climbed the hills again and I knew it was mostly downhill from there, I really opened it up. There was no fanfare, and not prizes. Nor really an acknowledgement that I had won. But I knew. And the guy who "almost" caught up to me? He asked me after the race if I ran the second loop faster or what. He said that he stopped briefly to tie his shoe and when he looked up, I had vanished. I told him that I usually start out too fast, falter in the middle, and then pick it up at the end. It was surely a great finish to a lovely day of exercise.

Summarizing the rest of our week, on Wednesday, we rode for 3.5 hours. Thursday we did about 40 minutes of swimming in a lake. Friday we rode for 2 hours and 45 minutes and did a 30-minute trail run. In between, we ate a lot and read, and walked around the grounds of the Inn. Unfortunately our room did not have AC so we ended up pretty hot at night and did not get the sleep we needed. So by the end of the week, I was ready to head home. It was a little bit of a downer, not being able to sleep well due to the heat. If we ever go back, we will make sure to get a room with an AC unit like we had last year.

Here are some photos from the trip.