So
there we were July 1st and for about 60 of us it was our first sprint triathlon
of the season, all trained well and just waiting for a race. We were told by
Mark that this was the 2nd triathlon in the country this year.. I did not
research that but seems right. The tempture was about 80 degrees at 5:30 in the
evening. Since I knew it was going to be hot I put the Hammer Nutrition Liquid
Endurance to the test along with my normal serving of Hammer Nutrition
Sustained Energy.
We
all had to keep proper social distancing during packet pick up, along with
wearing of a mask until we were in transition. A side effect of Covid for us
was more room in transition, we had to keep a bikes width and flip flop bikes
to keep proper distance. Of course it was great to see the normal racers, but
we also had a decent amount of new folks.
After
getting my transition area all set up I put on my wet suit and made my way to
the water... I took advantage of being early and swam the course to try to ease
the nurves a bit. Though I am well trained, the swim and T1 are by far my
weakest area's. Once the nerves calmed down I was ready to race. Mark had a
quick race meeting and mentioned the race sponsors (Hammer is one). after
Mark took count as we entered the water we had a countdown then the first race
start of the year was underway.
The
swim was pretty basic, straight out, around a boat and back, but I did struggle
a bit due to the angle of the sun and glare on the water... I kept I pretty decent
pace and found a grove quickly and like a flash I was to the turn-around. Coming
back I could not keep straight for the life of me, I lost time going left and
right. Before long I was at the beach and stripping off my wet suit getting
ready for T1.
T1 wasn’t bad with the extra room, and
surprisingly there were a lot of bikes left so my swim wasn’t too bad. I got
out of there and got to the bike mounting area, clipped in and started to
hammer the pedals to make some time on the leaders. I have raced on practiced
on this course so many times I almost know it like the back of my hand. Between
the first 2 turns ( less than half mile) I had already passed 2 people, a gentle
hill starts after 2nd turn and I crushed it. Now we are on a long straight road
with some decent rolling climbs, I was able to catch a few more folks before
the next left turn. On this turn we are greeted with a huge downhill. I mashed
the pedals to try and gain more speed and with a blink I was at the bottom and
just before the turn I over took another spot, still not sure where I was in
the over all, just knew I had to keep passing people. The next section is kind
of like a "S" curve for about a 1/4 mile and it spills us out on ton
a main road with about a 3 mile climb. I just shifted to a sustainable gear and
put my head down and just worked, I can’t even tell you how many folks I passed
but most of them were pretty gased. As I passed a guy I know wearing his Base
Nutrition kit I made sure to sit up and pedal harder and take his
soul...lol
After a long bit of climbing the road
is a slight downhill through town and then another left turn for 1 block and
then the final turn to the transition area. As I dismounted and made my way to
put bike away I started to count bikes, came up with 14 or 15. I had a great T2
and was out in a flash. This is only a 2 time run so I had my work cut out for
me. About 1/2 mile in folks were coming back towards the finish I counted the
ones heading back until I got to the turnaround myself, I was in 12th spot.
Over the next mile I was able to pick off enough to make a 9th place finish and
won my age group. I later found that I was only 1 min off my PR on that course.
The finish line was a bit barer due to the Covid rules. We were not able to use
podium boxes either, we just stood in place and raised out hand as our names
were called.
After all is said and done I was
pretty happy with this race and how it unfolded, was great knocking off the racing
rust. I am sure the trial of Hammer Liquid Endurance gave me the edge I needed
late in the race
Fuel:
-1 Hammer gel pre-race, one on the
bike
-Hammer Sustained Energy and water in
water bottles
-Hammer Race Day Boost and Hammer
Liquid Endurance (pre load leading up to race)
-Anti-Fatique Caps and Endurance
Ammo's pre race
-Hammer Recoverite after the race
Gear:
-Suunto 9 watch
-Ventum Z tri bike
-Hammer water bottles
-Hammer tri kit
-Garneau tri bike shoes
-Hoka OneOne Claytons
-S-Works helmet
-Tifosi glasses
-Stages Dash M50 bike computer
-Blue Seventy wet suit
Photo Credit: Mike Frame, enclosed photos were purchased by me for use.
