Sixth Annual Indian Creek Triathlon
June 11, 2006
by: Ben
Ever have one of those pre-race mornings when everything goes right? I had one today and it was nice. Alarm went off at 2:40, but I felt great on only 4 hours of sleep, strangely. Standard pre-race breakfast of two bowls of oatmeal, toast and coffee were just right. Out the door by 3:30. Even the bathroom stuff, never a sure thing with me, went great. Takes a little less than 2 hours to get to the state park, which left me ample time for all the on site pre-race details. Even those went well. I used to think that the most important warm-up before a sprint or Olympic distance race was a 2 mile run, but I have reconsidered and I think it's more important to get those cycling muscles a little warm, so I was happy to get in a 15 minute ride. Man, the only thing that could make this pre-race stuff go better would be if they somehow mis-measured the swim course and it came up a few hundred meters short. That would be great......
So we're in the water warming up and Brad is giving us the last minute details. I don't recall everything but I know he said "I GPS'd it" in reference to the swim course. He also said, joking with us, that it would be 1/2 IronMan (1.2 miles) in length, not the advertised Olympic distance (1.5 km, about .93 miles). Ha ha. The buoys did look kinda far apart, but it's hard to gauge that from the shore. John Theriot said a nice prayer - short, but sincere, and we were off in four waves, spaced, I think, at 3 minute intervals. I took off easy, per the plan. Almost immediately I began cursing myself for not taking a few seconds to get my bearings. I am a terrible swimmer but I have done enough of these to know I should have located that first turn buoy and gotten a visual reference from the surrounding landscape before starting up. Well, I hadn't thought to do that, so I was at the mercy of everybody ahead of me. The field spread wide early, which meant, I supposed, that they could not see too well either. We were heading right into the sun, but it seemed high enough on the horizon. Long before I reached the first turn buoy I was certain that something had gone wrong. Finally it came into view and after I turned I did a quick time check, knowing it was much too long. Twenty four minutes and change - not good. A lot of thoughts had passed through my mind by this time, but the general consensus seemed to be to press on, knowing the swim was going to be way long, and just look forward to a good bike and run. I got a good visual on the next buoy which was also pretty far off (could have used two or three intermediate buoys in this stretch) and plowed on. When I finally got there, the guy in the nearby boat was loudly yelling the same message over and over - "turn right and head for the beach". This was some good, quick thinking on the part of the race organizers - to cut the swim "short" from that point. To continue on the course as it was laid out would have led to roughly a 2.4 mile swim, which the better swimmers would have been okay with I am sure, but not worth the aggravation and potential danger for the masses. I ended up exiting the water in 58 something, a full 21 minutes slower than last year, and I am swimming probably a bit better than I was then. So I make it out to have been about a 2.4 km or 2.5 km swim. A thousand meter bonus, no extra charge. I teased Brad about it, but I feel for him - I know he was bummed out that a buoy got loose on him or whatever happened. Brad, you need any help with the instruction book on that GPS, you just let me know, okay?
It was quite a good feeling to get back on dry land, where I had a faster than usual transition and took off on the bike. The course was modified this year, and the changes were very much for the better. We traded in two annoying 180's for a trip through downtown LeCompte and a 2 mile stretch of "so-so" road. Well worth it. The "so-so" road is better than much of what I train on anyway. The rest of the course is super smooth. It was also extremely well marshaled and traffic was almost zero. Gotta think it's the best bike course in the state with this last change. A few hills, nothing that significant. I went out at about 90% effort, but soon ratcheted that up. I have had better bike rides, but not lately. Don't know why I felt so good, but I did. At this race last year I was dying after about 10 miles. I can't think the warm up helped that much, but maybe?
I had another good transition (for me) and took off on the run. Got my legs after 3 or 4 minutes and felt great all the way to about 5.5 miles or so, at which point I had to focus quite hard. Knocked about 2.5 minutes off last year's run, but felt a lot better than I did last year. It was warm, but not as bad as in years past, I think. I got passed by 3 or 4 guys late in the run last year, but this year no one came by, so I will count that as a small victory.
Congratulations to all the finishers, especially my fellow crummy swimmers who were not having much fun out there. Thanks to Brad, Gary, and all of the smiling volunteers, many of whom I managed to thank, but know that I appreciate you all - we could not have these competitions without you. Finally, I was pleased to see overall winner Jeremy Johnson score his first big victory today. Not just a great athlete, he is the epitome of class and humility. We're lucky to have him in Lafayette.