sprint tri report

so maybe I just expand upon JZ's thundergust report:

Henry and I went to New Jersey Saturday for the Thundergust Tri/Du
and i went to middletown for wayne's marathon sports sprint tri.

arrrrgh 430 a.m. is EARLY
oh yesitis, bra. 4 poops before 8am. a banner day.

Got there with time to spare
rode for 20min, ran for 15, swam for 10. what i love about racing is the peace that comes (sometimes, if you've got your shit tidied) right before, the feeling that you've done all you can to prepare, there's nothing left to plan or anticipate, it's just pure being-in-the-moment. and simple.

"You will swim in the water, then you will bike on the road, next run in the woods."
0.25mi swim
though a bit weedy, the water in noxontown pond is relatively clear and does not smell of sewage. i start at the front of my wave because i am feeling confident. i bash into a couple women at the turnaround, but i fortunately do not encounter the sea monster of a weedy pile with which my friend franny had to contend. said it stopped him dead in the water and he thought he'd never wrassle free.

when i emerge from the water, i have no idea who's in front and who's behind me. this is the beauty of racing tri's (or at least racing them w/o a clew). the strongest women swam in my wave, though, so if i can catch all of them on the bike and run, i have a pretty good shot at winning overall.

Finally on the bike and I can start to enjoy this race...and enjoy I did
16mi bike
typically, i start the bike leg sloooow. i like to dick around with my shoe straps and eat and drink. i pretend i'm having tea with the queen. we talk about ringo starr and the nails concert on friday (the queen is a big fan).

the most powerful voodoo there is...a single verse from a really bad pop song!
or, in this case dave grohl's sick percussion from You Know What You Are. this is SO much better than The Littlest Worm or Red River Valley. the chick who passed me while the queen and i deconstructed March of the Pigs must have been a little dismayed a half-mile later when i blew by her at 22mph.

[i am not nearly as hotsy-totsy as i think i am, though, because blair, who started 4min behind me and then had to SWIM (add another minute) makes up that deficit in 16 miles.]

"there's your target!" BillyV hollered to me, pointing to blair as he exited T2 25yds ahead. i didn't know then that BV had a six-pack riding on me besting blair. that's the last time he'll make that mistake.

So now I am out there back on the trails....alone....but not really...as on continually loop I am blasted by "Don't cha' wish your girlfriend was hot like me!"
3mi trail run
mad drums in my head still. a spectator tells me there's one woman ahead of me, but i figure there must be some mistake, that that woman's from an earlier wave, cos i just rode hard and i know my competition. AND jocelyn's not here.

eschewing my normal MO, i go out fast.

with a long fluid stride, blair hardly looks like he's working, and when i pass him i can't even hear him breathing over the Drums. the woods are lovely, dark and deep, offering relief from the oppressive sun beating on the fields. i'm feeling pretty gnar-gnar, kinda close to puking, but my legs seem disconnected from my gut and they're going with the drums.

at 2 miles i close in on the lone woman. it's robin, and she must have had an incredible swim & ride. "I thought you were going to pass me in the woods," she burbles as i pitch by her with a friendly – i hope – grunt because i am incapable of putting words together. she doesn't stage a comeback, and so i finish first female and 13th overall, 1:30 faster than last year -- largely due to running sub-6min miles.

i was wasted after this 70min race. i cannot even imagine racing IM.