Hi all, my report for Syracuse 70.3.
Please excuse typos:)
Syracuse 70.3 June 21, 2015
A brief resume about myself first, climber, mountaineer, Alpinist, for well over 30 years, been there done it and ticked it you might say, well OK not Everest, but close enough with 5 major greater range expeditions done to the Pamirs, Tien Shan, Karakorum and multiple seasons in the Alps, from the Chamonix valley to Grindelwald, Dolomites, Bernese Oberland, Picos D’Europa, Pyrennees, and also stateside, Yosemite valley, Colorado etc.
In addition to this also completed plenty of winter ascents spending multiple ice cold days on ledges and faces in the Alps doing first ascents.
Why Triathlon?
Well I came from a reasonably athletic youth and kept fairly active ever since. Running and cycling were only a means of keeping fit when the weather was not dry enough to go out and climb something. Typically coming from the UK rain and cold days are frequent lol!
With the advent of the birth of my children I basically cut back on the climbing and focused more on trail running and cycling in the summer months, I had always been a trail runner re-UK, and living so close to the Mt Tom Trails kept my interest up. It was not until about 2 years or so ago that I convinced Peter Stone to tag along with me to do the USATF mountain goat series with me, which was an annual event of where you basically run 6 or seven trail races throughout new England to gain a coveted slot in the Mt Washington Road race, Peter and I ran that last year, that was my fourth time. About this time he had just joined the Cyclonauts and convinced me to sign up. OK so I did, In May June last year, note that I had never done a multisport race or even thought about doing one until then. Peter again convinced me to sign up for Lake Placid what was his words now…….”hurry up, it will sell out” yup I did it….part of that deal was Syracuse 70.3.
So here we are, never swam a distance, biked, OK running no worries! I did not own a tri bike, a wetsuit etc.
I signed up for my first Tri event in the September 2014 an Olympic distance race Pilrgrimman, did 3:02 total overall with a 28 minute swim, 1.30 ish bike and miserable run. In addition to this was sent the wrong way at the finish as I did not scout that out and ended up doing 6.6 miles instead of 6.2 miles. It was over 90 degrees and I had a 102 fever. It sucked! On the positive side I could improve. I had plenty of room for improvement. I now had the bug.
After an brutal cold winter and plenty of time on the trainer and in the pool, I also signed up with Doug Guertin at PCS in order to put me on a plan to complete a full IM and not suffer. I was ready for the next season.
My second and third triathlons came and went Quassy Olympic, and Westfield Wave, yup improving, transitions still stink though, I decided not to bring the chaise long to the transition area. A top tip from Doug, going sockless was also a good idea especially in shorter race events, and definitely speed laces.
Come Syracuse my fourth multisport event yay! At last!
I planned to drive up on the Saturday morning and meet Peter Stone and Dena Brayson for some lunch dinner. The Thursday before, Peter called me as the weather forecast looked horrible and asked if he could travel with me, as his wife decided not to go as they have a small child and it would be unfair to leave them if raining badly.
The trip up was uneventful, we signed in at his hotel even though I had a hotel too (Best Western and it was not pleasant lol).
Took a trip to Jamesville and signed in. The weather was beautiful, I had a great location in the transition area as it was close to the bike exit and really easy to find. Things could not get better. We set our bikes up and left for some food. We ended up in an Irish bar as the Pasta place had stopped serving food, OK bangers and mash and a pint of the Liffy Water! Then back to the hotel to rest up per Coach’s advise.
The night before was restless, not due to nerves, but a noisy air conditioning unit, paper thin walls and drunks wandering hallways at 2 in the morning. The alarm went off…..time to get your game on!
Ate designated food, applesauce, whey, banana and go-go juice.
We packed the truck and it was drizzling, nothing heavy. On the drive to the race, the intention was to stop and get Peter a coffee, as that was his routine in addition to this he still had the remnants of a bad cold. No coffee, sorry Peter!
We got to the parking lot and it was still light drizzling, went to the transition area, set up in my postage stamp sized transition, towel check, shoes check helmet……pumped my tires up and the heavens opened. Light rain my a**! Torrential came to mind, the transition area looked like a Glastonbury festival swamp. We legged it back to the truck to get the wet suits and ditch transition bags etc. I decided to get into my wetsuit, I was already shivering from the rain, it was 6:00 am and only an hour to race start.
I put on my suit and wet sneakers and walked back with Peter back to transition, darn I need to pee. Off with the wet suit and here we go. Lesson learned.
We went down to the beach and bumped into Bill Romito and found James Gebo donning his wetsuit, he was leaving in the first wave at 7:00am, Peter at 7.10 am, Dena at 7:40 am and me at 7:52 am. We had not seen Dena?
I ditched my sneakers at the transition and walked barefoot to the beach, oh yeah forgot to mention I took a nice ½ inch chunk out of my right heel on Friday night at Russell pond on a sharp rock, I could feel it but luckily enough it was not on the bottom of my foot, this was not an excuse.
The race is on!
Swim
It stopped raining yeehaw as Fran would say! The first wave went, there goes James, 7:12 Peter leaves, 7:40 Dena leaves, 7:46 Bill leaves, oh my I need to pee…….nerves maybe.
I am in the water, left hand side as recommended by Doug, the air goes off and we are swimming, I kept a left line to stay out of trouble, in addition to this tried to maintain and steady start pace as I had learnt that lesson from Quassy going out too fast, you just blow up. The turn buoy seemed to take an eternity, but once around it was going good, I started to catch some of the slower swimmer from previous waves, and as I was turning the last buoy for the return home, that white hats of the 25-30 years old came zipping by……Nope I am not going to compete, do your own race
I was out of the water in 36.05 ish, I could not understand why I was not faster….later when I check my gps, I had swam 1.31 miles, therefore taking a longer line around the outside is slower duh! However you are not like turtles competing for their own piece of real estate.
Bike
Running to the transition area, why not make use of the strippers, lie in the mud and it was off in seconds. Now to find my bike, that was the easy part.
My transition postage stamp was all over the place????? Shoes full of water, helmets, glasses, forget socks don’t need them. No Chair Doug! I grabbed the bike and proceed to exit transition areas, wet muddy grass. Don’t cleats make excellent cookie cutters!
I was on my bike and riding, up out onto the wet road, luckily they placed mats on the rail tracks, apparently that had been the scene of a crash or two when Mike Cousins did the race.
I was soon getting into my rhythm, note that the first 12 miles or so is uphill, Doug advised don’t gun it, stay in the saddle and keep your heart rate or perceived effort below cap.
That’s hard when everyone is passing you lol! But seriously I was passing plenty too. The roads were still wet, but on the positive side it was not raining, just humid!
After about 12 miles or so the first of the descents come, and it was a good one easy 50 mph thank you very much! Then plenty of rollers, time to get aero, eat and drink plenty of fluids. At the first fuel stop I decided not to get anything, I had two bottles so could easily make it to mile 30 or so.
The road started drying, yes!!!!!! Cornering was a little safer, plenty of rollers now. I actually felt good. At the next stop I grabbed a bottle of water, note that I recommend that you keep the right hand cage free as it’s a pain in the backside trying to reach around to put it into the left cage (if you have two rear cages).
After this fuel fill point I needed to pee, OK that is a strategy on the bike, especially with rider in front and behind you, in addition getting off and stopping would burn up valuable moving time. It was an interesting proposition not only that my shoes are now…..will not digress. They presently smell of laundry freshener……
At around mile 45, I actually felt good, and looked at my time and though why not, you can break 3 hours on this ride, I pushed….It was really humid now and threatening to rain. This was added incentive, I don’t mind running in the rain.
About mile 54 we started to hit the runners, I saw Peter, darn I had caught some ground on him. Push harder and get this bike done…. Safely into transition, time to see what this run course is all about, I hear it is hilly! Bike done 2:53 ish not too shabby!
Run
In transition I take off my bike shoes and find my socks, that I neatly rolled up, they were soaking wet the rolling up did not help, I again emptied my run shoes of water got them on, put on my number, hat, grabbed some shot blox and I am off.
Out of transition, down a brief tarmacked path then onto muddy grass trail like field to climb to the road, darn it was hot, humid you name it. Take it easy on the first loop I was warned. Once onto the road, I saw James, he was approaching the end of his first loop, and he looked ok, I shouted, he was ok I think!
The first section of road is a short climb then a gradual descent to a left turn and descends into a humid steam bath, darn I need to pee again!!!!!! I found a porta potty. Lost 30 seconds, but felt much better.
Got to the first aid station, grabbed a banana, water, Gatorade and did not stop. The first hill, gotta run it, not too hard though, I read Bill Lodi’s account and he had me in stitches, I passed Peter again he was looking good. Started to climb, you think it’s all over where there is a turn in the road….hahahahahaha
Nope it punishes you further with a gentle but steady grind, no walking for me. I got to the turning point 3.3 miles done and set off back down. Grabbed another drink and some water on the head and ice sponges in my cap and down my shirt…..purely awesome, sponges are not just for washing!
The grind back to the transition/start was fairly uneventful, I did pass Pater again, and actually saw Dena heading out on her first loop, darn it was humid!
On the second loop I actually felt OK, so decided to step up and increase my pace, I did not see James but saw Peter who looked good for his finish, I dropped into the steam basin again and saw James in the distance, he was walking….. I grabbed another drink, sponges and preceded to climb, I was soon up to him and passed him, he was cooked, I did not look back, turned the corner and ground out the last climb section. At the turn, it was time to open up, about 3.3 to go and might as well give it whatever you have.
The last couple of miles felt great, my legs were good and I actually felt strong, perhaps all the coaching and work throughout the winter has paid off. Last section of road to the muddy fields then before I knew I was in the finishing chute, I did it….. 1:51 for the run, 5:27:45 overall. Uh oh! Placid is next.
At the end of the race, it was not long before the heavens opened again and a torrential downpour ensued, James and Dena finished just in time, unfortunately Bill could only complete the first run loop as the race official closed the race due to lightning risk.
Overall it was a great experience, it woke me up thinking 140.6 is going to be a tougher proposition there is plenty of work to be done.
I believe honestly that the sound advise from Doug, Mary and special thanks to all the other nauts who have certainly helped, as their experience is second to none.
Onwards and upwards more to come.