Ouch! I really underestimated this tri that is held up in the beautiful hills of Connecticut. I had rode the bike course a few weeks before the race so I new it would be challenging but what I should have done was check out the run course. The day started out good. Later start time than most races and only a 20 minute drive so no waking up before 5 am.
The swim was in a warm spring fed lake. I took my usual position on the start somewhere out to the right and away from the crazy fast swimmers. I started out with a good pace no flying elbows and got into my own clean water. After rounding the first buoy I tried pushing the pace. Made the turn around the second buoy and caught some fast feet for a nice easy ride in. Finished just under 29 minutes.
T1 - Long run up to transition to the bike. Grabbed a few gels and took off. Hammered down the first hill hitting 51 mph (nice to have ridden this course once before) and out onto 44 for a 10 mile down hill run. I decided not to push the big ring since the big rollers were coming soon. I pushed between 22-24 mph with high rpms (new strategy to maybe improve my awful run times). Hit the first hill and spun right up no problem. Ended up taking over two people and then hit the backroads for the climb back to transition. Sucked it up and out-of-the-saddled it up the last remaining hills to the dismount line. 1:13 - about six minutes slower than I would have liked.
T2 - Took of on the run. Legs felt great no cramps, must be those bricks I've been doing or not doing. Hit the road and let it go downhill. First mile or two were downhill and flat with a few rollers. Then the hills came...I had a few cramps up a couple but kicked them out and ended up passing two people on the hills. At mile 4 I rounded the bend only to see more hills and people just slugging up. Caught a fellow Heatster - we exchanged hellos and he told me to go catch three guys ahead of us which I have no idea how I managed to do this. Traded spots with a fellow age grouper the last mile and he took me on the last hill. Finished the run in 48 minutes.
Ended up with a time of 2:36. I was 4th in my age group and 27th overall. The Heat ended up winning the Connecticut club championship. That was a tough race with over 2500 feet of total climbing. I'm glad I got a good challenge before heading up to Timberman and I hope it provided a good base. Let's hope the run course does not resemble Litchfield's.
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