Mayo Lake Triathlon Recap
Woke up at around 4:45 to get a quick breakfast of toast, yogurt, and a banana. Felt pretty good knowing that I didn’t have to drive further than a few hours and was looking forward to taking a look at a different series. When I got to the site, I noticed already that this race would have a very cool hometown feel and I was pleased to see spectators lining up all down the road.
I got there later than I wanted so I didn’t have time to do much but a warmup consisting of some sprints and a lake swim. I had my Hammer Gel and got setup as quickly as I could, which was difficult with all the families in the transition area. At the time, I was sort of upset about that, but looking back it was pretty cool to see all these people that had never watched or seen any part of a triathlon before.
I was in the first wave, which seemed to be overloaded. We didn’t have a big area to spread out and I knew that unless I sprinted to the first buoy, I would be engulfed in the madness waiting behind me. When the gun went off, I went as fast as I could and knew instantly that I was out of my comfort zone. I felt like I was going to drown and even entertained thoughts of slowing down and not competing. Luckily, the fire in me wouldn’t let that happen and once I hit the first buoy I started passing people every few seconds. This was something I wasn’t used to on swims and it continued to fuel my desire to kick the hell out of this race.
From the 2nd to 3rd buoy, I felt exhausted, but it was well worth it when I got to the swim finish with a time of 15 minutes flat. I’d improved my time by nearly 2 minutes and I was so excited that I tossed my exhaustion aside and sprinted up the hill to my bike, which is where things started to fall apart. I left transition in 1:15, which was another record for me, but as soon as I mounted my bike, I noticed a big problem…
I just had my new Kuota K-Factor assembled two days before and had performed a fit on my own, which felt just right. The problem is that I hadn’t adjusted the rear wheel properly and it was rubbing against the cutout. I didn’t notice it until I’d started pedaling and heard that dreaded sound. I stopped, fixed it, stopped again to adjust it, and on the 3rd try finally got it right. Going into the bike, I was fired up and ready to dominate. Seeing all of those people pass my while I made the adjustments only pissed me off and I took off grinding as fast as I could go.
I started passing people in waves and seemed to gain energy as the bike progressed. I even remember wishing the bike was longer so I could pass more people. When the bike finally ended, I had passed almost every rider in front of me (at least those that I could see) and finished the bike leg in 45:34, which was a great time for me considering the circumstances.
When I got to T2, I had to carry my bike because of the gravel near the transition area, but I was loving the vibe of the race and the cheers kept me pumped up. I was out of there in 51 seconds, which is another PR.
I took off on the run in stride and felt like a man possessed. The trail portion of this run was difficult and my hip flexors were feeling the twists and turns, but I kept pretending that every person in front of me was in my AG. I sprinted as fast as I could run for most of the run leg and couldn’t help but wish I had more time to keep going. The thing about this race that was so cool was that there were people everywhere, cheering for you as if you were in the lead. It was great!
When I sprinted to the finish, I remember hearing someone tell me that I was “too composed” and for the first time in my life, I felt like a triathlete. What a rush!
I came in from the run at 24:58, which tells me that the run was longer than it should have been. Still, I had a respectable time of 1:27:35, which was good enough for 9th AG and 44th overall.
Now that the main body of my race season is over, it’s time to get ready for HIM Augusta, and the OBX Marathon, with stops at Wilmington and Pinehurst in between.
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