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Race Result

Racer: Brad Payne
Race: Charlottesville Sprint Triathlon
Date: Sunday, June 19, 2005
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 35 - 39
Time: 1:48:11
Overall Place: 164 / 275
Age Group Place: 24 / 35
Comment: "Columbia South" shorter but more intense.



Race Report:



Course Description
0.3 mile lake swim, ~16 mile hilly bike, 5K trail run.

Splits
Swim 9:38
Bike 1:03:03
Run 35:30

Pre Race
I should have thought this out better. Charlottesville = Hills. I even lived there for six years so I should know. On Saturday, I signed up for the Tim Harmon 5K primarily because it had a baby jogger division, and I thought it would be fun for Nora and me to get out there and do a few miles together. I put myself in the back of the pack with the majority of the baby joggers and took it fairly easy. I ended up dusting all those folks and actually thought I might win an award in the babyjogger division. As it turned out those folks were WAY out in front. Normally after a race I might have some aches and pains in my calves but with me pushing the little Hedgehog, it was my quads that were feeling it. Oh well, we drove the mile back to the house, cleaned up, packed, and headed down 29 South to Charlottesville.

The traveling threw off Nora’s nap schedule, and we paid for it at the hotel. Still managed to get six hours of sleep before I got up for bagels and coffee from the morning buffet. Parking at Walnut Creek Park was an adventure but luckily the transition area was adequately sized. The big buzz seemed to be the water temperature. I’ve never seen such a collection of triathletes so averse to wearing wet suits. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but if they consider that hot, I’d hate to see what they consider cold, the Bering Sea perhaps?

Of course I began to regret my decision to suit up as I realized I purchased it 15 pounds ago. I looked like a walrus as I shuffled down to the water. I even found a new form race dorking as it took me five maybe ten minutes to squeeze my cap on. I was pretty embarrassed and starting talking to the young lady who seemed so amused with my plight. Turns out that young lady was our very own Amanda Shuman.

Swim
The wet suit gave me a decided advantage over the bulk of wet suit-less swimmers as I broke out with the lead pack. 500 yards is just a titch longer than my sprint range as I got a little winded on the final straightaway. Dodging struggling swimmers from the previous wave got tedious but in a little while I would be returning the favor.

T1
Set-upinc has done several of my races and they have never figured out how to record transition times. I think I’ve improved in this area dramatically in the last year, but I have no quantitative proof.

Bike
Funny thing about lakes, they tend to collect at the bottom of valleys. The mile long Woodburn-like hill coming out of T1 was a cruel joke. Me and the Almighty had a conversation about the wisdom of placing "sprint" triathlons in the middle of "God’s Country." Towards the end of the mile long grind, most of which in my granny gears, I may have earned eternal damnation for blasphemous outbursts I blame on screaming quads. After that, I earned some rest with some downhills, and I pretty much treated the course as an interval workout in between climbs and descents. Some of the descents are pretty scary as they curve and you cannot see more than 50 feet or so. There was the occasional “cross and flowers” memorial for some dead drunk driver that really made me think as I screamed down at 35-40 mph. I thought I had a solid bike leg until I analyzed the splits. 2/3 of my age group posted better times, and that’s what I get for missing too many RATS rides this spring:)

T2
Don’t know what my split was, but I’m willing to bet it was my best T2 ever as I used speed laces for the first time. Last triumphant feeling of the day though.

Run
About 100 yards into the run I entered "the trail" which started off with a treacherous downhill. "Hey, who put all these rocks and tree roots on my run course?" Perhaps a little prank from the Big Man Upstairs for cursing his pretty bike course? My ankles are made of glass so I began to apprehensively jog down the hill until I could no longer trust my judgment or balance in these conditions. I wussed out and walked the remainder of the hill. Once I got to the bottom it was as if all the remaining energy in my legs were gone. I shuffled along another 100 yards, and then I heard, "Go RATS…are you Brad?…its me Amanda!" Earlier by water she had not seen my RATS jersey as it was covered up my walrus suit. The encouragement helped, but I continued to struggle with my footing and walked up and down tight switchbacks. I had several near ankle sprains and began to dread how they would feel in the coming week if I did survive this jungle. And then there were all the folks who were motoring along like little energizer bunnies. I was polite and stepped aside at reasonable intervals, even folks in my own age group, too many times to count. I couldn’t even muster a spirited kick when I finally emerged from the woods and saw the finish line.

Post Race
I felt pretty crappy about my race, but after running into Amanda again, we began to realize she was one of the top finishers. Only one woman passed me on the bike course, and Amanda was the first (of many) to catch me on the run course…and as it turned out she represented RATS quite well with a 2nd place finish. The post-race food and drink was pretty lame, and my daughter, who had just mastered crawling in the last week, was not digging being confined to a stroller. Amanda, Nora, and I posed for a picture, and then I was back to the hotel for a shower before making the trek to Richmond for a Father’s Day barbecue. Mom gave me a Bernie’s Sub for lunch, and after a couple of beers, yours truly was out cold for a few hours.

There have been a lot of other things going on in my life, and I’ve learned this spring that healthy sleep is key to doing anything in life well. I caught up on it this week, but after five days, my quads are STILL aching! If someone is looking for a challenging sprint, then this is the course for you. If you’re a first timer, look east to Richmond. Flat is good. Flat is fast. In case you're wondering, the Charlottesville Olympic on July 31 is a longer version of the same course. I think I'm going to pass:)

P.S. If you’ve read this far, don’t forget to give Amanda props for a killer race!