The Tidewater #Triathlon Race Report: Race week and Package Pickup (pics)

I have made it a habit to cut back on training slightly in the week leading up to a race. On Tuesday, my wife was hosting the Army Soldier Show at Fort Eustis. Since this was being hosted at 7 pm and since she wanted my son and I to attend, I got up at 4:45 am to swim and was in the pool a little after 5:30. It was nice because the Master’s group took up two lanes then the rest of the lanes were open for lap swimmers. I had to share a lane for only about 20 minutes; it was definitely nothing like it is at night.

There was just something serene and energizing about swimming and seeing the sun come up. And because of the lack of people there and my ability to focus on my work out without the distractions I have at night I finished the 3000 meter workout in 90 minutes. I topped off the day’s training schedule with a 1 hour run at lunch with 2 x 6.5 minutes in zone 4 @ 10 minutes with 2 minute jog between. I felt good and filled with energy the rest of the day.

My son and I did attend the event and had prime seats. My wife had reserved us two seats on the front row right beside the commanding 3-star general and his family. So yes, it IS who you know.

I did a night time 45-minute ride through the neighborhood on this 8-mile loop I have mapped out. Riding at night was interesting as there were short sections that were not lit up and I had to ride with “the Force.”

I didn’t ride Thursday as planned, but I did complete the swim workout in 90 minutes again so I am happy with that. I was really looking forward to the swim on Saturday so I could see if my training was paying off. I finished off the week of training with a nice HIIT 30-minute run at lunch on Friday.

Package Pickup

I knew the minute I was close enough to the venue to see how the race area was set up that I would enjoy this race. Unlike both the Smithfield Tri and the Tavern Tri, this race utilized the large open areas at Buckroe Beach and had things spread out. The transition area seemed larger and just having things spread out provided a sense of Feng Sui that gave me an immediate sense of calmness.

Picking up the packet was seamless. I told them my bib number, showed my picture ID, and we were done in a matter of seconds. I had about 20 minutes until the race briefing, so I went to the transition area to find where I would rack my bike. Once I found it I was pleased to once again be 1) located only four rows from “Bike Out” and 2) on the outside rack. While I still wasn’t sure where to go on the bike and not sure about turning right on the run out, I was able to visualize how the transitions would take place.

The race people already had the swim buoys out, so I got a good look at the swim course. They also had the cones set out that outlined a path from the water, across the beach to the transition area. Just as I had done in previous races, I stood in the middle of the transition area and mentally painted a picture of the transitions. This always helps to alleviate any surprises on race day.

After I was sure I had the mental picture down, I roamed outside of the transition area and just sort of hung out watching and listening to people. There were these two race workers about 5 or 6 feet away who were talking when this triathlete they both knew walked up. As they talked I listened to the conversation and to what the triathlete had to say because evidently he had participated in this race several times.

While I don’t remember 99% of what was said, the 1% I did remember him saying that while he loved the bike course he did not like the turn arounds because every year he had seen some people crash. He said last year that he had some friends wipe out at the second turn around because they were coming up on their second loop and were having to battle those people who were just starting the bike course coming in the same direction. Little did I know how so prophetic that overheard conversation would be.

The race meeting was very informative and I am glad I went. For the swim, we would swim out into the bay 125 meters, turn right and swim 250 meters, then turn right again and swim to shore 125 meters. On the bike, we would go left immediately after transition, then take an immediate right onto Point Comfort road. After about 1/10 of a mile or so we would veer left onto Mallory. We would haul ass down Mallory and take a left onto Mercury Blvd and would experience our first turn around at the old gate of Fort Monroe. Once we made the turn around we would traverse back the way we started. But instead of veering to the right when we arrived at Point Comfort, we would experience our second turn around to head back out down Mallory to Mercury to the turn around and back. On the 2^nd loop we would then veer to right onto Point Comfort and make our way back to transition.

The run would be a very simple out and back. On the run out we would turn right out of transition and go past the end of the boardwalk to the end of Point Comfort. We would then turn around, run north to the end of the boardwalk, turn left onto Pilot Dr. for 100 yards or so, then turn right onto North 1^st St. We would run to the end of 1^st street, turn around and come back the same way we went out. Both the bike and run were very very flat and just oozed speed. No wonder this was one of the fastest sprints on the Virginia/Maryland tri circuit.

After the race meeting I went to the jeep and took a picture of my bib and sent out my traditional tweet: “Tomorrow is race day. And everyone loves race day!”

I then rode both the bike course and as much as the run course as possible. I felt very good about the race. VERY good, indeed.