Columbia Tri - Race Report.....

Having the week off work prior to Columbia, I managed to get in a real solid training week and as was planned came into the race with no taper and was just training through it. Perhaps I should do that more often as it was polar opposites in terms of "race-feel" from the previous week at Devilman.

The weather wasn't great, a drizzle and windy, cold temps made the bike course slightly trickier than usual. No blasting around the corners on the slick surface but it was a good temperature for running....and running fast!

My race start was the 8th wave of the day (yep....over 1600 racers) and was at 7:39am. Water temps were about 70 degrees but with the rain and generally cold temps it felt chillier than that...the pro's swim wasn't wetsuit legal. As per usual the swim start was like bedlam and it took a little while to find open water. I never ever get used to the start of a tri when your lungs feel like they want to burst out of the wetsuit. For me the swim was business as usual. However much I swim and train, I always get out of the lake in 22mins and change. That put me into 15th in Age Group getting onto the bike.

At the start of the bike it rained hard but unlike at Devilman, I seemed to get into a pretty good rhythm from the get-go. I had decided to stick with the disc wheel despite the climbs on the course and was glad I did. It was good to be passing people and you always know that you are having a good day when no-one passes you. I ended up with the 4th best bike split in the age-group and coming into T2 was in 6th place.

The run at last week despite being 2nd best of the day was a bust by my high standards and I wanted to run well at Columbia. The run course is hard with a number of climbs and is really suited for the strong runners. Coming out of transition I felt great from the start. I was cranking along at 6min/mile pace and coming out of the park I seemed to get a second wind that enabled me to drop the hammer a bit more. I had no real idea of where I was in the race with the exception that I had one guy not that far behind me after passing him on the first climb. Not being funny but I knew that someone would have to be really rolling to be able to pass me on the run. Coming into the last couple of miles I couldn't really see anyone from my age group in front but all of a sudden coming up the last climb I saw one guy and not that far in front of him was another. I managed to pass the first and it was with only a half mile remaining that I passed the second guy. He tried to sprint past me up the last small rise but then died enough for me to regain the place in the last few hundred meters.

Pushing hard to the finish!

Final finishing time of 2hrs 10mins and 16secs (1 minute slower than last year...I blame the rain!) but importantly I had the fastest run time in my age group at 37mins 3secs and that was good enough for 15th fastest run of the entire race (including 25 pro racers). I was well chuffed with that....overall I came 26th (out of 1600) and was 2nd in my age group.

On the podium.

Big Guns Out at Columbia Triathlon.....

On the start line, two-time and reigning Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington, reigning 70.3m World Champion and from Bowie.....Iain Banks. Yeah, my name doesn't quite have the same draw as the two former names on the start list for the Columbia Triathlon this Sunday. The pro field sure is stacked (Riche Cunningham, both Lovatos, Wassner, etc) and it would be good to actually watch, just a shame that I am racing while they are!

This week has been cool....off work and training hard. I am just training through the race this weekend and so shall be interesting to see what kinda of time I can put up. Last year I came 4th in Age Group (29th overall) and went under 2hrs 10mins......it might be a push this year to beat that time, but we shall see.

Columbia Triathlon Race Report....Smoking!

When you have the alarm set for 5:00AM and you have only really just got to sleep due to the strange noises of an unfamiliar hotel room you never want to get awoken by these guys......



Yep, the fire alarm had gone off at 2:10AM and after looking out into the corridor and seeing smoke coming from the 1st floor, we decided it wasn't just a test and the hotel emptied out into the parking lot. In the end it was much ado about nothing (fortunately) and after the local fire service bringing everything and the kitchen sink (about five different kinds of engine), we were allowed back into the building just after 3:00AM. Nothing like a good nights sleep before a race!

Only a short time later we were awake and on the way to race (only 10mins from the hotel) and setting up transition with 2000 others....including a stacked pro field of Chris Lieto, Chris McCormack (2007 Ironman World Champion), Richie Cunningham, Desiree Ficker, Amanda Lovato and Rebeccah Wassner. Once the pro's headed out onto the course the age group waves begun and I had a 45min wait until my wave......to say that Sarah and I were tired and tetchy would be an understatement, perhaps not the best frame of mind for racing (or spectating!).

Eventually the 30-34 age group wave was in the water and we were on our way. The start was surprisingly brutal and it took a while for the field to settle down and spread out. For some reason it also took me a while to get into any kind of rhythm and I didn't really feel "comfortable" until the second half of the swim when we were catching the previous waves. I came out of the water in 16th place and a new PR for this course...22mins 19secs.



The bike section of this race was to be my main focus and I was going to push it as hard as possible. The Columbia bike course is one of the hardest and covers 41km of rolling roads with not a lot of places to "rest" (not that Chris Lieto would say that after smashing the bike course record!). Last year I covered the bike course in 1hr 8mins 46secs and managed to crush that by putting in the 4th best bike in the age group with a 1hr 6min 10sec ride, which had me in 7th place entering the run. After a slight mishap of my right shoe coming off the bike in T2, I was onto the run with the fastest transition of the day and ready to run a few people down!

Immediately out of transition I passed three guys in my age group and was running in 4th. After the hard bike I was feeling surprisingly spritely and eased into a 6min/mile pace. As I stated in the pre-race report, the Columbia run course is very challenging and has eight significant hills over 10km. For every climb though there is always a downhill so its not all bad :-)

Approaching the "Gatorade Wall" at mile 3 I passed into 3rd and was still at a 6min/mile pace, although the hills were feeling that much harder now! With three miles to go I knew that I had a chance of creeping in under 2hrs 10mins if I kept my current pace and that would be a 5min improvement over last years result. After a short loop we were climbing back up the "wall" and heading back to the lake when I was passed by a fast-moving Eric Lavigne and I dropped to 4th (Eric had a great run at the Duathlon Nationals this year but after being sent the wrong way on the bike he lost significant time and was out of the race for the overall). For the final 1.5miles I kept 3rd place in sight and crossed the line 4th in age group and 29th overall for 2hrs 9mins 6secs with a 37mins 21sec 10km run. The top four in our age group were separated by only a minute and 1st beat out 2nd by 2 secs!. For me this was a 5min 30sec PR on this course including PR's in all three elements of the race and importantly a strong bike on a tough course.



If you listen closely to the commentary you will notice that he correctly explains the background to the spelling of Iain as opposed to Ian! but no I am not Scottish.

Racing takes a break now for three weeks until we hit Eagleman 70.3M, the main goal for the first half of this season. Two more weeks of hard training and then a taper week to arrive on the shores of the Chesapeake ready to rock. Hopefully we won't be seeing the Easton Fire Department outside the hotel in the wee hours of the morning for that race!

Columbia Triathlon this Sunday.....

The Mid-Atlantic Rite of Passage is before us (2000 others and I) this Sunday, with the 25th running of the Columbia Triathlon. As the race description states below - click on the image to get a bigger size (courtesy of Inside Tri magazine) this is one tough course that doesn't let up at all. Fortunately I have raced here a couple of times before (including my first ever Olympic tri back in 2005) and so am aware of the hard couple of hours ahead!

It will be a couple of tough hours as well. I have just completed a 16-hour week and feel less than rested :-( My own fault I suppose but it will serve as a great test and provide a very significant race pace workout. After all the aim is to arrive in Cambridge in three weeks in as best shape as possible and ready to rock 'n' roll.

As with every race I always try and focus on at least one thing which will provide either confidence, knowledge or possible issues. Obviously you always want to try and get a personal best and for this race that would mean going under 2hrs 14mins, which gave me 3rd in AG last year. However, the main focus is to ride a course PB and continue to run strong on what is a tough, tough 10km (anything under 40mins for the 10km would be a bonus!)



Let's hope the rain holds off....just for a couple hours anyway!

I'm not convinced.......

The picture above is of my new triathlon shoes and the extremely high-tech (but low-cost) elastic band system that could save me some precious seconds in T1.....too be honest I'm not convinced. The "system" basically keeps the shoes level (which are already clipped into the pedals) via elastic bands and therefore enables you to "slip" your feet in as your pedal away.

Since doing my first triathlon in 2005 I have always just ridden in regular cycling shoes and have put them on in T1 and ran out to the mount line with them on. So far this has worked perfectly, my transitions are always in the top 10 of age group and I don't lose any significant time.

So why am I looking at the "lacky band" trick? Well the new shoes are tri-specific (with carbon soles....SA-WEET!) and include the rear loop to enable such things as the flying mount with the shoes already on the bike. I have my next race this Sunday at Columbia and might try it there, although with an slight uphill start I may end up looking like a complete tool and wasting more time than I might save! I have seen plenty of people hop onto their bikes at the mount line and then try for the next 1/2 mile to get their feet in the shoes, meanwhile I'm already down the road and flying.

I think I'll practice a little tonight and then make a game day decision, although at the moment I think I will stick with the tried and tested......