PEAK Triathlon

In traveling to the 2011 Peak Triathlon, I had to take the road to redemption.  Last year I had a terrible race.  Sparing the details, my race in 2010 was one big dirty bomb of destruction.  I left with ripped up feet, detonated muscles, and a very disappointing 11^th place finish.  One thing that weighs heavy on my conscious is unfinished business.  This year I plan to finish the unfinished, and that starts with the Peak Tri.

* The Road To Redemption requires a special color scheme, total white out. 

I arrived at the race with plenty of time to relax, set up, and say hello to a few friends. Transition-volunteer-extraordinaire, Jess, had lined me up a prime spot in transition, sweet! After the normal transition set up, I made my way to body marking and the pool deck. Once in the pool I had just enough time for a brief swimming warm-up and a few extra flip turns.

3…2…1 and we were off. My lane partner started even with me and stuck to my pace for the first 25 yds. At the wall I hit a perfectly timed flip turn, dolphin-kicked, and resurfaced with a body-length lead. When I start a race I make an immediate assessment of how my body feels. When I am feeling rested I would describe my muscles as feeling “thick.” When I am tired and don’t have the rest, I would describe my muscles as feeling “empty.” On lap three I asked myself, “how do they feel.” My answer, “empty.” This was expected as a result of training through.

I kept the pressure high, but out of the detonate zone for the next few laps by swimming relatively easy considering it was a race. On lap 8 I put my lane partner a lap down with a smooth pass. Two laps later I was out, 2nd in my heat. My friend Amy Mack shouted to me, “6:29 good swim” as I made my way to T1. I hit T1 right on L’Hueruex’s feet while being cheered by Jess and her two friends, Anne and Tricia (thanks to Tricia for some great pictures too).

I left T1 and flew aboard the Murder Machine. A few more cheers from friends and family and I was out onto the bike course. The first thing I noticed was how great my new saddle and aero bar pads felt, wow. The bike course is hard, there are some large hills, and the winds can be punishing. This is just the kind of bike course that will shred your legs for the run.

I rode hard in the aero position until the base of the largest hill. I started the ascent while coming out of the saddle. I rode out of the saddle, swaying my body side to side atop the Murder Machine. The best thing about a punishing hill is the wicked fast descent on the other side. I crested the beast and dove back into the aero position amidst a clicking of gears while downshifting. I flew down the hill maxing out my huge FSA chainring. I hit the bike turnaround with a brake-squealing U turn and immediately set course to return to sender.

After the turnaround I took checks to the approaching chasers. I was glad to see I was putting time into the immediate chase pack. I kept the pace high while retracing the windy, hilly bike course. My “empty” legs protested any increase in efforts so I held steady until T2, hitting the dismount line I completed my bike split averaging 23 mph on the dot. Not a bad ride for wimp like me :).

The great thing about the Peak run course is that is it harder than the bike course.  There are a couple of hills, one of which is a diabolical rise that will break your spirit.  I left T2 motivated but feeling flat from the training I had done the week leading up to this race.  I knew this run would be a “grit your teeth” sort of split.  It didn’t help knowing that some seriously fast dudes were in the previous heats.  There would be no resting or recovering during this run, only pain.  I made my way through the three portion out and backs and conquered the hill.  At about mile 3 I knew I had to “go” because there were plenty of people from other heats that would be close to my time.  I finished with a half decent sprint while falling off the curb and flailing my arms.

Going into this race I knew there were a ton of fast people at this race.  In looking at who was racing I reasoned that I would be happy with a top 8 finish considering the amount of speed at this race.  At the awards ceremony I saw that I had finished fourth place in a stacked men’s field.  Icing on the cake was when I beat three of the people that beat me last year.  Finishing fourth is a great feeling, it is an even better feeling to “go and do this…and totally redeem myself”  (Dumb and Dumber).

The Peak Tri was a fantastically well-organized race that provided everyone with a great race experience, awesome awards, and sweet raffle prizes.  Best race in Montana, let the haters start to hate.  I finished the day with a great BBQ and campfire with my parents, Kevin, Jess, and Jess’s friend Anne. 

I stayed up way past my bedtime while we rehashed the day’s stories and funny moments, and enjoyed the pleasant evening.  I also indulged in an orange frosted cookie that had so much sugar I called it “Agent Orange” because that sucker was deadly. 

Status: Redeemed.