Location: Columbia, SC
Date: May 2, 2009
Placing: 15th Overall
Race Photos
Results: Click Here

Murphy was not an endurance athlete. I know this because if he was, how could he have missed some of the more obvious laws of probablility? Things like 'The odds of a workout occuring are inversely proportionate to how many hours of the day have passed', or 'The chance of rain is directly related to whether or not you have chosen to wear your new white cycling socks'. Or in the case of this race report, 'the length of time it takes to report about an event is directed related to how poorly you've done at said event'. You'll remember how quickly my report on Duathlon Nationals came out a couple of weeks ago. If I'd had a pen and paper, I would've started writing it during the second run. Maybe I should publish a "G-Man's Laws". I've got a million of them. No, really.

May 3rd and believe it or not - this was my first triathlon of the year. I skipped my first 3 scheduled tris after I was attacked by bad air molecules at the beginning of March. Prior to that 'air strike', I had placed well at a couple of running events and one duathlon. The season was looking very promising. When I broke onto the multi-sport scene, I used to bill myself as "Mr. Consistency". It didn't matter what type or distance event it was, I was always lurking in the top finishers but all good things must come to an end. Don't get me wrong, I'm not throwing in the towel by any means; I'm just realizing that spectacular performances will no longer be more of the norm. The difficult part is that I apparently won't know when to expect my body to be running on rocket fuel or moonshine. Another difficult thing is trying not to talk about how 'things used to be'...which brings me to my race report. I'm going to make this report short and sweet (or short and sour as the case may be...or maybe just sour - you know how I ramble) frankly becuase it wasn't a great performance and that rarely makes for an exciting recap.

Ever since I returned from Nationals a week and a half ago, my body has been acting every day as if I had done a race the day before. The first day or two, I just thought I was not quite recovered which was odd since a speedy recovery has always been one of my trademarks. But the feeling lingered. Unlike back in March, this did not feel like a 'lung' thing. Instead, this felt like a muscle fatigue thing (which is actually related to the amount of oxygen your muscles consume and process). Ironically, this is very similar to how this whole thing started a year ago when I couldn't figure out why my power had suddenly dropped. It appears as though a year later, I've come full circle.

I did all of my scheduled workouts last week, I just couldn't get my legs to do anything real hard. I even had a pretty good lake swim last Wednesday but then suffered on a short run afterwards. Because of this, I decided to take both Friday and Saturday off before the race with the thougth that maybe I really wasn't recovered from Nationals.

Because we opted to travel to Columbia, SC on Saturday night and stay in a hotel, I got a full night's sleep and felt nervous yet physically relaxed when we arrived at the venue. Most of my teammates were in attendance and we all went into our own little warm-up/pre-race rituals. For me, that means an almost compulsive sense of organization. If you ever forget anything before an event, come see me. I knew the Port-o-potty lines would be long but of course I already planned for that and incorporated my warm-up run to head over to the campground area to take care of business.

The water was cold...but has anyone ever heard me say the water is warm? I was remembering how comfortable Wednesday's lake swim felt and I tried my best to reproduce both my form and effort. When the starting horn sounded, I even seemed to maintain contact with the other dozen or so elites for a few extra seconds. I was surprised at the halfway point that there was an elite swimmer passing me. I wondered if someone had shown up late for the start. Every time I glanced up, I was right on course to the next bouy. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times - thank God I can swim straight. Can you imagine how far behind I would be if I zig-zagged?! As I approached the second bouy, it appeared that a good number of elites were not that far ahead (this apparently was an optical illusion). As anticipated, I was beginning to get passed by swimmers from the second wave. I felt good and stayed on task. What would my watch read? 14:00? 13:30? Sub 13:00??? I clambered out onto the boat ramp and my pride immediately turned to disbelief...15:15. How is that possible? I swim faster than that in training without the help of a wetsuit. Aaargggghh.

I truly debated in my head whether I should even continue and then I remembered how far behind I have been in prior races so I focused on what was in front of me - not what was behind me. That changed in an instant as well. Instead, I focused on what was ON me. I could not for the life of me get my wetsuit off. My T1 time HAS to be wrong. Even Janis swears I wrestled with that wetsuit for a good 15 minutes. I don't mind having size 13 feet, but it would be nice if they were removeable. Even though someone was obviously trying to tell me to stop, my stupid body just kept going. I mounted my trusty steed and took off as I usually do. Before I would even be back in the race, I would have to chase down the people who swam past me from the wave behind me (they were all 3:00 ahead of me already!). I almost instantly noticed that the felling of fatigue I had experienced all week was still there. I tried to deny its presence, but my legs would only go so hard before they felt like lead. I slowly caught people one by one. Interestingly enough at these races, I always have a front row seat for the elite women's event. They all always beat me out of the water and then I get to chase them all on the bike and see who's in what position. I passed both the lead female - my teammate Kat Welling - and the lead 'age grouper' at about the same time; with about 3 miles left in the ride. No sign of a single elite male.

I flew into T2 and right back out. I ran like a zombie. Expressionless. I was already defeated and I spent the entire run having a conversation with myself. "I can't believe this is happening again." "Oh, just be quiet and be happy that you can do this at your age." "Oh, don't YOU start with the age thing now". In between my conversation, I did things that help me forget that I'm not having such a good race...I thanked every volunteer that I passed; cheered on my teammates and friends as our paths crossed on the overlapping course and pondered things like how my life would have been different if I had put as much energy into school as I did working out. Maybe I would be an elite rocket scientist instead?

I crossed the finish line and was happy to be done. Whether I am disappointed in my race or not, I almost always have this wierd epiphany that lasts a few seconds. It's like all the races I've ever done flash in front of my eyes. I know - it is wierd. Maybe it's my mind's way of saying "hey, if you race a million races, you're gonna have good ones and bad ones...but EVERY one has a story that brings back memories". I stayed and watched the elite women finish before joining my teammates Dan, Parker and Chris (placed 1st through 3rd respectively) for about a 3-mile cooldown run. The comaraderie on the team is great but as they've said for years, 'you're only as good as your last race' and even with a great race at Du Nationals just a week before, I couldn't help but feel displaced in my own mind. All I could think about was my need for a longer race and stable health. I may understand my asthma, my allergies and my age...but I don't have to agree with them...

In 4 years, Lake Murray has never been one of my outstanding races. Most sprint races with more than a 500-meter swim don't play to my strengths, but in looking back over the years, I've lost time and placing each year (I raced in '06 & '07 - skipping '08). Most noticeable was my drop from the fastest bike split both of my prior years, to a bike split of 8th this year. As a matter of fact, My last two events are the first time EVER in 4 years that my bike split has been out of the top 4. Times they are a changing'. My overall placing this year was 15th.

I guess in a way, my up and down health issues actually add a bit of mystery to the mix. You just never know when to count me out and when to be scared...

Next up: Clemson Sprint Tri (and possibly a local 5k run - the Swamp Rabbit 5k)