Race Report - IronAbe Olympic Triathlon

When I found out about a local race in Springfield called the IronAbe triathlon, I knew I had to sign up.  After a somewhat disappointing race in the shortened Muncie 37.2, I wanted to get another race under my belt prior to 2 more half-IMs late in the season.  Plus, my sister-in-law lives in Springfield so we got to spend some time with her prior to the race.

It was a low-key, local event and very well-organized.  Having picked up my packet the day before, all I had to do was set up transition and get ready to swim.  I got in the water for a few practice strokes and to see what the water was like – again another “bath-water” like swim in the Midwest with a temp of 87 degrees.  Regardless, my entire goal for the swim was to stay relaxed and consistent, making forward progress the entire time, just to get things moving in the right direction again after Muncie.

After my little practice swim, Abe himself gave the pre-race speech, encouraging us to “continue working to improve ourselves.”  

The kids with "IronAbe"

And with that, we were off.  The swim was uneventful – I basically focused on being relaxed the entire time and attempting to keep my form long, working on the changes I have been making in the pool.  When I felt myself shorten up, I tried to lengthen out and keep focused on “length, pressure, and direction.”  The course felt a little long and I came out with a very slow 33 minute swim.  Regardless, I had made progress, staying relaxed the entire swim and not having the same issues I had in the hot swim in Muncie.

With such a slow swim, I knew I’d be ~10 minutes behind the front-pack-swimmers getting on my bike.  The bike was mostly flat with a few rollers, but there was a swirling wind that kept the effort honest.   I also attempted to get in my bottle of ~300 calories of EFS, but only got down about 100-150 on the bike.  I was too focused on trying to make up ground on the field.  At the bike turnaround, the race leader had 10 minutes on me and I was in ~19^th place overall, at least with respect to the people that started in the first wave.  Throughout the back half of the bike, I just kept working hard trying to make up ground.  About half-way back to transition we merged in with the sprint field so I could no longer tell what position I was in, but a few minutes after that one guy passed me on the bike.  It was the only person who passed me on the bike, but it was good to give me another little jolt of motivation to keep the effort up.  I made it back to transition in about an hour, missing the hour mark by ~24 seconds (avg power 265, norm 268, a little lower than expected, but the course was flat and I still have a harder time keeping the effort up when there are no hills).

On my way back into the park, I saw my family who were enjoying the play structures in the park.  They also had a tour of a helicopter...  pretty cool!

Luci and Lance checking out a helicopter while I rode my bike.

T2 was reasonably quick as I ditched my bike and helmet, put on my shoes and grabbed my hat and race belt, taking off as quick as I could.  The 10K was on a shaded road on the other side of the lake consisting of 2 out and back sections.  After crossing the bridge I passed another guy and made my way to the 1^st turnaround, keeping the effort up, but going by feel, working hard, and not paying a lot of attention to pace.  The sprint race headed back after 1 turnaround, so on the 2^nd out-and-back, I could see who was in front of the Olympic race.  The race leader was still a ways in front of me and had put a minute or two into me on the bike and first part of the run, but not much.  Plus there were more guys I could chase.  Coming back from the 2^nd turnaround, I chased one guy to the finish, but couldn’t quite catch him.  Regardless, it was nice having a rabbit while I closed out the 10K, clocking a 39:07 for the run.

My overall time was 2:15 and change.  I was hoping for a bit quicker, but when you swim 33, a 2:15 is alright.  It was a positive experience in that I didn’t have any issues in the swim.  I had a good bike and run and take it as a positive sign my fitness is coming along well for Steelhead.

I ended up 10^th overall and won my age group.  A little surprising with a 2:15, but I can’t complain.  There were some quick guys and it was good competition for a smaller race (full results here). They also had pretty nice AG awards designed by a local artist - a metal silhouette-cutout.

One of the better AG awards I've seen.

It was a well-organized and really fun race.  Plus, the kids had a good time playing in the park, checking out the helicopter and meeting Abe!  Hoping to come back next year with an improved swim.