Columbia Triathlon

"The bike course is nothing but ups and downs and rights and lefts. There was not even a stretch of road that was straight or flat. You are either climbing a hill, descending, or winding your way through a wooded countryside. Beautiful but challenging."
-New Columbia Course record holder, Chris Lieto

After lots of worrying and whining I got it done and even managed to cut over eight minutes off of my 2007 Columbia time! Not bad considering I have not been as consistent with my training as I would like to be. Maybe less is more sometimes? Hmm..guess I am not supposed to say these things!

The weather was not looking good as the weekend approached so everyone was a little apprehensive. We left DC around 2 (following a triathlon 101 clinic with the Fall Team and a stop at California Tortilla, of course!) and did all the necessary check-ins and bike drops and then headed off to the the Baltimore area for a very nice dinner/early bedtime.

SWIM
No rain at the start of race day but it was definitely chilly. After setting up transition areas and heading over to the other side of the lake to see TE off it was time to put on wetsuits and brave the cold water. And I mean COLD! The website was predicting temps in the high 60s but it had to have been much colder than that. I got in and survived the initial shock but never really got warm. In hindsight it may have worked to my advantage as I somehow came out of the water in under 30 minutes at 29:44. Rock on!

T1
This transition was a lot slower for me than usual. I don't know if it was the cold or the faster swim or even the long run out of the water but I was really disoriented and a bit dizzy when I got back to my bike. I sat down for the first time ever in a transition and took a minute to collect myself and get my bike gear on. I opted to keep my vest on which ended up being a good choice as it god pretty chilly out there! Total time, 3:54.

BIKE
The bike was exactly as I expected since I had done the race on the same course last year. It was definitely hilly and with the wind and the in/out rain it was definitely cold. I had some shifting issues on the uphills as my bike refused to go into the easier gears. I managed to pull myself up all of them regardless and even caught some speed on a few of the downhills. The cars were not as much of a problem as last year but the bikes were worse. I had some people pass really close without warning and one jerk even came up the side of the road on the right despite the fact that I was about as far over as possible. Whatever. I managed to stay up and ward off all flats and get through it all without incident. There was a really bad accident on the course which was tough to pass. I fared better than others like LE who got held up 30 minutes for a medical helpcopter to land. Yikes! Total bike = 1:36:16.

T2
Not a big deal here, although still slower than normal. Changed shoes, added the hat and kept the vest and rolled out. 2:15.

RUN
The run at Columbia is pretty notorious for the hils. Even though you expect them it is still tough to take. I managed the run the whole thing (with a few small breaks in the water stops) and actually felt pretty good. I didn't have my usual bout of run 20 and then suffer intense stomach cramps but I still avoided gels/food just in case. I took in water/gatorade at every stop which I think helped as the sun became an intermittent companion. Towards the end of the run course I found myself in a group of 2 other 29-year olds which was nice. We talked and ran and all finished within a few seconds of each other at the end. Not my fastest 10K but still not the worst. I ended up doing it in 58:36 with a 9:36 pace.

Total race time= 3:10:42.

2007 was 3:18:25 so all I need to do for 2009 is cut off 10 minutes to get a covedted sub-3. :) Or....maybe I will just do a relay.