Race Result

Racer:	Rob Weitzel
Race:	Spud Long Triathlon
Date:	Sunday, June 13, 2004
Location:	Indian Head, MD
Race Type:	Triathlon - International Distance
Age Group:	Male 35 - 39
Time:	2:31:16
Overall Place:	49 / 361
Comment:	Not a good day to be sick on race day with almost perfect conditions

Race Report:

EVENT: Triathlantic SPUD olympic distance tri 1mile swim-25mile bike-6.2mile run
RACER: Rob Weitzel
DATE: June 13th 2004
LOCATION:General Smallwood State Park IndianHead Md
OVERALL 2:31:16 49th/361
SWIM: 38:54 2:13pace 229th
T1: 1:38 41st
BIKE:1:07:41 22.2mph 16th
T2: 1:01 28th
RUN: 42:03 6:47pace 28th

I love this race for a few reasons, 1) It is low key, 2) close proximity to Reston < 1 hr away 3) challenging course 4) scenic venue
I had done Columbia a few weeks back and suffered in the heat. About a week after Columbia I came down with a summer flu bug with the basic fever, achey body, chills, sore throat, cough bit. Well I still have it. I had not done much since I did Columbia because I went on a trip, and I immediately got sick and had not been able to train much. My body was telling me something. I had pretty much signed up for SPUD at the last minute, but with getting sick, and the lack of training, I was feeling really drained, and was quite tempted to bag it.
Two things I think motivated me to show up yesterday, the first was the $70 investment, and the other was a good day for racing and the fact I was still alive and breathing.
I left for the race site early only to find that the line to get into the park was a mile long. I've done this race several times, and I guess its popularity has grown. Needless to say with the line to get into the park the way it was the race director, Brad, was forced to set the start time a little later to allow time for everyone to get into the park. I had planned to take this day as kind of a training day based upon my health,and lack of training, and had no high expectations, I think I had biked twice, swam twice, and ran maybe three times since Columbia. I was drained and fatigued from the flu virus I had so I thought I had a good excuse if I had a bad day.
When the gun finally went off for my swim wave I knew immediately it was going to be a long day. I had absolutley zero energy, and every stroke was a struggle. My breathing was off because of my sinus issues, and at that point I just kind of mentally bagged out of the race. I swam easy, and had to stop several times and tread water to rest as I was totally wiped out. I thought that if I was this exhausted at the half point of the swim how could I possibly bike 25 miles and then run a 10K after that! Well I finally made it back to shore in roughly 37 minutes, this should have been about a 28 minute swim for me. I ran to transition and quickly changed and hopped on my bike.
I knew it was bad when I passed Veronica Crandall who started several minutes in the wave after me and had passed me in the swim and was already out ahead of me on the bike. I popped my gear into a nice easy gear to climb the nice little hill out of T1. My breathing was labored. When the course flattened out, I tried to get into a rythmn to see how I felt. My legs were achey, but I was able to get into a good cadence. The course is rolling, and shaded, and the roads are great. WHile my legs did not feel great, I was able to push the pace, and passed quite a few people. I don't think I got passed once the entire bike (hmmm maybe that was because everyone was in front of me already). The miles were ticking off, and the lactic acid was building in my quads, and I figured I was toast for the run, but what the heck it was time to have fun and see how much of this I could salvage or totaly blow up. The bike was totally uneventful, and I just enjoyed myself.
I rode into T2, and quickly changed up into my run shoes. As soon as I started running I was amazed to find that I had running legs. This run course is deceptively hard. There is that nice hill our of T2 that takes you onto the main part of the course, and it is mostly uphill until the 3 mile mark. If it were as hot as it normally is this course gets really brutal because there is no shade. Fortunately the sun remained hidden. I was able to pick up my pace and start picking off other runners. I was actually getting stronger as the miles clicked off. When I hit the turnaround the rest of the run was seemingly downhill. I was able to pick the pace up a little more and felt great and not overtaxed. I was able to pick off a few more runners and take it strong into the finish.
While I have gone 2:17 on this course this was not to be the case for this day. I barely mustered a 2:31, and was thankful that I had not signed up for Eagleman or that would have been a real sufferfest. The one bright spot out of this was the feeling of having a really strong run on a tough course and not being 100%. Congrats to all RATS particularly David Glover (overall winner), and Tom Crandall second place, and Dave Cascio 4th(?) I think we had some RATS take agegroup awards on the long course and also the sprint race including Jen Ragone, and Veronica Crandall, and Mike Smith.