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Race Result
| Racer: |
Brad Payne |
| Race: |
Victory Nissan Sprint |
| Date: |
Sunday, May 29, 2005 |
| Location: |
Richmond, VA |
| Race Type: |
Triathlon - Sprint |
| Age Group: |
Male 35 - 39 |
| Time: |
1:10:30 |
| Overall Place: |
111 / 298 |
| Age Group Place: |
25 / 46 |
| Comment: |
Considered carrying coffee on the bike |
Race Report:
Summary: A little bit slower than the last time I was on this course (July 2004), but it’s the first race of the season. No Eagleman base this time either.
300m Swim: 5:25
T1 2:22
12 mile Bike 35:54
T2 1:08
5K Run 25:40
Pre Race
As I’ve said many times before the course at Shady Grove is ideal for a first timer, but its probably a good idea to not follow my pre-race example (i.e., fried chicken and beer prior to Reston 04). This time it wasn’t my fault. Well, mostly. Our daughter Nora was pushing through her first tooth in the days leading up to the race so sleep was at a premium in the Payne household.
On Saturday we drove down to Richmond and stayed at my parent’s house. We celebrated my father’s birthday, which involved a lot of spaghetti (good) and red wine (bad but fun). I "took it easy," but the old man kept partying long into the night with the stereo cranking out a surreal medley of classical, Joni James, and the Bee Gees. At some point Nora woke up, and I just tried to crush my head between the pillows wondering if this was a premonition of hell. But I digress…
I woke up with a few hours of sleep, ate a bagel, and alternated between coffee and gatoraid as we gave Grandma last second babysitting instructions. (Granddaddy slept in.) This was my third time on this course as it is sort of my own hometown race. I’d be going head to head with the three Harlow brothers as I had gone to high school with the oldest two. (Dan Frost had gone head to head earlier this season with the youngest Harlow.) Twenty years ago I could take them, but I’ve got a LOT of work to do before I can even consider this a friendly rivalry:) After all, they’re getting just as old as I am…
Swim
Despite being in pool, it was so murky and wavy that it may as well have been open water. I had only been swimming twice a week for a month so I kept myself under control and managed a steady pace trying to capitalize on some tips I had gotten from the RATMAN filming.
T1
Probably a bit rusty. Made the cardinal sin of sitting down after losing my balance. Also had a lot of trouble clipping my helmet strap. Race was under new management so for the first time there were actually timing mats that could track transition times rather than lumping them into the swim and run. I lost about 1:45 from last July, and it was probably a combination of the deliberate swim pace and my helmet foibles.
Bike
Even while I was injured this winter I did manage to keep up the minutes on the trainer. So I had a good hammer going for the first 10 miles. Then the lack of sleep and wine probably caught up with me. There aren’t any hills per se, but there are some gradual inclines in which some gear shifting might be prudent to maintain cadence. I struggled the last two miles but finally had an average mph (20.7) that was faster than my personal record of 20.0 at Eagleman. Of course the 12 vs 56 mile thing still makes my head shake, it was nice to have a course PR of 30 seconds.
T2
Flawless dismount. Need to install my speed laces…
Run (Sufferama)
Actually my split was just about as good as the open 5K I did at Plaza America a couple of weeks ago. Also about the same split as July 2004. I still gave up a lot places in a race distance I used to excel, but that’s OK, its early in the race season. And I caught the oldest Harlow when he bonked a mile from the line. I need to drop another six minutes from my run time to chase down the younger two. Followed by one minute drop in transition, maybe three on the bike…
Post Race
I know I can run faster. And I get another chance on July 24 when 3Sports hosts a race on this very course. I signed up for that race when I got back to my parent’s house. I like the new race management group, KaleRunning, the results were posted within six hours, followed by a personal email with my splits, and VASPhoto had their photographs up within 30 hours.
Then I finally got a decent night’s sleep. Dad’s stereo and the baby were quiet.
And another bonus for the cost/benefit guru if he wants another shot at the younger, swifter Harlow, gas in Richmond is only $1.96/gallon.
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