CyMan 2018 Recap

I got to thinking about how most of my entries have only been for my "A" races, or notable ones. I realized I'm doing myself a disservice by not recording the smaller races. Even though they're not as long or maybe even as glamorous, a race is still a race and I'm going to write race reports for all of them going forward, starting with this one.

I've raced CyMan 3 times before, in 2016, 2014, and 2013. I've finished on the podium every time for my age group, but signed up for this year with no such expectations. After taking nearly all of August off, I've only mostly been running. Since August 1st I think I only  rode a total of 50 miles on my bike and swam around 4000 yards total. For some of my recent races that would be considered a 'light' week of training. So my mindset was just to go have fun and see what happened.

It was chilly in the morning, temps in the upper 40s. As I walked to transition to get my bike checked in, I heard them announce the water temperature was 67 degrees, making it wetsuit legal. I was glad I packed one - the woman standing behind me in line commented that she hadn't thought to pack one since air temperatures were in the 90s as recently as 3 days earlier.

While I was racking my bike a few first-time participants close to my age noticed my tattoo and asked were asking questions about rules. I was happy to answer them and tried to say anything that would make them less nervous. It worked, there was some laughter (maybe nervous for them) but for me it was just another day playing triathlon. I found an open spot at the end of a rack and got set up.

As we herded towards the start, I saw James Thorton - a really great guy who I've known ever since he beat me out for 2nd place at Copper Creek Triathlon in 2014. We see each other at a lot of races and have a friendly competition going on (although he usually beats me)! His son and wife were doing a relay - splitting up the course, his son would swim and bike while his wife would run - and it was nice to see familiar faces. I also saw my old coach, Matt Zepeda and one of his athletes. They had the same mindset - just to go out and have fun.

My wave was the last to get in the water, men and women over 40. I tried to get on the front line but it got crowded fast and I was stuck about 3 deep. When our wave went off for the 750m swim, it was so crowded I didn't even bother putting my face in the water: I just tried to look straight ahead for an opening. I thought I found one, but I had only taken a few breaths before coming up behind someone real quick and they kicked me right in the left side of my goggles. Water spilled in right away, which sucked because the contact I wear on my left always gets dislodged when water gets in my goggles. I could see even less, and sighting was bad enough because the first turn buoy was way at the opposite end of the lake, in the shadow of a hill, and you couldn't see it for shit. I talked with others who felt the same. I was sighting off the first buoy AFTER the turn, and almost made a critical error before correcting in time. I got stuck behind slow traffic making the turn, but was finally able to get into a rhythm coming back. Not staring into the sun helped.

Getting out of the water was not pleasant at all. There were more rocks than I ever remember feeling at a swim exit, and I almost fell twice. I discovered when I got home that I also sliced the bottom of my left foot on one of the damn rocks (not deep, not serious, just annoying). 

I jogged up to transition and got my wetsuit off quickly and easily. Then it was decision time: socks or no socks? I decided to go with them since it was still breezy out and I knew there was going to be a headwind coming back on the bike, and triathlon bike shoes can't keep out cold air.

The bike course was familiar, and I knew to make hay going out with the tailwind since it would be a fight coming back. It's rather cruel because the way out is mostly downhill, and there's much more climb coming back. I did a fair amount of passing, and only got passed by 3 others - one of which was 70 years old! He looked way too good to be 70, and I remembered his bib number so I could check at the end to see if that was legit, or if it was some shady decoy tactic.

The ride was largely uneventful. I gave encouragement uphill to people who looked like they were struggling. This was my first race (and only second ride) with Di2 (wireless electronic shifting) and it worked perfectly. I got comfortable with it quickly and only made one shifting error that barely mattered. Di2 is slick, I wish I had gotten it sooner.

I noticed someone in my age group pass me with less than 2 miles to go on the bike. I thought I would just keep him in my sights, and hope to catch him on the run. Finishing the bike in about the time I usually do, I was out on the run course after changing socks again because the first pair was wet. I should have just gone without socks period, I probably gave up close to a minute between both pairs, but like I said: I didn't care about time necessarily. But I did want to at least chase down that one dude ;)

I was going to do the run totally by feel, and not push a crazy pace. I saw Wendy just as I was starting out, and everything was feeling fine. The sun was shining and it was a great day for a run. The first person I caught was the suspected 70 year-old, and when I got right up behind him I could tell he wasn't a faker - he was a legit 70 but maybe the healthiest-looking one I've seen! I told him he looked great for his age and he told me that today was his 70th birthday! I wished him luck and a happy b-day, then kept chasing down others.

My legs were feeling pretty good, and at the 1 mile mark I was doing a 7:30 pace. That was fine with me, if I had been closer to 7:10 that would have been the max. But everything was feeling fine so I kept it up. I saw my old coach Matt Zepeda heading back - I knew he was going to have a good day and win our age group. When I got close to the turnaround I saw James, he was about a minute or so ahead of me. I gave him a smile and hi-5, knowing I wasn't going to chase him down this year.

There was still someone to chase down, but I didn't know it yet. I wouldn't see that person until about 1/2 mile to go. I don't know his name, but the 47 on his left calf told me all I needed to know: he was in my age group, and I had to pass him. Honestly, I didn't know where I was position-wise, I just wanted to pass him because I could! I did, and soon after that was the finish. 1 hour, 20 minutes and a few seconds. Not my fastest, but not my slowest either.

I saw James at the finish and it initially looked like we were 1st and 2nd, but something happened to Matt's timing chip and as expected, he won our age group. So I ended up getting 3rd, and it's a good thing I chased down that stranger: he finished only 16 seconds behind me in 4th place.

Overall I'm really happy with the way things went. If I had done a little more training lately, who's to say if I could have caught James? He only beat me by 90 seconds. I could have made up a chunk of that by just not putting on socks. Doesn't matter, I had fun and feel fine, and it always feels good to support a local race, especially now that Copper Creek Tri is no more. Hopefully CyMan stays around for a long time.

Post-IMWI 2018 report

I'll get right to it: I fully expected the course to be more challenging than normal with all the rain, and I was right to be prepared. Still, I had a purpose and I was going to give it my all no matter what.

It didn't help at all when the director made a course change. Usually it's the 2 sticks at the beginning and end, with two loops - front and back - that you can make into one big one (that's how I usually attack the course). But the director was expecting company, and made it clear the front loop had to be done immediately after the first stick. I had never trained for this scenario, so I would have to adapt. 

Big Red was all topped off and ready to go. I checked her settings and made sure she was set at 2 and 1/2 inches because 3 wouldn't have done justice, and 2 would have pushed more watts than necessary. She fired up on the first pull, and I set off.

Conditions were ideal, hardly any breeze and sunny skies. The first stick went nice and easy, and the first transition was smooth (no cracks in the sidewalk to navigate). I started the front loop as the director instructed. I was pacing pretty well at this point and while I wasn't actively thinking PR, I wasn't dismissing it either. I just got into a pattern and settled in. Different as it was, I still got the job done. 

Now I had a decision to make: was Transition 2 going to take me to the 2nd stick or back loop? The director hadn't given clear instruction on that. The only thing that was clear was that I didn't want to DNFIT (Did Not Finish In Time). I figured if I did the 2nd stick first, that might make the back loop go faster. So that's what I did.

By the time I started the back loop I was thinking I had made a mistake. It didn't help that the course wasn't as well-maintained as I had hoped. The teenager responsible for minimal maintenance had missed several dog droppings, and I found that out the hard way. As if that was bad enough, I had a water bottle discharge trying to balance it on top of the crossbar. It was all falling apart, and I was really starting to worry about DNFIT-ing. 

You know how you have those songs that just change everything, you hear the right song at the right time and you can do anything? That's what happened. It was no less of a miracle that Pandora knew that I needed to hear Ariana Grande's "No Tears Left To Cry." BOOM! Got my stride back just like that! Next thing you know, I'm finishing up the back loop and taking Big Red back to the shed in 53:55. Not a PR, but a very respectable finish, and most importantly not a DNFIT.

I don't know when or if I'll go back to repeat. I'd like the teenager maintenance crew to improve first, and I'd want to got back to the single loop of front and back. I'll keep you all posted. But at least now I can say, officially, "THE LAWN IS FINISHED!"