Buster Britton Sprint Tri Race Report

This weekend was the annual local sprint race in Birmingham. I was interested to see how I would do since my training has been so endurance focused rather than speed focused. It's a short race by all accounts. The distances are as such Swim 400, Bike 13, Run 3.1. I missed the race in 08, but my previous PR was in 07 when I finished in 1:09:03. All I wanted to do was beat that. I'd made a poor effort on the run that year so this year, I was going to see what I could do.

I may have mentioned this before, but I love racing by B and C races. There's no pressure. I sleep so much better the night before. I eat what I want, and overall I think I just enjoy them more. Let's see if we can figure out a way to make that happen for my A races.

In between pulling into the parking and picking up my race packet I ran into three people in my age group that weren't previously registered for the race. I knew all three were faster than me with one of them being capable of winning the whole thing. I found out that all three had shown up even though the race was sold out in hopes there would be some cancellations so they could race. Damn the luck. They all got in. Any hopes I had for placing went out the window. Now I could focus on racing without any pressure.

I knew the day before that the weather might play a factor in the day. The forecast called for a terrible thunderstorm north of where we were, but my fingers were crossed. But again, damn the luck. Lightning flashed and the rains came. The race was pushed back a bit, but not for long.

Swim - The swim ended up being a little shorter than 400 yards due to a buoy floating off course. I had seeded myself appropriately, but was disappointed to see a number of people ahead of me that had no business where they were. I'm not a good swimmer by any stretch of the imagination. I had no idea what they were thinking. The five second interval start made this more evident as the high seeds floundered in the water and blocked the route. After making my way around them and over them, I found myself out of rhythm and floundering myself. It may have been the ugliest swim of my life but I was out of the water in 4:50. I was 4 steps behind my buddy Colin who I knew could take me on the run. So I knew the next stage was key.

T1 - In 07, I had a dreadfully slow T1 time of 2:36. There's a short run from the beach and a long transition area that doesn't make things easier. This year, I made it out in 1:43. Colin was out about 10 seconds faster.

Bike - About a quarter mile into the bike, the rains came and did they ever. Having a shield on my aero helmet does not work when it's raining. The lens watered up on the inside so my vi son was limited to being able to see only shapes in front of me. If it had been legal I would have tossed the helmet off. It's an out and back course over some pretty good hills which quickly take you out of the saddle and pumping the peddles. It was frustrating to see that I never could catch my breath on the climbs. I finally caught Colin and did my best to drop him. I needed at least a minute on him to survive on the run. I made the turn around a poured it on. I passed one of the three guys in my age group whom I knew to be faster. He's a gifted athlete, and I knew he could run. I didn't have any real hopes of staying ahead of him. The rain soaked roads and quick turns kept me from pounding it too much which was a bit frustrating. I made it off the bike in a slow 36:25. Not where I wanted to be.

T2 - Short and sweet at :52.

Run - Just a short 5k to the finish. My legs felt good so I gave it a go. Much to my dismay, but as expected I was passed quickly by the guy in my age group. Not too far after him came my buddy Colin. I stuck with him for a while, but couldn't hold his pace. The out and back course in uphill going out and down hill coming back so I knew to save something for the second half kick. I found my stride at the turn around and laid it down. I crossed the finish line with a 20:39 5K and a total time of 1:03:39. A new PR for the course.

As expected in looking the results for my age group, the three guys who showed up that morning and registered for the race finished 1,2, and 3. I was 4th. Curses! I was 30 seconds off 3rd and 37 seconds off 2nd. No worries. As I said, they are gift athletes, good guys, and they deserve it.

Overall, I was very happy with my results. I had a blast and enjoyed trying to be fast for one day. Back to the slow twitch group I go.
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