Or, the race that never happened.
When all is said and done, the history books will be written, but I won’t be in them. My second race in two weeks (there would eventually be 4 races in 5 weeks) went very well but no one will ever know. Because when anyone goes to look me up, they won’t find anything.
Backtrack several days: It is hot, smoldering, and my whole family is with me. We shot up to Pilanesberg, this time not too look for animals but to stay close to the start of the race at Sun City. The parking lot was full but the start line was a 2-mile-ride away. Once in transition, I looked left and right, only to see that no one had on a wetsuit. Hmm. This was news to me. So I kept mine in the bag and set up my transitions, shocked at how many of these little routines were unfamiliar to me. After all, it was my first triathlon in exactly 7 years.
My swim was atrocious. From the start, I was kicked, punched, and pushed under. Each time I came up for a breath of fresh air, I swallow a pint of lake water. Saying a silent prayer to survive this swim and not get giardia, I swam wide of the first buoy to stay out of trouble. This caused me to be a bit too wide and by the time I made the final turn, I was content to just draft behind people on the way in. Stomach full of water, I lost all motivation to dig deep. I cleared the water in about 25+ minutes which I considered decent considering my lack of effort and getting ripped by a ton of people.
I was in and out of transition surprisingly quickly. What was not so fast was the mount line for the bike was about 700m from the transition zone, and up a huge hill. It turned out that my decision to have my shoes already attached to my bike (rather than putting them on in transition) was a good one. I shot past people attempting to run up a brick path, pushing their bike, in bike shoes with cleats on them. Most walked. Finally, the summit crested and the long decent of the first hill (at 36mph) behind me, I turned on the open road and began the cycle leg for real. A stiff headwind hit me in both directions on the out and back course (how is that possible?!?!). The course likened to Kona, Hawaii as the terrain was rolling, the landscape barren, and the wind heavy with heat. I blew past some better swimmers and was also passed by a few people on some sleek tri bikes. At the end of the first loop, we had a 2K climb up a long hill that again had some walking their bikes before shooting down again for the second loop. The second loop wasn’t as fast but still solid. Again the long climb to the top capped off by the dismount and 700m run down the hill to transition again. My average of about 20.8mph was seriously lowered by the long runs in and out of the zone but all in all, a 1:08:30 for 25 mile bike was great.
My transition was great despite not having zip laces yet. On the jog I immediately was sweeping up loads of runners. I caught nearly 40 in the first 2K. But the course was very hilly and soon things got very spread out. A runner I caught early on teamed with me to roll through the halfway point of the race. My goal was to make 7K and see what happened. I did and things got tough. The next 2K was uphill in stagnant, jungle air. My life ground to a halt. I crawled through the last couple of K and after several minutes into the final K I started counting down the steps. Since the last K took about 9 min, I would say it was mismarked. It hurt and I collapsed at the finish, content to lay there for several minutes before reuniting with the family. The bike down to the car and walk back up for breakfast was torture. But I survived.
So all in all, I had a decent swim pace for me, a solid bike, good transitions, and overall a great run (a run that was slower than I would have liked but faster than much of the field). In unofficial results I had the 9th fastest run for men. But due to a timing error, none of it is available. I will never be able to see what place I was in during each event or how many people I caught. It is lost in the African wind. But a hugely solid performance for November in the midst of other racing. I am stoked.
When all is said and done, the history books will be written, but I won’t be in them. My second race in two weeks (there would eventually be 4 races in 5 weeks) went very well but no one will ever know. Because when anyone goes to look me up, they won’t find anything.
Backtrack several days: It is hot, smoldering, and my whole family is with me. We shot up to Pilanesberg, this time not too look for animals but to stay close to the start of the race at Sun City. The parking lot was full but the start line was a 2-mile-ride away. Once in transition, I looked left and right, only to see that no one had on a wetsuit. Hmm. This was news to me. So I kept mine in the bag and set up my transitions, shocked at how many of these little routines were unfamiliar to me. After all, it was my first triathlon in exactly 7 years.
My swim was atrocious. From the start, I was kicked, punched, and pushed under. Each time I came up for a breath of fresh air, I swallow a pint of lake water. Saying a silent prayer to survive this swim and not get giardia, I swam wide of the first buoy to stay out of trouble. This caused me to be a bit too wide and by the time I made the final turn, I was content to just draft behind people on the way in. Stomach full of water, I lost all motivation to dig deep. I cleared the water in about 25+ minutes which I considered decent considering my lack of effort and getting ripped by a ton of people.
I was in and out of transition surprisingly quickly. What was not so fast was the mount line for the bike was about 700m from the transition zone, and up a huge hill. It turned out that my decision to have my shoes already attached to my bike (rather than putting them on in transition) was a good one. I shot past people attempting to run up a brick path, pushing their bike, in bike shoes with cleats on them. Most walked. Finally, the summit crested and the long decent of the first hill (at 36mph) behind me, I turned on the open road and began the cycle leg for real. A stiff headwind hit me in both directions on the out and back course (how is that possible?!?!). The course likened to Kona, Hawaii as the terrain was rolling, the landscape barren, and the wind heavy with heat. I blew past some better swimmers and was also passed by a few people on some sleek tri bikes. At the end of the first loop, we had a 2K climb up a long hill that again had some walking their bikes before shooting down again for the second loop. The second loop wasn’t as fast but still solid. Again the long climb to the top capped off by the dismount and 700m run down the hill to transition again. My average of about 20.8mph was seriously lowered by the long runs in and out of the zone but all in all, a 1:08:30 for 25 mile bike was great.
My transition was great despite not having zip laces yet. On the jog I immediately was sweeping up loads of runners. I caught nearly 40 in the first 2K. But the course was very hilly and soon things got very spread out. A runner I caught early on teamed with me to roll through the halfway point of the race. My goal was to make 7K and see what happened. I did and things got tough. The next 2K was uphill in stagnant, jungle air. My life ground to a halt. I crawled through the last couple of K and after several minutes into the final K I started counting down the steps. Since the last K took about 9 min, I would say it was mismarked. It hurt and I collapsed at the finish, content to lay there for several minutes before reuniting with the family. The bike down to the car and walk back up for breakfast was torture. But I survived.
So all in all, I had a decent swim pace for me, a solid bike, good transitions, and overall a great run (a run that was slower than I would have liked but faster than much of the field). In unofficial results I had the 9th fastest run for men. But due to a timing error, none of it is available. I will never be able to see what place I was in during each event or how many people I caught. It is lost in the African wind. But a hugely solid performance for November in the midst of other racing. I am stoked.
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