I did a Splash and Dash this Tuesday in Austin. While in the parking lot I see none other than Lance Armstrong pull up with towel and goggles in hand. I have a little bit of swim talent, but basically I am an age grouper (nothing wrong with that!) so this was a little bit of a thrill for me. So here is my brief race report:
The race is a 750M swim and 2 mile run. The run is windy, wet and gravelly so though the race is short a sweet, if you do this "right" and can be really hard. There were half a dozen pros (I don’t know if that was a coincidence) at the race but I figured I might be able to swim with the lead pack so I dove in the water, grabbed a nice spot on the line and waited for the gun (actually horn). The first 50M were very fast and the a pack of 5 swimmers including myself quickly broke away. The swimmer right behind me, Peter Mallet is a good pro who usually beats me out of the water and the guy right ahead of me was (of course) Lance. I was amused. The course is one big loop with 5 buoys each about 150M apart. After each buoy Lance would hammer just a little bit with his legs but I was in good position and was able to avoid getting dropped. Coming into the last buoy I decide that I have to pass everyone because I figure I am going to be posting a race report on slowtwitch(!); Hence I go to the outside of the draft line and attempt a pass. Unfortunately(!) all the swimmers in the lead pack were pros, they had plenty of gas in the tank and they cut great angles on the bouy so really that decision ended up being pretty dumb. I lost a few second the last 100M, came out of the water 4th and ran over to my shoes. I saw Lance run by me (with his shoes already on), I put on my glasses and shoes ( I should not have put glasses on first) ran up a hill and started the 2 mile run. I spent the rest of the race being picked off by the other pros, the running machine known as Joe Thorne and a few other elite age group types. I did "pass" James Bonney who DNF'd (my guess he is doing IMTx and was just out there for the swim). Ended up 8th overall, though my timing chip got screwed up somehow and the results show me with 8th place but list me 9th. Whatever.
A few take aways: First my transitions stink compared to those who know what they are doing (big surprise). Also, this was NOT a normal midweek splash and dash. I swam at about 1:15/100M (transition is included in the swim time and I did it in 9:5X) and ran at 6:25ish. I am not saying those are great, but those times don’t typically result in getting your butt handed to you in a midweek race! But you put a bunch of type A personalities together, throw in Lance Armstrong and a clock and you will get some pretty freaking hard racing. Oh and if you want to know, Lance did win (he ran about 5:15 per mile). He stuck around for a little bit, was neither nice nor rude; he was just there to race like anyone else. I got a small acknowledgment from him as we were about to jump in the lake. I will pretend that it was because I look like an incredible athlete, but it was probably because I was standing right next to him (Ha!). All in all, he made a fun event memorable and without sounding too obsequious I am glad he raced...
The race is a 750M swim and 2 mile run. The run is windy, wet and gravelly so though the race is short a sweet, if you do this "right" and can be really hard. There were half a dozen pros (I don’t know if that was a coincidence) at the race but I figured I might be able to swim with the lead pack so I dove in the water, grabbed a nice spot on the line and waited for the gun (actually horn). The first 50M were very fast and the a pack of 5 swimmers including myself quickly broke away. The swimmer right behind me, Peter Mallet is a good pro who usually beats me out of the water and the guy right ahead of me was (of course) Lance. I was amused. The course is one big loop with 5 buoys each about 150M apart. After each buoy Lance would hammer just a little bit with his legs but I was in good position and was able to avoid getting dropped. Coming into the last buoy I decide that I have to pass everyone because I figure I am going to be posting a race report on slowtwitch(!); Hence I go to the outside of the draft line and attempt a pass. Unfortunately(!) all the swimmers in the lead pack were pros, they had plenty of gas in the tank and they cut great angles on the bouy so really that decision ended up being pretty dumb. I lost a few second the last 100M, came out of the water 4th and ran over to my shoes. I saw Lance run by me (with his shoes already on), I put on my glasses and shoes ( I should not have put glasses on first) ran up a hill and started the 2 mile run. I spent the rest of the race being picked off by the other pros, the running machine known as Joe Thorne and a few other elite age group types. I did "pass" James Bonney who DNF'd (my guess he is doing IMTx and was just out there for the swim). Ended up 8th overall, though my timing chip got screwed up somehow and the results show me with 8th place but list me 9th. Whatever.
A few take aways: First my transitions stink compared to those who know what they are doing (big surprise). Also, this was NOT a normal midweek splash and dash. I swam at about 1:15/100M (transition is included in the swim time and I did it in 9:5X) and ran at 6:25ish. I am not saying those are great, but those times don’t typically result in getting your butt handed to you in a midweek race! But you put a bunch of type A personalities together, throw in Lance Armstrong and a clock and you will get some pretty freaking hard racing. Oh and if you want to know, Lance did win (he ran about 5:15 per mile). He stuck around for a little bit, was neither nice nor rude; he was just there to race like anyone else. I got a small acknowledgment from him as we were about to jump in the lake. I will pretend that it was because I look like an incredible athlete, but it was probably because I was standing right next to him (Ha!). All in all, he made a fun event memorable and without sounding too obsequious I am glad he raced...