The Crystal Bay Triathlon in Onancock, VA (September 15th, 2012) was an absolute amazing experience all the way around. It's a smaller, hometown type event yet some serious traithletes show up every year to compete. This was the 17th year that they've been putting this event on and this year had a really nice turn out. Close to 100 people competing for the top spot! I ended up placing 2nd overall and really feel that I raced about as hard as I possibly could. The winner simply smoked the rest of the field, winning by over 8 minutes! Just gives me a new goal for next season :) I'll break down the race by each event and then give a brief description of my transitions.
The 800 meter swim was held in the Chesapeake Bay, and up until about an hour before the start of the race, the swim was going to be called off due to rough conditions. Luckily the swim was not cancelled and despite the choppy waters, I ended up coming out of the swim in 4th place. I opted to wear my wetsuit given the choppy conditions, yet in hindsight I think I might have been able to shave off a bit of time by not wearing it.
Transition 1: We have close to 1/4 mile run from the swim exit to the transition area, which was a bit different that I am used to. I should have sprinted, but decided to hold back a bit. This is an area that I think that I can improve upon if doing the race next year. The transition went smoothly for me, thanks to my awesome new tri-suit! The wetsuit came off quickly, shows and helmet went on with ease and no issues at all. I can honestly say I do not feel that I could do anything to improve much in T1.
The bike was flat, fast and all out! I stayed in my biggest gear from start to finish and maintained aero position for the duration of the 15 mile course. The landscape in Onancock is incredible and this truly is one of my favorite places on Earth. There was a tough headwind to content with coming off the bay for the entire ride, so I can certainly see getting a faster time with improved conditions (not to mention uping my bike fitness, LOL) The bike has become my strongest split by far. I knew that in order to do well in this race, it had to be on the bike and I pushed as hard as I could (within reason) the whole time. I topped out at 28 MPH and was able to maintain close to 23 MPH the entire ride. I had the 2nd fastest bike split of the day when all was said and done. One thing that was a bit frustrating was the loose gravel at many of the intersections. This really took some slowing down and bike skills to navigate without biting the dust :)
Transition 2: T2 went really well, as I was off the bike and into my running gear with ease. It was awesome getting some encouragement from the wife, father-in-law and of course lil" Peanut! Lots of local support as well! Again, I do not see any way to gain any noteworthy amount of time in this transition.
The run was an out and back course that covered 3.5 miles. After the all-out hammerfest I conducted on the bike, this run was insanely tough!!!!! I even about threw up in the final 200 yards! I think that is an indication you are giving it you all :)Thank goodness the course was completely flat, which was sooooo nice after all the hilly mountain miles I log living here in Asheville, NC! Anyway I was able to hold everyone behind me off, and grabbed my best finish to date in a tri! I defintely feel that sprint distance if my distance and will put all my focus on sprint racing next season.
The post-race festivities were absolutely awesome! There was live music and the race is actually held at the race director's house, which is a beautiful property right on a little inlet coming off the bay. The awards were hand made wooden trophies, which was totally neat! I would soooo recommend this race to anyone. It's competetive, well managed and just so much fun! They even made it a point to give out medals to all the 1st time triathletes that completed the race! Now how awesome is that?!?
So this was a really awesome way to finish out my racing season. It gave me a whole new level of confidence in my racing abilities and my training program. I know the areas I want to work on in my off season and I have my work to do. I definitely want to focus on increasing my run speed at the 5K distance. I know that means speed work and lots of intervals. I am already doing some of that now, but will certainly be doing it intensively some January on. I am currently in my heavy weight training mesocycle, which will carry on through December before focusing in on a couple early season indoor triathlons in March that I want to place top 3 in. Then I tenatively have my season planned out as the May Day Biathlon in Morganton, NC, the Firecracker Indoor Tri in July which is held in Gastonia, NC and The City of Lenoir Tri in Lenoir, NC which is held in September. I hope to squeeze in the Crystal Beach one again next year, but my plans to start chiropractic school next October might make travelling that close to my start date a bit difficult :) If you made it down this far, thanks for checking out my post!
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