2013 Angels Race Sprint Triathlon

2013 Angels Race Sprint Triathlon

History

Angels Race Sprint Triathlon  (300m/25k/5k)
2011 Time-01:27:13, (S-7:50, T1-4:46, B-49:42, T2-2:18, R-22:38), Place-92/187 Men, 2/18 Novice Men
2012 Time-01:29:09, (S-7:28, T1-3:05, B-50:40, T2-2:49, R-25:08), Place-79/190 Men, 9/22 Men 40-44
2013 Time-01:28:50, (S-8:26, T1-2:21, B-49:59, T2-1:45, R-26:21), Place-93/209 Men, 10/17 Men 40-44

The Angels Race is unique in triathlons and endurance sports in general for its theme of acknowledging the common bonds we all share with the passing of loved ones. The race was started in 2003 in honor of teenager Brittany Grover who had died in an automobile accident in Nov 2002. The tradition is to mark your arm with the name of your angel(s) and race in their honor. 

I don't always know the angels I race for as I often find myself grieving on behalf of others, but the ones I race for all have something in common in that their life, either directly or indirectly, made my life a better one and that in passing their lives will continue to serve as sources of inspiration and strength.

For 2013 I race in memory of 2 angels:

My uncle, Frank Hylton, who passed away last summer and will always be remembered for his strong demeanor.

and

Jessica Hart (17), daughter of Denise Alt whom I grew up a couple of doors down from. Words simply can not express the sorrow I feel for Denise and her family that such a devoted mother should have to lay to rest such a promising young child.

The Expectation

     I'm going to do this race every year that I can, but I've never really done much training for it and this year was no exception. I've done right at zero "bricks" and my swim mileage is pathetic. Somehow I have managed to find some consistent intensity with my cycling lately, so I'm thinking that with good transitions I might manage a 1:25:00 or at least a PR of 1:27:13 or better. This race has once again fallen on the day after a foot race, the Mill Mountain Mayhem 10k, so I won't be approaching it particularly well rested, but I'll give it what I've got and be happy knowing I gave it what I had. In previous years something has always prevented me from getting the numbers I feel capable of, so if this year is no exception I'll be ok with that.

The Event

 The Swim (8:26)

     In spite of this being my slowest tri swim to date and even slightly slower than my recent swim training stats, I did have a very comfortable swim. Pool swim triathlons are notorious for having congested swimming lanes and I saw a lot of that as I was waiting for my start. We start in 15 sec. increments and the person filling the spot before mine didn't show up, so that meant I'd have 30 seconds to make up for if I was going to pass anyone. I wasn't likely to make up that much time which meant the only passing to take place would be other people passing me. The lady behind me did catch up to me after 100m and while she didn't make a gesture to pass, I motioned her past me at the end of the second lap. In the 3-5 seconds that I gave up yielding at the wall I looked around and saw that nobody else was in the 2nd lane. This meant I was at least 50 meters ahead of any potential passers. I finished my swim without any additional passing and had plenty of room to execute what I let pass for flip turns at the far end of each swim lane. I couldn't have asked for better circumstances.

T1(2:21)

     Everything seemed to go smoothly. I know it can be done quicker, but I'm not willing to do anything different right now.

The Bike (49:59) Garmin: HERE

     As I started my ride I realized I had forgotten to grab a handful of gummy snacks. I usually grab a handful in transition, but had not laid them out in a convenient spot, so they got overlooked. No time to stress over it though, I had been logging some good cycling stats lately so I knew I had to make this part of the race count. As is typical in pool swim triathlons, a poor swimmer can do a lot of passing on the bike if he is a decent cyclists. I'm about middle of the pack with my cycling, so I hammered down and passed 10-15 people easily. 

T2 (1:45)

     Everything went as well as could be expected. I didn't bother wasting time with the missed gummies since the race would be over before the energy had time to get in my system. I was looking to keep it under 2 minutes and glad to see I got it. 

The Run (26:21) Garmin: HERE

     I had honestly thought that I had already ran my worst possible tri 5k here last year when I ran it still physically abused from the 2nd place masters Blue Ridge Half effort the day before. Boy was I mistaken...this run killed me. Possibly it was the missed fueling at T1 or the lack of rest from the day before, but after 1 mile in I just couldn't understand why I was out there or what I was hoping to prove. I wanted to walk really badly, but in my deepest thoughts I remembered the conversation my wife, Denise, said she had out on this course the one year she did it. About how she had wanted to quit, but was reminded by a fellow participant about the name on her arm she was racing for. I was fighting something mental on the run this year and I couldn't fully compensate for it, but when I remembered who I was out there to honor I knew I wasn't going to walk. I had counted on a 22-23 minute run, but for each agonizing step I was just glad to be alive. My strides were weak and the heat from the sun was starting to add to the torment. I climbed the monster hill towards the end and with the finish in sight I managed to add a slight uptick to my pace and lumber across the finish line with my worst tri 5k run to date. 

In Summary

     
  Too exhausted to think about stats, I crossed the finish line and started walking it off for a cool down. With no destination of consequence I decided to ease on back towards the transition area and start gathering my things. I had just got everything together and packed up when I happened across Kim Arbouw for a chat and photo op. She wasn't particularly happy with her run either, so it must have been something in the atmosphere. I still had to drive home, shower and work from 3-11, so I made a final effort to see if they had posted the results yet and after an additional 5-10 minute wait they posted updated results showing me where I had earned a 1:28:50. I was happy just to finish, beating last years time by 19 seconds was a nice bonus though. Missing my PR goal by just over a minute and a half is easy enough to get over considering the circumstance, so no disappointment here.

        

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