Great Buckeye Challenge Race Report

After a long week on the West Coast I finally made it home late Friday evening just in time to load up the Nissan. Jen and I packed our gear most of the evening and retired to bed by 9:00 PM. Saturday morning came really fast and we were up and at em and back on the road by 7:00 AM heading West to Springfield Ohio. Springfield is located about 30 miles west of Columbus and was nearly a 4 1/2 hour drive. There were three of us (Jen, Clark and I) in the Xterra which the back of the SUV look like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Trying to fit three bikes, overnight bags and race gear in the car was quite an experience. None the less we made it to Springfield safe and sound around noon Saturday. We drove directly to the race site, checked into registration, drove the bike course and proceeded to do a 45 minute brick workout that consisted of a 30 minute bike and 15 minute run on the course.

The course was rural and had some rolling hills, nothing too big...nothing too small. By 4PM I was beat. This was not the way I should have felt going into a Half Ironman race so I knew I had to work with what I had going. Jen and I headed to Olive Garden for dinner (the all you can eat pasta). We were back in our room by 6:50 and I was asleep by 7:00 PM.

The alarm clock woke us up at 5:00 AM and after 10 hours of sleep I finally felt ready to race. The weather called for no rain but temperatures were going to be out of sight in the mid 90's. We arrived at the race about two hours early, set up transition and waited for the start. This was my second race of the season in the Elite Age group category so I knew I had my work cut out for me. The swim was a beach start, two loop rectangle swim. When the horn went off I sprinted into the water and was first to turn at the first buoy. I then put my head up and looked for the next sighting buoy. I couldn't find it so I just put my head down and swam straight. Two or three minutes passed and I sighted again and realized I was way off course. I readjusted and from this point on I swam really strong and straight. The heats were small so I didn't have anyone to draft off of in the swim. as I came through the first lap I glanced at my watch and it read 18 minutes. Are you serious? Okay, something here is off. I had planned on swimming around a 27-28 minute race and was already four or five minutes behind. I kept pace the second lap and exited the water in 36 minutes. Now I haven't swum 36 minutes in a long time so my only thought was "the swim course was long". Heck about 7-8 minutes long! When I came out of the water I had no idea what place I was in but the good news was, there were still lots of bikes on my rack. As it turned out I was in fifth or sixth and after the first 28 miles of the two loop course I had moved into 3rd place overall and was about a minute or two behind the leaders. I thought there there wasn't any point to push beyond my limit to catch these guys on the bike, and if I felt good on the run 2-3 minutes could be made up easily. Around mile 45 my legs started to revolt and my pace suffered slightly. With five miles remaining two guys passed me and I started the run in 5th place overall.

The first two miles of the run were right on pace (6:40 / mile) but I knew something didn't feel right. I was having some stomach cramping and my heart rate was through the roof. My legs felt fresh, but I didn't have the aerobic engine today to fight through the heat. By mile five I had passed one runner to move into 4th place but soon found myself walking. I still had eight miles to go and if I walked the rest of the way I'd be lucky to place top 20. Miraculously after a minute passed I started to feel better and I was able to run again. I was working hard to hold a very slow 8 minute mile pace. With four miles to go I saw the third place overall guy sucked it up and blew past him probably at a 6 minute pace. I wanted to make it look like I wasn't hurting at all and it worked. The gap grew to 10+ minutes the last four miles between me and 4th place and I began to look for 2nd. 2nd place was about four minutes ahead of me with 4 miles to go and I simply ran out of time. I had one of the slowest runs I've ever had at this distance so was somewhat disappointed. Regardless I placed 3rd overall even on a bad day.

I have two more races to round out the year. My next race is in about 4 weeks and will be a doozie. I'll be racing the Savageman Half Ironman which features over 5700 feet of climbing on the bike (including a 21% climb), a rough water swim, and one heck of a hilly run! I'll then finish off the season in Clearwater at the Half IM Worlds.

Here's to looking forward to the off season!!!

posted by Chad Holderbaum @ 6:29 AM Comments: 1