Alright. I've had a few people contact me over the course of the day regarding the race, our results, what happened, are you going into witness protection, etc. Believe me, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't a great day for me, but it wasn't that bad. I don't have to be talked down from a ledge or anything.
Rand did great. He hit all three legs pretty well, and finished strong. I was there to cheer him in from a block away, and I made sure the crowd knew who he was and where he was from. "RRRRAND Hammel, from SPRINGVILLE, IN!" He got a kick out of it, as did the crowd.
But I digress...
I'll skip to the good parts... let's start with the swim. This portion of the race was conducted in a protected cove, inside the breakwater, and appeared at first glance to be adequately large enough. The dock was long and wide, the water was deep, and we were able to enter before our waves started. There were a couple of key problems - at least for me. One was my wave was quite large. The other was there was a significant choke point in the swim. The section under the bridge was tight, perhaps 75 feet across, and this distance was cut in half so traffic could go two ways. That meant you had to choke 180 massed swimmers through 35 feet or so. Just so you know, that's less space than 180 swimmers would have if they were in BNL pool. Picture that.
I did not get on the front end - this was the Nationals, after all. I tried to find a clean line, and so long as we were in open water, I could find spots where it was clear. No way on the choke point. I had to go through with everyone else, and the inevitable happened. I wound up on the rocks. I had to do that because I kept having swimmers crawling up my back or hitting me from the side. It was the roughest swim I've experienced in years. I was actually starting to get a little mad about it, and briefly considered retaliation. I just kept telling myself everyone was in the same boat, and it wasn't really anyone's fault.
It wasn't too easy to get out of the water, either. That ramp was steep, and if it wasn't for the human chain of helpers to drag us out, I might still be in the harbor. Then we ran to the transition area, where I decided that socks were the way to go because of the run length. It took a few extra seconds, but I'm glad I did it. Events later would prove the wisdom of the choice.
Once the ride started, I felt as though I would be in my element. My swim time had been right about what I expected (on the low end). If I could put up a decent ride, I would be right on track. Almost immediately my quads began to burn with lactic acid, and the speed just wouldn't come up. I couldn't figure it out. What was more confusing was I was passing people hard despite my relatively slow speed. Then it hit me. We were on a false flat, and the slow grade had visually fooled me into believing I was slow. Eventually the grade picked up enough to make it more obvious, but even then I wasn't happy with what happened. At the top of the hill we turned around, and downward we went over 30 mph. I carried that for quite some ways, which helped make me feel better about the overall average.
I was thinking before the race I wouldn't likely be able to hold 24+ because of the bridge elevation, which we had to cross twice. It was steep, and that would cost us big time. What I didn't know was that wasn't even close to all the climbing we would do in the day. Couple that with the difficulty I had in the swim, and I didn't have the energy to hold the speed up the way I hoped. Don't get me wrong - it was a good ride. I was passed by a couple of riders, but I passed dozens. Given the caliber of the race, that was pretty good. I simply needed a better ride.
When the ride ended, I came into the transition zone and was completely disoriented. I left thinking we would enter where we exited, so I ran down the row before looking up and realizing I had it all backward. It cost me a few seconds straightening that mess out but when I did the transition was fast. I also had a lot farther to run this time than before, and that only added to the time.
I had been worried throughout the ride I wouldn't have enough energy for the run. My legs got tight so fast at the start of the ride I thought it might happen again. It didn't. I started out smoothly, took the pressure up and held it. I ran along someone in my age group, wondering if I would be able to stay with him. He mentioned he had to go out and chase down some bikers, I chuckled, then left him. From that point on I was not passed by another person in my age group, other than a fellow I passed and passed me back. As a result the run wound up being the best leg of the day, as weird as that sounds.
In the end, the numbers didn't add up. I was 2:19:51, 45th in the age group, and out of the running for the roll down. I'm not really disappointed about that - it would have been difficult to go anyway, and I suppose I'm relieved in a way I didn't have to make the choice. No, the disappointments I have are that I didn't bike as well as I thought I should, and I won't make All-American with that finish. It just won't be enough. Oh, well. Not the first time I've been disappointed.
This was not an enjoyable race for me at any point. I was suffering the whole way - some races are that way. I fought for it, using every trick I could pull out of my hat to keep myself going and motivated. I was very successful at that. It would have been easy to just coast it in, especially after the frustration in the water. I am not ashamed at all in my effort.
On the plus side, Rand did a great job. We've had a great time here in Milwaukee, which by the way if you've never been here is a beautiful town. He's a great travel partner, and I would go to any race with him. On the negative side, the CSI Milwaukee team needs to investigate the race site - that young lady murdered the National Anthem this morning. I'm not exaggerating one bit, she made Rosanne Barr sound like Pat Benatar. The ONLY way it would have been worse would have been if it had been served up with a thick layer of speech impediment.
Missed Jimmy up here. Hope the guys at Columbus did well.
Rand did great. He hit all three legs pretty well, and finished strong. I was there to cheer him in from a block away, and I made sure the crowd knew who he was and where he was from. "RRRRAND Hammel, from SPRINGVILLE, IN!" He got a kick out of it, as did the crowd.
But I digress...
I'll skip to the good parts... let's start with the swim. This portion of the race was conducted in a protected cove, inside the breakwater, and appeared at first glance to be adequately large enough. The dock was long and wide, the water was deep, and we were able to enter before our waves started. There were a couple of key problems - at least for me. One was my wave was quite large. The other was there was a significant choke point in the swim. The section under the bridge was tight, perhaps 75 feet across, and this distance was cut in half so traffic could go two ways. That meant you had to choke 180 massed swimmers through 35 feet or so. Just so you know, that's less space than 180 swimmers would have if they were in BNL pool. Picture that.
I did not get on the front end - this was the Nationals, after all. I tried to find a clean line, and so long as we were in open water, I could find spots where it was clear. No way on the choke point. I had to go through with everyone else, and the inevitable happened. I wound up on the rocks. I had to do that because I kept having swimmers crawling up my back or hitting me from the side. It was the roughest swim I've experienced in years. I was actually starting to get a little mad about it, and briefly considered retaliation. I just kept telling myself everyone was in the same boat, and it wasn't really anyone's fault.
It wasn't too easy to get out of the water, either. That ramp was steep, and if it wasn't for the human chain of helpers to drag us out, I might still be in the harbor. Then we ran to the transition area, where I decided that socks were the way to go because of the run length. It took a few extra seconds, but I'm glad I did it. Events later would prove the wisdom of the choice.
Once the ride started, I felt as though I would be in my element. My swim time had been right about what I expected (on the low end). If I could put up a decent ride, I would be right on track. Almost immediately my quads began to burn with lactic acid, and the speed just wouldn't come up. I couldn't figure it out. What was more confusing was I was passing people hard despite my relatively slow speed. Then it hit me. We were on a false flat, and the slow grade had visually fooled me into believing I was slow. Eventually the grade picked up enough to make it more obvious, but even then I wasn't happy with what happened. At the top of the hill we turned around, and downward we went over 30 mph. I carried that for quite some ways, which helped make me feel better about the overall average.
I was thinking before the race I wouldn't likely be able to hold 24+ because of the bridge elevation, which we had to cross twice. It was steep, and that would cost us big time. What I didn't know was that wasn't even close to all the climbing we would do in the day. Couple that with the difficulty I had in the swim, and I didn't have the energy to hold the speed up the way I hoped. Don't get me wrong - it was a good ride. I was passed by a couple of riders, but I passed dozens. Given the caliber of the race, that was pretty good. I simply needed a better ride.
When the ride ended, I came into the transition zone and was completely disoriented. I left thinking we would enter where we exited, so I ran down the row before looking up and realizing I had it all backward. It cost me a few seconds straightening that mess out but when I did the transition was fast. I also had a lot farther to run this time than before, and that only added to the time.
I had been worried throughout the ride I wouldn't have enough energy for the run. My legs got tight so fast at the start of the ride I thought it might happen again. It didn't. I started out smoothly, took the pressure up and held it. I ran along someone in my age group, wondering if I would be able to stay with him. He mentioned he had to go out and chase down some bikers, I chuckled, then left him. From that point on I was not passed by another person in my age group, other than a fellow I passed and passed me back. As a result the run wound up being the best leg of the day, as weird as that sounds.
In the end, the numbers didn't add up. I was 2:19:51, 45th in the age group, and out of the running for the roll down. I'm not really disappointed about that - it would have been difficult to go anyway, and I suppose I'm relieved in a way I didn't have to make the choice. No, the disappointments I have are that I didn't bike as well as I thought I should, and I won't make All-American with that finish. It just won't be enough. Oh, well. Not the first time I've been disappointed.
This was not an enjoyable race for me at any point. I was suffering the whole way - some races are that way. I fought for it, using every trick I could pull out of my hat to keep myself going and motivated. I was very successful at that. It would have been easy to just coast it in, especially after the frustration in the water. I am not ashamed at all in my effort.
On the plus side, Rand did a great job. We've had a great time here in Milwaukee, which by the way if you've never been here is a beautiful town. He's a great travel partner, and I would go to any race with him. On the negative side, the CSI Milwaukee team needs to investigate the race site - that young lady murdered the National Anthem this morning. I'm not exaggerating one bit, she made Rosanne Barr sound like Pat Benatar. The ONLY way it would have been worse would have been if it had been served up with a thick layer of speech impediment.
Missed Jimmy up here. Hope the guys at Columbus did well.
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