Bluff Creek Race Report

I'd have to say that the Boji Tri Team had a pretty successful first tri of the year. It must have been the sexy t-shirts we've got. I need to get them out in the mail for the rest of you, so you can ensure domination. Nacho Libre and I were blessed with Droid's presence (I'm giving him a new name, since that was his high school name. So, everyone help me out with his new name.

Droid arrived into town on Friday and we met up with Nacho Libre for what else, Jethro's BBQ. It was quite tasty, but probably didn't need to eat as much as I did, but whatever. Saturday morning Droid and I went to watch Dogman compete in Dam to Dam, a 20k race in Des Moines. We saw Dogman and it looked like he was just cruising along. Once he saw us, he picked up the pace and apparently kept picking up the pace. I believe his first mile was around 7:19 or so. There were 7,000 people running, so he had to maneuver around quite a few people to get some running space. His last mile was 6 flat I believe. When all was said and done his average pace was somewhere around 6:40.

From there, Droid, Nacho Libre and I went and did a quick swim (I managed to tear my wetsuit...again) and then a 15 minute bike ride. Check that, it was supposed to be a 15 minute bike ride, but I flatted for the second time to cut the ride short. After that we went and got some food at Boston's followed by some ice cream at Snookies. After that, Droid and I cruised around in Big Sexy (my jeep) and then we hit up Goodson's where I had my obligatory Bud Select.

Race day came really early, as we were up around 5. The race site was about an 50 minutes away and we still had to pick up our packets. The race didn't start until 9, so we could have probably left a little later, but oh well. We got to the race start and my stomach was feeling the effects of the pizza/ice cream/beer/bbq and whatever I ate for breakfast. Not really a great sign. We set up transition and I talked to T.J. He was doing the Olympic race (we were doing the sprint). T.J. would end up destroying everyone in the Olympic race.

At about 8:20, we hopped on the bus to take a short ride to the other side of the beach. For the Sprint race, we basically swam across the lake. The distance was supposed to be 500 meters, but if you check the results, the times were way off. I think this was a combination of a longer swim and a really long, uphill run to the transition area. We all got in the water for a short warm-up. The water was about 67 degrees and after the initial shock, was actually quite nice. I did whiz in my wetsuit though, which provided some warmth. I'm pretty sure Droid did as well. It's just how we roll. This would also come back to haunt me, but I slammed a gatorade shortly before the swim.

Anyways, I lined up at the front of the pack towards the far left. The buoy's were on the right. I would sacrifice a little distance for some clear water. The gun went off and I took off pretty fast. I was going along pretty well when I basically almost swam over a guy in front of me. I looked up and he was doing the breaststroke. I'm pretty sure he started out way too fast (or he just got done with the Olympic Games). Anyways, I made the only slight turn to head to the boat ramp feeling pretty decent about my swim. I swam until my hands touched bottom and stoop up. The boat ramp was covered in moss so I slipped about 4 times trying to get a grip on the ground. I ran up the ramp and could not for the life of me unzip or unvelcroe (sp?) my wetsuit. I also managed to break my goggles in half. Like I said, the times were way off. I was expecting a swim in the 7 min. range, but with the long run as well as the timing being really goofy, my time ended up being in the high 11's. The fastest swim was in the low 10's, and on a normal 500 meter course, this would be in the 6's.

Nacho Libre said he saw me leaving the swim transition, which meant he had a pretty good swim for himself. The bike was 15 miles and I started cruising as soon as I got on my bike. I felt pretty decent and was going pretty fast. It was basically an out and back. I got to the turnaround and I was in the top 10 overall. As soon as turned around, WHAM, the wind hit me like a rocket. No wonder I was going so fast. I couldn't even tell the wind was helping me going out, which made this pleasant surprise simply fantastic. Also, shortly after I turned around I saw Nacho Libre and he was flying. My legs didn't seem to want to go once I turned around, but I looked ahead and didn't see the guys in front gaining too much on me. At one point I looked at my wheels to see if I had a flat, as I seemed to be going so slow. About the 9-10 mile mark, Nacho Libre came flying by me like I wasn't even moving. He was having a solid bike. I ended up with a bike time of 40:50 and change. Nacho Libre had 39:03, so he put quite a bit of time on me. Droid also had a great bike ride going over 30 seconds faster than I did.

Back to the gatorade I slammed before the swim. Two or three times on the bike, going into the wind, I sort-of threw up in my mouth a little bit. Nothing like regurgitated red gatorade. That's gross, but it happens.

Got off the bike and as I was pulling into transition, Nacho Libre was taking off, about 20 seconds ahead of me. Throughout the entire 5k, I could see him and it seemed like I couldn't gain on him and he wasn't pulling ahead of me. After the race, I told him I'd like to see our run splits as I bet they were pretty close. Well, he outsplit me on the run...by 7/10ths of a second. The run times were way off as well, as Nach Libre's watch showed around 22 minutes for the run while the "official times" gave us a 19:30 run. No way in hell I ran around a 6:30 pace.

I did manage to hold off some guy charging at me towards the end. My left hamstring started to seize up on me with about a half mile left, but it held off. I didn't want to be that guy at the finish, and I wasn't.

Overall, Nacho Libre got 13th. I came in 20 seconds behind for 14th. Nacho Libre was 3rd in his age group. I was first in my age group and Droid was 3rd in his age group. Those "old" guys are fast.

For me, I'm satisfied with my race. I would have liked to bike faster, but it happens. I'm starting to get back into the swing of things and my shoulder didn't really bother me on the swim. We've got the Kansas half ironman in two weeks and I'm really not ready for it. I'm gonna try to enjoy it the best I can and see how it goes.

Overall, great weekend for the Dogman, myself, Nacho Libre and Droid. Help me out with a new name for him. Oh yeah, I'd also like to thank the camper for basically running into me at the run turnaround. I gave him a little love tap with my hand for that maneuver.