Post by zach on Sept 18, 2007 19:02:26 GMT -5
Hi guys,
As many of you know I competed in the SavageMan Triathlon at Deep Creek this past weekend. Let me say, it was one heck of an experience. Without a doubt the harderst thing I have ever done. Most of you probably know the course by now but it not check it out of www.savagemantri.org . The only thing 'easy' about this thing was supposed to be the swim. As soon as you get out of the water it goes uphill. Well turns out the swim was savage in itself. We woke up to 37 degrees we made a nice steam/fog on the water. You literally could only see 20-25 yards in the water. It was so hard to site. I am not normally a front of the field swimmer but I quickly found myself in the lead pack of about 8 swimmers as nobody wanted to lead and get lost. I just swam right on somebody's feet and hoped for the best. About halfway through the swim we started running head on into the earlier waves that were coming back to transition. I still haven't figure out if we went off course or if they did. It was very sureal. About a quarter mile from the finish the sun come out and the fog burnt off. That was the last I saw of the feet in front of me as the swimmers were gone. I was still pleased with my swim. 32:49 for the 1.2 miles. The first hour of the bike is pretty much all downhill and it was EXTREMELY cold. My toes, fingers, knees and most everything else went numb. I got out of the saddle more than I should have just trying to warm up. Once into Westernport things warmed up in a hurry though. As I rounded the turn at the bottom of the 'Wall' I was surprised to see the street full of people. It was very exciting to say the least. From pre-riding the course I knew the only way to get up the thing was to peg it at the bottom and try to hold a straight line. There were two people right in front of me that I was ready to cuss, but one wrecked at the start and the other one said the heck with it and unclipped. So I hit the gas and mangaed to make it up. It was pretty awesome to hear all of those people. It remeinded of Bull Run or the STate meet coming up the dip. Although the 'Wall' was the signature part of the course the next 36 miles were what made the difference. I just settled in for a long hard day. I felt very good on the ride. Almost too good actually as I had to keep telling myself to slow down so as not to die on the run...turns out that didn't matter(more on that latter). I finished the bike in 3hrs14minutes and something. I think it was the 9th fastest of the day. I started the run feeling pretty good, but that was on the flat portion. After 2 miles things went up and went up fast. It was a pretty rocky 2+ mile hill that really had my quads screaming for mercy. My goal for the run was two hours. First lap I went through in 54minutes so I was right on. Except for the fact that all I could think about was how in the world I was going to make it up that hill a second time. Well turns out I walked most all of it. I think if I wouldn't have felt like a wimp I would have crawled. It was brutal and my legs were just plain shot. Case in point-second lap was 1hr. 19min. On a good side I only counted 3 non-relay people that passed me. So I would up the day in 6hrs3mins45seconds or so. My goal coming into the race was:
swim-35min
bike-3hr20min
run-2hrs
transition-5min
total-6hrs
My final was
Swim-33min
bike-3hrs14min
run-2hr13min
transition-4min
total-6hr3min
Also congats to Mertz who did the run leg with a realy team in 1hr27min. Lets here your breakdown of the runcourse.
Also Cumberlands Aarron MacGray competed as well and had a great race of 6hrs13min. Good luck to Aaron as he heads to Clearwater for the Half-Iron World Championships in Nov.
Also this race has so inspired me that yesterday I pulled the plug and signed myself up for a full-ironman. It is next August in Louisville, Kentucky. So heres hoping for a good winter so I can get my run legs back underneath me. I will be looking for a spring marathon to do so that I have that under my belt before Louisville.
As many of you know I competed in the SavageMan Triathlon at Deep Creek this past weekend. Let me say, it was one heck of an experience. Without a doubt the harderst thing I have ever done. Most of you probably know the course by now but it not check it out of www.savagemantri.org . The only thing 'easy' about this thing was supposed to be the swim. As soon as you get out of the water it goes uphill. Well turns out the swim was savage in itself. We woke up to 37 degrees we made a nice steam/fog on the water. You literally could only see 20-25 yards in the water. It was so hard to site. I am not normally a front of the field swimmer but I quickly found myself in the lead pack of about 8 swimmers as nobody wanted to lead and get lost. I just swam right on somebody's feet and hoped for the best. About halfway through the swim we started running head on into the earlier waves that were coming back to transition. I still haven't figure out if we went off course or if they did. It was very sureal. About a quarter mile from the finish the sun come out and the fog burnt off. That was the last I saw of the feet in front of me as the swimmers were gone. I was still pleased with my swim. 32:49 for the 1.2 miles. The first hour of the bike is pretty much all downhill and it was EXTREMELY cold. My toes, fingers, knees and most everything else went numb. I got out of the saddle more than I should have just trying to warm up. Once into Westernport things warmed up in a hurry though. As I rounded the turn at the bottom of the 'Wall' I was surprised to see the street full of people. It was very exciting to say the least. From pre-riding the course I knew the only way to get up the thing was to peg it at the bottom and try to hold a straight line. There were two people right in front of me that I was ready to cuss, but one wrecked at the start and the other one said the heck with it and unclipped. So I hit the gas and mangaed to make it up. It was pretty awesome to hear all of those people. It remeinded of Bull Run or the STate meet coming up the dip. Although the 'Wall' was the signature part of the course the next 36 miles were what made the difference. I just settled in for a long hard day. I felt very good on the ride. Almost too good actually as I had to keep telling myself to slow down so as not to die on the run...turns out that didn't matter(more on that latter). I finished the bike in 3hrs14minutes and something. I think it was the 9th fastest of the day. I started the run feeling pretty good, but that was on the flat portion. After 2 miles things went up and went up fast. It was a pretty rocky 2+ mile hill that really had my quads screaming for mercy. My goal for the run was two hours. First lap I went through in 54minutes so I was right on. Except for the fact that all I could think about was how in the world I was going to make it up that hill a second time. Well turns out I walked most all of it. I think if I wouldn't have felt like a wimp I would have crawled. It was brutal and my legs were just plain shot. Case in point-second lap was 1hr. 19min. On a good side I only counted 3 non-relay people that passed me. So I would up the day in 6hrs3mins45seconds or so. My goal coming into the race was:
swim-35min
bike-3hr20min
run-2hrs
transition-5min
total-6hrs
My final was
Swim-33min
bike-3hrs14min
run-2hr13min
transition-4min
total-6hr3min
Also congats to Mertz who did the run leg with a realy team in 1hr27min. Lets here your breakdown of the runcourse.
Also Cumberlands Aarron MacGray competed as well and had a great race of 6hrs13min. Good luck to Aaron as he heads to Clearwater for the Half-Iron World Championships in Nov.
Also this race has so inspired me that yesterday I pulled the plug and signed myself up for a full-ironman. It is next August in Louisville, Kentucky. So heres hoping for a good winter so I can get my run legs back underneath me. I will be looking for a spring marathon to do so that I have that under my belt before Louisville.