Race Report - 10th Annual Steelman Triathlon

This past Sunday was the 10th running of the Steelman Triathlon held at Lake Nockamixon in Quakertown, PA. While I haven't raced this every year, I have raced it eight times, only missing the two years I raced Ironman Lake Placid. For those of us in Eastern Pennsylvania it is a chance to get out and race against some of the best triathletes in the area.

Normally a great mid-season race, due to early season injuries this was my first triathlon of the year. And without much running at all this year the challenge would be holding it together for the 10k run. A nice challenge for Jon.

Race week was a bit different for me this year. With a late season Ironman on my schedule I would be training through this race, taking a three day taper to freshen up the legs. Those three days was coming off a higher volume 10-day training training block which included 300+ miles on the bike, some hard interval work on the run, and the heaviest volume swim work for the year. And just to spice things up, I changed around my training in the "taper" to experiment with a few things.

So how'd it go?

Pre-Race

Every year it's the same thing. About ten days out the barrage of emails from the race director (Dale) with two main points - read the athletes note and make sure you get to the park at 4 am to secure parking. I didn't get there at 4 am, electing to "sleep in." Due to my laziness I arrived to the park at 5:30 am and was forced to park 3/4 of a mile from the start line. Where the people who entered the park after me parked, I have no idea.

Note to Dale: while it is great that you are on the ball about just about everything is great, you really need to quit stirring the pot on parking. And yes, I am glad to see such great participation, you really need to cap the race at a smaller number of athletes. There is just not enough parking.

Moving beyond the parking situation, we had quite the day to race. Temperatures were in the 60s, there was no wind and the swim was wetsuit legal.

The race day packet pickup was quick, transition setup was smooth, and I found my crew in short order. The only problem was the relatively small amount of pot-o-pots available. The line was crazy long from the moment I got there until the start of the race.

Note to Dale: If you have more competitors you will have more fully hydrated people who need to use the facilities. Take some of the extra money and use it to rent a few more toilets.

Swim: 1500M 20:56

If there is such a thing as the perfect swim, this was pretty darn close. Starting in wave three with the 40-49 year old men and the aquavelo competitors, I lined up at the front and not far from the inside. Unlike past races I stayed in control for the first 100M and, surprise, surprise, I found a pair of feet to draft off. After a few strokes in the draft I looked ahead, we were swimming straight, and I was sitting in the third position. For the next 1400M I stayed on those feet and enjoyed the ride. The final result was a PR swim.

T1: 2:07

Uneventful with one exception - getting my wetsuit off. Never my strong suit, the problem was compounded by the oversized timing chip provided to us. Damn thing got caught on my wetsuit and I struggled a bit.

Note to Lin-Mark: I think I speak for many when I say that I would be more than happy to pay an additional $1 for each race I do next year if you promise to take the additional revenue and upgrade your technology. There are better options out there ... please.

Bike: 40K 1:04:58

This is a fun, but not the fastest, course to race. Normally you want to take the start of the bike to settle in and let your heart rate settle down before starting to push the pedals. Here, that is not an option, as you have a nice climb out of the marina out to the two loops on route 563. Key is to have your bike in a small gear coming out of transition and not overdoing it on this first climb. From there you can settle in, get your $hit together on the slightly rolling park roads ... which was exactly what I did.

Once out onto the main race loop I dropped it into a big gear and got to work.  Last year I burned too much on the first loop and couldn't push in from the final turnaround as hard as I would have liked. My plan this year was to push the first loop hard, then kick it up a notch for loop number two. Much to my surprise I held to plan, with a slight negative split. I rode fast but within myself, knowing that the true unknown was ahead of me - the run.

Note: Technically this is an easy course to navigate. The roads are closed to car traffic and the visibility is excellent. Best of all, Dale has a street sweeper come out and get the gravel off the road. Thank you Dale!!! However, there is little flat terrain. Thus, you are almost either climbing or descending so be prepared. It is very easy to over do it and not know it until you start to run.

T2: 1:16

Smooth and without issue.

Run: 10k 43:43

Photo Credit: Kevin T

Out onto the run and the real mystery of the day would unfold - how would I hold up on my first "real" run off the bike since last October. Still nursing my knee, with little running at all this year, I did manage to get two very short runs off the bike in, just to make sure it wouldn't be a total disaster.

This run course is a bit pesky. For some reason I always remember it as being flat. I don't know if this is because it is by a lake, or on trails, or my old age, but I just always do. That would be fine, if it was actually a flat course. After taking the quick left out of transition and completing the short out-and-back the trail turns from flat into just enough of a rolling terrain to make it a bit uncomfortable ... especially off the bike.

Coming out of transition the course I felt normal (legs a little heavy but coming around quick) but different (no sense of pacing). The lack of feel for pace showed when I hit the one mile mark in 6:55, a bit faster than I expected. The next two miles were a bit slower, but on target with both coming in right at a 7:02/mile pace. So far so good.

After getting some water at the aide station (big shout out to Endurance Multisport for the job they did) and some cheers from Kevin, I headed back in from the first loop, hoping to maintain my pace. With the trail now full with runners I made sure to be more aware of my surroundings.

All was well until it wasn't. Around 4.2 miles in my legs were calling for a short time out. After a short walk I picked it up again and continued on until I had another brief walk break around mile 5.5.

Normally, walking a part of the 10k would have me  upset with myself. Having to walk means I screwed up my pacing, either on the bike or out of transition. No worries for two reasons.

First, I paced the bike just fine. Coming into and out of transition my legs were where they should be, no questions. Second, the breakdown was a total muscular endurance issue. With the small amount of running I have been able to do I knew this could be an issue. Better pacing may have helped, but without having many miles in I don't yet have my feel back. But I will.

Overall: 2:12:58  10th Overall 2nd in AG45-49 

Men AG45-49 Podium

Every year my goal at this race is the same - place in the top 10 overall and have a top three bike split. Admittedly these are terrible goals as they are performance based, not process based, and you can't control who shows up to race. Still, this is our local race and these are the two things I want to accomplish every year. Competition be damned. Age be damned. From this irrational perspective success was achieved - only two guys out biked me as part of my 10th  place overall finish.

Back to the rational world of goals, I really wanted to have a good run. Prior to the race I explained to The Queen how I had no clue how my run would go. Realistically I thought I could go about 44 minutes, but would be happy with a 48. The 44 is the high end of what I have run the distance over the past few years. The 43:43 I ran certainly qualifies as a success.

More important, however, is the fact that I somehow managed to just miss an Olympic distance PR by a mere 2 seconds. I honestly did not have any expectations of going below a 2:14:xx so, while disappointed I couldn't find a few extra seconds of speed somewhere, really stoked to have such a great overall race.

The crew, post race, all blinged out. Photo Credit: Alison

Thanks for reading.

Up next: A week of solid training then TriRock Asbury Park on August 24.

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon