{"id":886,"date":"2023-05-17T23:42:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T23:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/?p=886"},"modified":"2025-02-25T20:46:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T20:46:11","slug":"harryman-olympic-triathlon-may-13-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/?p=886","title":{"rendered":"Harryman Olympic Triathlon – May 13, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

First race of the year, and I had missed a lot of training because of our family\u2019s losses during the winter. On my drive up to Harriman State Park \u2014 all of 30 minutes \u2014 I thought about what Coach Steve suggested: since I couldn\u2019t reasonably expect much in the way of a finishing time, I might focus on the process, just checking in along the way how I was feeling and whether I was doing the best I could at that time. Which is really the obvious and best advice for everything else in life. A new attitude for me, frankly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Approaching the finish line!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The race was only 400 people, roughly divided between the Olympic and 70.3 distance, and an odd distance to more easily accommodate the 70.3: 0.6 mile swim (instead of 0.9 mile, but it made it a simple two laps for the longer race); 28 mile bike ride (instead of 24.8 miles, to make two loops = 56 miles), but your standard 6.2 mile run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I met some folks racking the bikes including Ryan Farr and Sermet Alver two other members of Coach Steve\u2019s TEAM TRIENDEAVORS!, who found me because the bright red team shirt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
With Ryan and Sermet, before the race<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I also met the friendly Brian Gurski, and we ended up talking the whole time until the race began. Realized that virtually everyone at this race was younger than I, which confirmed my new definition of middle age: when you keep track of how old OTHER people are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the edge of Lake Welch, the 50+ year old men were the third wave.  A guy at the front shouted out \u201cWe\u2019re the more seasoned athletes!\u201d  To which I responded, \u201cYou mean, like salt and pepper?\u201d (based on the color of hair and beards).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The water\u2019s reported temperature had almost scared me away from racing \u2014 57-61 degrees, according to a lake fishing website \u2014 so I had borrowed from Coach Steve a thermal wetsuit, which turned out to be unnecessary and a mistake: unnecessary because the water was probably in the upper sixties (teaching me not to trust an online temperature report that didn\u2019t change during the week, despite warmer air temps), and mistake because I felt like I was a sausage. So, I got into a comfortable swim, but couldn\u2019t push very much, because my arms felt restricted. Checked in: How am I feeling? Like it\u2019s a nice day for a short swim. Lousy results: 23:16 (including the run up the beach), something like a 1:59 min\/100 yds. 89\/225 Overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stripped off the suit before I left the beach \u2014 the water in the suit being the best lubricant for that purpose \u2014 and got through Transition 1 pretty quickly. As I left, a guy shouts out, \u201cGo, Salt n\u2019 Pepper!\u201d T1 in 2:14 \u2014 now, 71\/224 OA\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bike was a very hilly course \u2014 2,500 feet over 28 miles \u2014 and although I used to not care about hills because everyone was going to suffer with me, now that I\u2019m 60, I feel it more\u2026. Especially with a new condition: bursitis in my hips, which kicked in at around 20 minutes (rather than waiting until 45 or 60 minutes, back in the salad days\u2026). So, I realized that skipping PT in favor of other training is simply not an option anymore; really, I might skip the workouts in the future in favor of PT, because when my hips are stiff and preventing me from generating power, what\u2019s the point of trying to get stronger? But the good news with this new attitude: rarely do I marvel at the beautiful scenery, dappled sunlight through freshly green trees, chatting with the other slow to medium riders. (At other, longer races I\u2019ve thought, \u201cThis is kind of pretty. So what. Everything hurts\u2026\u201d). On the second loop, found myself calling out \u201con your left, on your left!\u201d Then apologizing when I realized the two folks ahead of me were slowing for that treacherous hairpin turn before climbing again\u2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got through it, enjoying it more than most any other race (the silver lining to the hip pain limiting my wattage output), but another lackluster metric: 1:47 for 28 miles = 15.7 mph. 69\/222 OA. Still, wishing I could tell my folks that it was going well\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Run was hilly too: 960 feet over the 10k. I\u2019m just plugging along, noticing but not judging the pace, breathing hard but getting my heart rate more under control, it\u2019s still pretty (though the pavement is pretty broken up, and I\u2019m mostly staring at pavement) and I plan on cranking it out the last 2 miles but after pausing for the last of water stop my right hamstring starts to cramp up and I realize if I stop I\u2019ll never start again so on we go. Not much left in the tank to get much faster, but i remember that it ends downhill and there\u2019s the inflated FINISH LINE archway, and it\u2019s DONE. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Run was 53:18 = 8:34 pace (a lot slower than I hoped, but all I could do today).  Bottom line:  3:06:21, which is\u2026 59\/222 OA (pretty good for an older guy) and 1st in Age Group (\u2026 out of 2 finishers in the 60-64 bracket; I think 2 more guys dropped out; so, it could be worse!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u2026 and after!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Real bottom line? I enjoyed this race more than most, because even though I couldn\u2019t tap into the power\/wattage\/speed I\u2019ve had in other events, I was in the moment without judgment for virtually all of it. \u201cHe CAN be taught.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Winning is the only thing. But\u2026<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But also this was the first race after my mother died in January of this year, and my father in March. It was a rough winter. If my mother were alive, she would have been worried all day until I called to tell her I had survived; if my Dad were here, I\u2019d have to tell him again what a triathlon is, and watch him shake his head and say, \u201cWhy would you do that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A tree ring for every year, right? Not enough years with my parents.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First race of the year, and I had missed a lot of training because of our family\u2019s losses during the winter. On my drive up to Harriman State Park \u2014 all of 30 minutes \u2014 I thought about what Coach Steve suggested: since I couldn\u2019t reasonably expect much in the way of a finishing time, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2023-races"],"yoast_head":"\nHarryman Olympic Triathlon - May 13, 2023 - Race Report Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/?p=886\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harryman Olympic Triathlon - May 13, 2023 - Race Report Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First race of the year, and I had missed a lot of training because of our family\u2019s losses during the winter. 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