Great Buckeye Challenge 8/21/11 (Intro and Swim)
Aug 29, 01:35 PM
Right before I did the Giant Eagle tri Kristy and I discussed plans for when my parents were coming to visit a few weeks later. They had said that if it was possible, they’d like to be able to see me race. So we looked at the race schedule and I found the Great Buckeye Challenge was going to take place toward the end of their visit. I went ahead and signed up for the sprint distance race. The Great Buckeye Challenge was the same race that Kristy did a half Ironman distance in before we met. At that time, though, it was in a different location so it’s not exactly comparable.
After my Giant Eagle race, I decided to really work hard to get in better shape for my last race of the season. I was able to get myself in a bit better physical shape over the 3 weeks I had, though it’s hard to make a major change with such limited time. Even so, I was able to tell a difference with my fitness going into the race.
The Great Buckeye Challenge was held in Springfield, OH, about an hour away from Westerville. Since my parents were going to watch, they wanted also to bring the twins along. Since they didn’t want to get up with me, we drove separately, which worked out nicely since it gave me time to get myself ready and not have to worry about getting the twins up and all.
My morning started early again, about 4:30am this time. My race time was the same as last time, around 8am, but since my wave was going to be one of the first ones instead of toward the end, I had plenty of time before transition was closed. Of course, this time I had to drive about an hour to get there so the timing was pretty much the same. I got my stuff together the night before so I only had to get up, get dressed and spend some time waking up before heading out.
Driving out to Springfield was a nice, easy drive and getting off the highway, it was pretty easy to find the location: Buck Creek State Park. When I arrived, a little after 6am, I was surprised to see that I was one of the earlier people to arrive. There were plenty of people there already, but not as many as I expected. I left my stuff in the car and went over to get my chip, number and starting packet. This race they wrote the numbers on our right shoulders along with our age and race on our left calf. I was #111 and since I was doing the sprint tri I had 30ST on my calf. The Buckeye Challenge also had an Olympic distance tri, Sprint and Olympic Duathlons and a half Ironman tri.
So after I got all my stuff from the starting area, I went back to get my transition area together. I got my bike and other gear from the car and headed to the transition area where I found my spot on the bike racks. I got everything together and headed back to the car so that I could put my bag back when I got the call that my parents had arrived with the twins. Kristy didn’t come because she needed the rest and a morning off. So I met up with them before putting the bag back in the car. After that We wandered back to the start/finish area where I started remembering things I didn’t put in my transition area. First I realized that I forgot to put socks in with my riding shoes. Quick run back to the car and to transition and I was ok. Then I remembered I forgot to bring my swim cap and goggles with me, so back into transition to grab those. Finally I had everything and was all ready to head down to the water and warm up.
It was about 15min to go before the race and I started getting into the water. They announced that the water temperature was low enough for wetsuits but I had decided not to even bring mine so it didn’t make a difference for me. Getting into the water, it wasn’t as cold as I was expecting, so that worked out nicely. I swam a bit to warm up before getting out and waiting on the beach. One thing I was really surprised about was how rocky the ground was in the water. Previously, there has been some kind of sandy beach area when I’ve started a race. This time it was filled with big river rocks. They were all smooth, but it wasn’t going to be easy to run over.
Finally it was time to start the race. My wave was going into the water second so I didn’t have long to wait once things started going. They counted down and we ran in. Well, some ran in, most of us trotted into the edge of the water and gingerly hopped through the rocks until it was deep enough to swim. Then we started swimming. The swim course was a clockwise swim around the buoys instead of a counter-clockwise swim like pretty much every race I’d done before. That made it a little odd at times. It was also 1km long so it was the longest swim I’d done in a sprint.
Starting into my normal rhythm, I was getting passed a lot, but expected that. I wasn’t expecting to have a few people try to swim over me as well. I try to keep to the sides of the swim lane so that faster swimmers would just go around me, but I still had a few people hit, kick and smack me as they went around me.
After what seemed like an eternity, I got to the far corner of the course and turned toward the beach. It was a short way before the turn to go back toward the start area. I knew I was going slow because I was getting passed by a lot of women, and they started at least 5 min behind me! Anyway, I don’t worry about my swim pace. Right now my plan is to get through the swim without drowning or using too much extra energy and try to make back some time on the bike. Finally I got to the last buoy and turned to the beach to get out of the water. Of course, this meant walking across the rocks again so I took my time, again. Then when I actually got onto the beach I had a good few hundred feet of grassy hill to go up before getting to the transition area. I trotted part of it and walked part of it. I probably could have run more of it but was still trying to figure out how much I could push myself since I knew I wasn’t in the best physical shape. Finally I got to transition, got my helmet, gloves, GPS watch and shoes on, grabbed the bike and headed out.
Older Articles: Giant Eagle Tri 7/31/11 (Bike and Run) Newer Articles: Great Buckeye Challenge 8/21/11 (Bike and Run)