Tundra Time Trial and Mercedes Half Marathon

I did a time trial this weekend called the Tundra Time Trial just outside of Atlanta. It was my first one and I learned that I don’t know diddley shit about time trialing.

Before I started I saw David wandering about in his Faster Mustache jersey, so I went over to see what was up. He was about to start on his 80’s vintage steel Trek complete with wired computer, headlight and bell. He was quite a contrasting figure next to all the guys with super expensive carbon fiber bikes and aero helmets.

I heard a kid say to another kid when he saw David’s getup “Look at THIS guy..”

I thought it was awesome, so I got out my camera and started snapping photos. David readied himself at the start, and took off when he was sent down the track. “Ring the bell, Dave!” I shouted.

Brrring, brrring!

As for time trial style racing, I like it and I want to do more. I ended up 56th in the Cat Vs which is smack in the middle. It was 9.5 miles and I had a 21.99 speed, for a finish of 25:55.31.

I stopped to talk to my buddy Eddie Hsu (my cyclocross nemesis) after my ride, which was a mistake. I should have been cooling down and stretching. I also didn’t have any recovery drink handy. But hey, it was the first time I’d seen him since ‘cross season so whatever.

Eddie’s high up on my shitlist for having a sweet carbon bike and aero disc wheelset, not to mention a girlfriend who comes to all his races. Also for beating me in the race sunday. Damn you, Hsu.

When I finished talking and started to go cool down my right leg went “twang!”. Not good. Especially not good because I had a half marathon planned for the next day. My reasoning was that if I can plan on doing a half and full ironman this year, I can do a TT on saturday and a half mary on sunday no sweat. Seems relatively sound, but everyone I’ve spoken to about it behaves as though I’m shoveling live bees up my butt with a hot poker.

Later that day, at the Mercedes Marathon race expo, I made a beeline for the booth with the roller stick things and worked my legs over like the surly curs they are. That and some wishful thinking appeared to have done the trick, as I woke up on Sunday hot to trot.

And trot I did. My goal was a sub 2hr half and I squeaked it in with a gun time of 1:53 at a pace of 8:40 minutes per mile, which isn’t bad considering that early this summer my first recorded mile record was 8:11. It’s a lot faster than I intend to run my full marathon next month. I’d love to finish a full at a 9:00/mile sub 4hr pace but I’m not sure how realistic that is.

During my run I decided to be a nice guy and throw my paper cup into a real trash can rather than on the street, so I ran up onto the sidewalk and pitched it in. As I ran back to the street I hit some gravel and went down like a toddler, nearly taking a lady out. I ripped both the knees of my base layer and I could tell I was bleeding, but I figured as long as I could still run and there was no blood running down to my socks I was golden.

After the race I was walking a little funny, and I still had to drive back to Atlanta, appear in a video as a member of the beatles, then go to the theatre and strike a set, and then catch a Sam Thacker show at Smiths.

Being busy is good, though.

Also finished Dan Ariely’s “Predictably Irrational” this week which is a pretty neat book about human decision making and economic trends. I like that sort of stuff.