2012 Talent ID Race Report

UNRELATED: LAHP ran an open 10k this past Sunday in a dominating 36:41 to give her 2nd OA (men included) out of 1100+ finishers. A sneak-peek of her race report: "matt was yelling at me with 300 yds to go that i better PICK IT UP or else i would be third. i violated ps law and told him to shut up..under my breath of course. shut up shu u ma. that is how it sounded"

Onto my race... Thanks to procrastination in not submitting my elite license application earlier this year, I was eligible for the ID event to get a taste of draft-legal racing. I met Mark Van Akkeren (another Paulo athlete) and Dan McIntosh, Mark's athlete, Friday evening in LBB.

The women’s race started the next day at 1:30 in the afternoon and the men followed 80 minutes later. Unlike most races where you’re awake before 5 AM, we slept in and took advantage of a 3-hr window in raiding the hotel breakfast bar. Mark, chauffeur extraordinaire, drove Dan and me to get coffee. While waiting for our drink orders, I headed to the car where Mark was waiting, to see if he wanted to join us. I found him visualizing the day’s race and promptly returned to Dan and coffee where we read our horoscopes to learn how the day was going to unfold.
I came into this race with the plan to win and I executed the instructions that Paulo laid out for me. With a small field of 14 women with unknown swimming abilities, it was unclear how/if packs would develop on the bike and we planned accordingly.

At the swim start, the women lined up in colored squares on the beach as you see in ITU racing and we were off with the airhorn. I swam alone and felt like I was drowning through the choppy water (BAD), but Mark, who is a wetsuip rep, helped me suit up the RIGHT WAY (GOOD) and I had great range of motion with my upper body.

The wetsuit slipped off quickly in T1—Mark encouraged me with speak of helmets and purses while Dan asked if I wanted my picture taken. I swiftly answered the photo request by dispelling a mouthful of lake water and saliva onto the carpet and got out of T1. Once on the bike, I wasted time zig-zagging the road and trying to get my feet into my shoes—ugh—MUST PRACTICE.

3 Loop Bike, 2? k: Steep climb, down hill, steep climb, flat—WIND!, downhill and past transition/finish. I took out the bike at a steady pace and glanced behind on the first climb and saw I would have company. :) Chris Tommerdahl bridged up to me by the flat section on the first loop and we took turns pulling. As I was "sitting in" behind Chris, wind blasted me from everywhere—I couldn’t find relief on her rear wheel/to the left/to the right (let me see that tootsie roll…), but thankfully she pointed me into a sweet spot alongside her on the left. I wouldn’t be a very good partner for her if I were worn out… I need her—she needs me.

Cruising through the transition area was pretty cool as the collegiate athletes from the morning race cheered us on. Chris and I rode together until the third loop when Kathy Rakel synched up with us. The three of us took short pulls until Kathy’s chain fell off (SUCKS) and Chris and I continued on. At this point we were minutes from T2 and near the end of the windy stretch when Chris laid down the hammer and pulled away. Impeccably timed, Kathy was back with me and I grabbed her wheel as she rolled past. The two women linked up ahead of me and they raced on. I trailed them into T2 then started the run in second position behind Kathy.

2 Loop Run (5k?): My legs felt spent at the start. A few minutes in I passed Kathy then trailed the bike escort for the rest of the race. I didn't really get in a groove and my 20:36 split leads me to believe the distance exceeded 5k... given my 0:43/100 meter world record swim pace, it is entirely possible. I was scared that I was going to get passed and ran hard the whole way through and given the post-race lungs-hurting & gross cough, I gave it a good effort. I finished with the "W" with Kathy and Chris rounding out the podium.

After my race, I watched the men's race--Mark and Dan came out on top, so a good day for the group (Paulo, included!).

Pics below--mostly the ones I took in the men's race as I have NOT YET RECEIVED ANY PHOTOS FROM MARK OR DAN.

Dan applies #72 tattoos to my legs. Moments later, a guy with a shoddy tat job compliments the artistry of Dan. I believe the Nine Inch Nails t-shirt Dan sports has something to do with it.

Mark heads out for loop #3:

Men's bike:

Dan, in second position, grabs his sneakers in T2:

Dan finishes while Mark (tiny speck) celebrates:

Jason, our patient USAT event reporter, is on the backside of tape #2 in his first (and last) interview with Mark VanAkkeren, “the fastest talking man in triathlon.” You can read a MINUTE SAMPLING of what was said in this article: http://usatriathlon.org/news/article/12053.

Awards - the women (Kathy, me, Chris):

Awards - women & men:

Dan, LJ bike box, LJ & Mark head to airport:

Special thanks to on-site sherpas Mark & Dan and off-site supporter and STUPIDBLOG author, SNOW, who shuttled me and the bike box between Georgetown, home... airport, whole foods, home, Georgetown and the YMCA in his SNOWTAXI. Yesterday, when I casually mentioned to SNOW that I needed to stop at CVS, he lashed out: "SNOW left SNOWTAXI at home, anticipating MOOCH REQUEST during workday."