Tri Indy or Don't Tri Indy? Race Report

Well, Saturday morning I woke up, did my pre race shake up workout, got my things organized and we hit the road for Indianapolis, Indiana for the 5th race of the season.  It is an Olympic distance triathlon consisting of a 1500 meter swim, 40 kilometers bike and 10 kilometers run. The swim takes place in the Indianapolis canal, a very interesting and exciting venue.  The bike and run courses are flat which were expected to prove some fast times and some high scores in the USAT rankings. I was focused and ready to perform and hopefully get an Olympic distance personal best time.

After making the 3.5 hour drive, my parents and I made it to the hotel that was 20 min outside Indianapolis.  When I signed up for the race all of the hotels right next to the race site were booked.  When we got there we realized it was for a GEN CON convention that was staying for 4 days. This proved to make some interesting company while in Indy.  Still, no problems and we got back to the room to get settled in before heading off to dinner.  My parents even hit the JACKPOT by scoring the room with some extra space, a hot tub and get this, an electric fireplace.  I hit the remote on that thing and instantly things got real romantic up in there. 

Hilarious! 

I quickly headed back to my room to get some rest before the 5AM wake up call and left them to the kick-ass fireplace.  I rolled out of bed and had my customary chocolate chip Clif Bar and a banana. My body and mind were in the right place and my dad was not racing, he was there to support me and cheer me on.  It felt good to have both of my parents there as part of the race team.  We headed down to the transition area and I started to get my things together. As I laid out my Giro Advantage 2 aero helmet on top of my handle bars, the regional USAT lead official came over to inspect the helmet. I thought this was odd but he was checking most of the aero helmets for the top 20 starters and I brushed it off.  I continued on with my business until the official informed me that there was no CPSC sticker and if I were to use this helmet, I would be disqualified from the race. 

Where is the sticker?!

I spent the next 20 minutes scrambling around trying to find a helmet that would work. I did not bring my road helmet with me assuming the Giro would be fine as I had used it in 20+ races previously.  But finally we found the T3 Multisport tent and they offered to let me borrow the owners road helmet for the race.  This was a lifesaver! It wasn't an aero helmet but it would get the job done for 40k.  

The only issue is, I spent so much time worrying about the helmet that I did not give myself enough time to scope out the transition area and know exactly where the run/ bike in's and run/ bike out's are.  I warmed up at 6:45 and transition closed at 7AM. I ran for 10 min and then rushed back to the transition area before grabbing my goggles and heading out for the 1500 meter walk down to the swim start. 

When I got down there they were announcing on the loud speaker that if you considered yourself and Elite level triathlete, you were eligible for starting in the elite wave that started all together right at 7:30.  I went right in there and was set up perfectly, I got into a pace and hit the swim with no problems at all.  It was not as fast as I would have liked, but I spent a lot of time early on fighting for a good position and I think this lost me some valuable time. I came out of the water in 22:48. I actually think the swim was a little long, that was the 11th best swim and the winner of the swim did not even break 20:00.

T1 was flawless, even with fussing with the helmet. A time of 0:52 seconds.

Sweet helmet. 

Now I was onto the bike. I stayed to my plan and kept the first 1/3 under control. I settled into my pace and then got comfortable. This was the point that I took my gel and started to work.  I really wanted to hammer and I was feeling great. The course was very bumpy and technical but I have been working on my bike a lot in the last few weeks and I felt confident. I came in with my fastest 40k time ever, 59:52. Breaking one of my season goals with breaking 1 hour for 40k.

Now with the problems that I had before the race I did not get the chance to scope out the transition area like I normally would. I came into t2 and started running the opposite way of my gear.  Thanks to my dad, I heard him shouting at me to turn around.  I only lost a few seconds but it was still pretty annoying.  Transition 2 was still fast, and after 1:20 I was out onto the run.

The first 5k I just worked on clicking off the miles.  I was right on pace to break my goal of 40:00. My first 5k was 19:45.  I headed out to the second loop with my parents cheering me on.  I was feeling good and even with some of the mishaps, I was on pace to break my goal.  As I made the turn to go onto my second loop, I saw the finish line and then saw the guy in front of me stop and turn around.  I was confused but kept going.  I passed that guy and realized that I had been mistaken for a duathlete and the actual race director pointed me in the way of the finish line and past the turn towards the second loop.  I had lost 2-3 min running out of the way and getting back on course.  This happened to 5 out of the top 10 Olympic distance racers. After all that had happened I was pretty upset but tried to keep it under control.  I was a bit demoralized when I realized that I was not going to reach my goal because some guy pointed me in the wrong direction.  Still, there was nothing that I could do.  I looked at it as a learning experience and I was happy that these problems happened at a small race like this rather than a more important race later in the season. I finished the run with a time of 43:51.

My finish time was 2:08:44.  I was 9th overall out of a field of almost 500 and I was 1st in my division 18-20.  I think it will score highly and raise my USAT rankings which was one of my main goals going into the race.

Although it was good to learn a few things and gain some experience, I do not think I will be going back to Tri Indy in the upcoming years.

Next up is Naperville sprint triathlon next weekend. This is my fourth year in a row racing in Naperville and I am very excited to have a great race.