Scoggins Valley Sprint... Finally!

Last Saturday was the Scoggins Valley Sprint Triathlon at Hagg Lake. I didn't start the day out the on the right foot. Usually I like to get to the races very early. I hate being rushed when setting my stuff in transition and when putting on my wetsuit. For some reason I didn't allow much time to drive out there when making a plan for when to leave. We ended up getting there with only about 40 mins to spare. I was out of it for some reason. I tried to rack my bike in the wrong row. I tried to put on my wetsuit over my cargo shorts. I was a little worried about how scatter brained I was. I got in the water to warm up after the Olympic distance racers started and swam around. I felt good, but wasn't my normal nervous self. I was just kind of there. The race started and I went out hard to the first buoy about 250 meters out. There were 77 guys in the men's race and we all started together. It also felt like we all reached the first buoy at the same time. I got a little beat up try to go around it. Major traffic jam. After making the turn I was still stuck between some folks. I started having a hard time getting a good breath of air and felt like I was hyperventilating. I slowed my stroke and calmed myself down. Within a few strokes I was in a rhythm again and started to pick up the pace. I rounded the last buoy and picked it up again to the swim the finish. Out of the water my heart rate spiked. We had to run up hill to the transition. I quickly changed and jumped on my bike. While in transition I saw Trevor. We are usually pretty evenly matched at this distance and have done several races this year. I knew he would give me a run for my money. I passed right away on the bike as he was adjusting his shoe. Within in a mile he passed me back but slowed a bit right after. I picked it up to see if he could hang with me and passed him again. That was the last I saw of him on the bike. I felt great, I hammered the hills, both up and down and tried to keep my HR at about 175. Since the Olympic distance race was already in progress I couldn't tell if the people I was passing were in my race or not. With about a mile to go a motorcycle passed me and slowed. At first I thought he was watching to make sure I wasn't drafting, but there was no one around. He just hung in front of me. Then I realized I must be leading. I came into transition and there were no other bikes there. What a weird thing to see. I had a quick transition and took off on the run. As I ran out of the parking lot onto the road I saw Trevor coming in on his bike. I had about 2 mins on him. After about a mile my legs loosened up and I was able to pick up the pace. The run course is an out and back so once I turned to come back I would be able to see how far ahead I was. After turning I didn't see Trevor until almost 3 mins. At this point I figured I had it. But I didn't want to back off just in case. I made sure to keep my HR at 180 knowing this was about as fast as I could go. I ended up finishing the race in 1 hr. 7 min and 20 sec. My goal was 1:08. It felt really good to finish so strong. Next Triathlon is Soma in AZ o 10/28.