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MastrBrewr
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Joined: 24 Sep 2003
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 Posted: 08/14/05 - 21:53 Post subject: Bandit's Challenge Race Report (w/ Pics)
This race is billed as being one of the toughest on the NCTS circuit. It lived up to the hype. I had a very nice week leading up to the race. I got a lot of rest and I was thoroughly hydrated.
Pre-Race:
Woke up, ate a banana, started drinking some Amino Vital and grabbed a bagel to munch on while on my way to the race site (about 2 minutes away). Got to the site and worked on setting up my spot in the transition area. Hopped on my bike and rode about 3 miles to warm up a little.
7am:
I get in the water and swim about 100 yards or so to get used to the lake. The water was excellent - 84 degrees, relatively clear and very calm. One problem: no water safety crew. The race director informs us that they are going to have to shorten the swim course from 1500 meters to 750 meters because of the lack of personnel. The crowd cheers a little and likes the idea of a shortened swim. Until one of the elites in the water utters "Well let's just do two laps."
After about 30 seconds, the RD agrees and that's the plan. We'll swim one lap, get out of the water, run 100 yards back to the start and swim another lap. Keep in mind I have not trained for this type of swim. I just knew my heart would explode after running and getting BACK into the water. So after a 40 minute delay, we get under way.
Swim:
I started out pretty wide. My heart rate never got too high and I never got out of breath and I never started to panic. This also meant I was going really slow and I could feel my top causing some drag in the water (especially w/ the back pocket. I could feel it ballooning). The swim was kinda uneventful, which is a blessing. The lake was a joy to swim in. Fnished the first lap in about 17 minutes. The second lap felt a little quicker, but it was probably the same or slower. On the way back in, the sun started to get in my eyes.
T1:
Tried something new this time. Instead of having my shoes clipped into the pedals, I decided to leave them off and put them on in T1. It seemed to go smoothly.
Bike:
Immediately out of T1 is a nasty steep climb. Short, but steep. I'm pretty sure everyone had the granny gear. Once up the hill, we ride over the dam and out onto the country roads. I downed my first shot of PowerGel. Two miles into the bike is the hill for which the race is named, Bandit's Beast. It's not totally steep, but the road winds and it's well over a mile of varying gradients. The rest of the course is roling hills with some good climbs. We got pretty spread out fairly quickly. I rode close some dude on a Softride most of the race. We passed each other every couple of miles or so. Mile 15: Water bottle hand-off - got 24 oz. of nice cold water which was a welcome break from the Ultima.
At mile 16, I went for another shot of gel, but I didn't rip the top off very well. I decided to try and squeeze to force the gel out. Dumb idea. The pack exploded and gel spewed on my arm, handlebars, hands, etc. I'm sure I looked pretty goofy licking my arms as I rode through the countryside.
One mile from T2 and we turn off the highway to come back to the park. My rear wheel felt a little dumpy in the turn and I looked down to see it was starting to go flat. Slow leak. If you're gonna flat in a race, you can't really pick a better time to do it. The leak was slow enough for me to nurse the bike back to T2.
T2:
Had an excellent dismount, left my shoes clipped in and hopped off barefoot. Racked my bike, took another shot of PowerGel and for some reason, my shoes did not want to slide on. The sole of my right shoe kept sliding up into the toe box. After about 45 secound and 5 tries, the right shoe went on.
Run:
Remember that nasty hill from the start of the bike. Yup, gotta run up it. Holy crap that hurt. I continued over the dam and out towards the park entrance. he sun was in full force now and it was getting really, really hot. I took in fluids at every aid station I saw (every mile). 2 miles into the run we go down a steep hill on the other side of the dam then back up a little steep hill. The turn around and go up the really big hill. Words can't do this thing justice. Almost EVERYONE decided just walk up this thing. I did. Back at the top of the dam, we run across it again. End of Loop 1. Yup, we gotta run all that crap again. This time, almost everyone was wheezing on the big hill. I felt like curling up in the fetal position on the side of the road and crying "No Mas!" I started to realize I may have taken in too much fluids on the run, my stomach was feeling bloated and I was still overheating. Finally! The top of the dam - run back across and down the other side to the finish line.
Right at the line, volunteers had towels soaked in ice water and were draping them over our heads as we finished.
Stats:
Swim 1.5k: 38:00
T1: 2:16
Bike 45k: 1:33:55
T2: 2:13
Run 10k: 1:00:51
Total: 3:17:12
14 of 20 - Age Group (Male 25-29)
125 of 190 - Overall Male
Notes:
This race was not intended to be an A race. Just a fun outting in the town I grew up in. Didn't really have a goal time, but wanted to be fairly strong in each leg. I need to be more agressive in the water. I think the more experience I get, the better I'll be at it. The bike went well, but to be honest I don't really keep my bike maintained as well as I should. That limited what I did on the bike. The hills really killed my legs on the run. Those things are beasts.
This was the longest race I've done, my second Olympic distance tri (the bike was 5k further than my first Olympic). I think I'll be in good shape to finish the Half Ironman in September.
Swim start:
Going to T1:
Up the hill on the bike:
Coming home:
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JACKED UP
PRESIDENT
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Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 21238
Location: www.johnnydu.com
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 05:18 Post subject:
Excellent Job MB  Awesome report and great pix too! 
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Floridaboiler
POTFH
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Joined: 18 May 2002
Posts: 11322
Location: Jacksonville, Florida
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 05:31 Post subject:
| JACKED UP wrote: | | Excellent Job MB Awesome report and great pix too! |
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Cappy
Excelent
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Joined: 16 May 2002
Posts: 27368
Location: Spreadsheetylvania
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 05:43 Post subject:
Nice race
Love the T1 pix
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rolling rock
The Pinball
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Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 16218
Location: unknown zone
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 07:15 Post subject:
very nice race MB! pictures are great but now they've turned to X
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robp
Pyromaniac
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Joined: 26 Jul 2002
Posts: 16242
Location: Waiting in line at the beer store...
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 07:18 Post subject:
Nice job Brewer!
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RunningCircles
Newbie
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Joined: 14 Aug 2005
Posts: 10
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 09:23 Post subject:
Sweet - looks like you had lots of fun and the weather appeared to be perfect.
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roughausen
Member
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Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 468
Location: Ohio
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 10:07 Post subject:
great job - those pictures almost make me want to give the triathlon a go (except that swimming part  )
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purple hayes
Frightened Inmate #2
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Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 14462
Location: ON YOUR LEFT!
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 10:16 Post subject:
| roughausen wrote: | | great job - those pictures almost make me want to give the triathlon a go (except that swimming part ) |
There's a sport similar to the one you're describing. I just can't put my finger on the name of it though.
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Pug
The Movie Geek
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Joined: 21 Aug 2003
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 10:23 Post subject:
That T1 pic scares me. Nice job, though.
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JUJR
Grunt
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Joined: 20 Feb 2005
Posts: 1970
Location: www.johnnydu.com
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 10:44 Post subject:
excellent report! I felt like I was right there with ya!
Good job! 
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gretriever
Hipster Doofus
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Joined: 16 Jul 2003
Posts: 19385
Location: A moving target in a firing range.
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 11:41 Post subject:
| Pug wrote: | | That T1 pic scares me. Nice job, though. |
 and
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TriBob
Member
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Joined: 29 Aug 2002
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Location: Lost in Transition
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 12:45 Post subject:
Nice Race. You might want to invest in a gel flask. 
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MastrBrewr
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Joined: 24 Sep 2003
Posts: 6974
Location: outside
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 12:51 Post subject:
| TriBob wrote: | | Nice Race. You might want to invest in a gel flask. |
I have several, but the freebies I get are all in packets.
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ShannonG
Member
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Posted: 08/15/05 - 16:06 Post subject:
How eerie is this? Your splits are nearly identical to my hubby's at Bighorn last weekend.
Great race!
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