Rumpus in the Bumpass International Tri - 2012

First race of the season. And… go!

In the months preceding Rumpus I was thinking, “Yeah, I’m going to start training so early and be so ready!” 

Yeah, not so much. 

With a nagging hip flexor and some IT band issues, I definitely didn’t do as much preparation as I wanted. Instead, my idea was working on plain fitness and technique. During the weeks leading up to game day I did a lot of trail running (serendipitously – I’ll get to this later) and some open water swimming down at Lake Anna to help reacquaint myself with the water. Beyond that and commuting to work on my bike, I barely got out. Alas, it was time to try out all the new upgrades to Valeria:

bike pr0n.

Coming off a pretty good end to my 2011 season, I wasn’t sure what my goals would be. Would Rumpus be more of a practice triathlon to see where my baseline is? Hmm. Really, I just wanted to have a fluid race, just keep up with the pack, and not screw up any of my transitions. This was also my first race with the High Cloud Foundation. The sheer excitement among the Dream Team as race day drew closer was off the charts. Although fellow teammate Alex Nickodem and I were the only High Clouders racing the International distance race, we were still well supported by the rest of the Foundation.

The drive down Friday night was uneventful at best and was elongated by the usual Friday evening rush hour traffic, but I was fortunate to have a friend from DC Triathlon club, Adam Stolzberg, to keep me entertained. We met up with some other DC Tri guys, Ryan Troll and Ben Winterroth, at a restaurant for a pre-race meal of pasta, bread, and maybe some more pasta! Wait... where are the carbs? There was no pasta to be found in the entire establishment. A sweet potato and some biscuits were about as close as we could get. After a disappointing meal we stop by a grocery store before arriving at Russ’s house for a good night of sleep.

This is where things got interesting (no, not like beer and pillow fights).

Backing up a moment, Setup Events had to relocate the course for Rumpus from Lake Anna Marina to a new, 75-acre piece of property a few miles away at Boxley’s Cove. The Race Director shot an email out to everyone announcing that the venue would be relocated… five days before the race. Luckily, the bike course was the same, the swim would be warmer and protected (and pretty smooth), but the run course would be a little more challenging. To quote the email describing the run, “There is one hill at the beginning of the course on a gravel road.” O rly? In all other races, this means packed gravel, much like a running path found around a park or something, so I bring my flats anyway. I thought for a moment about bringing my trail shoes (which I normally keep in my car, anyway, but no, they remained in my foyer by the front door.

As the gang was settling in, we get an email from another friend who scouted the course that evening.  To summarize, bad news bears. What I expected to be reported as gentle gravel came in as heavy rocks, a little grass, and hilly, sandy, rocky conditions. With that (and a few choice, four-letter words), I began making the calls and text messages to get my roommate to put my trail shoes on the front door and find someone to pick them up for me to bring Saturday morning. Oh boy. What was I going to do? Ryan offered up his trainers, which, in any case, would be better than my flats, but I seriously wanted my trail shoes. After some thinking and realization that I’m not going to set any course records, I called off my helpers and took the shoes from Ryan. Yep. I’m just going to cruise this course. Beddy-byes for a few winks, not going to lose any sleep over it, as I was too distracted by sleeping a boat bed.

Everybody look at me, I'm [sleeping] on a mutha effing boat.

Pre Race

Got my baguette, banana, and peanut butter and downed it in a hurry, despite being able to sleep in. We all went out to make last minute fixes to our bikes and make our way to the venue. There, I met up with Alex Nickodem from High Cloud and we started getting amped for the day. Getting my bib went smoothly, but what I really enjoyed was that a digital photo of our driver’s license and USAT card on a smartphone was acceptable for check in. Also, getting green and white striped race socks, with yellow lettering made my morning. Don’t ask why, but I thought it was hilarious.

It might be that my socks say "rumpus."

Swim – 0:29:16

Follow the yellow rock road!

Boxley’s Cove was glassy at the surface and a cool 65ish degrees. Getting down to the water was the first obstacle, as we had a lovely, long section of golf-ball sized rocks to gingerly tip-toe along. Most folks were were there sans sherpa, so not a lot of people wore sandals or other footwear as they journeyed down the gravel road to the swim start. The first wave, all the young bucks, waded out to begin treading water before the horn. Remembering how silly it was for me to start at the front of the pack, I tried my best to migrate to the rear and allow all the speedy guys to start ahead of me. But, as they say, a day late and a dollar short. The swim for me began with a punch in the head. The next few minutes felt like I was playing rugby – in the water. Eventually, things cleared up, but over the first 500 meters or so I couldn’t breathe, my goggles kept leaking, and I felt plain awful. I remembered what Denis, from Wave One Swimming, taught me: breathe right, rotate the body on a pole, and lead with the elbows. Within moments my body was going straight instead of in curves through the water and I found my groove. Around the next couple turns I took a few more blows, and on the back stretch I started to speed up. Before I knew it I was actually passing people.  Huh? I think I may have to spend some more time with Wave One Swimming. I ended up coming out of the water four minutes faster than any previous international distance swim.

That smile is saying, "yay, no gravel!"

Bike – 1:02:27

Given the absurd amount of rocky awfulness between transition and the road, I opted to put my cleats on during T1. As I made my way to the road I saw they put a carpet down which was great, but I wish I had known ahead of time! I'll have to save my flying-squirrel maneuver for another race. Anyway, I jumped on and started pedaling. After botching my nutrition all last season, I decided to actually plan this time. Two gels, one bottle of water. Gu at mile five, Gu Roctane at mile 20 (to kick in around when I start the run), and water every 15 minutes. I managed to pick off a lot of riders during the bike, and only got passed by a handful of other racers. It was a hilly course, but very scenic with a wonderful balance of terrain to keep it interesting. I could cruise at 28 mph for a little while, and be out of the saddle at 16 mph a moment later. For almost the entire race I jockeyed back and forth with another racer, Chris, which we joked about later when I ran into him during post-race festivities. With two loops done, I began stretching my hips out to prepare my body for the run. The end of the bike leg is what really put the "bump" in Bumpass. With so many spectators and flags it was difficult to tell where the dismount line was – I just plain couldn’t see where the transition entrance was. There were no volunteers pointing out the line, as there have been like oft time before. My feet were now out of my shoes and I was still pedaling in, and I look down to see my front wheel passing over a faint pinkish orange line drawn on the asphalt with a tiny word “DISMOUNT” scribbled faintly across the line. Crapola! Within a second I found myself going ass-over-tea kettle as I sailed over my handlebars. At the thought of getting penalized for not dismounting at the line I applied my brakes a little too hard. Luckily, I didn’t hit my noggin, nor did I damage my bike (beyond a few scrapes on non-carbon parts – yay!). 

The Amazing Spiderman heals my road rash. Everybody gets one.

As it turns out, I was not penalized for “dismounting” in the wrong area, probably because there were no officials there to even see it. [Note: Officials immediately remarked the dismount line because people kept missing it. On Sunday, they had quite a few volunteers out pointing out the line and telling riders when to stop.] A little too late for me. I managed to salvage a decent ride – considering the course, I was happy.

Have you ever crashed during a race?

Run – 0:42:14

My T2 time was longer than I expected (48 seconds), but I was a little slower from the crash. I slipped on my friend’s trainers and sped out of the transition zone. It was only during the run that I noticed blood on my hand from arresting my fall. My first mile was around 6:50, over loose gravel back down to the swim entrance, then back up a hill with more gravel. I could feel the rocks slipping out from under my feet as I dashed up the hill and through a grassy field. While I'd normally welcome this in my Saturday trail runs, the sensation of jagged rocks under worn out soles was less than comforting. However, encouragement came from spectators was shouting, “Go High Cloud!” as I dashed by. I can honestly say it was extremely uplifting to have folks there, even people I didn’t know, supporting me. 

Loop one. Look, a smile?

The course took a turn for the worse as we turned onto a rocky road that rolled up and down with large, golf ball-sized rocks and leaves and dirt. Several times I found myself nearly turning my ankle. The run course followed the road down to the water for a hairpin turn around on loose rocks. Going back along the road was this odd, 100 foot spur over sand/loose dirt for a quick out-and-back before returning to more rocky goodness along the road. I found myself skirting the edge of the road running on leaves so I could avoid rolling my foot under and hurting myself. Alex and I were crossed paths and we exchanged a few encouraging words, and I shared the same with Ryan when I saw him. After the first loop I collected my Virginia Triathlon Series bracelet and went back through for another loop – the second more gruesome than the first. 

Loop two. Less smiley. More frowny.

When I saw my friends again, we were all a bit more focused on our footing because of the arduous course and the rising temperatures. I tried to hold my pace and I carefully monitored the numbers on other runners’ calves as I passed. A few people in my age group tried passing me, and as silly as it was, I picked up my pace and wouldn’t let them. Even along the final stretch one guy in my group started pulling in front of me, but I smoked him well before the finish chute. It wasn’t about sprinting for 40^th, it was about making a personal point that I can finish top ten in my age group. I finished 12^th in my age group, outside of tenth by two minutes. Maybe next time.


2:16:31 Finish.

Post-race

Ben Winterroth (1st overall), Ryan Troll, Adam Stolzberg, me.

Being sunny and warm, I found myself a cold beverage, some shade, and some good company. After a little while of recovering and cheering on some friends still on the course, I packed up my gear and headed back for a shower. Overall I’d say the entire day was successful. I hit all of my goals, or at least got pretty close to them, and didn’t hurt myself. I really couldn’t have asked for a better day.

High Cloud Dream Team. Alex Nickodem (2nd, Clydesdayle) and Trevor

I do owe a number of folks some thanks for making the day go so well. Shout out to High Cloud Foundation and teammate Alex Nickodem for all the encouragement and support leading up to the race as we built up our plans of attack and kept up our excitement for the race. Thanks to Denis Crean from Wave One Swimming for helping me with my [terrible] swimming, helping me PR by over four minutes on my swim. Also, big thanks to Gu for providing my nutrition for the day, it really helped me maintain my energy and give me a boost at the end of my bike when I really needed it. Biggest thanks of all goes to the Wodiska family for putting me up the night before the race by warmly opening up their home to me. 

Thanks for reading! 

What is/was your first race of the season?