Race Report: Ft Ritchie Sprint Triathlon

This post took longer than I wanted to get this review up.  Two Sundays ago, I participated in the 5th Annual Ft Ritchie Triathlon.  This is a local triathlon nestled in the Cactoctin Mountains of Maryland between Frederick and Hagerstown.  It is very close to Camp David, the presidential retreat also in the same mountain area.  The grounds used to be an Army institution but it was closed in the mid 90s and the community has been trying to revitalize the grounds ever since.  It is a great venue for triathlon since it has a limited access lake, very little traffic, a huge field for parking and a community center complete with showers for after.

A portion of Lake Royer at the Fort

Last year, I did the Olympic distance race as my second triathlon ever.  This year, I opted for the Sprint distance as I would be only four weeks after my full Iron-distance and didn't want to commit if I didn't recover properly.  That being said, it was also my first Sprint distance race.  I just haven't ever done one. The idea of being done in under 2 hours was exciting after the 14 hour full experience.  

Race Arrival:

We arrived Saturday for packet pickup.  Our friend, Lauren, came down from Plymouth, Mass to join us in this race.  We were so excited to see her since it has been a while.  Because it is a small race, packet pickup took all of 5 minutes.   We were the first in line.  After more from our group of friends arrived, we scouted out the swim and drove the bike course.  Since I had done it before I took everyone on the scenic tour to see the roads and turns.  This is a course that even if you don't get a chance to ride it, you can get an impression from driving it.   It was very helpful as there are some rough patches, hills and newly paved areas one the course.  

We then went about 15 minutes north to our hotel across the border in PA.  After checking in, we had dinner at the Waynesburger restaurant.  You would think is a hamburger joint but in reality is a really good Greek place.  They do have burgers but their Greek menu (falafel, gyros, etc) is the real treat.  Nothing like fueling up on falafel.  

Race Day:

We began the 15 minute drive from the hotel to the race start around 5am.  We ran into very dense fog on the way which made for an interesting trip.  We couldn't see more than a foot in front of the car so I wondered how sighting would be for th swim and on the bike.  It was also raining the whole time.  This was worrisome as the fast descent on the bike would get a little dicy with speeds over 40mph and slick roads.  The forecast said it would clear up so I was hopeful. 

Swim (16:28):

Exhausting is the word for the swim.  There were only two start waves for the spring: men and women, so we had all of the men at once.  The lake isn't that big and it was a challenge to navigate people through the first half of the course.  I decided to stay to the back and outside.  I knew I'd gain some distance but I didn't want to get hit.  In reality, I should have started further up because I ended up having to swim through people who were not swimming straight or who were significantly slower.

After getting out of the washing machine swim pack, I started to open up a bit on the swim.  I just couldn't seem to swim straight.  I kept fighting myself and having to correct every time I sighted.   I just kept thinking that is was only 750m but it felt like an eternity.   I didn't have a GPS watch on to see how much distance I gained but I know I was far off track and had to correct multiple times.   Near the middle of the course, I did get kicked in the face.  That didn't help my swimming straight either.   This was the first time that I did cut my lip as I tasted blood from getting kicked.  Great.  

I was thankful to be out of the water. Usually, I enjoy the swim more but not this time.   I just wanted it to be done.

My swim wave (I'm somewhere in the middle splash).  

T1 ( 1:39):

Everything was wet.   It had started to rain and the bottom line was that everything was wet.   The forecast was wrong and it was even raining harder as I went into T1.  There was a little bit of a run from the swim exit to T1 and I ended up walking that.  Once in T1, I looked over my gear and decided against socks since it really didn't matter at this point.  I usually don't like to risk blisters but everything was soaking wet and I wouldn't have been able to get the socks on anyway.  I grabbed a gel and headed off.

Figuring out what to do with my sunglasses.  

Bike (56:13):

The bike is a challenge on a good day.  It is a 15 mile bike.  There are a few short steep climbs and a very long 5+ mile climb at the last portion of the course.   It is a categorized climb (at Cat 3) according to most bike profiles.  The plus side is that you get a nice descent but what goes down must come up when your course is an out-and-back.  The sprint course simply goes down the hill and right back up.  The oly athletes get about 10 miles on flat and gently rolling farmland before going back up the big hill.  

It rained pretty hard for the first five miles, so you had to be careful not to crash.   This was my biggest worry of the day.  The descents here can be very fast (even I had speeds of over 40mph last year) so if you crash, you fall hard.  I wasn't going to go too slow but had to be mindful of the turns, traffic and loose gravel on the sides of the road.  I went out with the mindset of not racing but that didn't last.  

As I've posted many times, my tri bike isn't really set up for climbing. I have an 11-25 cassette on both it and the road bike so I have pretty limited options in switching out gears for hilly courses.  I'm tempted to steal my wife's 12-32 one of these times.   At some point, I'm going to actually buy a cassette for hillier courses.  I'm also a tiny guy and I have very limited shear leg strength.   I knew some of the steeper sections would definitely be out of the saddle.  

I accelerated gradually through the descent and increased my speed as long as it felt safe.  By the middle of the descent, I was all out.  Initially I was passed by a few people but eventually nobody else passed me and I was the passer.   About a third of the way down the hill (mile 5ish) came the point where nobody passed me on the bike for the rest of the route.  I passed a fair amount of bikers on the way up the long climb.  It was a tough climb but I managed about 90% of it in the saddle.  I kept a nice cadence and just took it steady, picking off one person ahead of me at a time.  

Before I knew it, the bike was over.  Oh, the joys of a sprint.  

T2 (1:05):

I had a little trouble getting my wet cycling shoes off.  They were squishy by this point.  My wife came up and told me my friend and training partner, Bob, had just left transition.  I knew he could outrun me but I wasn't that far behind.  So off I went on the chase.  

Run (23:28):

I felt good on the run.  I spotted Bob about  a minute ahead of me and probably less than a quarter mile of distance.  The run course winds its way through the old buildings on the fort and is a mixture of road, crushed gravel and a section of grassy trail.  It also has some elevation changes and a steepish hill in the middle around mile 2.  I'd done the course last year, so I knew the challenges.  This time I only had to do one loop for the sprint.  

Since I was feeling good, I ran it like a 5k and pushed through.  I knew I wouldn't be able to reel Bob in since we have pretty similar run speeds at the 5k distance but I tried to at least not let him get away.  I passed several people on the run.   Quick pick ups at the water stops here since the end was only a few miles away.   Thankfully it stopped raining at this point and my run shoes were not as squishy as my cycling shoes.  As I rounded the final two turns, I knew I had been going at a pretty good clip and didn't manage to catch Bob but we had an almost dead-even run split.

My wife is jealous because I always get good race photos.  

(That's because I look out for the cameras) 

Overall (1:38:51):

Overall, I came in 27th and placed 3rd in my age group, my first AG podium in road racing or triathlon.  I was genuinely surprised to see my AG podium.   It felt good because despite the horrendous swim, I still was happy overall with my race and especially with my run.

Look Ma, I finally get to stand on a box.   

(I'm also tall enough to be even with them despite the differing box heights)

One of the interesting things from this race is that I did not wear or use a GPS watch, bike computer, power meter, heart rate monitor or any other gadget.  The only thing I had was a simple chronograph stopwatch.  I'd done this before in road races and posted my best times.  It might be something to try in short races or races where I know the course.  If I know where I am and race by feel, I always seem to do better.  I think I get in my head too much when obsessing over the numbers.  

The overall lesson:  I'm not sure how I feel about the sprint distance.  In one respect, it was good to do a race and be done in an hour and a half.  There is less planning for nutrition, bathroom breaks and all of the other logistics that go with long course.  Coming off of a full Iron distance race, that was a welcome change.  On the other hand, because it is a sprint the level of effort is constantly high.  My heart rate was always high and there was no time to settle or rest.  This was an all out from gun to finish race.  This was indeed a race.  I felt it afterward.  Starting to feel more inclined toward the long course.

For the rest of the season, I have an Olympic (Baltimore Tri) and another spring (TriRock Clearwater). I guess more speed intervals are in my future.