Race Report

Today was a rough one at the Diamond in the Rough International Triathlon, but it was a blast and an absolute pleasure to complete. Overall Time: 3:02:49, one minute slower than the Rock Hall International in May. Swim Split:38:46 Bike Split: 1:33 Run Split: 44:45 Waking up late I rushed out of the house after quickly cooking up my steel cut oatmeal and throwing gear in the car as I checked it off my list. Should have added my nutrition to that list because once I started setting up in T1 I realized I had no nutrition at all-just two water bottles for the bike: one bottle of Gatorade and one bottle of water. I'm running late so brush it off and get set up-all ready for the swim now. The swim was a simple one lap one miler and sighting was easy with the large orange and yellow buoys. I'm a slow swimmer so intentionally placed myself towards the back of the pack to avoid getting run over. While Piranha Sports allows wet suits at all their races, the water was 77 F, too warm for my blood to wear a wet suit. Plenty of people did and probably had a bit of an advantage but I was out to have a good time, not vie for a podium slot.

Part of the reason I arrived sans comida is my previously designed plan to bring real & solid food as opposed to my long course gel nutrition. Well-I forgot to add all that to the list, so armed with my salt tabs, bottle of Gatorade, and bottle of water I'm off. It's a hilly course, nothing like Jeju and Korea in general but enough that people were talking about it at the finish. Views were good and there was an overall altitude gain of about 300 feet, mostly climbing the first half and coming down on the back side. The race crew did a great job of marking off street damage with orange paint and it helped a lot. I nearly hit 40 mph coming down the last hill and was hanging on for my life, super fun. I attribute my slower bike time here (17 minutes) to the hills and my lack of nutrition, but I was really hoping to not have stomach problems on the run. I stopped putting fluids in at about 30 minutes out but could tell I was dehydrated now, so I accepted the cold water from the aid station and cooled off a little bit. Turns out I had only two salt capsules on the bike but I used them both, I don't think I realized how warm it was until I started the run. I was dehydrated a little and I knew it before I got off the bike. I felt the cramps coming on at about mile .75. I'd taken another salt tab right when I got off the bike and I took another one when I felt the cramping start. At 1.75 miles I had to stop, sit down and stretch and eat two more salt tabs. No stomach problems though!! At around mile 2.2 the sodium seemed to be finding its way to my legs and cramping had subsided. Aid stations had both Gatorade and water and they were stationed about every mile. The route went right along the Susquehanna River in Perryville, MD and there was a large VA complex that we ran by. Seemed like an odd place for one but the water front was nice. Senior Citizens handled the manning of most of the aid stations and a local motorcycle club, perhaps comprised of vets, were manning the bike route warning of sharp corners and stopping traffic. They did a great job and I was compelled to thank them all. We all know these races don't happen without volunteers so my hats off to them. Just after mile 3 I had a resurgence of cramping in my quads but it never rose again enough to slow me down. I finished with some soreness but none the worse for wear. It felt great to finish and I'd definitely do another Piranha Sports Race.