I Love the Tavern Race Report

1:16:23/8th Overall/1st M 30-34

Last Sunday I participated in the I Love the Tavern Triathlon.  This race holds a bit of a special place for me because it was the first triathlon I ever did back in 2007.  I always make sure to include it on my race calendar because of the nostalgia factor.  I knew that this year it would be especially challenging because I would be racing in the middle of a big block of training and my legs were going to be particularly tired.  In fact, the day before the race I rode 105 miles and had one of the best long rides I have ever done.


Another problem leading up to this race was that I hadn't been getting enough sleep.  I had only gotten 5 hours of sleep for three nights in a row.  I mention this not as an excuse but because I need to be critical of this aspect of my training.  I have the tendency to skimp on sleep at times and I know that I can't adequately recover without the proper amount of sleep.  This is something that I need to focus on in the next two months leading up to Ironman.

The morning of the race was fairly uneventful.  I woke up at 4:30 am and had a banana with peanut butter and a cliff bar.  I had already packed everything for the race and I left for the race site around 5:15.  I went through typical pre-race rituals of setting up the transition area, getting body marked and picking up my timing chip.  I did a quick easy spin on the bike to make sure that everything was running smoothly and I did a quick half mile jog to "wake" the legs up.  I could tell during my warm up run that my legs were pretty crispy.

The Tavern race course has gone through several variations since 2007.  The bike and run course are always the same but the swim course changes quite often.  The swim course has changed several times over the years and has depended on river conditions and where the race director was allowed to start the swim course on any given year.  This year, the swim course was the same as 2010 and included a point to point down river swim.  Based on the swim, the only time I could compare this race to was my 2010 race time.  My time this year was significantly better than 2010 and represented about a 4 minute PR.

SWIM- 7:26

The swim was fairly uneventful and there was plenty of room to spread out and find clean water.  My wave went third with male and female aqua bikers starting in the first and second waves.  The waves were spaced out enough that I only started catching the wave before me at the very end of my swim.  No issues there.  Strategically I did not pick a great line for the swim.  I started out a bit too wide and should have taken a more direct line towards the shore.  By staying super wide I think I added a bit of distance to my swim and probably added a few seconds to my time.  I felt fine, but my time was slow.  Overall I was disappointed with my swim time and think I could had done better.

T1-1:10
Typically slow Danny transition.  Out of the water, grabbed the bike and ran to the mount line.  I had a bit of trouble clipping into the pedals and probably fumbled around for a good 10-15 seconds before I got clipped in and on my way.  At some point I need to devote some time to improving at this because I am terrible at it.

BIKE- 46:52/ 24.1mph/ Avg Power- 274 Watts

The bike felt okay.  It didn't feel as bad as I was expecting, but I didn't feel great.  I had trouble getting my power numbers as high as they should have been for a race of this distance.  For a sprint race I should have been riding much closer to my FTP, but I just couldn't get there.  My legs just didn't seem to want to push more than 285-290 Watts.  Every time I would get my power up in the 280's my legs started telling me no.  I wasn't particularly tired, I just couldn't get my legs to respond.  The bike course was a bit crowded as the aqua bikers were already out in force.  I was able to distract myself by picking my way through the crowds.  There were a few times I ran into a few clogged sections of the bike course but nothing that caused any major problems.  The bike course is a simple "L" shaped out and back.  It is mostly flat and and fast with one large hill at the turn around.  Once I realized that I wasn't going to be getting my power where it needed to be, I just focused on trying to keep a smooth cadence with power in the 270's.  I was able to be the first triathlete back into the transition area which is always exciting and it is fun to hear the crowds cheer when you pull in.

T2- :50
My second transition was actually pretty good.  I got a good dismount and was quick getting my running shoes on and out onto the run course.  One of my best transitions this season for sure.

Run- 20:05/ 6:29 per mile

The run is where I felt the worst, but it was my best leg from a time standpoint.  I was very happy to run 6:29 pace on legs that were "shelled".  The Tavern run course is fun because much of it is on trails. It beats the monotony of a straight out and back road course.  Since I was the first guy out on the run course, my main goal was stay out front as long as I could.  I knew the real speedsters would be hunting me down and hot on my trail.  Sure enough I got passed about a mile into the run.  I tried to focus, run my race, and stay within myself.  My goal was to minimize the damage and hold off as many runners as I could.  Unfortunately, 4 guys passed me on the run.  There were also another few guys in the 40+ wave that ended up with faster times.  A few of the guys that passed me were some of the younger Endorphin Fitness racers.  I have to tip my hat those guys.  They can really run!!!!  It is definitely demoralizing when the young dudes run past you and have ages of 14/15/16 on their leg.  Michael Harlow does a great job training those kids to run fast and close out races.

Overall, I am pleased with the result given how fatigued I was.  I PR'd the course by over 4 minutes and had a pretty decent race.  I wish that my swim and bike were faster but I have to cut myself some slack for having ridden 5 hours the day before.  I think there is definite benefits to racing tired, and it certainly makes you tougher.  I am very pleased with where I am in my training have continued a trend of setting a PR at every race this season.  Things are looking up and I am staying focused on my training.  I am looking forward to hitting the next two months hard and really finishing out my training strong prior to Louisville.

I would also like to give a special congratulations and shout out to CVE's own Dave Luscan for winning the aqua bike national championship.  A truly impressive feat and he dominated the field.  Read about his amazing performance here...Dave Luscan Wins Aquabike National Championship!!!!