BANDITS CHALLENGE TRIATHLON

Race Site for the Bandits
Triathlon Challenge

I decided to race this weekend because I wanted to clear my mind of not finishing at Eagleman 70.3.  Fortunately, my coach agreed and we decided I should race the Bandits Challenge Triathlon in Wilkesboro, NC-- just a couple hour drive from Chapel Hill. As a few other elite atheltes from the North Carolina area would be racing, it looked like there would be some good competition.   

I traveld to Wilkesboro with a fellow elite triathlete (Mark) and we checked out the course Friday evening. We'd been hearing rumors that the course was tough, but I was pretty sure that all that NorCal hill climbing coudln't be beat. But upon investigating the course I was impressed! The course was packed with hills on the bike and a run that included an 18% hill that we humble racers would have to summit twice! This was no race for the weak.     

Swim -- 19:26 (Fastest split of the day)

There was another strong swimmer  (Dave) in the elite wave and my coach and I decided that the best strategy was to take it out fast and see if I could get away.  My coach did not want me to settle for finding Dave's feet and swimming his pace. At the start, I took the swim out fast. After about 300 meters Dave was on my feet, and I contemplated slowing my pace and letting him pull me.  However, I remembered what my coach wanted me to do so instead of slowing, I surged and created a small gap. After a few more accelerations over the next 500 meters, I expanded the gap to about 20 meters and pulled about 30-40 meters away by the end of the swim. I exited the water with the fastest split of the day and headed into transition in first place.     

Bike -- 1:10:02 (Fastest split of the day and course record)

I learned what Bandits is all about straight out of transition as I took the nasty, steep climb to the top of a dam. I hammered it, and settled into a nice pace. At mile 2, I encountered the longest climb on the course. The climb isn’t very steep (about 7-9% grade), but it is over a mile long. I surged to the top, and looking over my shoulder, estimated that I had expanded the 30 second lead I had in transition into at least a minute.  The remainder of the course is 25 miles of rolling hills with some tough climbs.  I continued to push the pace and I entered the second transition with about a four and half minute lead. 

Run -- 37:47 (Second fastest split of the day)

The run course at Bandits is what makes this race famous. There are three VERY steep climbs, but fortunately, they're not very long.  First,  is the same climb out of the transition area up to the top of the dam at the start of the bike. However, the climb on the other side of the dam that racers climb twice on the two-loop run course is crazy hard.  Words just don’t do it justice. The race director estimates that over 90% of all participants walk the hill during the race. 

After conquering the first climb, running the flat out and back I section, I descended to the other side of the dam and prepared myself for the 18% climb on the way back.  Wow, when I hit the climb it hurt, just like all those super steep hills in San Francisco. Staying focused and keeping my running form, I made it to the top of the hill.  I had to do the out an back section and then the hill one more time.  I had lost a little bit of my lead on the first loop, but still had a gap of over 3 minutes.  After running the out and back, I went down the steep hill and began to think about staying focued on the way back up.  The second trip up the hill was tough.  My quads and calves were screaming, I wanted to walk, but I kept my focus and made it to the top.  I enjoyed the run into the finish.  I was shooting for the course record (2:13:29) and I thought I could have it.  As I ran down the finish shoot, I saw the clock ticking away 2:08:55, 56, 57.  I was very happy I had the course record and put together an exceptional race.  I put my arms up and finished in 2:09:06 and set a new record. Full results here. Winning is always fun, and it helped me keep positive and confident as I move into the next phase of training. Plus, it's fun to race with all of my new training buddies and the Chapel Hill crew had a strong showing. Mark finished 4th overall, and several friends from my swim group also had really strong finishes. It was really nice to see lots of friendly faces out there.

Sunday included a long ride with Elizabeth and Josh.  A perfect end to great week of training and racing.

Happy Father's Day!