Race Report: Patriot Half Triathlon by Kayle Shapero

Patriot Half Triathlon
By Kayle Shapero, Boston University Triathlete
Finish: 6:06:21 - 2nd F20-24

To complement Mark’s report from the Minuteman triathlon, here’s an overview of the Patriot’s Half Triathlon, which took place at the same time and location as the Minuteman Sprint at the Cathedral Camp, in East Freetown, MA. The weather was really started heat up in the week leading up to the tri, which made me a little nervous for my first half. We got up at 4am and drove from Boston the morning of the race in order to make it to the course and get everything set up in time for the 7am start. We got to the race course, registered, and headed to the transition area to set up our gear. The half iron transition was next to the Minuteman sprint, and I went to visit Ben, Mark, and my sister (who were all doing the sprint). Everything in the setup went pretty well, except that to my horror, when I turned on my Garmin watch the low battery sign flashed and it immediately turned off. I guess I was going to have to gauge my progress in this tri based solely on the clock. So I guess lesson #1 for the race was to make sure all gear is charged before a race…either that, or get a real bike computer.

SWIM: The swim was a large rectangle in the lake, and the sprint competitors started before us with a smaller version of the rectangle. I watched Ben, Mark, and my sister all head into the water at the mark of minutemen who were actually shooting off rifles. As the half iron waves headed out, I waited in the ranks of the orange caps for our turn to go. The water was quite warm, and I was happy that I had decided to forgo my wetsuit. The pack dwindled in size until it was down to the last two waves, and we waded into the water to await the guns. The swim went pretty well. The water wasn’t too choppy and the buoys were very large and easy to see. The spacing between waves and the size of each wave was ideal as to avoid mass chaos and confusion in the water. Even though the swim is my favorite part, I backed off a little because I was nervous about having enough energy left to be able to finish the race. Coming out of the water I ran into the transition, where to my surprise, most of other competitors were shedding wetsuits and putting on bike shoes at a very leisurely pace. I guess when the race is so much longer the lightning fast transitions don’t make much of a difference.

BIKE: I grabbed my gear and headed out onto the road for the 2 x 29-mile loops of the bike. I didn’t have a working bike computer or a GPS so I had to rely on the two water drops at mile 16 and mile 28. Other than that, I didn’t have a lot to go off of except for time. The course itself was very nice, rolling hills, with a few bigger hills thrown in, but it was definitely a great first half iron course. I got to see Ben, Mark, my sister, and a few other people who had come to cheer me on at the first loop, which gave me some energy to finish up the second loop. The second loop was a little bit less exciting because the field had started to thin out (most of the faster bikers had already passed me by then), but by that time I at least knew where all the hills were! I made it back to the transition area in 3:15 and exchanged my bike for sneakers and headed out for the single loop half marathon.

RUN: For the first few miles of the run I was feeling pretty good, with the exception of some stomach cramps, brought on from the excessive amount of Cliff bars I consumed on the bike. (Lesson #2: Don’t try to stuff yourself with bars on the bike…. it can come back to haunt you on the run). I was actually surprised at all the people I passed who had stopped to walk. Little did I know that it wouldn’t be long before I would be in the same exhausted state? The first few miles of the run were well shaded, but as the miles wore on the shade started disappearing, and it was getting quite hot. Thankfully, they had water stations every mile, which was a tremendous help, not just for the cold beverages, but because I had no other gauge of my progress. The first 9 miles went quite well, and I managed to keep a 9-minute mile pace (according to the water station markers), which I was pretty happy about. At the mile-9 water stop, I decided to stop and walk for a minute so I could properly drink the Heed energy drink they were handing out instead of snorting it up my nose and getting it all over my face. After mile-9 the run started getting pretty tough. The heat was hard to deal with. You could see people snaking all over the road trying to find patches of shade and I could feel my skin burning now that my sunscreen had sweated off. The last three miles were the hardest of the race. I had to stop to walk for a minute at mile-11 and 12. Thankfully I found a running buddy for the last few miles, and he encouraged me to keep on trudging. By this time my 9-minute mile pace had fallen off a bit, but I managed to make it over the finish line in one piece (and still running!). I was so happy to be done! Overall it was a great race, and except for the heat, and the ensuing sunburn, it was the perfect venue for my first half!