Savageman Race Report

Short Version:
Savageman Half IM was the hardest race I’ve done yet. But I accomplished my goals of making it up Westernport Wall and finishing the race – which means I’ll have a brick with my name installed in the Wall along with everyone else who made it up and finished the race. I am happy with my race, although the further away I get from it, the more I second guess the effort I put forth. Immediately after the race, I felt like I could check the box on this race and move on. Now, I’m thinking I may have to try again…

Long Version:

I signed up for Savageman several months prior to the race date. I had so much fun being part of a relay (swimming) and volunteering last year that I just had to give the whole race a try this year. I went into this race with two goals in mind: 1) to make it up the Westernport Wall, a 100 foot 31% grade hill; and 2) to finish the race.

Pre-race
When I walked out of the house race morning, the air temperature felt warmer than what I was anticipating. This was good, but it meant second guessing my race attire. It wasn’t until I was in the transition area that I settled on my tri jersey with a long sleeve wicking jersey on top – both of which I would put on after the swim in order to stay as dry as possible. It seemed everyone else was going through the same debate – it was not an easy decision.

Swim
Similar to last year, the swim start was very foggy – but unlike last year, the start time was delayed for 20 minutes. It was still quite foggy when my wave (the first wave), started, but by the time I rounded the orange turn buoy, the sun was out and all was clear. The occasional passing motor boat made for an interesting ocean wave feel on the return leg. My swim was a little slower than I wanted, I think in part because I had a hard time sighting for the first half and secondly because I was purposely conserving energy for the remainder of the race.

T1
The path up to the transition area was long and uphill – true to Savageman style. Along the way I stubbed my toe – but chose to ignore it. Once in transition, I took my time to dry off completely, eat a Luna Bar, take my endurolytes and dress according to plan. The first 20 miles or so was mostly down hill, so it was important to dress warmly enough to be comfortable in the wind but not so warmly that the up hills were uncomfortable. In the end, I feel as though I struck a good balance.

Bike
The first 20 miles was fun, fun, fun! I love down hills. These hills were quite technical, so you couldn’t go at it with abandon, but they were still fast and fun. I was a little concerned though, that with only a few up hills, my legs were not getting the warm up I had hoped for going into the Wall.

Westernport Wall
Despite having come to Savageman last year, I was not able to make it to see the Wall, so on Saturday I checked it out. Driving up the hill that approaches the wall was intimidating in and of itself, but the sight of the actual Wall was awesome http://www.savagemantri.org/Westernport_Wall.html . My first practice attempt, I fell about half way up when my front wheel got stuck in a rut as I weaved up. Not only is the Wall steep, but it is laden with divits and ruts. Finding the right path is as import as leg power if you are going to be successful. So for my second practice attempt, I elected to go straight up the right side, and with a little self encouragement and some cheering from a couple bystanders, I made it up. My confidence got the shot it needed.

As I approached the Wall on race day my nerves were on overdrive. Taking Chas Ryan’s advice, I weaved up the hill approaching the Wall to keep my heart rate down and to keep the legs fresh. The line on the right side was clear when I got to the base of the Wall so I stood up and yelled "GO, GO, GO" to myself until I was up and across the line. And then it was over – I did it. I gave myself a congratulatory yell and then looked up to see that I still had a big hill to climb. Not sure how I missed seeing the hill the day before – in retrospect I was only concerned with the Wall itself but should have looked beyond it. And when I turned the next corner, the hill only got longer! It was clear that the remainder of the bike was not going to be as easy as the first 20 miles.

The Rest of the Bike
It seemed like the last 36 miles were all up hill – and big steep hills at that. The high I felt after making it up the Wall quickly faded as I trudged up one hill after another. Each hill was marked with the length, grade and Cat number. I’m not sure if it helped, but at least it gave me a sense for how long I would have to withstand the misery. On a couple hills, like Killer Miller (the name says it all) I had to weave in order to make up. There were several people on many hills that had to walk, and I knew there was no shame in it, but sill…

If I do this race again, I will not make the mistake of think that the Wall is the hardest part of course. The hardest part is the cumulative affect of all the hills that follow the Wall. I am truly psyched that I made it up the Wall – but next time I want to be strong enough to attack the rest of the course more aggressively.

At one point I started to feel a wet sticky sensation in my right shoe and I was reminded of my stubbed toe. Once again – I had to ignore it, because there was nothing I could do, but hope it wouldn’t affect my run.

T2
Often in races as I approach T2, I have to be reminded to slow down as I approach the dismount line. This time, as I approached I asked the volunteer, as I slowly rolled to the line if I had to get to the line before dismounting. She chuckled, but I sensed she’d already heard the question from previous riders.

I racked my bike and took my shoes off to find the tip of my sock soaked with blood. I was feeling very fortunate that I brought extra socks. I cleaned my foot up and put on the fresh socks. It was a long T2.

Run
I did not have my running legs right away, so I walked out of transition and started running soon after. Fortunately the first part of the run was generally flat, so I could ease into a rhythm. Unfortunately, my toe was beginning to hurt – sort of like a mild sprain. It was more a nuisance, but it was annoying nonetheless. The first lap was really hard. I had to walk up the steep hills, my legs just were not listening to me reason with them. I so wanted to run this whole course…next year (did I just say next year?). I started to feel pretty good the second loop. My toe was not hurting as much and with each step and my legs were loosening up. I was running up the first steep hill of the loop and feeling pretty proud of myself when my left Achilles seized – not too much, but enough to remind me it was there and enough to make me stop running. I started running again and about 5 minutes later my Achilles yelled at me again. How annoying! I tried running with my toes flexed (seemed intuitively the right thing to do), but every couple minutes, it would act up and I would have to stop running abruptly.

Knowing I had to finish the race in order to get my brick, I conservatively jogged/walked the rest of the race. As I approached the finish line, I sped up a little only to be jolted by the pain. I envisioned myself crawling over the finish! But I made it over upright; I got my medal and the satisfaction of knowing I earned a brick in the Wall.

I am proud of my effort. I know I could have run faster, but some things are out of my control. It was a little dissatisfying at first, but then after thinking about it, I realized that I finished a race that many would never attempt. I know I probably should not even attempt to do half IMs at this point in my life as I have so many other things going on, but something keeps drawing me to them. Savageman was a hard race and one that I was pretty sure I would not do again immediately after finishing. But now knowing what I do about the course, I would do things differently – both in training and race execution. So I’ll give it a couple of months and who knows… maybe I’ll try to earn a second brick!