Gonna Make a...Jailbreak!

    One week after Warrior Dash Tennessee, the family was together again for another race. This time we were down in Columbia, TN for the Jailbreak Triathlon. It's a team competition. Two people can choose to pair up as Combined or Relay. Both partners canoe together for 3.5 miles down the Duck River. If they are a relay team, one partner does the 8-mile mountain bike ride following the canoe, then they tag off to the other partner, who will do a 2.5-mile trail run. If the team is in the combined category, both partners do the mountain bike and trail run sections of the race and their times are combined.

     My Dad and I raced last year in the Combined category, finishing 2nd. We had a horrible time in the canoe, dropping over 5 minutes to the leaders. We had good enough bike and run times to pull us back up to that runner-up spot. I had the fastest bike time last year and ended up being the 2nd overall finisher, just 42 seconds off the winner, Andy Moore. There was a seperate award for Fastest Bike Time this year. I had my eyes set on that as well as being the first overall finisher. My Dad had not trained as much as last year so we weren't expecting a huge increase in our overall time. Last year, I did many short runs to get ready for the trail run. This year I had done no short runs other than Warrior Dash last weekend. Not to mention I have only ridden my mountain bike one time since Fontana...and that one time was the day prior to Jailbreak. So there were several question marks about how we would compare to last year.

     We rode the shuttle over to the Maury County Jail. That's where the race begins, hence the name. You start in the water behind the jail and paddle downstream to the Chickasaw Trace County Park for the rest of the race. Shannon and my Mom were teamed up to race in the Relay category, with my Mom set to do the bike and Shannon the run.  Shannon has been learning clipless pedals on the bike and took her first fall a few days before the Jailbreak, straining her calf a little. We were unsure how she would do with the run. She had her calf taped with Kinesiotape to help inhibit the gastroc so it wouldn't work so hard during the run.

    I couldn't help but have a little AC/DC going in my head as we sat on the start line. And then we were off...making a jailbreak! We were first out of the hole in the canoe, which was quite the opposite of last year's start. My Dad and I stayed together with our paddling, and kept the canoe in a straight line for the most part, never falling back outside the top 7 canoes. It was a long 35 minutes down the river. We had more current and deeper water this year, which helped us out. My Dad was super competitive and constantly fussing at me to go faster. He was so paranoid we would get too far behind. One canoe had built a good lead, but the others were right in front of us. I just wanted to stay smooth and not use up all my strength in the first part of the race. We reached the shore as the 6th canoe in and I ran up the hill to transition with a canoe time of 35:28. Dad came in at 36:18 as he had problems with his glasses in transition.

     Now we were on my favorite part. I knew there were several people ahead of me, but I wasn't sure how many. I couldn't tell which teams were Relay and which were Combined. I just started chasing everybody I could see. Only one rider gave me trouble with passing. He ended up crashing and I slid by, so he didn't hold me up too long. The trail was slick after recent rain, adding in a little excitement. There were a few really slick areas, but overall the trail didn't slow down much at all. You just had to watch out for angled roots

     By the halfway point of the lap, I had caught everybody that I had seen, but I wasn't sure that I was leading. I just kept pounding the pedals. I didn't know how good my time would be either. I didn't feel 100% on the bike and I was making a lot of little mistakes. You could really tell I haven't been mountain biking a lot lately.

My Dad during the bike section of the race

Me shortly after getting the lead

 

     I was very relieved to come up the final hill and hear someone shout "First bike is coming!" I knew then that I was in front. I clocked a 36:43 bike time. I followed that with a quick transition and then began running like a madman. I wanted to be the top overall finisher so bad! If anybody was going to cacth me they were sure going to have to earn it. I saw one guy while out on the run. In my mind, he was closing in on me. In reality, I was pulling away. But I didn't know that and it made me push super hard to think that he was catching up. I did the 2.5-mile run in 18:55. I was the top overall finisher with a time of 1:31:06. I was 5:49 ahead of the next Combined finisher and 4:04 ahead of the first Relay team. My bike time was also good enough to get the Fastest Bike award.

My Mom on the bike

Me starting my run

     My Dad did not do quite as well as he had hoped, riding a 50:06 loop on the bike followed by a 24:44 run time. That gave us a combined time of 3:22:09, which landed us 2nd place in the Open Male Combined and 3rd overall team. We were both happy with our results considering the amount of training we have done.

My Dad exits the woods at the end of the run

Dad is done

Plenty of racers were still out on the bike course

The last hill before the transition area was steep and slick

     Shannon and my Mom had a good time. They did the canoe in 43:19, then my Mom did the bike loop in 1:15:31. She wasn't too fond of the slick roots, but she made it out and tagged off to Shannon, who then laid down a 29:16 run time. The Kinesiotape must've worked because her calf was not an issue. Their final time was 2:28:06. They finished 4th overall in the Female/Female Relay.

My Mom tags off to Shannon

Shannon enters the woods to begin her 2.5-mile run

A runner going through the thick, green vegetation along the Duck River

Shannon and her pink Kinesiotape

Shannon

Shannon runs around a new berm that bypasses a huge, fallen tree

Shannon hits the finish line

    It was a lot of fun for all of us. We highly recommend this event for some late-season fun. Two of my goals were achieved today. Check the overall win at Jailbreak off my list of events to win. I am still on the hunt for the Combined Team win. Maybe next year...

     "But he made it out, with a bullet in his...back! Jailbreak!"

Female/Female Relay Team podium

Open Male Combined Team podium

Missy Meador and I were the Fastest Overall Female and Male. They gave us really cool canoe paddle trophies.