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 Swim
Comments: This was my best swim yet. This was also my first Tri-swim with a wetsuit. For it being my best, I still only managed a 46m32s time and while a PR for me, it only netted me a last place in my age group. Oh well, Getting faster all along. Last HIM swim took me an hour and one minute. I was pretty pleased with my time upon getting out of the water. I sighted pretty well throughout, and stayed calm. I followed some feet at various points, but almost always got left behind, before I could find more. This is the part of the race that I would feel confident in already for my first IM. I am no longer worried about completing the IM swim. What would you do differently?: Train more, work harder on my kick.  Transition 1
Comments: 52nd AG, 315th OA. This was a slow transition for me, because the inside of my left leg started to cramp really bad for some reason. This made it really hard to get out of the wet suit, and and I had to spend some time stretching it out prior to getting going. My shoes are new too, so getting in to them was a bit tough as they were still kind of stiff. I'm just not yet into the having them already on the bike and all that. Just not there yet. What would you do differently?: Nothing really. I thought I got out quickly enough given the cramp, and stiff shoes.  Bike
Comments: The bike was just great. I really enjoyed the rolling terrain and the scenery was really nice. I kept a pretty good pace for me. I found a couple of the uphills just a bit challenging, but made up for it on the down hills. I really prefer a rolling bike course to a flat one if only for the mental stimulation it provides with the changes. I managed to stay aero for the whole of it, minus a few times where I needed to stretch or climb. I liked the two loop lollipop course because it gave me a chance to know what was coming for the second lap and plan for it to some degree. I felt tired of riding by the end, but it wasn't too long nor too short of a ride. I got off feeling pretty ready for the run. I was pleased with the sub 3 hour time, and eager to run a sub 2 hour HM, for what I was expecting a sub 6 hour HIM. I had to pee pretty bad by the end, and was hoping to run across a porta potty in transition. I was having a hard time determining if I wanted to pee during transition and affect that time or pee on the run, and affect that time. I decided to go in transition. I just couldn't make it happen while actually riding. What would you do differently?: I guess I could have actually peed while on the bike. Might have to practice that once or twice. Transition 2
Comments: 48th, 274th. Yeesh, Once off the bike, that weird cramp in my inner left thigh seized up again. I managed to stretch it out a bit, and change shoes. I grabbed my preferred running sunglasses, decided to skip the had for this one, and headed out feeling pretty good. I was hoping to find a port-a-potty prior to the timing line so I could pee while on transition time. I was still of the idea that I could get a sub 2 hour HM and didn't want to have to stop to pee during the run. What would you do differently?: Nothing again. All went well. I could probably have hurried this one a bit more, but I really had to pee also, and was keeping an eye out for a potty. No such luck.  Run
Comments: So I headed out of transition with high hopes for a sub 2 hour HM, and a sub 6 hour total. I still needed to pee. No pottys anywhere. Jogged for the first mile or so straight up hill looking for a place to pee. I finally found some woods and veered off to take care of business, just after the first turn on the road. I was feeling pretty good after that, and picked up the pace. There was a nice down hill at that point after the initial painful uphill at the start. I started to notice that my chest was hurting a bit with the "raspiness" that remained from the cold I had during the previous week. First two miles was under 18 minutes and I still had hopes for the sub 2 hour... Until just before mile 3 when I ran into a long uphill. I just could not maintain a run anymore and began the walk/run I maintained for the rest of the course. I took advantage of running the downhills, and some of the uphills when I could. I really liked the end of the loops where the finish was. I wasn't fond of the 3 loop course format though. After the first loop, Knowing that I would have to do it two more times was more intimidating than anything else. I ended up with a relatively disappointing 2h27m20s time. Oh well, still my best run split of an HIM. I was pleased to see the finish, and glad to be in in under 2.5 hours. What would you do differently?: Hill repeats somehow, somewhere. Post race
Warm down: Not much warm down routine. I had a really tough time climbing the stairs after the finish to get back up to where the transition was, and had to stretch for a while just to get up the stairs. I cleaned up transition and packed everything up, and then moved down to the grass to watch the awards.I was somewhat disappointed in the food selection at the end. There was only some bananas and lays plain potato chips. I was looking for some greater variety of snacks to munch on at the end... and some beer would have been nice. What limited your ability to perform faster: Some Grief, and travel, and a cold during the previous week. The tough hills on the run. Event comments: Great race overall, perfect weather, challenging course, and an overall PR, and PRs in each split. Last updated: 2011-12-26 12:00 AM
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75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 285/365
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 48/55
Well this was a tough week to have prior to a race. (This is where the excuses will be). I made a 12 hour trip to Florida and back for my Grandfather's funeral and got back Friday morning. While on that trip I managed to catch a bit of a cold, and spent the week coughing and sniffling. By the time of the race it was mostly just some raspiness in my chest, and some minimal coughing. Spent most of Friday gathering up stuff, planning and packing for this race's trip. I left Friday evening around 8pm. I had planned on getting a hotel that night, once I got into town, but since it was already late, I figured I would just curl up in the back of my SUV to get some sleep before the race. I woke up with cramps up the inside of my left thigh around 4am, stretched, and slept further until about 5am. I headed on over to the site feeling surprisingly better rested than I expected. The adrenaline was kicking in. I got my race pack, and began to unload the car and set up my transitions. Since I packed quickly, I just threw everything in the car and set up required a bit of organization effort, that isn't usually necessary. Also, Once I was fully set up an official told me to move, as I was one rack away from where I was supposed to be, so moving took a few minutes too. This put me a bit behind as I usually like to be all completely ready to go and then have a good half hour to hour to just sit, stretch and think before the start. Once finished, I found I had about 15 minutes is all. Nicely enough the race started 15 minutes late which gave me another 15 minutes to prep. I was worried with the fog on the lake and the late start that the swim might end up being cancelled like my last HIM at White Lake the year before. It wasn't though and I was pleased.
On the way over to the race I ate a huge cinnamon bun, and drank a bottle of water with caffeine. Once I was all set up in Transition, I had about 15 minutes, and then another 15 minutes with the delay. I drank a Gatoraide pre-race thing, then spent a few minutes stretching and warming up. 15 minutes before the start a went ahead and put on the wetsuit, and took a brief swim. I found the water to be perfect in temperature. It was nicely warmer than the bay swims I had done on previous weeks in preparation for this. I felt great prior to the swim, with just a bit of concern for the raspiness in my throat, but put it out of my mind quickly not wanting to make excuses before the race even starts.