Kring & Chung Newport Beach Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The gun went off and waded out through the mud, that bay is MUDDY. A few people went balls to the wall but I knew I wanted to pick my line and ease into the first leg. I hadn't been in the pool for about 2-3 weeks so I knew I wasn't going to have the best swim. The first buoy was about a 100 yards out and then we had to turn left. I think I swam with my head out of the water all the way out to the first turn. Because I went in slow I was behind some people that were slow and therefore I wanted to be able to see where I could pass, which I was doing with my head out of the water....weird. At the first turn I picked my line and saw some open water and took it. Of course when I started to swim normally my body freaked out as it always does because I can't see in the bay. I really wonder when and if that is going to go away. It's very annoying and my HR shoots way up. After struggling with it a few times I settled in breathing every stroke to the right for sighting and every once in a while to the left to see where people were. It ended up working really well. I swam very straight and got into a really good rythem. I think this was the best OWS I've ever had. I passed a lot of people and felt really strong. Funny, I thought it would be my worst part of the race. The times are a little skewed as well because once out of the water you had to run up an embankment and through the sand (luckily there was a guy with a hose) and then zig zag through the parking lot to the timing mat at the beginning of transition.

Oh yeah, at the end of the swim I swam until I touched the bottom and immediately tried to stand up. Bad idea, my left leg sunk into the mud at least a foot. I pulled it out and belly crawled up as far as I could and then got out. It was lucky the guy with the hose was there.

Start off in the front and be more confident. I would also train properly.....

I already had my cap and goggles off and my wetsuit half way. I stripped it off and found mud all up my legs from when I tried to stand up to early. Luckily I had a brought an extra bottle of water to clean up with and used that and an extra towel to clean up. I put on my helmet, glasses, socks and shoes, grabbed my bike and ran out.

Not get mud all up in my wetsuit.

I had a little trouble getting my left shoe clipped on but once I did I took off. I was a bit chilly but that passed pretty quick. Luckily I've ridden the course many times, so I was familiar with it. I felt pretty good so after a short while I put it in the big ring and tried to push it. I think that was a bad idea. Because I haven't been working out my fitness was not there. I kept at it though and thought I did pretty well considering. Oh yeah, I noticed about 1/2 through that my feet were numb. I thought that they were just cold and that they would warm up but they didn't.

Train more.

I went pretty quickly but had some trouble with my shoes because my feet were numb. Luckily I had put the Yankz on the day before and they worked out really well.

Nothing

My feet were dead. Running through transition was tough and I actually thought about stopping because I'd never felt them like this. I put the notion out of my head quickly and just said I'll do what I can to finish and then go from there. I can only imagine what I looked like when I was running because I felt like my feet wouldn't support me. Perhaps when the pictures are done we'll find out. I got passed a lot but it didn't bother me because A) I hadn't trained B) been on meds and C) couldn't feel my feet. At about the mile mark a guy was coming up on my fairly slow and he was huffing and puffing like he wasn't going to make it. He finally got up next to me and I asked him how we was doing. He said he was thinking about jumping on my back so that I could carry him. I told him that wasn't a good idea as we'd both be on the ground in about 4 seconds. He laughed and proceeded to pick it up. At this point I realized I wasn't even winded and could easily talk when I was running. I decided to try and pick it up but my feet just weren't helping out. I watched him open up a gap but didn't let it bother me. Right before the 1/2 point there was a swith back hill so you could see who was in front of you (or behind you if you were going down). My feet didn't like the hill. That guy was coming down the hill as I was going up and he yelled at his buddy who was behind me. We'll that guy starts sprinting like a bat out of hell to pick off his buddy. I've got to give it to the guy because he did it and still had 1.5 to go. Crazy. I laughed and continued to cruise until I made it down the hill. I turned a corner and there is the huffer bent over on the side of the path trying to catch his breath and stretch. I patted him on the back and told him that he had a huge gap on me and that he shouldn't have stopped. He laughed and started to try and run again. At this point I decided it would be a good time to go faster, so I did. With about a mile to go my feel FINALLY felt better and I was able to pick up the pace. I got passed by a couple of guys in AG in the last 1/2 mile but I was just happy that my feet didn't need to be amputated and that I actually did the race without passing out.

Nothing

I grabbed some water and went over to transition and packed up my stuff and got it all over to the car. I then went over to the finish area and grabbed a cliff bar and some more water and checked to see the results. I wasn't posted and didn't feel like waiting around. I was pretty tired at that point.


Being on medication and not training for 2 weeks....hello!


It was pretty well organized and was well done. I like that it was small, but there didn't seem to be much to do afterward.....although I left pretty quick.