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 Swim
Comments: As I've posted on here several times, I suck @ swimming. I knew that going in, but my goal was simply to survive the swim. Fortunately, they'd pulled the dead body of last week's idiot on a jetski @ midnight drunk out a few days before, so the only things I was going to bump into were either a) other swimmers or b) gators. However, gators supposedly don't like open water, and as small and puny as I am, I don't think they'd find me very tasty. I tried free style to start, but the waves and my lack of experience in swimming in general (and the fact this was my first OWS ever of over 50 yerds in my life) had me switching over to breaststroke to conserve energy. It was slow, and I think I was the 3rd to last swimmer out of the water. Oh, BTW, I made a point to thank the kayakers who were out watching swimmers and there to offer help/support if you needed it. Also, whoever thought of this upside down U course is sadistic. On the return, the wind caused a nice wave cross-slap in the cove the swim course was in. That's where I swallowed most of the yummy farm-chemical infested res water. What would you do differently?: Hop into Dr. Evil's Time Portal, steal Mark Spitz' body, then use the secret gov't genetics labs from the X-Files to temporarily screw my head on his body for the swim. Seriously? I need to totally break down my stroke and start swimming from the beginning. Also, I drifted around too much on the outside of the course, I think I probably swam a lot farther than I needed to. I'll tell you what, that nasty old green carpet on the boat dock looked like the Academy Awards red carpet when I got up on it. I HATE SWIMMING!  Transition 1
Comments: I know both of my transitions were < 2:00. I'm extremely pleased with this as I hadn't practiced much transition at all. Of course, the water was warm enough that we didn't need to screw with wetsuits. I stumbled out of the water like a gang of frat boys on a football Saturday night drunk. What would you do differently?: Nothing, really. See what other tricks I can do to reduce my time closer to a minute or less. I need to get a race/fuel belt and pin my number to that, that would have saved some time versus pinning it on. :)  Bike
Comments: Pretty good bike. It took me about four miles to find my legs though, and, as I'd forgotten to reset my computer, I really didn't know what my average was until I saw the printouts. I missed my goal time by about 10 minutes - I wanted to finish around 1:10, but it is just as well it was closer to 1:20, as I ended up needing several walk breaks in the run later. Oh, and I had to pee AGAIN on the bike, something I'd also never done before, finally stood up on the pedals on a long downhill and let 'er rip. One of the cool things about coming last out of the swim area - it is easy to find your bike - I also dropped more than a few road bikes, a tri bike or two, and all the MTBs and hybrids that were in the race, without blowing myself up. At the turnaround, as I coasted up, I yelled (I know some of these people from Jackson Metro Cyclist) "BEER! Where's the beer? Where's the magaritas?" (Yes, I remember my stern instructions from certain Tri-Goddesses that I'm supposed to "have fun" :) and I did!). I also made sure, like the kayak folks, to thank the volunteers, cops, etc. along the bike route for taking their time to help put on the event and help the racers. As I dropped - er passed - the other cyclists, I made sure to offer words of encouragement and smiles. Again, this is supposed to be fun and to make sure that everyone is having fun! :) What would you do differently?: Nothing. I know that with more targeted training, and time, that the bike, which is by far my best discipline, will continue to improve :) A 19 mph average into a headwind in your first tri is nothing to sneeze at :) Transition 2
Comments: I'm fast, I need to get faster. The biggest time consumer was pulling on socks. Again, learning to run sockless would save a few seconds, but then again, I'm dubious that saving a few seconds is worth the chance of getting crippling blisters on the run... What would you do differently?: Nothing.  Run
Comments: This is where, after the first mile, I was asking myself "WTF Scott did you decide to pick an Oly as your first tri...?" The question got even stronger by the 3rd mile, as Mr. Brain was telling me "You dipshit, if this was a sprint, you'd be finished." :D The best part of being a male BOP'er in this type of situation, though... lots of cute Tri-Goddesses to observe. Interesting to see the age ranges of women that now have pierced belly buttons yum. And awesome summer tans... and awesome bodies. It is also helpful, when your legs are starting to say "F' you!" to have cute ponytails to stumble after. I took several short walk breaks after the turnaround... when it became apparent that I wasn't going to make my Finish Under 3:00 goal, I felt it was more important to finish with a smile and looking good. In fact, I think I had one of the top 10 tans in the entire field of 300+ LOL The sponges for cooling off at the run turnaround were great! What would you do differently?: Run more. Need to start doing speedwork. Patience, time, I expect with about a year of targeted training, I can become a much better runner. If I can get my 10K time under an hour in these Olys, I won't finish DFL like I did today. :) Post race
Warm down: As I came up the hill to the finish, the Emcee announced my hometown and name. The Ridgeland Recreation crew handed me two bottles of very cold water. I poured one on my head and drank the other, and then was pleasantly surprised as a couple of locals who I hadn't met in person but had exchanged emails with on the local cycling and tri boards introduced themselves. It was nice to be recognized :) I'm also told I looked 'really good' running up the hill (for once I didn't look like I was ready to hurl everything including the kitchen sink). What limited your ability to perform faster: Inexperience, really. And I deliberately took it easy on my bike leg so I'd have energy for the run - which I still really didn't have enough of (the swim zapped me more than I thought it would - but I decided to take Haley/Comet's inspire from yesterday to heart and didn't hammer the bike like I could have). Marma needs to add an option to the massage button below to "I wish" LOL Event comments: I'm rating this as "my best" as its my first tri. I'm no longer a virgin! :) And again, I couldn't have finished this without all the great encouragement and commraderie I've found on here. BTW, after the race, I ran into jjweav, great guy (he saw the BT tatoo and asked me if I was oneword... I didn't recognize him at first, I was stumbling around in the parking lot half stoned from lactic acid build-up, the sun, and endorphins) :) Also, my 'solar shower' was kind of fun. I opened one of the car doors, draped a towel over it, and since the car was facing a fence, ripped off tri-shorts after pouring some water I'd brought with me all over myself so I could go eat the post-race meal clean and in clean clothes. Yanked on the underwear, a t-shirt and shorts and managed to not get arrested or noticed. :) Profile Album Last updated: 2006-01-27 12:00 AM
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United States
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 28/28
Friday afternoon: Packet pickup. I'm feeling a little intimidated, seeing all those extremely fancy bikes (compared to my lowly 2200) racked on the cars outside Indian Cycle and Fitness, and everyone inside seems so confident... I just feel a little out of place, but I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Friday Night: Packed my transition bag, put the bike in the back of the wagon, made sure my race # was in its bag. Drank two bottles of Gatorade, made up my energy drink bottles (THANK YOU foolproof, what a Tri-Goddess she is!). I frankly wonder if I'll be able to sleep... I'm tired and hopefully the children will fall asleep early tonight so I can go to bed.
Sat morning: Got up at 4:15 am. Made a PBJ, took a shower, loaded up the cooler and other things in the car, drove to the race site. Oh, and put my BT temp tatoo on my right calf :)
Hung out, talked to several people I know from the biking scene - and some I didn't know came up and introduced themselves. So many buff people, it was sick. I understand there were over 300 partipants and nearly all of the ones who at least LOOKED deadly serious have much better bikes than mine. :)
I'm glad I got there early, the transition racks filled up quickly. Set up my stuff. Ate some hammergel. Eventually jumped in the water to gauge the temperature... not too bad. They claimed the water was about 81 degrees, at least for the top 3' and that seemed right. Mr. Murphy showed up in the form of a brisk breeze from the North, which created 2' breakers out in the middle of the swim area.
The boat ramp for the finish was more slippery than greased goose shit, though, getting out was a struggle for everyone, I think, even with the green indoor-outdoor carpet they'd thrown on the ramp.
Oh, and Pee, Pee, Pee. Man I was nervous. I went twice in the porta potties before the swim, and then TWICE during the swim. I am a Peeing Machine on Race Day - at least this race day. I didn't think it was necessary to ask BT's permission to pee, either. :p