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 Swim
Comments: I figured about a 10:30 swim time - 1:40 100's plus a little extra allotment since I'm pretty new to OWS still. In truth, this probably would have been about right if I didn't have to spend SO much time getting around people. I lined up in the ballpark of the 9-11 minute start time sign, but once I hit the water it was obvious I should have started much farther forward. By about halfway through the first leg I made the decision to go all the way to the outside just so I could get past the other swimmers without having to actually see them (swim was a lake and you had to be above the water to see anything). This worked out much better, and I rounded the first buoy in the clear. I was hoping it would clear out a bit after that, but the second leg worked a lot like the first except that I couldn't get far enough outside to get a clear lane...just slower swimmers stretched out everywhere. Got around the second buoy without much issue and finally the route was pretty clear to the end. I did end up swimming right over one person (sorry, whoever you are!) and made it back to the beach and transition. What would you do differently?: Start farther forward, I guess. Tough to justify since I probably would have hit the estimated time about right without so many other slower swimmers. My ending time of 11:47 was a disappointment since this was going to be my strongest leg - which it still was, but I could have done much better. Since I was constantly passing, I had zero chance to draft or really get into much of a rhythm at all. I was also mentally trying to hold my pace back a bit, as I didn't want to burn myself out at the start, but really my effort level could have been a bit heavier as well without any harm.  Transition 1
Comments: I took this transition intentionally slow. After the swim I needed to gather myself a bit, and since it was my first tri I wanted to be doubly sure I wasn't forgetting anything. The fact that all of my gear was wet didn't help things, either. Got my socks on, shoes on and double-knotted, shirt on, helmet on, race belt on (wanted to do this so I'd have less to worry about in T2), bike off the rack and headed towards the exit without too much trouble really, just at a very methodical pace. What would you do differently?: Certainly I can gain an easy 90 seconds here, but I'm glad I was able to keep a cool head and not try and rush things here and make a silly mistake.  Bike
Comments: There was an initial uphill out of T1, so instead of struggling with starting there I just ran my bike up the hill and started on flat ground. Probably a good idea in the end, especially since the ground was so wet. The rain had mostly subsided by this point, but the cloud cover remained (thankfully). I was able to get a TOTAL of 12 miles of training in on the bike before this race. Prior to that, the last time I had even ridden a bike was in 1999. So to say I was underprepared would be wholly accurate, if not an understatement. This wasn't by design, but sometimes life just gets in the way. So, as expected, I began my ride to constant calls of "on your left" and all kinds of bike eye-candy flying by me. I just stayed to the right as much as I could and got into a groove that I could handle. I went down to the middle ring during the first climb on Locust Street and actually passed a few folks. Once I crested, however, badness happened. I could not for the life of me get my front derailleur to get the chain back onto the big ring. I probably looked quite the fool out there, jumping on my bike, yelling at my bike, even tried kicking the chain up with my heel. Finally gave up, pulled off to the side, and put it up to the top by hand. I figured most of the course was either flat or rollers at worst, and so I'd need to big ring there more than I would hate it on the three mini-climbs I had left on the course. Rest of the ride was pretty good, for me. I found a decent cadence for what I could handle and didn't let all the faster bikes bother me much. My undercarriage started to ache at about mile 8, but that was just due to the lack of seat time and I pushed through it. Did a bit more standing on some of the downhills to help out a bit. Had a little issue with my hydration as I didn't have a proper water bottle with me (my own mistake) and so I just had the Powerade in the holder and had to unscrew it when I wanted a drink. That was a pain, and a lesson learned. What would you do differently?: Just need more time in the saddle. Truthfully, I probably could have pushed this leg a little harder than I did but didn't want to burn myself out for the run course (which I hadn't seen yet). Transition 2
Comments: This went as I expected. I had put all my effort into T1, so this was a simple rack the bike, take off the helmet, and get going. I had a slight "where is my rack spot?" issue, but found it soon enough and got going. What would you do differently?: Maybe use an orange bucket instead of a blue one to make it easier to spot.  Run
Comments: Took it out of transition pretty slowly as the ground was very slick and I didn't want to bite it. I was having a heck of a time getting my lower legs to get loosened up, so it really felt like I was going at a snail's pace here. Not having seen the run course yet, I tried to keep the pace down a bit in case there were any bigger hills. Once I got out of the park gate and onto the road, you could see the rest of the course and there was really only one hill (at the south turnaround). Kept my pace through that hill and then tried to open it up a bit more. Heard one call as I entered the park of "GO DADDY!" which just about made me lose it, since my wife and son weren't able to be there, but I kept it together and really let the legs loose for the last half- or quarter-mile or so, but by then it didn't matter. Smiled for the cameras and crossed the finish line of my first ever triathlon! What would you do differently?: Try opening it up a bit sooner in the race. Once I did that my legs felt pretty darned good; not nearly as tight as they were when I was holding back. It felt like I was going snail pace the whole way, but my end time of 10 m/m is probably what I would have been okay with pre-race, so I can't get too mad at that. Live and learn. Also, not running in waterlogged shoes would have been helpful. Post race
Warm down: Just walked around a bit to get cooled down. Made it to the food tent to grab some eats and downed some more water. What limited your ability to perform faster: The rain and general inexperience. I felt great 10 minutes after the race was done and so I definitely had a lot left in the tank, but having not done a race before I just didn't really know how to gauge it while I was going. I had three goals for this race (only two of which I ever verbally recognized): 1. Finish the race 2. Finish the race w/o walking 3. Finish the race in under two hours This was a win on all fronts. I only walked during the water stations, but I hardly count that since running through those nets me zero water for the most part. Two hours was something I had mentally in my head, just to myself, and was tied 100% to the unknown of how I would handle the bike. I was glad that I was able not only to exceed my (admittedly low) expectations there, but to be able to do it despite some mechanical issues. Event comments: Time trial start was a great way to do it for first-timers and weaker swimmers, as one wouldn't have to worry as much about the anxiety of 25 or so people starting all at once. However, some better signage with respect to anticipated swim times would have been helpful as I wasn't the only one wondering if I was in the right spot or not. Other than that, this race was run very very well and the RD (Eric Sarno) did a terrific job of keeping everyone informed both before and during the race. Profile Album Last updated: 2012-04-17 12:00 AM
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United States
Eric Sarno
75F / 24C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 405/586
Age Group = -39CLY
Age Group Rank = 21/28
First triathlon - woohoo! Sorry for the long narrative (not really), but I'm making this one count!
Pre-race truly started on Friday morning, when I couldn't find my wallet to save my life. Realized pretty quickly that it was in my car - the same car that my wife had left for Kansas City in the night before. Five minute panic before a cooler head prevailed...passport can be used as ID, I can go to the bank in person and make a counter withdrawl for gas and food money for the weekend. Will need to drive a bit more conservatively since I wouldn't have my license with me - no need to attract undue attention. Crisis averted, and my son and I were on the road to Davenport from St. Louis by 2pm. Packet pickup was smooth - lots of volunteers being helpful and chatty. Checked out transition area a bit to get the lay of the land.
Saturday morning, woke up at 4:40 (well actually 3:30, and 4:00, and 4:30, etc) and got some breakfast in me. Two slices of peanut butter toast and half a banana was all I could manage. Got to the park around 5:15 and got our gear unloaded (I was with my brother-in-law, also his first tri). Looked like it was going to rain at some point, so I left pretty much everything in my five-gallon bucket turned upside down. I felt like a genius for having that! Met fellow BT member (RushTogether) and chatted a bit - he was visibly nervous but doing okay.
By 6:20 the rains had started. Nate and I found a tree to park under and stayed mostly dry. By 6:30 my Dad showed up and we talked a bit until it was time to get going down to the beach. Stopped by the transition area to get my goggles and swim cap, plus lose my shirt and shorts. The rains had really picked up at this point and several competitors were talking about backing out. If it wasn't my first tri I probably would have considered it myself, although I would have still done the swim at least.
Get my stuff out of my bucket and realize my genius plan has gone awry - when I flipped over my bucket, my towel ended up being the farthest thing to the bottom and so now it had soaked up all the water that had been running down the transition area. My socks were dry, but that was about it. Oh well, nothing to do about that now, so put the bucket back upright, wrung the towel out as best I could, and used it to cover the bucket.
Got down to the beach for the pre-race talks and also saw the signs indicating expected swim times. Keyed the 9-11 minute sign and then got in the water to warm up.
Just a half-lap, then it was time to get lined up. I spent too much time fixing my transition area due to the rain and so I didn't have much warmup time, but in truth the half-lap I took was okay and adrenaline took me the rest of the way.