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 Swim
Comments: First open water swim. The day before, I got to swim there for 10 minutes. I felt great, I forgot to start my chrono until about a minute into the swim, then I though: "This is it, this is what you have dreamed of and prepared for, this is your moment, enjoy every part of it". I must've smiled and kept swimming at a comfortable pace, around training pace. I kept focusing on sighting and did not swam away from the route that much, but also focused on bilateral breathing (like 5 times breatthing on each side, then changing, with sighting in between). I ran into some swimmers and as soon as I touched thm, went around them, some other fast swimers form the next categories started passing me by the first 3rd of the swim and kept doing so for the rest of it. One breastroke swimmer kicked me twice on the ribs until I went around him. I had a blast. Before I knew it, it was done. I swim more than 1km in the pool all the time, but still when getting out of the water I sort of felt like some cramps were waiting to happen in the front of my quads and I got worried because there was still a weird transition to get though and bike and run, but I controlled that. Being a "Green" triathlon, they strongly encouraged to throw away your cap so that they can recycle it by donating it to swimming schools. Nice gesture, but would have made a nice souvenir from the race. What would you do differently?: Prepare more, be faster, remember to start my chrono before start swimming, have a gel 15/ 20 minutes before swimming.  Transition 1
Comments: Being my first tri, everything was going to be new, but this transition was definitely a weird one. There was a T0 area set up to store running shoes in numbered bags, so that you could run 500m uphill through the trail path to the transition area. So I put my shoes on (no socks) and started slowly running/ speedwalking because of the threat of cramping and because at times it was really, really steep. I passed some guys there, though. When I finally got to T1, All my stuff was in a backpack poorly packed, I put some sunscreen in my face and arms, put my helmet on, buckled it up, put my sunglasses on, put my cycling shoes on (no socks) and looked in the back pack for the gels and couldn't find them in the rush of transition. Only found my multitool and put it in the trisuit back pocket and ran out of T1. I decided to do it with my cycling shoes on, because I realized there was a steep hill right after the mounting line up to the highway, and I didn't want to struggle with it while putting my shoes on. Wise decision. What would you do differently?: Set up my transition area with time and have everything located in the order I will use it, ensure nutrition (gels) is part of my race by being able to locate it.  Bike
Comments: Best decision ever to do T1 with my shoes on because the climb right after the mounting line was real tough, some guys opted to walk intead of riding trough it. Some others were cheering from behind to us the struggling ones as they slowly passed us. All sort of cramps (groins, quads, toes) during the bike segment, but I was able to get them behind and keep going. I was always on the right of the lane and was passed by many faster riders and groups, but I got to pass some, too. I drank 500ml of Gatorade and 500 ml of water, which I used to refresh myself by pouring some in my head, neck, back, shoulders and chest. I did not do a flying dismount, but was able to ride barefoot for the last part of the course and run that way to T2. What would you do differently?: Prepare more so I can be faster and feel more comfortable on the hills. One gel during the first part of the bike segment for sure. Leaving T1 aith my shoes on was the best decision ever. Oh, I almost forgot: avoid pouring too much water in my head, as I got sunscreen/ sweat in my right eye and it burned like hell and there's nothing you can do as your hands are sweaty and dirty, except wait for the eye to naturally lubricate it off. Transition 2
Comments: I liked this transition a lot, the dismount, I found my spot right away, my shoes were already there, I think I put some more sunblock in my face and arms, then I found and put my number belt, put my socks and shoes on without sitting, put my visonr and off I went. I had given up on finding the gels, though. What would you do differently?: Set up my transition area in advance. I forgot to leave my multitool, so I was resigned to run with it bouncing around, I saw my mother on out of the transition area and was able to give it to her.  Run
Comments: The first km I was able to shake off a cramp in my left quad. Then I kept running normally (with a little pain, that is), when by the socond lap I got a big cramp on my right quad out of nowhere, I stopped and must've been noticeable as the competitors who were going the other direction supported me and talked me into at least keep walking, which I did for a few seconds and then I got back to running slowly with some more pain, it quickly got away and I kept going, some nice guy offered an ice, but I got a bag with come ice already. I took every water bag and every gatorade cup they had to offer and at some point during the first lap, a bag of ice which I kept during pretty much the entire run segment. I put it in my wrists to cool down, in my shoulders with help of the tri suit, in the back of my neck and in my head and I never felt beaten by the sun. When I stopped for another cramp in the back of the left quad, the guy behind me encouraged me to keep going and told me he was also getting cramps but we were almost done. I ran behind him the rest of the race at a good pace. Definitely people cheering from the outside and encouraging comptitors from the inside are a big boost. What would you do differently?: I carelessly poured so much water in my body during the run, that at some point my shoes felt like running in a swamp, fortunately, it didn't make my run harder or blister my feet. Post race
Warm down: I just walked through the recovery zone, took my medal, left the timing chip, got a gatorade and some water and went to some showers that were right there for anyone to use, then went to the cold water kiddie pools, which felt just great. I felt great, I did a great job hydrating and cooling down. What limited your ability to perform faster: I guess the only thing that would have helped a lot would be a couple of gels in terms of the cramps and extra energy to do it better. Well, also more fitness, of course. Event comments: This has got to be the least friendly race for expectators as the swim is in a lake surrounded by moutains and the two roads down were blocked for the race. Trainsition is in the middle and was only accessible through one side, which was completely covered by the VIP tent and was in the middle of the hill, whith the bike course on the left on top of the hill and the path isolated for the race so expectators could no see the actual bike segment, and the same thing for the run segment on the right of the transition area, uphill with the only road blocked for the race. Great race as it was my first one and now I'm looking forward to the next one. It's one of the two closest races to Mexico City (1:30/ 2:00 hrs away), but still I doubt I would want to do it next year. Profile Album Last updated: 2012-05-30 12:00 AM
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Mexico
Asdeporte
32C / 90F
Sunny
Overall Rank = 619/1017
Age Group = C (30 - 34)
Age Group Rank = 127/199
First tri for me and my girlfriend.
We got there so late we almost missed the race. We woke up around 4:30am, had quick breakfast (Bread with peanut butter, water, gatorade and coffe), took our stuff and left around 6. Event started at 8 and we stayed in a town about 30-40 minutes away. We knew the place as we had been there one day before registering and leaving the bikes in the transition area. But big surprise, the main road was closed and we ended up stuck in a terrible traffic in the city we went into (yes, on a saturday at 6:30am!). Thankfully I brought my iPad and I realized it got a GPS that I didn't know about, so we were able to get out of there and head back to the race. We arrived around 7:20 and the entrances were already closed even though in the participant's guide it was indicated thay would be closed by 7:30, so we had to drive around the whole lake (and pretty much the whole town) untile we got to the next roadblock (later figured out it was the running segment). Parked the car wherever we could next to many others in the same position as we were, and ran to the lake area (almost 1km of downhill trail), only to run up to the transition area (500m of trail cimb) before it closed. We got there, my girlfriend took her swimming stuff and headed back down to the lake as I installed a bottle cage on her bike, inflated our tires and headed back down to the swim start area, I just left my backpack with everything in there with absolutely no specific order, not double-checking what I had or what I was missing. My girlfriend later told me that she started the swim about one minute after she got there. I got to see her and cheer for her out of the water as my distance was scheduled to start at 9am.
I had about one hour to stretch and warmup as the Super Sprint category was done and the prior waves were starting. The nerves were completely gone by the time I started. I even felt a little hungry. Got to see the swim course from different angles and the waves prior to mine start the swim.