login
 Swim
Comments: Holy Sh@t! I thought the water would have been easy as I was planning on being in and out in between 8-10 minutes, like in my pool practice (8 min on the dot every time). Something psychologically hit me once I dove in to keep my head out of the water. In the pool I had always been doing great, swimming over a mile without stopping, but the OWS put me in my place, real quick. By far my worst event, which should be easy to fix. I underestimated the power of what the Swim can do to you, as I had aspirations of possibly doing a HIM at the end of the season - now minimal chance - though not completely out of the question. I wish the OWS practice swim that a few BTers had planned about 2 weeks before was not cancelled, so I would have had a chance to fix what I needed to fix (me - mentally) before the Tri. What would you do differently?: OWS PRACTICE!!!!! Hands down this is the main thing I need to do a lot of before my next tri on June 1st. I have the distance down in the pool, I just need to get the OWS fear out of my system, calm down, put my head in the water, and breathe normally.  Transition 1
Comments: Transition went well, even though I was mentally beaten by the swim. I think I can shave off another 15-30 seconds or so on my best day (to come some year). The swim had made me slow down a bit because I though I was already out of the running to place (which was not on the top of my list of things to do - but I am a guy after all). I had marked my rack with a bright orange flag, that everyone on my rack thanked me for.  Bike
Comments: Buttar.com's transponder unit going in and out of the transition area must have been working only when it felt like it, as most MyFirst Tri folks did not get their times registered for the bike. Oh well. What would you do differently?: I will be updating some of my equipment, i.e. seat, clips and shoes, and smaller tires - THANKS Anthony for this idea. This will help me shave some time off. But the main this that will help is to go riding more on the road, possibly in a group to get my legs used to a fast cadence for extended periods of time. I can also take my trainer rides more seriously, and put some effort into it. Transition 2
Comments: Took no time at all, since I did not have bike shoes and clips, so literally through my bike on the rack and flung helmet on the ground. I did take 2 seconds to take a big sip of Gatorade (only drink I had the whole tri). What would you do differently?: Get Bike shoes and clips - train on changing them quickly before next tri.  Run
Comments: Since I had given up racing during the early portion of the swim, having an average and enjoyable bike ride (not pushing hard), I got behind a 44 year old who had an extremely slow jog, and I matched it. Moments later I saw, who was eventually the only one in my AG to beat me, pass me. I had though I could keep up with, him, but thought I was in my own little world, so I decided to stay behind Mr. Slowman for a while longer. In thinking about it, my legs did not hurt very much, I could have started at a much better pace. Either way, I saw the one AG person pass, and thought well he is just one of many in my AG to have passed me. I am such a dumb ass. :) What would you do differently?: Start off with a faster pace on my run, especially if I know my legs can take it. I do need to learn to drink while on the bike, so I can have more fluids in me for a good finish, especially if the swim, bike, and run is longer. Post race
Warm down: Talked to my family, drank water - later ate a crap-load of food. Noticed my bike tire came unseeded, and my tube exposed. Not sure if the tire is hosed or not. Thank goodness I did not flat on the course though. What limited your ability to perform faster: Mental Breakdown during the swim. I think if I had rocked out a good time in the swim, I would have been able to keep the momentum going. But since I gave up to a non-competitive mode, I just wanted to finish before 1:30:00 min, which I did - so I was happy. Event comments: Placed second in my AG. Had a great time, and met some ever greater people. BTer are aways going to be there for each other, and that kind of support you can not get anywhere else. Great job Cat, Angelo, and Elizabeth! And great job to any other BTer that was there! It was a good race to get my barrings and learn on what I need to practice on, i.e. OWS, upgraded equipment, and just steady group training. Until next time...Later Profile Album Last updated: 2007-12-04 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
Buttar.com
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 18/86
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 2/8
Two days before the race, biked the course with Dr. Cathleen London (Cat) - which is by the way the coolest/smartest/funniest person you could ever meet. By the way this was the first updated course route that buttar made, before updating the course less than 12 hours before the start of the Sprint (can say one thing about Buttar - not very organized). Met the other BTers at an Italian restaurant that charges $2 for a kids cup of water - they thought it was a soda I guess. The meet up was great though, all MyFirst Tri-ers, who all did a great job I might add.
Got to Moss Park at 5:40am, got body marked on my way into setting up my transition site. Noticed how much limited space you actually have in transition. I mentally walked though T1, to make sure I had everything laid out where I wanted it. Did not eat anything for breakfast. The day before I had a 12" Spicy Italian Sub from Subway and a Meat Lovers Pizza at the Italian place. About 30-40 minutes before the race, walked/ran part of the run course with Cat, figuring out the ins and outs of the course. Met my family on the way down to the water for the pre-race meeting (which the MyFirst folks could not hear, since the race director banished us all to the tree line).