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 Swim
Comments: Chest Deep start - I picked front and center of the field for my first OWS start. This actually worked out ok. I didn't want to push the swim as I wasn't sure how my body would react to the Olympic distance. So the swim was good but I wanted to go around 25 and think I could have done that comfortably looking back on it. I breathed way too much and didn't feel like I was long and smooth, like I've been practicing in the pool. However, for my first OWS race, I was pretty happy - it's SOO different from laps in the pool. No real problems with major contact. The occassional bump but that wasn't a big concern. I also didn't really draft at all, I kind of found myself in no-man's land where I was behind the speedy folks and in front of the MOPers so although I did try to find some feet to catch, it didn't really work out. Lappers were kind of a problem, as we caught previous waves, it made it much more congested but I remained calm and just tried to stick with my rhythm. At one point, I looked up to find a man swimming horizontally right in front of me - as in, he was swimming towards the side of the lake instead of the beach finish ahead of us. I could tell he was a weak swimmer from the 2 strokes I saw him take, so to help him out and to get him out my way :) I timed my next stroke to land on his far leg and gave him a quick little 90 degree spin. I sighted again after I did this and saw him poke his head out of the water rather confused about what had just happened and then realized that he was going the wrong way. Sorry/you're welcome to that guy if he's reading :) I'm interested for my next OWS because I think I'll feel much more comfortable and will be able to push it more. What would you do differently?: Push harder, breathe less - I would have liked to hit that 25 min mark.  Transition 1
Comments: I struggled with my pullover as I was exiting the water. I couldn't get it off in time to utilize the wetsuit strippers, which i was hesitent to do anyway. So I just continued to my rack. I hadn't gotten the bibjohn to my waist by the time I got to the rack either but that wasn't really an issue. I did struggle a little in the step/yank removal process but it was my first time getting out of the suit at race speed so overall I was pretty happy with how it went. I also decided last minute to wear socks on the bike. Getting them on wasn't a problem but there was a couple of seconds of pondering. Running across transition (had tons of tree roots) was interested in my Look cleats but overall I think this transition went pretty well. Average/Good but MUCH better than Sudbury. What would you do differently?: Make my decision on what to do before the race starts. Practice getting the pullover off a little bit more.  Bike
Comments: This was the big surprise/highlight of the day. I had ridden this course about a month and a half ago and averaged just over 17mph. We left the park and headed down West Shore Road. It was PACKED on this part of the ride. I was consciously trying to avoid drafting, which was next to impossible anyways but also slowed me down on this part of the ride. I passed a couple on this stretch and was passed by some guys that were flying but it was just a sea of cyclists for as far as I could see so I didn't think it would be good for me to just blow by people because I'd constantly be passing. I also didn't want to push too hard right off the bat because I didn't want to blow up later on. After the first climb, things started to spread out a little bit. I was playing cat and mouse with a group until we hit 3A. They were pretty strong cyclists and ended up dropping me but I was happy that I hung with them for quite a while. I found others to keep pace with, one on a beautiful Planet X who was friendly and we joked a little as we passed each other. The ride went by pretty quickly. The new seat was great - the only issue I had physically on the bike was my lower back was aching for the second half of the ride (I think from the increase in effort/speed). Nutrition was good but was afraid of running out of water towards the end. Next time I'd keep the Water/Water&Gatorade double bottle system but make the mix bottle more watered down. I also taped 2 Hammer Gels to the top tube which worked out great! Had one at the start and one at the finish, though I think all my pictures coming into transition will feature the gel prominently :) What would you do differently?: Not be so concerned with drafting right off the bat, push the pace I want to push from the start and not let the mass of riders dictate my speed if at all possible. Transition 2
Comments: Top 50 transition! This was a strong transition for me. I took my shoes off and road with my feet on top too early but it worked out fine. I was still pushing 22-25 on the final stretch of West Shore Road with my feet on top. I came into transition, hopped off the bike only to have to slam on my breaks and pick my front wheel up in the air because the guy in front of me had trouble unclipping his shoes. Ran into transition and racked my bike by the aerobars. Put on my shoes (already had socks on) grabbed my race belt and ran out. What would you do differently?: Was really happy with how this went, the only thing I'd do differently is rack the bike by the seat or by the drops because when I came back later the bike had fallen over.  Run
Comments: It was a run full of people passing me...kind of frustrating but was pretty happy with the time. The problem was I was off the bike towards the FOP where people are fast runners...I'm not :) So everyone I had been riding/swimming with blew by me no problem. I tried to stay within myself and run my race. Also was planning on negative splitting per Kathy's advice at Cohassett - though I'm not sure if I did this because I didn't check my watch at the turn. The steep climb out of the turn around road was almost as bad as the first steep climb. It wasn't the number of hills on the run that got me or the long sustained climb, but the short steep ones that almost brought me to a walk. By the time I hit the beach I was trying to pick it up for the chute but really didn't have much left in my legs. Wish I could have sprinted through the finish but my legs really just weren't responding What would you do differently?: Learn to drink while running, run more to be able to fight off heavy legs and still post a good split. Post race
Warm down: Spent some time in the lake to "ice" my legs Event comments: Overall, I was really happy with this performance. I wanted to finish in 3 hours, thinking it would actually be 3:05-3:10 so I was really happy to see 2:50. With a couple of changes, I think I'll be able to break 2:45 next year :) Profile Album Last updated: 2009-03-24 12:00 AM
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United States
Endorfun Sports
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 255/886
Age Group = M 20-24
Age Group Rank = 12/16
Took a half day from work to avoid traffic and get up north in plenty of time to get organized before dark. We were camping in MooseVillage so I didn't want to have to set up the tent or be organizing my race stuff in the dark with a flashlight. Traffic was non-existent which was awesome - so I arrived at the Park around 3:30. After registering, shooting over to the campsite, and heading back to the park - I was able to find a parking spot, set up my bike, go for a quick spin and then ran into the BT crew in the expo area. We went for a refreshing swim in the lake - water was posted at 59*, though it felt warmer for our swim on Friday...this would change.
I headed back to the campsite around 7, in time to head over to the carbo loading dinner where we ran into most of the Dreamfar team. After dinner, I went and unpacked my transition bag, checked my stuff and repacked, set up my bike and put it under a tarp outside the tent and was in bed by 9:30. Since our latern broke, once the sun went down there wasn't much to do except go to bed...not necessarily a good thing as I wasn't really tired at this point yet. I tossed for a while - never really falling into a deep sleep. Overall, I didn't sleep very well that night - more from the nerves than being in a tent though.
My watch went off at 4:30 but I had been laying awake since 4. I got up, ate a bagel with peanut butter and banana slices. Got organized and hung out for a while, enjoying the beautiful morning. I decided to ride to the park to warm up, make sure my bike was in working order and to avoid the parking crunch. I headed out around 5:45, which was nice because I wasn't waiting around for too long in transition. They racked us by wave it looked like so I was surrounded by other guys in my age group. We started talking, which was nice - made the wait to the start go by really quick.
Got in my wetsuit and headed down to the water just after the national anthem. Met up with the Dreamfar folks again and got in the water to get used to the temperature. It was definitely colder than it was the previous day! Headed down to the start in time to see the first wave go off and waited for my wave to get called up.