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 Swim
 Transition 1
Comments: Before we started I put on my bike shoes and helmet and carried my running shoes that I had been walking around in while waiting. I ran into transition, dropped my running shoes on my towel and grabbed my bike, and ran out. Running in bike shoes, even on grass, is hard. Got out onto the road at the point where you can mount up and climbed on the bike and tried to get going among the mass of people all around me who were coming out of transition at the same time. There was also a lot of traffic in transition so running out was not completely possible. Seemed like the mount point was a long way out of transition. What would you do differently?: Have the shoes on the bike already, and learn to run barefoot and jump on the bike and slip into the shoes while underway. I just didn't practice that, and that cobblestone street was no place to try it on race day unprepared.  Bike
Comments: Good course, roads were generally in good condition. I didn't see too much drafting, but did see a lot of people passing on the right, and some people passing on the left closely, but not calling out. I rode most of the course the day before so I knew what to expect generally, and I live here so I've ridden a lot of these roads on group rides in the past. I tried to not burn myself out on the bike, and tried also to concentrate on drinking enough, with a goal to get through one bottle of sports drink and one bottle of water. I made it through most of the water and only a little of the sports drink, which I finished off in T2. I wanted to do a 20mph average, but fell a bit short of that at 19. Generally ok, but If I was more confident in the run I would've pushed harder here. What would you do differently?: Push a bit harder and stay aero longer - be a bit less conservative. Transition 2
Comments: Again, I need to practice the dismount, and run barefoot into T2. At the dismount line there was again a lot of traffic, and it was on cobblestones, So I clipped out, got off the bike and ran as best I could through a lot of people into transition. Found my spot easily (long run in, but that left a short exit to the run) and racked the bike. I finished off the rest of the sports drink bottle, got my bike shoes off, put my socks on (yeah, I know), got my shoes on - I had taken the yanks out of the left shoe the night before because I couldn't get them tightened right on the last few runs and it was causing me a lot of foot pain, so I had laces in that shoe. My right shoe was good, slipped right on. I hadn't tried a run in these shoes without socks yet, so I wasn't about to do it now. Grabbed my race belt and hat, had to make a quick shoe adjustment and headed out of transition. I was suprised that the run start timer was so far away from transition exit. I really wasn't looking forward very much to the run and I think that carried through as I trotted out and tried to find my legs. What would you do differently?: Learn to get out of the shoes while still on the bike. Running through transition in bike shoes is just bad. I also need to try running without socks in my shoes. It sure didn't seem like I took this much time in T2, but there you have it.  Run
Comments: I just wasn't into the run, after the swim was canceled I was demotivated about it. Running isn't my favorite part by a long shot - it's coming along and I know I can do 9:30 miles, but today I just didn't have it. I couldn't keep the heart rate down and so I'd run a bit and then walk some, etc. The aid stations along the way were awesome, most with cold gatoraid and water. I'd drink a little gatoraid, a little water and dump a cup of water over my head at each station. Homeowners out front with garden hoses spraying you down was great. I got through it, and managed a fair sprint at the end through the chute and across the line so I didn't look like a total slacker. I was really hoping to do around 10:00 or less per mile. What would you do differently?: Be more into it I guess. Run the whole time. Not be in the Novice wave so I'm not nearly last to start and have to run in the worst heat, though I'd think this shouldn't have been a real issue since I generally do my training runs in the late afternoon and it's plenty hot then. I need to do more speed work and strength work. I'd been mostly worried about getting up the base miles. Get a running coach for a few sessions like I did for the swim - would probably make a big difference. Do more brick workouts. I did a few but I think I need to do many many more. Post race
Warm down: Got the cold towel at the end, which was a great, awesome, surprise. Grabbed a couple bottles of water and a couple more cold towels (did I say how awesome that was?) and looked for the family. Found the family, took pictures. Turns out they were in the bleachers at the finish line and I ran right by them - I don't think I even noticed the bleachers there! My wife had helped the kids make t-shirts that were just awesome. There were so many people in the post race area, and I just wasn't in the mood to stand in line with hundreds of people for everything, so I went and got my bike and gear while my wife went and got the car and we left to get some lunch at a local restaurant. What limited your ability to perform faster: Not enough speed work and strength training for the run, no practice in transition skills (keeping shoes on bike, etc). Event comments: This race seems overly huge. I know it's a marquee race, but 4000 people seems a bit too crowded. But it's local for me and I'll probably do it again next year. I was bummed about the swim, but definitely understand the safety issue. Last updated: 2009-04-22 12:00 AM
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United States
St. Anthony's Triathlon
Sunny
Overall Rank = 3186/3683
Age Group = Novice
Age Group Rank = 57/70
Woke up at around 5, and realized I had set up the coffee maker the night before, but instead of pushing the timer button, pushed the on button, so coffee was sitting overnight - So, planned to get coffee somewhere along the way. Mixed up a protein drink, ate an oatmeal to go bar and a yogurt and took an oatmeal bar with me because I wasn't scheduled to start until 9:14. Grabbed my bag of gear and headed out for the 30 minute drive to the race site. My wife dropped me off by the hotel and went to get coffee and we were going to meet back where she dropped me off after I set up transition.
Walking down the street I noticed people walking back with helmets and bike shoes towards the expo area (I guess they were going to the porta-potties) and I couldn't figure out why they were carrying that stuff. I walked onwards, saw where people were getting body marked and got in the 'line'. I asked someone if they had heard if it was wetsuit legal or not, and they hadn't heard anything yet. Some lady came up behind me and she was grumping about duathlons and not wanting to do one today, etc etc. I couldn't figure out what she was talking about. I was just trying to get through the crowd to transition.
After I got body marked, I made my way into the masses herding into transition and that's when I heard grumblings in the crowd about the swim being canceled. I was in disbelief until I heard the PA announcer soon afterward confirm it. Then I was pissed. This was to be my first triathlon ever, I worked my ass off on the swim part since I had never been a distance swimmer, even swam most of the course the previous day in the chop and was confident and ready to go. Now I was just pissed. And disheartened a bit. And trying to figure out what to do now, since this threw my race plan all out of whack in my head. I realize that it could have been a disaster to have so many swimmers of varying abilities in that washbasin of chop that was the swim course, so I agree that it was necessary especially since the rescue kayaks couldn't even get in the water. So I waded into transition and set up my stuff, and the PA announcer was talking about how they were going to do the bike start, so I was trying to listen at the same time. PA announcer said it would be a time trial start, at 2 seconds intervals by bib number after the pros started the bike, and that we could have on anything we would have coming out of T1. I did some quick mental calculations and realized I still wasn't going to start racing until about the time I was scheduled to start the swim originally (9:14). Got all set, picked up my helmet and bike shoes (running shoes on), and walked out of transition to find my wife and coffee. And a port-o-let that didn't have 400 people standing in line.
Found my wife, got some coffee, was standing on line at the port-o-lets by the expo when the port-o-let guys came up and started trying to cart them away - with a couple hundred people standing there. They almost had to fight off a desperate crowd. Finally they relented and moved off to pick up the ones by the swim start that no one was using. Then a lady came by with a walkie-talkie trying to clear everyone out of the street there because the pros were starting on the bike and would be coming through, but she got all nasty and threatened to ziptie shut the port-o-lets if everyone didn't move. Riot number two averted when someone suggested she make an announcement in front of the group waiting of what she needed rather than making threats. She talked, everyone moved aside into lines and all was well. We got to watch the pros go by on their bikes which was cool. After that, I walked back over to the park where everyone was waiting to time trial start the bike portion, found some friends there who were also waiting and settled in to wait a couple hours till my start. They worked through the numbers and waves, and finally about 9:30 I got to line up to start.
A little stretching and a lot of walking around.