Swim
Comments: A very fun swim, but I'm glad this was my second open water race. All of the cliches happened: I got squeezed out, swum over, elbowed, kicked in the goggles, and I passed people from various waves treading water. I swam right into one person treading water and checked to make sure she was okay, but otherwise stayed horizontal. There were a lot of guys bigger than my 148lbs, and I frequently got jostled by traffic, so I'd sight for a little daylight, take a few hard strokes to squeeze through, get back on course, and repeat. I met my goals of exhaling well, breathing bilaterally, being long and skinny, and staying horizontal. After the second turn, I left the thugs behind, and had a strong finish. Not too many caps from my wave made it out before I did and I would have placed even better in M40-44. What would you do differently?: I'm a new swimmer and thrilled with my results, but have a list of things to work on. I need a better strategy for the start so I can avoid dealing with so much traffic. The early wrestling match cost time, and I was only able to pour it on when I was clear of the crowd as I turned to shore. Also, I'm sure that my swim lessons will help solve problems as I continue to add speed. It would have been nice to spend less mental energy on my stroke, and more on situational awareness to figure out how to thread my way though the crowd. Transition 1
Comments: 7/26 in the AG. Thanks to the BT forums, transitions have been good to me, and helped make up for poky mtb rides. What would you do differently?: Practice a bit more, and push myself harder. Bike
Comments: Approx. 17/26. The results are missing a couple of entries, and the official pace calculations don't match the time or my bike computer. This was again my worst leg. Even though I did it on a mtb with skinny tires, it makes me a little crazy that I cycled in college but it's my slowest tri discipline. Whining aside, I pushed hard, and enjoyed the ride. What would you do differently?: Not much. I'll get a real bike. Transition 2
Comments: Another solid transition thanks to BT coaching. 7/26. What would you do differently?: Practice. Run
Comments: I'm totally stoked about this leg. I pushed hard on each leg, and still had something left in the tank. Since I'm not a runner, I'm still figuring out the basics. In my last tri I had a lot left over, so this time I pushed myself. I was very lucky to link up with a couple of other very supportive runners so we could push each other, and we finished three across. My rockstar 70+ friend from the SD Tri club won his AG! What would you do differently?: Not much. I loved this run, and since I'm not a serious runner, I'd be happy with this every time. Post race
Warm down: Straight to the snack table for a bottle of water and some orange wedges. Got to congratulate some of the guys on my rack, and chat with my running buddy, who also benefited quite a bit from our alliance. What limited your ability to perform faster: I need more OWS pack swimming expertise, and a road bike. Event comments: Results: http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20100307_Desert_Tria... Loved this race. There were lots of smiles at the finish, and few if any complaints about the organization. The sprint distance lucked out, as the weather held until I was at the car. The poor oly people raced in a downpour. Last updated: 2010-02-11 12:00 AM
|
|
United States
Klein and Clark Sports, LLC
50F / 10C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 117/464
Age Group = M45-49
Age Group Rank = 16/26
Since this was my second tri, the drill was a lot less confusing than last time. I picked up the race packet the previous day, and showed up with the chip and numbers where they belonged. I got there early, tanked up on coffee, chocolate chip cookies and a Starbucks mocha. Each rack was labeled with a range of bib numbers by AG, and there was ample room to set up. Super nice guys on my rack. I just hung out, walking the ins and outs of transition, and went to suit up at the car about 20 minutes before the initial wave.
Not much. I trotted the path between swim finish and the timing mat a couple of times before suiting up. Just before the first wave, I played in the water for about a hundred yards.