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 Swim
Comments: I had to pee so bad I couldn't wait to get in the water. As soon as we did, away it flowed and I could finally relax. I positioned myself at the very front of the wave. I was hoping for a good swim and I didn't want to have to fight to the front. GO! And I was off. I felt great. I was leading the wave for a good bit. However, I sighted and in front of me was a boat with some dude on it pointing my "over there." I wasn't too off course but still far enough. It was bright from the sun on the way out and I was having troubble seeing the buoys. Still there were not too many green caps ahead of me and I changed course to get back in the mix. I started seeing more people, but they had blue caps on from the wave before. I made my way around the boat and thought to myelf, "Ok sweet, the sun will be behnd me and I will be able to see better. Time to bring it home." Boy was I wrong. The sun was fine but the chop, oh the chop. It threw me off so badly. Sighting was terrible, I was getting thrown around and then I got stung all over my face with nettles. I didn't know what it was and thought I was having some sort of reaction to the water, that's when I thought the swim was neer going to end and thought, "dude, you are NOT going to be happy with this time." Again I found myself being pointed in the right direction, but the next buoy seemed so far away and that I was so far off course. Then I started seeing red caps from two waves before me and very few green caps. That either meant I was getting my ass handed to be by my wave or I was killing it. I finally made it to the boat dock and I heard my dad yell "5 GREEN!" Which meant there were 5 green caps ahead of me. I thought "no way." But as it turns out he was right. I guess I'll acept this swim. I wanted a 27 minute swim but gien the conditions i think it's fairly decent. Hey I beat Natascha Badmann. What would you do differently?: Not too much. I think given the conditions I did what I could. I have a bunch of open water swims under my belt, but none as rought as this.  Transition 1
Comments: This was Ok I think. I didn't have too much trouble getting my suit off. What would you do differently?: Not too much, just do it faster.  Bike
Comments: I just went. I felt good. Never did my hip flexors start to ache like they had the last few time I have been out on my bike. Most of the time Wen I would look down at my computer I was holding 20-21mph, but at time wind changed all that. Some times I would from to 16/17 and others up to 24, depending on the direction of the winds that is. Most of the time they were cross or headwinds and very strong. I took Gatorade Endurance every 15 minutes and a PowerGel every 30. I was suprised I was able to pass the amount of people i did, but I was feeling great. In the moment but not too in the moment that I was puchig too hard. Sometimes I would watch my shadow and see my legs turning over and would say "just keep doing that." I kept my cadence up, kept my power up and my head in the game. There were times where I would get out of aero and stand up or shift in my sat, but I never really couldn't wait to get off my bike. Coming into town I still felt good, but I had that voice in the back of my head saying "I hope you didn't burn out." What would you do differently?: I think I may have been able to go harder, but this was my first HIM and I wanted to finish strong. With the winds and this being the longest race I have done, I am happy with 19.5 mph. Transition 2
Comments: I can't wait to lace up the lock laces I bought at the expo. I should have grabbed another gel to take with me. What would you do differently?: Faster.  Run
Comments: I am suprised at this run. I never felt like I was struggling until the very end. I had a great attitude going in, at the turn around, and coming home. Usually the thought of a 13 miler can be a killer. But I was at Eagleman. I was on the last leg of my first HIM. I was moving my body forward. On the way out there was a breeze that felt great. Reaching the first aid station, I couldn't believe I was there already. At this time though the thought of Gatordae was not appealing so I took water at each station. I walked briskly throught each to make sure the fluids went in me, not on me. It they went on me it was because I poured it over my head. After drinking it was back to running and I never had a hard time getting moving again. In the beginning of the run I took three endurolytes and had two PowerGels with me. At some pint on the way out I took one gel and then again after the turn around. I also took three more endurolytes after the turn. I was tentative to take a Clif Shot since that was not what I was injesting all day and was worried it would mess with my stomach. At the turn around I had Chris McCormack's voice in saying "It's all in your head." (I watched the intro to the 2004 Hawaii IM religiously). I should have probably drank more gatorade eventhough I didn't want it. I saw John and Ernie on the run. When I was coming in to about the 2.5 mile mark I saw a BT tri suit and yelled "Yea BT!" It was Rick (Daremo) walking. I knew something wasn't right but tried to encourage him to run in with me, but he said he was cramping. I continued on and about 2 miles out I started to hit it a little, the wall that is. My quads were on fire and I felt a bit queezy. But that subsided when I was coming down the home stretch. I started got get caught up in emotion and felt like I could cry at any second, realizing that I was about to finish what I had set out to do 6 months ago. The sacrifices and changes I made in my life just to be able to perform today. Then I crossed the finish line. What would you do differently?: Not too much again, but I would probably take in more than just water. More on that later. This was very close to a half mary PR for me. I haven't run a stand alone half mary race, but one of my training runs turned out to be 13.2 miles in 1 hour 59 minutes. Post race
Warm down: I crossed the line and a volunteer (they were all so great!) asked how I felt and I said, now please pardon my French, "F**king incredible," and he laughed and asked if i wanted to sit or walk it off. I chose to walk it off. I found my parets and for a few seconds started crying, but I manned up and sucked in in. I sat down but was not comfortable. I stood up and was wobbly and felt like I was going to puke, tried, but couldn't. Then I couldn't feel my hands and I was slurring my speach while rying to talk to my parents. I know they were worried, but that had happened to be before at a swim meet in college, I just needed to replenish my system. I stumbled to a food pavilion nd ate bananas and watermelon, then I saw someone selling fried in peanut oil and my eyes lit up. SALT. I inhaled them and the were the best fries I ever had. After a few minutes I felt better and ran into Ernie and then John. Checked out results and then headed to transition to pack up my stuff. What limited your ability to perform faster: The wind and chop. I feel like I was well prepared to give the performance that I did. Event comments: To this point this was the greatest day in my athletic career. the most challenging and the most satisfying. From day one of decicing I was going to attempt this race I never once lost sight of June 11, 2006 and the goals I set for myself. Of course I had to re-evaluate them, but the goals I came up with, I accomplished. FINISH: check, UNDER 6 HOURS: check, 5 HOURS 30 MINUTES: check. I don't think I could have asked for a better day. I trained the absolute best I cold every time I went out that door. I did as much as I could squeeze in between work and coaching and made the most out of every moment, even when I had a bad day or felt like crap. I thought about this day every day for the last 6 months, sacrificed social life, make key life changes and now am a completly different person and I couldn't be more pleased. However, while I am happy with how things went, I am in no way satisfied. I believe that there is so much more I can accomplish and go much faster. I am also vey confident that I can cover the Ironman distance. I really like this distance. Bring on Timberman! Oh yea, we stopped at Applebees on the way home and I had a beer (Amstel Light) and it was really really good. Last updated: 2006-01-15 12:00 AM
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United States
Columbia Triathlon Association
Sunny
Overall Rank = 537/1561
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 43/85
Saturday:
A few weeks ago I was in an accident on my bike. I crashed into some kid who darted out in front of me on his bike, went over my handlebars and landed face/left shoulder first about 15 feet from where we collided. Got 10 stitches in my upper lip and bruised my shoulder pretty bad. As soo as the stitches came out I tried swimming mut my shoulder just wasn't having it. I loaded up on Advil, did some strength with a band and after a while I was able to swim, but not with full power until Thursday of last week. My bike on the other hand needed a new wheel, bottom bracket and crank set. The day after the crash I took it to Keswick Cycle (ANYONE in PA I highly recommend this shop!!) with my road bike that needed a tune up. It was going to be a crunch to get fixed in time. Miracusouly on Saturday morning it was finished and ready for me to pick up. Went the the shop, put the bike in the back of the van and off we were to MD. We got to Sailwinds Park and I checked in, got my packet and checked in my bike. I took it for a spin just to make sure everything was working correctly but I couldn't shift into the big ring. I started to panic. I am not a bicycle mechanic. The tri team I joined is sponsored by Elite Bicycles and they had a tent there with a shop set up. I ride a Felt but hoped that by dropping the Team TRIUmph name and a couple names of people from the club that they would help me out. They did. I felt kinda silly though because all it took was a slight turn of a screw. But like I said I ain't no mechanic. By this time the pro forum was going on so we went in and checked out the expo and listened to the pro's for a bit. My parents know very very little about triathlon and I think they were pretty impressed at all the goings on. "Oh my God look at that bike," was something i heard from them a lot. We went over to transition and I racked my bike then we walked around a bit and I scoped out the venue to get my bearings. Headed back to Sialwinds for the pre-race meeting and BT meet-n-greet. John (Kleinrider) and his girlfriend met up with us. Went in for the meeting then met Daremo, Ernie, Wyecrab and oceanannie. Talked a bit and took some pictures and picked the winners of the raffle for Joel. After we headed to the hotel is Salisbury, checked in and then ate at the hotel restaurant that had all you can eat prime rib. Soooo good. Stretched and went to be at about 10pm.
Sunday:
Woke up at 3:30am and roused mom and dad up as well. Took a quick shower, made a cup of coffee in the hotel room and ate a PowerBar. We loaded up the van and headed out to the race. Stopped at the Wawa and bought two bananas and a Snickers Marathon bar that I ate right then. Got to the race, set up transition then sat with my parents and watched Natascha Badmann warm up on the bike. My parents were in awe. Got in line to make a deposit at the port-a-potty and happened to be in back of Ernie, who I met the day before. Found John and talked with him a little. I went over to watch the pro's start and afterward put my wetsuit on. John, Daremo and I hung out while we were waiting to our waves to be queued up. After that I got a little lonely and hungry again. I tried going back into transition to grab another PowerBar but it was closed. Then I heard my mom call over to me so I hung with my parents and thankfully my mom had a banana so I ate that. They called for the "day-glo" gree caps and I said "Ok," and I was off.
Not too much. I jumped around in my wetsuit a little but that was it.