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 Swim
Comments: Well, my swim is my swim and I still suck at it. I decided against to pre-swimming because I didn't want to be shaking before my wave started. Waited patiently for my turn and as soon as I got into the water I went to the --dark place--, I told to myself multiple time "This is not for me, WTF am I doing here?" I am not going to lie, I thought about quitting multiple times but for some reason that I can't describe I kept swimming... As soon as I saw the first buoy I said to my "Luis, you can do this all day and you know it" I knew that It would take me forever but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I quite for some reason. Well, after awhile I was passing people... GTHO! me slow/sucker/rigid ankles Luis was passing another swimmers!!!! Sooner that I was expecting I was able to "sight" the final buoy and the nightmare was over !!! Note: I decided to buy new goggles the day before the race because mine kept leaking, so I broke the golden rule of "trying new equipment during the race", but let me tell thanks god that I did it. My goggles never leaked and they never fogged; I was so happy about that!!!! What would you do differently?: I need to spend more time training with a good coach and make sure that at least I come out the water with my own group.  Transition 1
Comments: Everything was going perfect until I realized that I didn't put the straw in my water bottle… Thanks god that my back pack was there and I was able to get it right at the spot. Other than that, everything was pretty descent. What would you do differently?: Nothing really.  Bike
Comments: Well, the course was really really clean, so the only thing that I have to complain here is about my water bottle. I dropped my second water bottle, and I knew right there that I needed to slow down because I didn't have enough fluid to make it to finish line with "enough water". I started looking for my friends from the club to see if they had some extra water so I can use/drink. By the time that I found Joe, I was running almost out water! He gave like 10oz or so, and I was really glad to put in my aereo water bottle so I could finish the bike portion in “good” shape. I had a good bike, and I also had tons of fun with Rudy (The guy from the biggest loser). He was hitting the down hills pretty damn hard for his size and he was having TONS of fun; It is refreshing to see people with the right attitude about this sport "It is all about to have fun and enjoy the experience". What would you do differently?: I know that I had a better bike in me, but I waste tons of energy during the swimming portion, plus I lost a 22oz bottle... Maybe next time I can go full speed the whole time and put up a better time. Transition 2
Comments: I took it easy to make sure that I had all my stuff. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Run
Comments: Well, this is where the fun begins and ends at the same time! Up to this point I was feeling pretty darn good, but as soon as I started to run both of my quads were cramping pretty badly (I never cramp WTF was that), so I lower my pace, and I though to myself that within the next 2 miles I would be able to run a faster pace... Well, those "2" miles turned out to be almost 6-7 miles... At some point one side of my brain was telling "Luis, just walk 2 minutes... just two minutes" this actually happened a lot but the other side kept telling to run and HTFU. LOL My quad and lower back felt a little bit better after Mile 8 so I started to push the pace a little bit, and at some point I thought that I was running my regular pace! After mile 10, I was so happy and so relieved that I didn't walk and I knew for fact that I was about to finish with in the next 25-30 minutes. Note: I knew that I was running "short" on my water intake so I made sure to drink water every aid station, in order to "compensate" a little bit for the lack of water on my bike. What would you do differently?: Need more water on the bike to avoid cramps on the run... Post race
Warm down: Walk around, talk with friend, had some "Recovery drinks ;) " What limited your ability to perform faster: My swimming still sucks and my water intake was low on the bike so I need to work on that. Event comments: Pretty nice race. I am looking forward to next year because they did a great job this year. Last updated: 2010-06-04 12:00 AM
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United States
F.I.R.M. Racing
Overall Rank = 177/320
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 13/23
Warning: English is not first language ;)
Pre-Pre-Race: I had a dream about 6-7 months ago about finishing an IRONMAN, at the time I didn't understand about the different distances, or the different brands. I said to myself that I needed to learn how to swim; needed to buy a bike, and keep running (I was playing indoor soccer at the time).
After I “half” learned how to swim and bought a triathlon entry level bike, I was on my way to become a "triathlete". Also, I found a local club with awesome people that helped me a lot along the way; Some of them help me with my training, some of them touch me about how the races are planned and executed, and some of them were just there to train together.
Before this race took place I finished two Sprint, and one Olympic; in my small mind I thought that I was ready for half Ironman, but after more research and training I realized that I needed to train way more than I was training in order to just think about a HIM.
I started to spend more time training, more time getting frustrated with my swimming, but I was decided to finish a HIM before the end of the year, so after I swam my first 1.2 miles I told to myself: "Luis: you ready"
I picked 2 races but I thought that I wasn't ready for the first one so I aimed the FIRMAN race because first was local, second was cheap (I am cheap bastard lol), and third most of my friends from the club would be racing it too.
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PRE-RACE
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I woke up at 2:30AM (1.30 minutes ahead of alarm clock), went straight to the kitchen to have my first meal (2 Wheat Bagels with PB, and orange juice). I watched Television for an hour or so, and then went to race place.
I walked around a lot because it was damn freaking cold, but I didn't do any type of warming other than talk and walk to the swimming start (30 minutes walk).