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 Swim
Comments: Well, this was an interesting experience. This was only my second open water swim in salt water. To quote George, "The river was angry that day, my friend." There was about a 2 foot chop with a nice current. I lined up in the middle towards the back and waded out with the rest of the wave. I felt pretty calm and got off to a good start. I didn't get hit too much and thought I was doing great. Of course, I wasn't siting enough and was going 45 degrees to the course. About half way out the outbound leg, I realized that the current was also pushing me off course. After seeing all the boats on the perimeter of the course, I made the turn to come back in. The swim got pretty hard from this point because the last 1000 meters were dead into the chop and current. I had a hard time siting and had to check every 6 stokes or so. They also had someone on a surfboard who was wearing a shirt the same color as the buoys, which added to the confusion. Finally made it to the turn into the boat ramp and remembered to kick to get blood to my legs. A guy coming up the ramp with me almost fell down because he didn't kick, I'm guessing. I did manage to swallow about a gallon of water during the swim, which would have an effect later. What would you do differently?: I did pretty well on the swim about middle of the pack. I need to work on my sighting. I swim to the right and as this was a counter clockwise course, I added about 300 meters to the course.  Transition 1
Comments: All told it was about 200 yards of running from the water to the bike rack and then to bike exit. I was more worried about getting my heart rate down then being fast. I made sure to get some water and Endurolytes before leaving. What would you do differently?: I was slow but I'm not sure it would have helped to go faster. My HR was sky high and I needed to time to get situated  Bike
Comments: I'll start this off with saying, I sucked on the bike. I got passed all day like I was a street sign. I got on the bike with a high heart rate and a quesy stomach from the salt water. I dropped my chain about the 2 mile mark and noticed my HR was 182 (so much for 220-your age). I slowed way down and managed to get my HR down to 160 or so. I couldn't eat or drink for the first 15 miles as the thought made me want to heave. It also was very uncomfortable to stay in the aero position. Although the course is flat it was a very windy once we were outside the town. A lot of the time it felt like riding up a long hill where you couldn't see the top. I think out of the whole ride, only about 10 miles were truly down wind. From mile 45 to 55 was almost dead into the wind. I finally managed to get down a couple of Gu's and a Clif bar. I then tried some gatorade which made my stomach worse. So, I just drank water during the ride. Anyways, I finished but knew I had little chance of hitting my goal times. I know what I need to work on before anymore long course races. I just remembered, one of the few guys I passed had a pair of goggles stuck in the back of his bike shorts. I asked him if he forgot to take them off during transition and he said it was the second race in a row he had done that. I'm not sure that I would keep goggles I had stuck in the back of my pants for 3 hours. After hearing and reading about all the drafting at races like this, I expected to see tons of pace lines but I didn't see one. I don't think I ever went more than 2 miles without seeing a race official. They were everywhere, so I didn't see any drafting. What would you do differently?: Ride more hills, do more squats, don't drink salt water. Transition 2
Comments: Another relatively slow transition. Everything went pretty well. I could have rushed some. What would you do differently?: Not much  Run
Comments: I started out on the run and felt pretty strong. The first two miles through the town had a lot of shade and some people cheering. It went pretty fast and I was passing a lot of people. I cruised the first 1/2 of the course and hit the 7 mile mark in less than an hour. I had a couple of Gu's and parts of a cliff bar. I made sure to get water at all the water stops. The only mistake was taking a chocalate chip cookie at mile 9. It had to be the driest thing ever. I hit the 10 mile mark at 1:30 and was pretty happy with the pace. I saw a guy wearing a jersey from my favorite brewery. The jersey has a picture of a pint glass of beer on the back. I chased him for the next mile trying to get that beer. He stopped at the next race stop and I kept going. About this time, I hit some kind of space time continuum that made time speed up and distances to get longer. I was happy to hit the 12 mile mark and tried to pick it up for the finish. I was kind of bummed not to break 2 hours. Although I ran the whole course and didn't even walk the water stations. What would you do differently?: I'm not sure I would change the run. I didn't realize how much I let my pace drop the second half of the race. Post race
Warm down: When I crossed the finish line, one of the volunteers asked if I was all right. I said fine but I could use something to drink. He showed me where they had some water and I thought, "Wow, they really take care of you here." Then I realized he only did it so he could get my timing chip. At least I didn't look super bad. I went and got some food and talked to Wyecrab (check out his race report, he smoked the course) and then saw Thegomer and his parents. After eating, loaded up and did the 2 hour drive home. What limited your ability to perform faster: I was reasonably happy with the swim and the run, especially with the swim conditions. The bike was one sorry performance. I had no problem riding that distance but I just have no speed. I need to ride lots. Event comments: I'm glad I did this race. It was organized, relatively close to home, there were a lot of BTers at the race and the course while boring was the right level for me. As this race was offering prize money and a lot of slots for Kona and the 70.3 championship, the level of competition was a lot higher than I've encountered. There was a lot of expensive tri gear and a lot of very fit people. I use to play golf quite a bit but gave it up for the most part because I was frustrated by how long it took to play and the people I encountered on the course. I also would come home and say "Well that wasn't much fun." Well I made sure I was having fun and I enjoyed this whole experience, even when I was getting passed like I was going backwards on the bike. I think I can identify a disc wheel from just the sound. After you've seen and heard about a 100 of those go by it's easy to identify the brand. If 18 months ago you would have told me that I would be in the top half of my age group for 1.2 mile swim, I would have told you I can't even swim 200 yards. So, the last year and half have been fun and next time I'll do better on the bike. Last updated: 2006-02-18 12:00 AM
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United States
Columbia Triathlon Association
68F / 20C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 975/1561
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 143/204
I left my house a little after noon and got to the race site about 2:30. I checked in, which took about 5 minutes, and then listened to the pro forum. Chris Legh (the guy from the gatorade commercial), Natasha Badmann and some other girl were answering questions. The moderator was Troy Jacobsen from Spinervals. It was cool to hear how much and how they train. I was amazed at how small Natasha Badmann is. She can't be much over 5'3".
After that I walked around the expo and bought a jersey. I talked to a few people that I know including Ken Mierke, a local coach and BT poster. I saw Troy Jacobsen at the Spinerval table and kept waiting for him to tell me to pedal faster. I then went to the race start and racked my bike. I was amazed at the bikes at this race. Most had wheels that cost more than my bike. Then back to the registration area for the race briefing. After the briefing, which included a suggestion to not try the shoes on the bike running start if you haven't practiced. I guess it caused problems last year. After the briefing, met up with a few BTers for a picture and for Daremo (Rick) to do the drawing for raffle.
I went to get something to eat and then settled in for the night. I got to bed by 9:30 and was up at 4:30. Of course, it was the typical night before the race sleep where you wake up every 5 minutes to see what time it is. Left for the race and was there by 5:20 or so. I ended up parked next to Wyecrab (Glenn). He and I are in the same age group and he was a few spaces down from me on the bike rack. I ended up with a good spot. Two places in from the end of a rack which had a light pole, so it was easy to find.
I read in BT about peeing in your wetsuit. So, I carefully laid it out in the transition area and peed in the suit. I don't think it helped much in the race but I got a lot of funny looks. :)
I was lucky to get to the race early, as there were big traffic problems. I missed the traffic but had to wait as they delayed the race 15 minutes. I walked around and made sure I knew where everything was. I saw my friend Shandra Richardson (Race director for Virginia Run and Montclair tris), she ended up winning her age group and a Kona spot. Went through the porta potty lines a few times. Ended up in line by Thegomer (Steve). I also saw him during and after the race. Didn't really do any warm up, got in the line for the start. Oh yeah, I watched Natasha warm up on the bike trainer before the race. Damn, she's strong.