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 Swim
Comments: Before I talk about the swim, I must say that this was my biggest concern. I am not a swimmer by nature. 2 years ago, I had the same swimming characteristics as a rock – throw me in the water and I sink. I put in yards in the pool, and did about 8-10 open water swims this summer, but I had not been in open water since Labor Day, and I had not done this type of distance before. I had three goals for this race. Getting out of the water alive was my first goal, and I was not getting pulled out. I was going to make it, or die trying. I walked into the water and took a couple of few deep breaths and calmed down. My plan was to get to the right, and make it to the first buoy, then to the first kayak, and then to the next kayak, and so on and so on. The horn went off, and I went to the right. I made it to the first buoy, then the first kayak, then to the second. It was then I realized that I was going to make it. I was about 15 yards to the right than any other swimmer. I went about 5 – 10 yards past the turn buoy, and then made my turn. Did the same thing on the second turn buoy. I had no trouble sighting until the turn home. I was in clean water until about the last 15 yards of the swim. I made the swim in 55:06. When I exited the water, I was giving high fives to EVERYBODY. I was so pleased to have finished the swim. The volunteers helping swimmers out of the water, the spectators, the wetsuit strippers --EVERYBODY was getting high fives What would you do differently?: I found out that I am a better swimmer than I thought I was. I should not have been as concerned about drowning, getting beat up in the swim and not making the cutoff. I can handle it, and will swim a little more aggressively in future races. Not so many high fives coming out of the water, and don’t stop to chit chat with the volunteers in the water. The goal of this 70.3 was to finish and have a good time. Next Race will be to post a better time.  Transition 1
Comments: T1 was a little clumsy. I had to dig everything out of the bag, and then put everything back into the bag. I was ready to get out of there when I realized that I had a sock on one foot and nothing on the other. Had to dig everything back out, and look for a sock. Time in T1 was 8:16. I was still ahead of my goal time, so I was not sweating spending all of the time in T1. I was just happy I made it out of the water. What would you do differently?: I know how to do a good transition. Think about it a little more and execute.  Bike
Comments: I got on the bike and was filling well. I was hoping for a 15 – 16 mph average on the bike. I did the first 20 miles averaging 16.4 mph. My heart rate was a little high the whole time and my stomach was a little gassy, but I was still filling well. I figured that I had better get the heart rate down to a manageable level, so I backed it way off until I got my heart rate under control. The roads were a little rough in spots, and I saw a lot of flats. Since I was did not get a flat, the course was a nice course, I can’t really complain. I averaged about another 15.4mph. What would you do differently?: I raced and reacted to the situations well. I probably need to do more long slow rides early in the season and be able to race in a better HR zone. Transition 2
Comments: T2 was also a little clumsy. I changed shirts, and got some screen on. I walked out of T2 and headed out. Did it in 6:03. I gave myself 30 minutes of transition time. So between T1, T2, the bike and the swim, I had about 30 minutes banked before I started out the run. What would you do differently?: I know how to do a better transition. execute.  Run
Comments: I was still way ahead of my goal time, and I did not want to do anything stupid on the run. The plan was to run 8 walk 2 and average about 12:30 to 12:45 minutes per mile. I did the first mile on the 8-2s and did it in 13 minutes, and the second mile was around 13 minutes. Those were some tough 2 miles. I could not get the heart rate under control, so I walked until the heart rate got under control. With all of the hills and off road stuff, it was hard to keep under control. So I changed the plan, and decided to walk up the hills, and run the flats and downs. I stayed with that plan knowing that I would finish in less than 8 hours. What would you do differently?: More bricks and more hill work. I am looking around and there are very few flat races. Post race
Warm down: Had a beer and a sandwich. Walked around a bit. Went back to the hotel and had pizza and then went to bed about 8. Drove 600 miles home. I did not feel bad Monday or today. What limited your ability to perform faster: Need a few more bricks. Need to work on hills on the run. Need to be smarter on the transitions Event comments: good race. great volunteers. Last updated: 2010-10-19 12:00 AM
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I woke up at 4:00am. Ate a peanut butter and banana sandwich and a diet coke, stretched, started on the Gatorade, and made sure my mom, wife and brother were up. Dropped a couple of electrolyte pills and waited for the Diet Coke to kick in. It did not. I ate dinner late the night before so I was not surprised that there was no BM that early in the morning. Ate 2 more PB and banana sandwiches on the way to the race. We loaded up the car and left for the race at 5:15. It was a little early, but it’s a good thing we did leave early. We took a wrong turn and when we got back on track, there was a pretty large traffic jam about a mile from the start.
We finally parked, and I made the walk to buses myself to get my mind right. I arrived at T1 and since I had small valves on the tires, I had to have the guys from Jack and Adam’s help with air in my tires. The Diet Coke kicked in about 20 minutes before the swim. Had to use the port-a-john and dropped a deuce. Those things are disgusting. About that time, it was announced they were going to shut down T1. So, I threw everything back in the bag, grabbed my wetsuit and goggles and headed to the swim start. I was in the 5th wave, so there was no time to worry
Nothing really. The stretchs in the morning and the walk from the car to the busses was the only warmup. This worked out fine.