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 Swim
Comments: Great swim! Went out easy and just cruised the whole thing. Water temp was perfect. I am completely comfortable in the water and mass starts don't freak me out at all. I spent most of the first leg swimming through my wave and got towards the front by the turnaround. Pretty clear sailing from there. I did have to pee on the second lap, so I stood up at the turnaround and peed. Gave a couple of dudes the thumbs up as they were passing by. What would you do differently?: Not much in this case! I was hoping for 1:15, and beat it. I just need to continue working on technique and swim more.  Transition 1
Comments: Strippers! Gotta love 'em. Next time I'm stashing a dollar bill in my cap to give to them after doing the business. Got to my spot, threw a couple gels in my pocket and made my way out. There's a little hill out of T1, which I opted to run up and mount at the top. What would you do differently?: First IM transition, took my time to get it right.  Bike
Comments: Not really sure what to say about this. Obviously everyone goes into their first IM thinking they can throw down a 5 hour bike split. I didn't really have a specific time in mind, but my biggest concern was being careful so that my run didn't become a death march. The course was challenging, but definitely not overwhelming. When I exited T1, my quads were very cold. I couldn't seem to get them to loosen up, so I played the cards I was dealt and took it easy, hoping for a break. The rollers were fast, and so I powered down them in an effort to get loose. Nope, too cold. Just kept rolling with it and getting through. I stopped at a few aid stations, but overall just kept plugging away. Chalk Hill was a fun little "climb", but wasn't tough even with an 11-23 cassette. One thing that surprised me was my positive mental attitude. It was tough out there and instead of saying to myself "shit, you still got 40 miles to go, this sucks", I found myself saying "holy shit, you've already done 70 miles!" That was cool. My nutrition was spot on. I don't think I could have done it more perfectly. Finally the sun came out at mile 83, and guess what? My quads got warm and loosened up, so I was able to finish pretty strong, I came in off the bike, and frankly was pretty relieved to be done. What would you do differently?: Not sure? I though my bike fitness was better? Maybe it's just because I couldn't loosen up? Dunno. Transition 2
Comments: I swear to god it was faster than this. I was so excited to get out on the run. I was shocked at how good I felt.  Run
Comments: Oh. My. God. I cannot believe how well this went. All throughout training, my only thought was to not let this be a death march. It was more like a victory celebration. I had my plan and I executed it absolutely perfectly. I ran down 261 men during the run. That's how well it went. The course was brutal. Three monster hills each loop. Between hills, on the flats, I was running 7:48 pace, but I stuck to my plan, walked each aid station, and walked the hills. Saw Robyn twice on each loop and that was definitely a good pick-me-up! She had a great smile on her a face and was her usual self, which is always fun. :) I had gas in the tank to do the final mile in 6:52. I came in off the final leg, saw the cones leading the way to the finish chute, and kicked it in. An awesome experience for sure, and was so elated to finish my first IM on a strong note. What would you do differently?: Not much really here! I formed a plan, and stuck to it, and it worked beautifully! Post race
Warm down: Stayed in the finishers area for a good 10 minutes, away from my parents to take a minute and let it all sink in. The whole race was a blur at that point. Finally got some chow, met up with the folks, answered their millions of questions. :) Got cleaned up and went back to the chute to see Robyn in. She finished with nearly an hour PR, I think, which was awesome. Hung out some more, traded bitchin' stories, and then headed back to Occidental. What limited your ability to perform faster: This was my first try at the distance. No idea what to expect. Event comments: I had three goals coming into this race. 1- Finish 2- Learn about the experience and what it feels like 3- Have the desire to do another one Mission accomplished on all three fronts. I am extremely satisfied with how things turned out, and will be able to plan and train better for the next one. Last updated: 2011-03-01 12:00 AM
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United States
70sF / 0C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 268/574
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 62/108
Heh. Well that was a fun little day. :)
Let me start off with just getting the negatives of the weekend out of the way. The organization of the race was kind of a mess. I'm not sure why they did things they way they did it, maybe there is an explanation, but it is what it is. Not a fan of point-to-point races, the transition logistics always mess with my head.
Packet pick-up was a nightmare. The plan was to go get the stuff, set up T2 and be out of there in 45 minutes, and go back and chill for the rest of the day. Nope, took three hours. Line after line after line.
Race day morning was a mess too, and I was about 30 seconds late for my wave, meaning they were already 30 yards downstream when I got in.
Anyway, that's it, mostly positives from here on out. We arrived in Sacramento Thursday morning, got the minivan and cruised out to Guerneville. Very cool scenery and I wished I would've been able to spend more time in the area. Got into Guerneville and headed straight to Johnsons Beach for a quick swim to loosen up from all the travel. The water was perfect and I felt comfortable in my full wetsuit.
Afterwards, we headed to Occidental to check into our hotel (very nice, by the way), and set out to find some sushi, which was a new experience for my folks. My mom was a fan, my dad not so much. Filled up and hit the sack.
Friday we met up with Robyn and her mom for breakfast, then went to packet pickup and dealt with that whole fiasco. Then we did what was probably myy favorite part of the whole weekend outside of the race. We drove the bike course in the sweet-ass Eclipse convertible that they had rented. What a blast. So many cool towns along the way.
We got back, did another swim, then loaded up on more sushi, and hit the sack. I slept like a rock.
Woke up, showered, geared up, and we drove to meet Robyn and Nancy for breakfast at their place, which was right across the road from the swim start. We got going and were shocked to see the long line to get into T1.
I quick aired up my tires, got my spot set up, and had to run back to get my wetsuit, which Nancy was already running with in my direction, LIFESAVER!!
Got back to the beach, got my wetsuit on, and was walking towards the start when the gun went off for my wave. Oops.