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 Swim
Comments: In the first wave. It was the elites and 40-45 year olds. I’ve heard how chaotic it is in the swim. This must have been an unusual experience, because it didn’t seem that bad. Of course this wave only had about 40 people in it. Then there was a big wave behind us and the last wave was smaller. I got off well without getting climbed over or anything. I thought I was swimming pretty well, but man, people were passing me like crazy. I think some people in the last wave passed me. Sheeeshhh! The problem was I wasn’t keeping a straight line at all. I was zigzagging all over the place. I was hoping for 33 or 34 minutes and was 10 more than that!! I haven’t swam that slow of a pace in 6 months. My 100 warm up times are usually 2:20 and my sets in the 2:05 to 2:10 pace. Needless to say, pretty much had my expectations shot to pieces here. The last ¼ of the course I kicked it into gear, had some good looks at the beach, and was swimming hard. Felt good coming out of the water. Except for the right hamstring...it started out tight and remained that way through the whole race. Not severe, just enough to be noticeable. What would you do differently?: Swim a little to warm-up. Get some practice sighting the buoys. Breath bilaterly to help keep straight. Have a lot of work to do in the swim area. I honestly thought this would be my best part of the race. What a surprise.  Transition 1
Comments: T1 – no problems. Little slower than planned, but took time to dry my feet and put some socks on. Didn’t want to get blisters. What would you do differently?: nothing  Bike
Comments: The bike was the part I was really concerned about, but really surprised me. I felt really good. Kept a good cadence. Had a borrowed Trek Cyclocross bike. So it wasn't probably as fast as a road bike would have been. Probably could have got a couple of more miles per hour. About half way through the ride I told myself, "no one else is passing me!!" (not that many had). About that time a guy blew by me like I was a turtle. I laughed. Think I passed 3 or 4 people. I was yelling, "thanks" to all the volunteers and "good job" to everyone I saw on the bike. I was having a blast. Main concern was that I wouldn't get a flat...had no tools or spare tube. Fortunately, it wasn't a problem. My wife and kids drove by me and were yelling out the window...that was cool :-) They stopped at a gas station and were yelling and taking pics. I was so focused I didn't even see them that time. Also...took a gel about 5 minutes into the bike and one about 10 minutes from the end. Felt like the hydration and nutrition for the whole race was good. What would you do differently?: Ride faster! Transition 2
Comments: T-2. No problems. Again a little slower than planned as I walked about 1/2 of the way out. Trying to get my legs under me.  Run
Comments: Took about a mile to get my legs feeling normal. About the time I was feeling good we hit a BIG hill. About 1/4 mile and pretty good grade. I guess that was about mile 3. Had to walk about 3 stretches of 20 yards or so. Running down it though I was cruising. Made some good time on the run. Passed about 6 people. The volunteers were great. All of them were screaming and cheering us on. The last mile had another hill. Almost as big as the first...and steeper. Man that was tough. I did my best and tried to run the whole thing but again walked a couple of short stretches. At the top I had about 1/4 mile left. I decided to gut it out and really run hard. The last 100 was down a hill...I sprinted to the finish. Probably ran that last quarter in around 2 minutes. Really wanted to finish the run in under an hour. Almost made it...just 1 minute over. Glad to get a pace under 10mpm. What would you do differently?: run faster! Post race
Warm down: Just staggered around the finish area and grazed at the food table :-) Family was at the finish line. We visited with McFuzz and his family. Had a family picnic to go to right away so couldn't stay around very long. What limited your ability to perform faster: Probably a little undertrained for an oly. Two weeks before the race I was out of town and didn't do much training. This probably hurt the swim some. Event comments: I really enjoyed it. Would have come much closer to my goal if I'd had a better swim. But I'm really happy to have this one under my belt. Hey...my first race!!! Everything is a PR!!! Whooo Hooo!! Profile Album Last updated: 2006-04-18 12:00 AM
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United States
Sunny
Overall Rank = 163/187
Age Group = 40-45
Age Group Rank = 16/18
Pasta dinner the night before. Met McFuzz and his family (hey McFuzz!). My wife and I had dinner with them. That was neat to meet another BT’er. Went down to the race site to get a feel for the area. Pretty familiar with it since I’m from a town close by (originally).
Morning. Got up at 5:00…ate two granola bars, a banana and drank about 15 oz of water. Wanted a cup of coffee, but no convenience stores were open (I blame everything on that! No cup of Joe!). Was at the site early…probably one of the first 20 or so setting up in the transition area. Saw Mcfuzz and visitied a little with him and his wife.
YIKES…someone noticed I didn’t have endcaps in my bike handlebars. Since it’s a borrowed bike, I hadn’t really checked it out to make sure everything was legal. One of the officials had heard I might not have these and was coming by to check me out. Fortunately, there was a local guy doing bike repairs and he had a jar of them. Whew…I seriously could have been DQ’d for this. That would have been a severe bummer. I can’t even imagine what that would have felt like. I really appreciate the other participant pointing that out to me.
Jogged about 400yards and stretched.