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 Swim
Comments: This was my first TRI and my first attempt at Ocean swimming and it showed. I was in the "first timers" wave so we started 16 minutes after the elites. I started on the far right to avoid the crowds. I didn't wear a wet suit so there was a pretty good shock factor for me getting in. The waves were tough for me to get through. I finally got past the waves and got to the turn buoy but could not swim freestyle to save my life. My heart rate was probably maxed and I was having difficulty moving in a forward direction. This was not how I wanted to start my first TRI. So at this point I have nearly the whole swim in front of me and my swim plan was not going as planned. Time for a new plan. I breast stroked and side stroked until I felt my heart slowing to a more reasonable rate (something under 300). As I became more comfortable in the water, I looked around a bit and realized that I wasn't alone. I was being shadowed by the life guards. I looked over and said hello and she asked me how I was doing. I told her that I was doing fine except that it seems that I don't know how to swim. She laughed and asked if I wanted to hang on for awhile. "Nah" I said, I'll just keep plodding along. This went on for what seemed like three or four days. I freestyled every once in awhile and that was great because it seemed like I was moving then. There were some other slow pokes (flounderers) around me. I talked to one guy for awhile then decided to freestyle some more. Lo and behold I finally got to the last buoy and turned into the beach. I was glad to find the bottom and fought my way out of the water. I trotted up the beach to the transition area very happy that I was done with the swim. What would you do differently?: Use a wet suit. Practice swimming in the ocean.  Transition 1
Comments: Running through the soft sand and up the hill and across the boardwalk to the transition area was ok. The asphalt in transition was very rough on my feet. That part sucked. I stopped at the shower to rinse real quick to get some of the salt off. The transition area was pretty much deserted by the time I got there so traffic wasn't a problem. I tossed my cap and goggles in my bag and put on my helmet. I rinsed off my feet and sat down to put on my socks and bike shoes. Well I tried to put on my socks. I put one on upside-down so I had to fix that. I pulled on my shoes and put on my sunglasses and off I trotted to the exit. Once I was past the gate I hopped on the gray ghost and off we went. What would you do differently?: Put my socks on right the first time. Otherwise, visualizing my transitions really helped.  Bike
Comments: I was so happy to be out of the water that I felt like I was flying. I got up to speed right away. I kept my cadence in the high 90's as long as it felt good. My biking goal was to spin efficently and maintain 20ish mph when I could. Since I was in the last wave there were lots of people to pass. I kept up a nice comfortable pace in the aerobars. I took a lot of drinks from my water bottle (gatorade) until I felt like I had to pee then I backed off. I ate a GU at some point. I was cruising right along when I saw the guy I had just passed turn around. I asked the guy standing in the middle of the street if this was the turnaround and he said "Yep". Opps! nearly missed it! I turned around and kept on trucking. At some point on the return trip a very tall tri-chick on a Trident(?)(race number 378) bike went past me. She was the first person to go by me since I got on the bike. I kept sight of her but didn't try to catch up. (I'm not sure that I could have) I was cruising along happily (still ecstatic about being out of the ocean) when I temporarily lost my situational awareness (SA). I regained my SA as I was dangerously close to the edge of the road. (microseconds from the grass) I managed to recover and admonished myself for daydreaming. It wasn't much longer and I was coming up on the turn into the transition area. What would you do differently?: Keep my head out of my a$$ the whole time instead of just part of the race. Transition 2
Comments: T2 went well. Again transition was nearly vacant so that was nice. No troubles getting my bike racked and shoes switched. I grabbed a bottle of water and was ready to go. I wasn't sure which way to go when to start the run. I saw the big sign "RUN START" and thought that might be a clue so I headed that direction. This is when I found out that the run was on the beach. I didn't remember that from the race info online. Oh well. What would you do differently?: Put my hat on and pay attention to where the run is.  Run
Comments: As I ran down the boardwalk towards the beach I realized that I forgot to put on my hat. Oh well I wasn't going back for it. I took a few swigs of water and slogged through the soft sand to get to the hard packed beach by the water. I decided it was time to do a little crotch soreness avoidance so I squeezed half my water into the front of my tri-shorts. I was treated to a stinging sensation. I rinsed my backside the same way as I made my way down the beach. I ate another GU somewhere along the way and took advantage of the water station both ways. My run speed didn't seem very fast but I am not sure what my actual pace was yet. I felt good though and tried to push it a little. One guy passed me in the run otherwise I was passing people throughout the run. I noticed a pair of long slender well tanned legs up ahead and started to wonder if that was the tri-chick that passed me on the bike. Game on. I had to know. It was the return trip on the run so it was time to use up whatever was left anyway so I made an effort to close on her. It took awhile but I caught up and sure enough it was her. Now I was committed to going faster because I didn't want to pass someone and then have them chase me down. I kept up my pace and arrived at the beach exit. More soft sand and a hill and a quick turn and that was it. All done. What would you do differently?: I think I could have run faster but I didn't want to push it too hard on my first TRI. Post race
Warm down: I felt good after the race. I walked around and ate and drank and generally enjoyed the rest of the morning. What limited your ability to perform faster: Clearly the swim was a killer for me. I should have done some ocean swimming in training for this race but the water temp and my schedule precluded that. I know that I could easily cut my swim time in half if I prepare properly for an ocean swim. Event comments: Since this was my first TRI I don't have anything to compare it to except runs. Everybody was really helpful. The volunteers did a great job and there was plenty of food and drink afterwards. (a beer would have been nice but I will take care of that at home) Profile Album Last updated: 2006-04-22 12:00 AM
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I had a short nights (3.5 hrs) sleep but I expected that. I had my gear ready to go so I put in my contacts and got dressed. I and ate two pieces of peanut butter toast and a banana. I put my bike and gear into the car and slithered out of the house without waking anybody up. [My wife had said she would come along but I didn't bother waking her up because she hadn't inquired about a wakeup time before we went to bed so I knew she really didn't want to come along.]
I stopped at a mini-mart and got a cup of coffee. (the brown elixir of life!) It was 4:14am by now and I was on the road. The race was an hour away and registration starts at 5:30am so everything was going as planned. As I was driving down the interstate I realized that I was having trouble focusing on the road signs. I put in some more eyedrops hoping it was just my tired eyes and contacts not getting along very well. I was due to change out my contacts a while back but decided against it just in case something happened on the swim and I lost one or both. I figured I could always pull them out and toss them and finish the race with the world fuzzy.
I arrived a little early and didn't have any troubles finding a place to start. I got out of my car and wandered around awhile checking out the race area. I found the transition area and the registration table and the porta-potties. (all the important places) The coffee was kicking in so I took advantage of said porta-potties, several times.
The registration table opened so I took care of that piece of business. I picked up my pretty green first timers swim cap and my numbers and went to my car to get my bike. I wandered through the transition area until I figured out where I should put my bike. I got lucky and found a spot at the end of a rack and started to set up in the dark. I still had a good 45 minutes until the race was supposed to start so I tried to visualize myself going through the motions of the transitions. I was really paranoid about getting DQ'd for something stupid like forgettin to put on my helmet so I thought this would help ease my anxiety.
I visited the porta-potties again and headed down to the beach for the start. I watched the waves roll in and the seagulls flying around as the sun came up. It was very beautiful! As I approached the starting area my bowels started telling me that it wanted to visit the john again. This was the wrong time for that, it was too late to go back and there was NOWHERE to go. CRAP! (so to speak) The feeling finally passed and I guess it was just nerves.
We all stood around waiting until they finally started with the National Anthem then it was race on. First wave, second wave, third wave, fourth wave, and finally 16 minutes into the race and I am off.
a lot of walking around. Stretching. Porta-potty visiting.