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 Swim
Comments: With 10 second intervals between 350 people seeded by self-submitted time estimates, the race officials had it moving like clockwork. Fortunately, the people around me were accurate with their time estimates, so there wasn't anyone charging through or anyone doing the doggie-paddle either. I passed one person half way through lap 2, and someone passed me at the end of lap 3. I started out too fast though, and I had to stop and catch my breath halfway through. I also was forgetting to consistently exhale while underwater. Then I calmed down and finished the rest of the laps. Not so graceful pulling myself out of the pool. It was more of a pull-up and flop maneuver. Actual time swimming was close to my pre-race estimate of 6:25. Nice to see the wife cheering me on as I exited the pool area since her swim group hadn't been lined up yet. Off to T1! What would you do differently?: Better breathing technique. Better swimming form.  Transition 1
Comments: Ran out the backdoor of the YMCA from the pool and around to the side parking lot. No problems finding the rack. Shot down a GU, squirted off my feet, "dried" them with the wet towel, pulled on my socks (good), on with the shoes (great), put on my shirt (not so great). The bottom of the jersey got rolled up inside, but that was a quick fix. On with the Camelbak (I'm riding a mtn.bike with street tires, and so no water bottle cage for me; plus, I like it). Sunglasses on, helmet on, bike off the rack, and it's off to the bike course! What would you do differently?: Garbage bag under the towel to keep it dry if the ground is wet. Learn how to dress myself. Or get a tri shirt to wear during the swim.  Bike
Comments: Given that I was on my mountain bike, this was fast for me and felt like a good ride. Mostly rode using my "modified aero position" ---holding the center of the handlebars near the stem, resting my arms on the bars. Passed a couple of people right out of the gates on the way to the first turn and quickly got into a pretty good cadence. Riding the course a couple of times a few weeks ago really helped for knowing what to expect. And since we've been training on the Irongirl Columbia bike course, this course comparatively was a piece of cake. Overall passed more people than had pass me. Didn't feel like I burnt out my legs for the run. Didn't try riding with my feet on top of my shoes into transition because I hadn't really practiced that enough and was worried I'd lose a shoe and have to stop to pick it up. Good job swinging a leg over to hop off at the dismount line and run into transition. What would you do differently?: Nothing with my current set-up. Might need to start saving my pennies to get a road bike for next year. Transition 2
Comments: Had trouble racking the bike by the seat in the same direction I had during set-up, so I had to switch it around. Off with the camelbak, off with the helmet, grabbed my racebelt and headed out for the run. What would you do differently?: Rack the bike right the first try.  Run
Comments: This went surprisingly well and ended up being my best leg. Dumped some water on my head at the drinking station at the beginning of the run. Quickly got into a steady pace though I had no idea what that pace was. Took a few sips at each of the water stations and dumped the rest on my head. Probably wasn't necessary the second or third time because that left my jersey soaking and heavier. Legs didn't feel too heavy, the run was enjoyable, passed more people than had pass me, and I had enough left to sprint the last 50-75 yards to the finish. Having the wife pass by on her bike as I was coming to the end of the run gave me a good push to finish. Had no idea what my run time, bike time, or total time were until the results were posted. So I'm happy with the run since that's only a minute off my 5k time. What would you do differently?: Don't dump all that water on myself. Push it harder since I had more energy left at the end than expected. Post race
Warm down: I finished just as the wife was finishing her bike leg. So I went over and cheered her on through her transition. Met up with family who had showed up to cheer for us. Had some lemonade, orange slices, and a cookie. Went to watch and cheer for the wife as she finished her run. Didn't stretch enough afterwards. What limited your ability to perform faster: Need to continue working on the swimming. But since I really just started swimming laps a couple of months ago, I can't complain. But I felt great about how this went. Lots of fun, and I'll definitely want to continue with this. I'll give myself 5s for mental and physical effort since I met my goals of: 1.Finishing 2.Finish in under 1:25 3.Have fun. Really glad we started triathlon training this year, and now I can say that I'm a triathlete! Event comments: Well-organized, and everyone was very friendly. Great experience for a first time tri. Last updated: 2006-04-27 12:00 AM
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United States
70sF / 0C
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Overall Rank = 136/210
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 19/25
We got in bed a little after 11:00 night before, which was later than hoped, and then I wasn't able to get to sleep until around 2:00. With a 4:45 wake-up call, that wasn't a lot of rest. Felt like the first day of school since this was my first tri.
Woke up, had some oatmeal and a banana. Mmm...oatmeal. Put the bikes on the car and drove 2.5 miles to the Shady Grove YMCA. Good idea by the wife (Noony) to stay in the "official" hotel nearby.
First one at the rack! So, I took an end spot giving myself plenty of room for transitions.
Got my stuff laid out and then walked over to the wife's bike rack to see her set up. She also got an end spot. And seeing how some other people with end spots on the rack had their gear laid out, I went back and changed the position of my towel.
Speaking of that towel, it poured rain overnight leaving the ground wet. And so even before I started the race, the towel had soaked through. Note to self: bring a trashbag to lay down underneath the towel in case the ground is wet. Nothing like drying off wet feet after the swim with a wet towel. I also didn't bring a plastic bag for my running shoes in case it started to rain again, but the woman next to me was nice and gave me an extra she had.
The pool was open for warm-up, but since I wasn't set to start until 7:45, I didn't bother getting in and getting wet. Not that a pool warm-up would help. It wouldn't. No running/jogging warm-up either. Just used the lovely YMCA facilities twice. Nerves = weak bladder.