Swim
Comments: This was a terrible swim. I have really improved as a swimmer and consider it my strongest event now, so this was a huge disappointment. My plan was to come out of the water in 11 minutes fresh, instead I came out in 11:55 wiped out. The rest of my time was walking up to the transition area trying to catch my breath. For the first 250 meters I made contact with someone on literally every single stroke, front and back and to both sides. I started in the middle, since I planned an easy stroke, but I was pushed from behind and held up from the front. On a dozen occasions someone tried to climb up my back, and I did the same to others. What would you do differently?: My training is good, I need to re-think my strategy. Transition 1
Comments: I barely remember this. I remember being dizzy and trying to catch my breath. Somehow I got out of transition and onto my bike. What would you do differently?: Fix my swim problems. I do transitions well, this was all left over from the swim. Bike
Comments: It took me a couple of minutes to get going and get my feet in my shoes. The course started on a shallow incline and I had to pedal and get my feet in, and I was still dazed from the swim. After a mile or so I got myself together and had a decent ride. I think my training is on schedule and I would have done well if I had gotten off to a decent start. The finish caught me by surprise and I didn't get my feet out of my shoes. At some point during the ride I heard "Hey, you're a BTer, me too". I was wearing the BT temporary tattoo. It was nice to meet sranney on the course, I had seen him sing the national anthem at the PTC last year so I knew who he was. Unfortunately, some of the bad juju I was having must have rubbed off, he had a flat tire soon after. What would you do differently?: I think my bike problems all go back to the swim. I'm ok with it otherwise. Transition 2
Comments: The problem here was not getting my feet out of my shoes on the bike, so I had to unclip. I was racked at the opposite end of the transition area and had to get there in my bike shoes, which I am not accustomed to running in. Otherwise, a mediocre T2. What would you do differently?: Get out of my bike shoes. Run
Comments: Calves were cramping at the start. I think I was dehydrated. My bike water bottle was completely full at the finish, so obviously I wasn't doing anything about hydration. I struggled through most of the run and had to convince myself to keep going. I caught my second wind about 200 yards from the finish, and when another competitor passed me at the end I caught him and challenged him to a sprint to the finish, which I won. This is the third race that I have struggled through only to discover new energy near the finish. I need to figure out how to find that a lot earlier. What would you do differently?: Keep running and lose weight. Post race
Warm down: Bent over to catch my breath from the sprint to the finish. Drank some water. What limited your ability to perform faster: As always, excess weight. But the story of this race was really the terrible swim, it hurt me the rest of the way. I actually swam strong, it was the exertion required to wrestle through the pack that killed me. I felt like a ran the rest of the race in a daze, until just before the finish. I also think I was mildly dehydrated from trying to lose weight before the race and not drinking before or during. I drank some water on the run and seemed to recover some. Event comments: I like the Tri the Park series and this one was good with a few exceptions. A vounteer strayed from their post (after I had passed, otherwise, in the condition I was in mentally I'd probably still be running) and some runners missed the turn. Another thing I found odd was the police car stopped on the right side of the road just before a sharp right turn, forcing riders into the left lane (this was an open course, meaning cars) to complete the turn. He may have been covering a pothole or something, but he hit his siren just as I passed to signal an oncoming car and almost startled me off the bike. And the awards ceremony took way to long to get started, not that I was involved, but I had to wait for abear2, who is making a habit of collecting the hardware. :) Now that I have whined and complained about how terrible things were for me, I want to mention the extremely nice man I briefly chatted with at the end of the race. He had finished in 1:58 and had no complaints at all and seemed to be having a great time. At the time I think he was strapping on his lower "walking legs" which I guess are different from the running and riding legs he had to strap on during the race. I guess my race wasn't too bad, now that I think about it. Last updated: 2006-04-30 12:00 AM
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United States
Blue Sky Sports
Overall Rank = 134/291
Age Group = Clydesdale
Age Group Rank = 9/32
Got up at 4:30, drove to the race site about 1:30 away.
Swam about 50 yards to get warm up the water in the wetsuit. Stretched a little. Jogged from the lake to the transition area.