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 Swim
Comments: This was by far my best OWS. Not that I can swim fast by any stretch of the imagination, but this is the first (out of 4, so far) OWS where I did not resort to side stroke or breast stroke AT ALL!. I was relaxed, found a rythm early on and stuck with it. I did have trouble sighting on the way back into the beach - I kept seeing the buoys for the first half. Then after I passed the last orange buoy I had trouble sighting the exit. I love my new wetsuit! What would you do differently?: For this race, not much. I was pleased with this because I didn't feel like it was a struggle. Now I just need learn to swim faster!  Transition 1
Comments: The wetsuit strippers were a nice touch at this race. Had trouble with socks and shoes - I think because they were damp from the rain. What would you do differently?: Order better weather?  Bike
Comments: Felt pretty good going out, started passing people regularly once I turned onto Quincy. I've ridden the course a couple of times, so I knew what to expect ITO hills, road conditions, where the turn around was - or make that where it was SUPPOSED TO BE! Turns out they extended it by > 2 mi so that the turn around would be in a wider section and therfore safer on the wet roads. I found this didn't really bother me - I knew where it was supposed to be and it obviously wasn't there, so I knew that my time would be slower than I had projected. Was still passing people and feeling good after the turn around, then at the bottom of one of the hills I got pushed onto a particularly rough section of the shoulder by a pick-up truck that passed a little too close. It didn't really phase me at the time (except that I had to slow some), but I'm pretty sure that led to the flat tire I had 1/2 way up the next hill. I've had so many flat tires on this particular bike since I started riding it 2 months ag0 - it has seemd like at least one a week AAGGHHH! It was the rear tire, I got the wheel off and then noticed the bright green cap on the stem...and remembered that I had put slime tubes on a couple of weeks ago. So I decided to gamble that it would work, decided not to take the tire off, just used a CO2 cartridge and prayed that it would hold for the last 3.5 miles. It held well enough that I finished without having to stop again, but I felt like I rode hestitantly on that last section. I just wish that I remebered about the slime tube BEFORE I took the wheel off, espcially since it was the rear wheel. So my avg speed on this course was > 2 mph slower than I was at the 5430 sprint in June when I rode my mountain bike. What would you do differently?: Get a bike with better wheels. Transition 2
Comments: No problems ar issues here, might have run faster with the bike, but it the pavement was wet and slick. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Run
Comments: I was worried about running on the concrete path as I've battled various forms of shin pain since high school. The first mile or so I did feel some pressure in the front of my right leg, but it settled down without my having to slow down or walk. Felt good for the rest of the run and very strong by the last mile. One place on the race website it says the course would be 5K (3.1 mi), bit another sections said it was a bit longer - 3.17 mi. I've gone with the longer because the description of water stations best matched that. Passed Z-dog right at the turn around - it was nice to see another BTer out there. Concrete aside, I liked this course. The winding path kept it mentally interesting. What would you do differently?: Nothing. I wanted to finish under 24 min, which I did. Post race
Warm down: Walked around, stretched some, Put on a dry shirt, walked around and stretched some more (calves felt really tight - maybe becuase of the concrete??). Grabbed a sandwich, took a look at the prelim results, then had to head out as I had to be in Wheatridge in a semi-socially presentable form (ie no lycra) by 1pm. What limited your ability to perform faster: Flat tire & not being that great on the hills on the bike. Lack of swim speed. Overall, this was a good race. Obviously I would rather not have had a flat tire which probably cost me 3-4 min. I had been thinking that if everything was perfect, I would finish under 1:20 and if there were some glitches I'd come in between 1:25 and 1:30. So I was just over that with a longer bike course and a flat tire. When I chose my two races for this first year my goals were to finish and have fun in the first race without caring too much where I finished, but for my second race I wanted to finsish at least in the MOP, which I was able to do in this race. Event comments: The race was well organized and fun. The food was okay, but it didn't look like there was much offered in the way of post race activities. Last updated: 2006-05-22 12:00 AM
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United States
~70F / 0C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 92/190(M)
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 22/53
Got up ~5am and walked the dog in a near down pour. Had put most of my stuff in the car the night before, so there wasn't a whole lot left to do. Had breakfast - ovaltine and some choc/vanilla pudding. Set up coffee maker for Mary. Stopped for coffee on the way down to Aurora Res. Rain had slowed down quite a bit by now and had pretty much stopped by the time I parked.
After setting up my transition area, went for ~10 min run. Came back and went over transition area again, then made sure I knew where I was relative to the entrance/exits. Put on wetsuit and went down to the beach. Got in the water, which felt warmer than the air at that point, swam for 4-5 min. As I got out they were starting the physically challenged and then the 60+ age group.
I should have waited a bit to swim as I then stood around wet and it started to rain again and the wind picked up. Felt bad for the women who faced a headwind and some chop for the first part of the race. I was huddled by the corner of the lifegaurd shelter with some other guys, trying to stay out of the wind (heard later that the place to be was the bathroom/changing room - apparently about 50 guys hung out there while the women got started). An unplanned warm-up activity was alternating periods of near convulsive shivering with intervals of hopping up and down to get warm. I don't think that I will keep this as part of my pre-race warm-up routine though.
As I stood shivering on the beach, I wished that my jockstrap (I mean FIANCEE!!) was there. Then I could have had shoes, a rain jacket etc and handed those off to her just before I lined up for the swim start. But no, she was home in the nice warm comfy bed, sleeping away. Or make that oversleeping, since I neglected to reset the alarm, and so she didn't get up in time to make it to the early riding class at the Col. Therapuetic Riding Cneter where she is a valunteer (SORRY!!!!)