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 Swim
Comments: I had heard so many stories about how traumatic the 1st triathlon swim would be I really hung back before diving in. While that paid off in terms of not getting kicked I did find myself stuck behind slower swimmers quite a bit. I spent so much time trying to find a line I never felt like I got into a groove. Based on practice times I was hoping for 12 minutes so with all the stopping & sighting I was shocked when I looked and the watch said 11 minutes. I actually looked 3 times. Overall I'm very happy with the swim for my first race but I can get better. What would you do differently?: Get in some group swims to learn how to sight in a pack. Possibly start more in the middle of the pack to get in front of the slower swimmers.  Transition 1
Comments: This was really the only thing that went poorly on the day. I had originally planned to use a race belt but at the last minute decided to pin my bib to my tri top and just put it on after the swim. Bad idea. When I put on the tri top I ripped the bib so I had to stop and repin it. Then I was flustered and took longer than needed to get into my shoes. 26th out of 31, ugh. Coming out of the water it seemed like a lot of people were walking up to transition. I ran by maybe 10 or 20 people which felt great. What would you do differently?: Figure out what to do with the race bib and practice that ahead of time. Do some barefoot walking so I have tougher feet for the run to transition.  Bike
Comments: My bike fitness took a long time to develop, I didn't really improve until the last few weeks of training. Three weeks before the race I was hoping to average 16mph but by race day that had bumped up to 19 with a stretch goal of 20. Coming onto the course I spent the 1st half mile trying to get my new bike to shift onto the big ring. Once I finally got it in I just went for it. The first few miles we had the wind at our backs and I was just flying, it felt great. I was passing people constantly which was a great morale boost. I kept my HR just below LT which was the plan and was having a great ride, starting thinking I might hit my stretch goal of 20mph. Around 7 miles out I started to feel a bit tired and worried that I had gone out too fast so I eased off a tiny bit for a mile or two but then picked up the pace again after I got passed. I was definitely tired the last couple of miles but I think I pushed just right. With about 1/2 mile to go I saw my brother's bright yellow shirt and made a big effort to try to catch him. I came into T2 just about 20 feet behind him. Starting in the 3rd wave and having a relatively slow swim was great because I passed a TON of people and only got passed by 3 women from the group behind me and 2 men. What would you do differently?: Get the bike tuned up before the race, better yet learn to do it myself. Establish a good pre-race routine, I forgot to check the pressure in the tires! Transition 2
Comments: Everything went pretty smoothly, 7th of 31 which I'm happy with for my first tri. What would you do differently?: Not much. Eventually I'll work on getting my feet out of shoes while still on the bike and doing a flying dismount but that's not the bottleneck for me yet.  Run
Comments: Came out of T1 with my brother in sight. I was pretty sure I could catch him but he's got a lot more running experience than I do plus it took me a while to get into a groove. I did catch him about a 1/2 mile into the run and we ran to mile 1 together. By then I started feeling better so I kept going, keeping my eye out for my brother and brother in law (who I found out later I had already passed). I caught my brother around mile 2. I didn't know I had the family lead but I was feeling great since I was going to easily make my goal time of 1:30. I was very tired but happy as I ran back into the park. I could have pushed harder but was just enjoying the last few minutes of my first triathlon. As I approached the line I actually held back a bit because I wanted to hear them call out my name and didn't want to miss if I crossed at the same time as the person in front of me. It seemed important at the time but the guy in front was in my AG and the hesitation caused me to miss my goal of 24 minutes by one second. Oh well. When I decided to do a triathlon at the end of April I was most nervous about the run. The first time I was able to run a mile without stopping it took 12 minutes but I kept at it and wound up falling in love with running. I've had foot & ankle trouble since June so I am super pleased with my progress although I know I can go faster once I get those sorted out. What would you do differently?: Figure out how to get my ankle strengthened so I can do some speed work and get faster. Post race
Warm down: Drank some water and ate a bunch of fruit they had at the finish. Waited for the rest of my family to cross and shared lots of hugs and stories. What limited your ability to perform faster: Really nothing that was in my control, I think I did the best I could with the 16 weeks I had to train. It's taking a long time for the swim to click and I had foot & ankle issues that caused me to take running very easy for most of June. I am already looking forward to the next race! Event comments: Need more porta potties, I think they only had 7 for the entire race. Profile Album Last updated: 2012-08-14 12:00 AM
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United States
Millennium Triathlon
Overcast
Overall Rank = 91/447
Age Group = M 40-44
Age Group Rank = 10/31
This was my first triathlon and I was joined by 2 brothers, my sister, brother in law and cousin. It was the first race for all but one of us so quite a family affair.
Friday we drove up to Grand Rapids, picked up packet and checked into hotel. My wife was supposed to arrive mid-afternoon but her luggage was lost which added a lot of stress to the evening. My plan was to get in bed by 10 but it took until 11pm to get her situated and everything done. I dozed off but woke up a half hour later. Around midnight I got up and took a quick shower and then slept pretty well after that.
Saturday morning I woke at 5am and was happy to see dry pavement when I peeked out the window. Breakfast was some chicken breast, a cup of blueberries, banana and a glass of beet juice. My folks were in the next room and Mom brought her coffee maker, that really helped! It had been cold and rainy on Friday so I wound up over packing with extra layers and stuff I didn't really need. Next time I'll think through the possibilities and plan ahead so I can keep my transition area less cluttered. Got out the door right on time and was dropped off at 6:15. I made my way to the transition area and set up, then walked around. Since this was my first race I had no idea what to expect so I was just taking everything in and watching what others were doing. I visited the porta-potties about 5 times, thankfully before the long lines later. The rest of my family started arriving around 6:45 so we chatted and joked around until the start which was nice.
Swam for about 5 minutes to get the blood pumping. I had planned to bike & run a bit but it was too chaotic.