![]() Swim
Comments: The horn went off and I ran into the water. I had read about running into the water until you are knee high using high steps with your knees coming up nearly to your armpits in order to run as long as possible. Then I dove in and began freestyle swimming. Big mistake. The waves were strong and repetitious. Within my first 10 strokes I was already struggling for air. The waves continuously crashed into me causing two distinct problems: first, water was coming into my nose and I couldn't get a full breath, and two, I was being pushed back towards the shore so that I wasn't making any progress at all. I immediately switched to breastroke to stay above the water to breathe and to also go over the waves letting the momentum flow under me instead of pushing me back to the shore. This worked enough to let me breathe at least, but I was barely making headway. This is only 440 feet of total swim! I finally made it to the first buoy of the box setup swim and turned right. Now the waves were crashing into my left side. I attempted freestyle but found myself being pushed back to the shore again and the same problem of breathing occurred even when trying to breath right side only (now I know why being able to breathe on both sides is so crucial!). I switched to side stroke so that my back was taking the brunt of the waves and my head was constantly above the water to continue breathing. I was moving but very very slowly. Several times I thought about giving up as it seemed like I'd never make it to the next buoy. I thought to myself "this is it, I'm never doing a triathlon again!" I had trained two months in the pool and found that nothing had prepared me for this at all. The constantly crashing waves, the constant resistance to being pushed back to shore, the inability to breath properly and worst of all, the inability to even do a freestyle. Finally, I made it to the turn buoy and turned right so that I was swimming back to shore. The waves at my back allowed me to freestyle at last. I swam until I could touch the ocean floor and then proceeded to slowly jog out. I should have instead continued to swim until I was impossible to go further as swimming is much faster than wading. Additionally, using the waves to my advantage would have been helpful, but instead I chose to jog out of the water with all that resistance. STUPID. Finally I exited the water very demoralized and nearly beaten but I told myself, now you can go to bike which is a strong point for you. You can make up time. What would you do differently?: 1. I correctly ran with the high hops but what I started stroking too early. I should have begun dolphin hopping until there was no ground to jump off of. This would mean springing off the ocean floor and into the air with hands together overhead and diving out and towards the ocean floor and then bringing knees up and springing off the ground again being careful to avoid the waves if possible. 2. I just read about ocean water dynamics and apparently the current near the surface flows towards the shore but underneath the surface, on the ocean floor, the current goes back out to sea (rip current). Therefore, I would have tried diving under and letting the rip current do the work for me. 3. Coming back into the shore I need to swim for as long as I possibly can, not standing up or running out of the water until it's impossible to swim any more. ![]() Transition 1
Comments: Place: 397/423 Took my time. I jogged in, washed the sand off my feet with the water and then dried them off and put my bike socks on. I wasn't hungry so didn't eat the half bananna. I put a gel pack into my short pockets and put on my under armour shirt (I don't have a tri top yet). I decided not to put the HR monitor on as it would just distract me. I put helmet and shades on and then walked the bike quickly to the bike start. We weren't allowed to run according to race rules, but of course people were neglecting that and running. Having bike shoes that clop loudly and clumsily I decided to take it easy and walk fast. What would you do differently?: I definitely need to practice starting with bike shoes already clipped onto the bike and also riding without socks. But without the practice, it was smart not to attempt it this time. Also, I saw another guy's transition area and he used a plastic storage bin with lid (sort of like an under the bed storage bin) to keep his stuff in. I thought that was a really good idea. ![]() Bike
Comments: The bike race was very comfortable for me. I passed a LOT of people and it was such a confidence booster! All that hill training paid off handsomely and I was cruising. Only 2 people passed me the whole time. Interestingly, I learned something about my psyche that I don't know is a good or a bad thing. Whenever people tried to pass me, a switch went on in my head and I thought, "there's no way you're passing me... it's not happening." So, I would let them pass me (per race rules) and then I would charge ahead of them fast. Surprisingly, I had ample leg strength and was able to overtake them without tiring myself out too much. For most of the race I was in the 20-24 mph range maxing at one point at 30 mph down a straightaway. It felt great. I drank approximately once every 10 minutes. I stayed in the big ring the entire race and used a low cadence high gear most of the time, but switched to higher cadence when trying to increase speed after a relatively short hill. What would you do differently?: I'm not sure. I know I have a lot of room for improvement. There was a really strong headwind in one direction. I was in the drops the whole bike portion but I wonder if I could improve my position on the bike to eliminate wind drag more? ![]() Transition 2
Comments: Place: 389/423 I walked the bike back to the transition area and could immediately feel how tired my legs were. The beach run had me apprehensive... I'd never run on sand before. I took off bike shoes, shades and helmet and had a gel pack. Put on running shoes and cap and took off towards the shore. What would you do differently?: I need to learn to ride without socks and then to unstrap and ride on top of my bike shoes before dismounting. ![]() Run
Comments: The run was horrible. Running with sneakers on the hard sand was incredibly difficult and my calves immediately began to feel really bad. About 3/4 of a mile in I noticed that people were taking off their shoes and leaving them on the beach to run barefoot. I figured I'd give it a try. GLORIOUS HEAVEN that felt better. It was still difficult but it was much much better. I ran another 1/4 mile and stitches were coming on from both sides of my body. I walked about 2 minutes and then began running again try to breath out as much as I could on the exhale. Eventually the stitches lessened somewhat and I began running. I was at a snails pace, and my calves were killing me. Finally I rounded the halfway mark at 1.55 miles and started coming back. I began to feel a second wind and picked up the pace a little bit. At the 2 mile mark, I was feeling better and better and began picking up the pace even more. By mile 2.5 I was running at a good long stride pace. Despite my brick workouts, perhaps my body wasn't fully prepared for the transition and took 2 miles to get into running form. That and getting used to the sand. Whatever the reason, finally I began hitting good stride. I finished strong and put on a concentrated face for the photographer. I had finished my first triathlon ever! What would you do differently?: I need to get into running form and get rid of the heavy leg feeling quicker out of the transition. I'll know more next week after I do a more traditional sprint triathlon at Marlton Lakes. ![]() Post race
Warm down: Didn't warm down which may have been a mistake because I'm feeling sore as heck today! My calves are killing me. What limited your ability to perform faster: No previous experience. Ocean swim was incredibly daunting. Inability to freestyle in the ocean. Goggles leaking on right side made one eye red and irritable during the swim and rest of the race. Wearing bike socks took time off the transition. Running on the beach was very difficult with shoes on. Event comments: I liked this race. All the people were really nice and helpful. Stephen the race director was awesome. They only served water, and there were only 2 aid stations. The second drink station on the last portion of the run was unmanned and had no water left. That was disappointing as my mouth was getting really dry at that point. The post race festivities were weird. The food was not that great, it was basically breakfast food and some muffins. The awards were given out in random fashion as in the guy would literally pick someone out of the crowd and give out free stuff. They were taking forever to tabulate results so my bro and I decided to just leave and beat the traffic rush. The race was fun though and it was a real learning experience. It was very challenging but I don't think it was beyond my abilities in any way. The swim was definitely really hard and I wasn't prepared for it in any way, but the rest of the race was just fine. The mistakes and areas for improvement were mostly mental. I need to incorporate strength workouts more into my training in order to deal with tough running conditions and build muscular endurance (my calves are killing me today). I will definitely do this race again next year! Last updated: 2006-07-31 12:00 AM
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United States
DelMo Sports
75F / 24C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 336/423
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 45/49
The night before the triathlon, I must have had to pee about 12 different times. Where was all this fluid coming from! Nerves, nerves... and it must have been unconscious because I didn't feel THAT nervous. Finally woke up at 4:30 AM at the motel and ate a half a bananna and some water. Around 5:30 AM, my brother and I left for North Wildwood from Cape May Court House in search of a diner that would be open this early but there was nothing. We ended up at the Wawa and I bought a bananna, V8, a corn muffin and an energy bar. I ate the V8 and energy bar and saved the bananna for transition. We arrived at 15th and the beach, North Wildwood at 6:15 AM and unloaded our bikes and transition equipment. We set up our bikes near the exit point of the swim to bike transition. A rush of excitement and nerves overcame me as I began to see the mass of people grow bigger and bigger. There were fit people and not so fit people, young and old. I saw a nine year old on the run portion. I saw mountain bikes, road bikes, tri bikes and even small huffy bikes. The range of talent was broad. I let the air out of my tires and pumped new air into it. Then, as Murphy's Law would predict, my chain fell off my bike as I tried to rotate the pedals one time. So I put the chain back on with my bare hands causing black grease to cover my hands. There was no running water to be found ANYWHERE and the public restrooms were closed. Why can't they keep the public restrooms on the boardwalk open during a big event like this??? So I ran down to the ocean to clean as much of it off as I possibly could but without soap only some of it came off. Then I went to stand in the portapotty line. Then went to get my race number put on both arms and my age on the back of my leg. I went back to the transition area, strapped on my race timing chip and then set up the transition area. I placed a beach towel on the ground and placed bike shoes, under armor shirt with race number attached to the front on top of it and bike socks in each shoe. I put my sneakers next to them. I put a bottle of water and a small towel next to that. I would use this water to clean the sand off my feet and the towel to wipe them dry before putting the socks on. Helmet was hanging off the bike handle bars and I didn't use bike gloves. Shades were inside the helmet.
It was so chaotic that I didn't do much of a warm up. I did about 100 jumping jacks and then stretched for about 5 minutes. I need to work on this warmup routine for my triathlons as I know this would have calmed me down a bit. I was more apprehensive about doing the right thing than performing well. The race director announced that the swim start location would be changed from 18th street to 13th street so the water would be calmer. We went to the starting location on 13th and the beach and I ventured all the way to the left side to stay away from the mass of swimmers. The pros went off, then three more age groups until finally our horn sounded. The race had begun!