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 Swim
Comments: this swim gets an "A" for mental attitude and a "D-" for speed. much to my surprise I was calm for this swim from beginning to end. I did the crawl the entire time except for sighting when I would do the breast for a few strokes. A couple of times I thought " man this is long" or "are we there yet." However I never really felt tired or winded. I was bummed that I had to do this without a wet suit, however from a mental standpoint I glad I proved to myself I could do it without. For all those that have mental issues with the open water: there is hope. Now speed that is a different story. I was pathetically slow. I guess we know what my off-season swim focus is going to be: speed. I think the wet suit will help significanly as well. It seemed everyone was faster. Breast strokers, sidestrokers, I swear some guy in a floating lounge chair went past me. As it turns out, I think my foot was bleeding the entire swim and it continued to hurt. As slow as I was, it was hard to be pleased that I seem to have put the swim demons to bed once and for all. What would you do differently?: have my wet suit and work on speed for the entire off season.  Transition 1
Comments: keeping with the theme for today: slow. I didn't dry off (except for feet) and my shirt got stuck getting it on. I was going to go sockless. However I decided to wear socks with my foot problem. Good idea. after the race I noticed that the toe of my sock was soaked with blood. What would you do differently?: dry back a little or wear top in the water. Not be bleeding.  Bike
Comments: first half was fine, I was happy with my speed which was consistently over 20 mph. Started out pretty lonely because of the slow swim. I did eventually pass about 15-20 people. the second half seemed to be a lot more windy and there were stretches where my speed slowed way down to 14-15 mph. I was getting pretty discouraged. About the last eight miles I recovered somewhat and got my speed up a little. Overall I most disappointed with this leg. I am capable of going much faster than this , especially on this course. Also my watch stopped working on the bike, so I really couldn't track my pace. What would you do differently?: push harder in the tough spots. Train more distance stuff Transition 2
Comments: ok the challenges continue. When I got to my spot someone's helmet was laying a my stuff and my shoes were not wher they belong. then when I went to get my shoe, there was a huge knot in it (I did not leave it this way) the knot was very tight and took me a while to get untied. At the time I thought someone was playing a practical joke on me. After some thought I think someone else got confused and tried to put my shoes on. What would you do differently?: not have someone tie a knot in my shoe  Run
Comments: As soon as I took my first step on the run, I felt the pain in my toe. It hurt the entire run, but with all the adreneline, it was certainly not unbearable. I just settled into my pace right way, legs actually felt good from the beginning. Of course I didn't have a watch, so I was unsure what my pace actually was. I felt pretty good. The last mile or so, I was starting to wear down a little, my left knee was starting to twinge. I just repeated myself- run don't walk. That worked. My girls joined me as I crossed the finish line - which was great. What would you do differently?: have a watch to track my pace. more long distance training Post race
Warm down: did a little stretch and sat down and drank a jug of Gatorade What limited your ability to perform faster: for swim - not enough speed training and no wet suit. For bike and run: not enough distance training. Oh and my bleeding toe. Event comments: This was my first Oly race. I knew that I was a bit undertrained for this distance and I was right. Dispite all the problems and my slow pace, I was the most relaxed I have ever been and enjoyed the journey. Lots of lessons in this one. I was overjoyed that my wife and kids where there, it meant a lot to have their support. It feels great to take the next step in this triathlon madness. Last updated: 2006-08-03 12:00 AM
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United States
Midwest Sports Events
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 164/199
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 29/32
Pre-race really started with listening to Sarah Reinertsen. She is the first above-knee amputee to finish the Ironman Championship in Kona. She did this race and spoke at the Pasta dinner. Her talk got me to the point that I wanted to do the race on saturday as soon as she finished. Very inspirational and very helpful. Message for me Live life do something that you didn't think was possible. Face your fears and push past them.
On to race day woke up at 4:15 ate the usual: two bagels and a banana. I was a bit less nevervous than usual. The family was with me. Got everyone up and they drove me to the site @ 5:15. Went into transition got set up right away. Got marked and chipped. milled around, briefly saw Ray and Rob. They were headed down for a warm-up swim and I likewise thought this was a good idea. At that time they announced that the beach area was too small and they didn't want anybody else swimming. I promptly ignored this and headed over to the lake. Then the adventure started...
headed down to lake for a 10 minute swim. This was smart, relaxed me quite a bit and got the blood flowing. Unfortunetly it literally got the blood flowing. As a I was walking out of the water, I rammed my foot into some hard, sharp object. It felt like a rock. I immediately felt a sharp pain in my big toe. Got out of the water to take a look. Blood was coming out of the bottom of my foot and it hurt like hell. At this point the race was about five minutes from start. So I decided I would just see how it would go.