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 Swim
Comments: Well, swimming in cold water is a different experience. I'm pretty comfortable in open water but I hyperventilated during the first 200 yards. I flipped over and backstroked for about 20 seconds until I mellowed out. After my hands and feet became numb it was a great swim. I sight and tend to drift to the right when I swim and this was a clockwise course. This kept me on the buoy line but I sighted well. I'm not sure if the course was short or there was current but this was my fastest 1500 by about 5 minutes. I did feel good and I didn't really push the pace at any time. It was just a nice smooth swim once I got use to the water. What would you do differently?: Not sign up for races where the water is below 60 degrees.  Transition 1
Comments: Well this was one of my longest T1s ever but still was in the middle of the age group. What were these people doing? I was in no hurry as this was a training race. I dried off, put on gloves, dew rag, fixed my makeup, and signed some autographs and still finished in the middle. What would you do differently?: Nothing, I wanted to be comfortable  Bike
Comments: This is always the worst part of a triathon for me. I don't usually have a problem with the distance. I'm just slow. With the recent weather I hadn't gotten in a lot of outdoor training. So, I got passed like I was standing still, as usual. I did concentrate on not mashing and to keep up the cadence. My main goal for the bike was to spin and to work on nutrition. I actually had a plan this time and managed to stay on the plan. I switched to all Hammer products and it worked well. I'm finding I don't tolerate a lot of sugar well. No more GU for me, the Hammergel worked a lot better. This first loop went well and I was just behind a big pack of people. This course is not for people who don't like riding in traffic. One portion of the ride was a on a busy road with a lot of pickup trucks. After a while I didn't notice except when drivers got impatient. Anyway, I was moving a long until the last 7 or 8 miles and then it became a grind. This is when I lost the big group I was pacing The best part of the ride was wearing my Virginia Tech jersey. I attended VT and after the recent events it was good to sport the school colors. As people passed the gave out a shout or made some other encouraging comment. It helped passed the time and made me feel good. What would you do differently?: Not much. I hit my nutrition plan and I kept to the targeted cadence. I wasn't as fast as I wanted but I didn't blow out my legs either. Transition 2
Comments: Another lacksidasical transition but I finished 8 out of 20. I'm not sure what people were doing. I didn't stop to take any pictures or anything but I wasn't rushing either. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Run
Comments: Not my best time for this distance but not bad. I was surprised at how hot it had gotten. It was the first 80 degree day since the fall. I think it caught everyone off guard, as there didn't seem to be a lot of happy people on the run. I kept on my VT jersey even though it's a bike jersey. It was cool how many people cheered as I went by even for the second or third time. I ran the whole race except the water stops. I don't usually walk water stops but I want to make sure I was hydrated. I did pretty well until the last mile when I started getting twinges in my left calf. Two people from my age group passed me in the last half mile but I was justing looking to finish. I should have been taking more endurolytes during the run. What would you do differently?: Not much, take more endurolytes. Post race
Warm down: Walked around and talked to some people. It was funny how people were worried about the water temperature for the swim but most everyone waded in to soak after the race. It was cool to see some BTers out for the race, Shelly123, Kristin and Weds19, to name a few. The post race food was non-existent, so I loaded up my stuff after a wade in the lake. What limited your ability to perform faster: This was a C race and I wanted to work on nutrition and pacing. Both went well and will play a big role at Lake Placid. Writing this report I must have kept things under control because I've recovered quickly. Event comments: It was organized except for no ambulance which delayed the start by 30 minutes. I liked the small size and quality of the racers but I didn't like how the race organizers shut down the finish line at 6:30 hours. This left a lot of people on the course with no one at the finish line. Not cool. The swag and post race stuff was minimal but probably not a big thing for the people who go to this kind of race. Last updated: 2007-04-06 12:00 AM
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United States
Set-Up, Inc
72F / 22C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 133/231
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 10/20
The night before the race, I drove to my parents house which is about an hour from the race site. I already had my stuff ready, so I just spent time with my parents and grandma. Got up at 4:30, had breakfast and out the door by 5. I got to the race a little after 6 and picked up my race packet. The RD offered a duathlon as the water temperature was 54 degrees. I felt the water and it wasn't as bad as I expected. I thought there was going to be ice cubes and maybe a few icebergs. No it was just your typical brown Virginia lake water. Got my race stuff laid out and got into my wetsuit. Usually I don't like to put it on until the last minute but the temperature was around 40, so it actually felt good with the wetsuit on.
It was interesting to see the bikes in transition. This is a relatively small race and early in the season. It was mostly all the hard core local triathlon people. Not very many beginners and a lot of IM logos/tatoos. Most of the bikes had wheels more expensive than my whole bike.
I did a quick swim to see how the water would feel. It was cold and I definitely didn't want to put my face in the water. I swam for about a minute and got out. Waiting for the race I reviewed in my mind how I wanted to do this race. This was a training race for me, I had only signed up about a month before the race and had tapered for all of 3 days for the race. This was going to be all about pacing and nutrition. I wanted to get in a good race without needing a long recovery time. The goal until July is training for IMLP. Stood around and talked to some BTers.
After all the angst about the water temperature and the whining. I noticed the Semper Fi Marine race team. These are guys that have lost legs during the war. It makes you realize how lucky you are when see a guy having to use crutches to get in the water. It was inspirational to see them during the race.