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 Swim
Comments: After the teams went off all of the guys jumped in the water and waited our 5 minutes before starting. It was an 'in water' start and a shoreline swim. After starting three things became evident: 1 - I hate shoreline swims. Following a buoy line is much more efficient than following a shoreline. I kept getting too shallow and hitting the bottom with my hands. In addition, the bottom was hard and rocky and not dirt. 2 - People who walk the entire shoreline SWIM piss me off. Why? Because since I had a bad swim there were some people who passed me whilst walking. 3 - I need to work on not allowing a bad swim to get to me and realize I just need to keep swimming. My last 150 yards were getting better, but just when I hit my stride it was over. What would you do differently?: Swim out to above 30-40 feet from shore to start the swim, a few people did that and the natural waves along with a straight swim pushed them to the shore in perfect time.  Transition 1
Comments: T1 went well. I ditched the tupperware container of water and just filled a squirt bottle with water to wash off my feet. I ran up the beach, into T1, found my bike, washed feet.. socks on.. shoes on.. t-shirt on (for sunburn issues).. helmet on.. and I'm OFF! What would you do differently?: Beat 21 other people on T1 time, would have been better if I hadn't been at the VERY back of the TA which means I had to run the bike a good 50 yards.  Bike
Comments: Riding the Jamis Quest really felt good compared to my older Cannondale R300. I was keeping a strong pace on all of the flats and downhills, and reasonable on the uphills. Nutrition was good on the bike and I passed MORE guys than guys passed me, crazy eh? Got passed by a lot of women, but I like the scenery. What would you do differently?: Even though the Jamis was nice, I wasn't quite as comfortable as I would have been on my own bike. Transition 2
Comments: I had that same 50 yard dash as before with the bike, but this time I was motivated by the time I saw on the clock. I racked the bike, put on my race belt, threw on the hat, grabbed my endurolytes (in mini m&m container), water bottle, and RAN out of the TA. What would you do differently?: Get a better TA position?  Run
Comments: This was my first triathlon where I never stopped running, even for a second. I ran every step, and while my time may be slow, I am DAMN proud of it. At mile two I saw a guy on his way out and he yelled at me, "You are my hero, I saw your article." I cried, but I ran on. Hard finish line sprint and kiss the wife. What would you do differently?: Run faster? It'll come with time. Post race
Warm down: Warm down consisted of standing right at the finish line and cheering EVERY SINGLE racer who put in more time out there than me. Including the man who pulled up the rear, the one who said I was his hero. He got a great ovation at the finish line, what a stud. What limited your ability to perform faster: The shoreline swim, I can swim much faster than that and will do so next time. Event comments: A good race, and one that you can tell has been put on for many years. My only gripe is the single aid station on the run, I really like having more aid stations during hotter days. By the end of the day it was 93+ degrees, so yeah... water be important. Last updated: 2007-07-07 12:00 AM
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United States
85F / 29C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 61/66
Age Group = 15-29
Age Group Rank = 11/12
My wife I decided to drive up to Watertown the night before when she got off of work at 8pm, and stay the night at a hotel. Our original plan was to drive up the morning of, but we thought it best to get there earlier.
About 10 miles outside of Watertown, while driving on the interstate, a deer came out of nowhere into the road. There was no way to stop or avoid hitting the deer, so I swerved as much as possible to stop the impact from being head on. The deer, a doe, smashed our front windshield, tore off the side-view mirror, and rolled down the side of the car. Nobody was hurt, which is the most important thing. However, the deer caught my bike's rear wheel as it's swan song. The rear wheel and tire were bent like a pancake, and it appears that the frame might be pinched as well.
After making a few emergencies calls, we drove the rest of the way into town. Glass was chipping off the window into my face the entire drive, my stress level spiking through the roof. I called Howard Bich, the race director from my first triathlon who was also in Watertown for this tri, and he put me in touch with the RD Jodi Hiemiller.
Jodi promised that her bike tech guy would help me before the race, so we decided to stay at the hotel and just see what happened. Bright and early at 6am we were off to the lake. We were the second car of triathletes in the parking lot, which would have been great except for those darn assigned bike racks. I 'despise' assigned bike racks.
After setting up my transition area I met up with Bruce Peterson, the bike tech guy, and he loaned me his bike. His bike was a Jamis Quest. After taking it for a spin I began to feel better about the race as his bike was like butter compared to my loaf of hardened bread of a bike. I finished setting up my transition area and began my warmup.
My warmup consisted of: talking to fellow triathletes and doing my pre-race constitutional. :) I was a tad late for the race meeting due to the above mentioned warmup activities, but caught all the pertinent information.
The teams started first, then men 5 minutes later, then women 5 minutes later.