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 Swim
Comments: Prior to the anthem we all waited for some very serious looking people who were warming up to be called out on the megaphone. Apparently they couldn't hear it, because we finally ignored them, although the crowd was getting a little upset with them. Listened to the National Anthem and watched day break over the Choptank. It was very pretty and I was happy to be there in this group of people. We waded into the water and I headed towards the front. After the gun, there was the usual chaos until I could break away but within about 50 meters the pack had thinned considerably and at 150 meters I was on my own. As others have stated, the water was very choppy. I would swim up a wave and come crashing down the other side, almost submerging on the back end. I swallowed some brine at first but quickly got my rhythm down so I was breathing at the top of most waves. The buoys were pretty spaced out and once or twice it took some searching to find the next one but in general it was an easy course to follow. There was a sailboat about 40 meters in front of me the whole time which I guess was leading us. I don't know if that's normal or not but it didn't really bother me. At one point I feel like one of the buoys was actually being towed into position by another boat while I was swimming towards it so I went towards the buoy and away from the sailboat only to find that the sailboat was right. Next time I guess I'll trust the guide boat. I hadn't checked the swim course beforehand so I didn't realize I was supposed to swim into the ferry landing and there wasn't anyone to follow. I figured it out pretty quickly though and got out of the water to a lot of cheering. I hope it's as exciting for the people watching as it is for the triathletes because it feels great to hear those people yelling at transitions and around the course. Thanks to all of them. Overall I was happy with my swim although I certainly could have gone faster with less chop on the surface. What would you do differently?: - Go over the course map prior to the race - Follow the guide boat, not necessarily the buoys  Transition 1
Comments: Jogged up to the transition area and headed towards my bike. I've never been to a race with a tent so it surprised me when they suggested I go back in there to change. I was like, "but I've got my shorts on under this, I'm not taking it all of." The officials didn't really tell me to do anything but I headed into the tent. I'm glad I did because I was able to sit down and take my wetsuit off while somebody grabbed some Gatorade for me and offered other food. At this point I was completely unaware of transitions where people would bring me food and drinks so I just went about my business but I was impressed at the time. I threw on my helmet, grabbed my bike, walked-jogged to the exit and headed off feeling pretty good. What would you do differently?: - I think this was a great transition for me. I did not feel at all rushed and didn't have any trouble with changing out of my wetsuit and into my bike gear.  Bike
Comments: Wow...this hurt. A lot. I felt good at the beginning, using my friend's Quintana Roo with aerobars. The first 10 miles out were slower than I wanted to be but felt good and this may have been because of wind. Again, I didn't look at the course beforehand and at the turnaround I went the wrong way for a couple feet until the cop directed me which way to go. I hope nobody follows me on these things. Once I got going in the other direction I got up to 22-25 mph which felt much better and after a few minutes heading in the other direction I started to see other racers. After the turn onto the big loop things started to get rough for me. As I said, I do not ride often and I'm certainly not used to the wind. It felt like an all out battle at points just to keep going forward. I was pushed down to 13 mph at some points by the wind when I wanted to be going right around 20 mph. For the first 50 miles or so things were okay even with the wind and I managed to get up to 28 mph on some stretches. I tried to drink most of a bottle between every aid station, alternating water and Gatorade. I tried to finish a Powerbar about every two aid stations, eat one or two gel packs every aid station, and eat one of the small energy bars I got every once in awhile. This seemed to work well at first... Then about 20 miles before the start of the second loop, my thighs started burning. This wasn't a big deal until about 5 miles later when my left thigh started cramping up. It got to the point where I had to coast to a stop, hop off the bike, and stretch it. I did this as quickly as possible, peed, and hopped back on after about 2 minutes. I had to get off and stretch again after about 10 miles for another minute or two. Finally, I rolled through the end of the first loop and started on my second loop. I don't understand the Special Needs Bags considering you can carry all your food with you but maybe these intense cramps prove me wrong. At the start of the second 45 mile loop I decided that I would need to stop at some point and actually try to fix my legs because I could not keep stopping every 10 miles. I was feeling alright so I kept going as far as I could until my legs started seizing up again. I stopped and got off for about 5-7 minutes, stretched my legs, drank more Gatorade, and peed again. Both times my piss was clear. After reading around I'm starting to think I was not replenishing my electrolytes enough. I finished the second lap without stopping anymore although I was not going as fast as I wanted to be going at all. The only surprise was getting diverted because of a fire that had started on the course. What would you do differently?: - Check the course out prior to the race - Work on my nutrition plan (more electrolytes?) - Bike seat hurt quite a bit, not sure if there's much I can do about this - Practice...at all Transition 2
Comments: Obviously I took my time here. Let the volunteers bring me Gatorade and gel packs. It was nice to be taken care of. I was hurting pretty bad after that bike so I went slow on this transition and then took some time to stretch before heading off on the run. What would you do differently?: - Work on my bike stage so I'm not dead rolling into the transition and then the run  Run
Comments: Overall, I think I hacked through the marathon pretty well considering how much I was hurting from the start. This was also my first marathon and I think I learned a lot about pacing, aid stations, and nutrition but I am capable of doing far better. So in that sense, I am disappointed I did not do what I expected of myself. My first lap was not bad, I definitely hurt at parts but overall I held about an 8:00 to 8:20 mile pace and blew through the aid stations just throwing some Gatorade down while I ran through. I also put down a few gel packs along the way but I do not think I fueled my body properly here. By the second lap I was really starting to hurt. just about half way through this lap my legs cramped up to the point where I had to stop on the ground and stretch them out again somewhat near the furthest aid station. Some angel of a woman, Marianne I think, gave me some electrolyte pills and told me to walk it off and not stop to let it cramp up again. Whoever she was, she was incredible and I saw her a few more times on the race and she never failed to cheer me up. From here on out I ran between aid stations then walked and drank some Gatorade for 20-30 yards at each one. This or the electrolyte pills seemed to work wonders for my cramps which didn't show up again. I finished this lap knowing that I would be cutting it close to get under 11 hours but feeling pretty good. I tried to pick up the pace on this last lap to get under 11 hours and I went much faster than I had been going. I continued to walk and eat/drink at each aid station skipping only the last one. I think I held about an 8:00 minute mile pace for this last lap. I came into the stadium thrilled and feeling like I had actually accomplished something. I can run around a 5:00 mile pretty easily and I've held 6:30 pace for over 10 miles before so this definitely was not a good running race for me. However, I felt like I had fought through some tough walls and proven myself so I was happy overall with the run. I'd like to figure out what I can do to get down to the paces I should be holding. My roommate, who I had seen throughout the race once or twice and who was now recovered, just missed my finish and met me just outside the stadium. Being the good friend that he is, he had actually driven back home and picked up a girl that I'm dating who decided to come out to see the end of this thing. Needless to say, I was happy to see both of them and they stuck with me as I rambled on about the race on the ride back. What would you do differently?: - Stick to a preplanned pattern for running and walking through aid stations - Better plan my nutrition - Stay more cognizant of my pace - Figure out how to hold the times I'm capable of on the run Post race
Warm down: Walked to pick up my stuff, ate half a slice of pizza, and headed out. I didn't want to keep my roommate and date waiting and as far as I knew nobody I knew was still running the race. What limited your ability to perform faster: - Nutrition...I think I ate enough and drank plenty. If anybody has advice or suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. I think I may have drunk too much and I don't think I got enough electrolytes. Perhaps I was flushing them out with too much fluids. This is my number one priority to fix. - Training...I could and probably will train more for my next one. I think I could knock off at least 30 minutes just by racing smarter and probably more by learning how to bike. Event comments: Post finishers somewhere so that we know whether or not our friends have finished the race. Overall though, this was a fantastic race. Low-key with a small entry list but great people, well run, and staffed with superb volunteers. Beautiful venue and a great flat course that you wouldn't expect to be as tough as it was. That wind was brutal. Last updated: 2007-10-05 12:00 AM
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United States
Columbia Triathlon Association
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 16/119
Age Group = 20-24
Age Group Rank = 1/3
This is my first Race Report and only my third triathlon so please bear with me. I did the Kinetic Half Ironman in VA last spring and the Olympic distance Annapolis Triathlon in early September.
I live about an hour from the race so I did not stay in Cambridge at all. I went to the pre-race meeting on Friday night and was very impressed by the race director who was funny, seemed very experienced, and who gave a very detailed brief. However, I got bored as people continued to ask these ridiculous questions so I left after about 20 minutes to grab my gear bag and rack my bike. I was slightly worried about making it to the bike rack in time but the maps provided were clear and easy to follow so this went smoothly.
Afterwards I called one of my roommates who picked up some long-distance gear lube at the bike shop and I swung by Subway for my foot long, delicious pre-race dinner. Then I went to the local Food Lion for Gatorade, Powerbars, and some kind of mini endurance bar things.
I got back home and started setting up my gear bags. Of course, this took longer than expected and I didn't get to bed until about 11:30PM or so. I set up some oatmeal for the morning and got to sleep pretty quickly after telling myself I had nothing to worry about tomorrow. I was telling myself this all week because I really had not prepared for this race much and it was rapidly becoming apparent that yes, this was in fact an Ironman I had signed up for. At this point I had never ridden more than the 56 miles during the Kinetic Half at once and I had never really run more than 20 miles or so. I do some pretty long runs but I normally don't calculate how far I'm going. The swim I was not worried about at all because have swum competitively most of my life, however I had not swum in about 6 weeks besides the Annapolis Triathlon.
At this point I realized that tomorrow would be a test of my guts, my will, and my natural fitness level. I looked forward to that test because while I knew I would finish, I had no idea how I would do. I tend to enjoy this kind of challenge...it's kind of like a pop-quiz for my body and my determination.
I woke up at 4:07AM on the morning of the race and started heading out the door after two packets of oatmeal. My roommate just happened to be getting back at this point from a pretty wild night which I missed out on; probably for the best. Anyways, in his drunken state he was adamant that he wanted to go support me during this thing. I tried my hardest to convince him that he would be sitting around all day and it might lack the excitement he was imagining but like I said, he was quite drunk and set on his decision.
He helped me carry my stuff out to the car and we took off. It took about 2 minutes for him to pass out and he didn't wake up again until we were about 20 minutes away from Cambridge and there were blue lights flashing behind us. I tend to drive a little fast although I've never been in an accident and this particular morning I didn't see the cop car until it was too late. I was as polite as I could be and the policewoman let me off with a warning and a stern, "slow the hell down." Needless to say, I did, and I managed to make it to the race site without anymore incidents.
Once in Cambridge, I made my rounds to the various transition stages dropping off gear bags and lubing the bike I was using. Again, the maps provided were adequate and everything went well. I left my recovering roommate in the car and told him to sleep for the next 6 hours before going anywhere. Then I explained where I would be and when just in case he still wanted to see me bike or run by when he came to.
I used the bathroom in the hotel to change, ate a Powerbar, and had some Gatorade. After that I wandered over to the body marking stations, put on my wetsuit, and headed down to the water.