![]() Swim
Comments: Great swim for me. I started on the far right side and knew that the breakwater would be a "bottleneck" and sure enough it was... the course was layed out and the marker bouys were clearly curved, so I used the breakwall as a guide heading out. The start was a bit tight as 5-8 of us were litterally shoulder to shoulder for the first 200 yds or so. At that point, I saw the breakwall to my right underwater and decided to push a bit to get out infront of this group. for the first leg, I basically swam alone. My first bouy rounding was all alone but shortly after, had a swimmer grab on to draft for the 300 yd. leg. Once I rounded the next bouy, I had saw a small group of 5 or so about 25 yds ahead, so I pushed to get on their feet and rode that the rest of the way in. What would you do differently?: Not much on this one, maybe get out quicker on the start and get a draft on that first leg, but overall I was very pleased. Also, the 1 hour delay certainly didn't help the situation. ![]() Transition 1
Comments: This was a bit slow, but with my first 1/2 distance race, I was in it to finish and had to hold myself back. Also, with the weather, I had just about every option in my T1 bag, so it took some time to get everything situated. Bike was waiting for me with my helmet and glasses soaked from the rain that had passed through. What would you do differently?: Being my first 1/2, not a bad time, but could certainly gain a minute or so here... ![]() Bike
Comments: This is where it all started... I came out of the swim feeling great! Ran up, grabbed by bike and hopped on, the first mile or so is up out of the boat launch and I knew it was going to be slow going and I focused on my heart rate and keeping it under control. Speeds were slow around 7-8mph, but good. Turned onto the main road and hit the first slight downhill and kicked up the pace... I was moving along and comfortable, noticed some soreness in my neck. Then... flat!!! So, stay calm, watch people pass me left and right, pull off first tubular, tape and mount replacement, fill with air and hope for the best! Was back on the bike and moving, not in a time that I would have liked, but the tire was on as best as I could! When I reached the turn around, there had been some rubbing, so I stopped again and checked the brakes and they were clean, but the wheel was rubbing on the frame... so I checked and the rear skewer had slipped back on the left hand side of the bike. Once I got that clean, off again and started finally riding at a pace that I would expect. The "sisters" came and they pushed my HR up to 180 for a while, but got through them and off to the finish in a very dissapointing time. What would you do differently?: Not sure if there was much I could do for the flat... there were quite a few people with flats... more than I normally see at races, so something was up! For the other mechanical, that was a assembly issues and I should have checked closer before turning the bike in... ![]() Transition 2
Comments: took it easy here and took the time to change socks which oddly felt amazing to me!? What would you do differently?: Could have pushed quicker, but again, with my true goal of finishing, forced myself to take my time. ![]() Run
Comments: I started off feeling great... most likely coming off the bike and just happy to be running. The first three miles were too good to be true as I was holding in the 9-9:30 pace range... it ended around mile 4. I am now thinking that my nutrition on the bike was lacking and it finally caught up with me... at Mile 4, found out that Bananas were actually a form of running drug... I craved bananas from that point on and had to stop myself from picking one up at each aid station. What would you do differently?: Start our slower, no matter how good I feel!!!!! ![]() Post race
Warm down: Wow... my body felt fine, but my mind was GONE!!! The finish line volunteers had to physically stop me to get things taken care of. I stretched a bit and walked around quite a bit... What limited your ability to perform faster: Weight! ;)... Mechanicals on the bike. I really had a mental stop with pushing the bike too hard with a freshly attached tubular tire and wet road surfaces, so held back quite a bit but not enough to materially impact my time with the mechanicals. Take those out and push a bit harder on the descents and I could have been down around 3:50 or so on the bike. Running... still not my strength. Event comments: Easily, the most organized and well supported Races that I have done!!! Frank clearly takes pride in his event and every aspect is attended to! I will be back every year... hopefully with better performances! Last updated: 2008-01-09 12:00 AM
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United States
60F / 16C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 219/283
Age Group = Clysd 39 & Unde
Age Group Rank = 9/11
Same as always, Up around 4:45a and eat a bagel with peanut butter and honey along with a Clif Bar and some Infinit. Was staying with my parents so my dad woke up and drove me into the race start (about 30 minute drive... they live in henderson right on the run route) Got to the Start and got things finalized for the swim to bike transition.
Transition closed at 7:30 for the 1/2 racers, so I closed up shop around 7:20 and headed down to the water. I hung around for a while and finally got into the water around 7:50 to warm up. The wind was pretty strong off shore, so I went around 100 yds in each direction that we would be swimming. Unfortunately, due to weather, we were delayed by over an hour for our start.