login
 Swim
Comments: The swim was a trip! I decided to hang wih Doreen, and she was headed out with the first wave. We returned to the water and within a few seconds we were off. I started out fine... nice and relaxed, breathing bilaterally, and sighting better than anticpated. After the first buoy my breathing became a bit more labored. I figured this was due to going a bit too fast, plus swimming in a tight wetsuit for only the second time. So, I side stroked for a while and was going as fast as some of the folks still doing the crawl. I ended up doing the crawl about 2/3 of the way and the side stroke 1/3. It worked, but I need more training time in the water. Exited the water @ 16:30 and walked to my crocs stashed near the exit. I had no issues with dizziness at all... thankfully! Threw on the crocs and ran to my T/A where the real fun began. What would you do differently?: train more in the swim. practice more ows and with wetsuit.  Transition 1
Comments: I get to my bike and Doreen is not there yet, but she's not far behind. I had my wetsuit stripped to my waist before getting to the T/A. I tried to get it the rest of the way off and it was like a bad comedy. I couldn't get the damn thing off either ankle. To make it worse, I didn't have a chair and I was standing on crushed rock. I was hopping around trying to get the suit off, yelping like a puppy with rocks under my feet, and laughing at the absurdity of it all. Finally, after having a talk with myself, I sat my butt down on the corner of towel I left open to dry my feet and yanked the left leg off. Then I stood up and stepped on the rest of the suit and yanked my right leg out. I was free! Threw on my helmet, sunglasses and shoes, took a big drink of water and a hit of power gel, and I was off.... finally! What would you do differently?: practice getting out of the suit.... yeah, that's the ticket. I can honestly say it took me at least 1:30 more due to the "comedy of errors". Looking back, it was pretty funny. I'd also bring a small chair next time.  Bike
Comments: so, now I'm on the bike, finally, and I hear my front brake rubbing on my tire. Ah, the heck with it, just ride and it will be fine. Well, it never stopped rubbing, even as I attempted an adjustment while on the bike.. not real smart. Still, I don't think it slowed me down much. Doreen had passed me on the bike while I was fiddling with my brake, so now she was my rabbit. Damn, she's pretty fast! I tried to catch her before the turn around, but to no avail. Finally, about 2 miles from the finish I caught her and became her rabbit. This "leap frogging" between the two of us was constant throughout the race... and it was great! What would you do differently?: put aero bars on my bike, and train with them. Check my bike more thoroughly before the race. I also didn't drink on the bike, but I did take a shot of power gel. Overall, I had a decent bike leg for me. Transition 2
Comments: I was pretty quick here, and had to be to keep Doreen in my sites. We racked at nearly the same time and were supporting each other in the T/A. I took a big hit of water, poured some on my head, then took off with Doreen. Now this was getting fun! What would you do differently?: Nothing really. Maybe drink before dismounting rather than at the T/A.  Run
Comments: The first mile was S-L-O-W. My legs were not firing at all and I was content just getting my HR under control and plodding along. Doreen was out ahead of me, but I kept her in my sites hoping that my legs would eventually come around. Finally, once on the last hill after about 1.5 miles, the legs came back. I caught Doreen just after the turn around and told her I was gonna try to push it the last 2 to the finish. She said she'd try to hang with me but wasn't sure if she had enough gas left in the tank. I pushed it pretty good and ran the 3rd mile in 7:21, or so said my watch. With the finish line approaching I kicked it up a notch. There it was ahead of me. I looked back to see if Doreen was near, but couldn't see her. I finished strong, with the final mile in 7:12, and then turned back to cheer on Doreen. She was not far behind, finishing ~20 seconds after I did. What would you do differently?: Practice more bricks. The first mile was 8:30ish and I had no fire in my legs at all. Post race
Warm down: Grabbed some water, walked around a bit, and cheered on other competitors as they finished. Some light stretching after about 10 minutes. What limited your ability to perform faster: T1... obviously. Also, I did the bike leg with my aluminum frame road bike with no aero bars. Perhaps the aero would make me a bit faster? I could have pushed harder on the bike, too, but it was still okay. Overall, I'm pleased... except for T1!!! Event comments: So, the best part of all this was that I got to race with a 50 year old woman (Doreen) who not only won her age group, but was an absolute joy to race with. Looking back, we kept each other within sight from when we first racked our bikes pre-race, all the way to the finish. I was so excited for her as this was her first AG win... and she won her age group by 15+ minutes! We exchanged emails and plan on doing this same event next year... which now means I have to train hard or she will kick my arse!! I couldn't have asked for a better first triathlon experience. The people were great, the area is beautiful, and the event was run very well. I will be back to chase my rabbit, Doreen! Last updated: 2008-02-09 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
Enviro-Sports Productions
Sunny
Overall Rank = 74/479
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 11/28
My gf was out of the country for work, so I decided to spend the weekend camping at Lake Berryessa. I left work around 2:30 in order to beat the Bay Area madness and arrived at my camp site at ~4:30. After an early evening run on the course, then an ice cold Black Butte Porter with dinner, I hit the pillow early.
The next morning I awoke to the sound of wild turkeys gobbling, geese honking, and other winged creatures making their own unique sounds. It's always so relaxing to hear natures sounds before man awakens and fires up his truck and boat. We are a noisy lot!
Any way, got over to the half-iron event on Saturday morning to watch the swim... way cool! The leaders are freakin' strong & fast! I pretty much just hung out (out of the sun as much as possible), drank lots of water, and waited for the competitors to come back from the bike leg. Then I did the same for the run leg of the event... it was a blast cheering on everyone, but especially the BOP's! Such heart...
That evening, I met some cool folks from Truckee who were camped next to me. Janet was doing the race on Sunday after having a second child 5 months prior. She was, as was I, excited and nervous at the same time, even though she had done 3 or 4 events in the past. We chatted for a bit, then off to bed. I slept like a log.
Ate a banana, yogurt, and a granola bar a couple of hours prior to the race start. Racked my bike, set up the transition area, picked up my race packet, then donned the wetsuit for a warmup in the lake. The woman next to me in the T/A was super cool! We introduced ourselves, helped each other with our wetsuits, then went to the lake together for a swim. It was not the last I would see of Doreen.....more on that in a bit.