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 Swim
Comments: Lined up just behind the front line guys. Dud saw me there and raised his eyes a bit. I figured why not?. I'm a MOP swimmer now. Might as well start at the FOMOP. Rough water in the lake, particularly the first 50 yards or so. The chop was totally unpredictable. Wind/current was pushing to the right so aiming well left of the buoys was required. Didn't have any problems mentally with any of this. Slow going, but the conditions were the same for everyone. Once in the calmer water it was ok. Someone actually drafted off of me for quite a ways. That was a first. Took the first buoy kind of wide, there was quite a pack at it and I didn't want to get caught up in it. confident the whole time. Moved right at that point to get in the group draft. Drafted off one guy for about 200 yards then lost him. I think my mind wandered a bit. I ended up not being able to sight for a while. Every time I breathed, I was between swells. There was no way to time them or even know which direction they came from so it was the luck of the draw. Well, when I finally got a look at where I was, I had been pulled by the wind/current about 20 yards off course. I set a line for what looked like the finish and was off. A lot of other people were out there too, so using the pack to navigate wasn't an option. I passed a fair number of women from the previous wave and encouraged as many as I could. One of them switched to back stroke as I passed and put her hand square on my butt. I just looked up and said "Hey! I'm married!". Swam in farther than the people around me. I don't stand up until I absolutely have to. I hate running through water. The run on the sand was tough. Didn't expect that. They timed that separately which was a nice touch. What would you do differently?: Not much. Swam this about as well as I could have on the day.  Transition 1
Comments: Not too bad. Not too good. Kept this one simple. No HRM.  Bike
Comments: A personal worst. The number of people passing me was impressive. The number of people I passed was not. I just kept telling myself that I must of had a really good swim for all of these guys to be behind me coming out of the water. What would you do differently?: Ride my bike once in a while in the weeks and months before the race. Transition 2
Comments: This went ok.  Run
Comments: Felt really sluggish off of the bike. My like of saddle time lately really showed itself here. No motivation to go fast, I just kind of plugged along. Kept an eye out for Dud, I saw him at the beginning of the run course, about 1/4 mile in when I was coming off of the bike. I figured I'd catch up to him towards the end. Started passing a lot of people after the mile 2 mark. Still no Dud. There was a group in front of me spread out across the road towards the end. Couldn't see much up ahead because of them. Then I caught a glimpse of blue and realized it was probably Dud in his BT shirt. Suddenly I'm motivated but it's really late in the game. I start passing people and confirm, yup, it's him. Ok legs, time to go. I wanted to finish right behind him but no go. I'm 14 seconds behind him and EVERY SINGLE PERSON BETWEEN US IS IN OUR AGE GROUP. 5 guys in the M45-49 AG finished within 14 seconds of each other. There were only 18 of us in the AG. Oh well, I made the decision at the start of the run not to push it and paid the price. What would you do differently?: Nothing. Had a good time on a beautiful day. And it was good to see Dud having such a good run. Post race
Warm down: Walked around a bit and hung out with Dud. Had a hot dog. Went to the lake and stood in the water to cool sown a little. What limited your ability to perform faster: I'd rather not dwell on that right now... Event comments: It's a small local sprint. No frills, but well done. Great volunteers. The community really goes out of their way to support it and Yellowjacket always puts on a good race. Last updated: 2008-07-07 12:00 AM
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United States
Yellow Jacket Racing
72F / 22C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 72/182
Age Group = M45-49
Age Group Rank = 13/18
Picked up my number the day before at the local running store owned by the race producers. Up at 6. Nice. Gotta love a small race close to home with an 8:30 start. It's a 50 minute drive so if I get there by 7:30 I'm in great shape.
Put the bike and the gear bag in the Toyota (which my wife drives during the week) and lo and behold, there's no gas. Like none. Ok, this shouldn't be too much of an issue. It's pretty much backroads for the first 15 miles or so but there's one place to get fuel about 5 miles away. Wait, the fuel light is on. Exactly how low is the fuel in this vehicle? I drive the 5 miles to the store and...it doesn't open until 7am. Crap. So now I'm looking at sitting in the parking lot for 20 minutes doing nothing and arriving at the race around 7:45. Tight, but doable.
On the way I encounter a detour due to bridge work. Of course. Still made it with some time to spare. Not bad.
A beautiful summer morning weather-wise. Just perfect. Low-mid 60's, a few light clouds, no wind.
A few strokes in the water. Got used to the fact that it felt as rough as it looked. Good to know.