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 Run
 Transition 1
Comments: T1 was actually the run from the beach to transition. A bit of a longish run and then a snaky run out of transition. By this time, I was fretting the upcoming ride in the wind and not real eager to get started. What would you do differently?: Have a better attitude?  Bike
Comments: This was somewhat of a dangerous ride. The loop course gave us mostly head or cross winds with some tailwind at the end (which was lovely). It was a hard grind from the beginning. Wind speed was consistenly 20-25 mph with gusts exceeding 40 mph. We crossed one bridge where I thought I was going to die. It was terrifying. I heard that one girl got blown into a car and had to be taken away on a stretcher. Definitely my slowest, worst bike ever. I was not a happy camper when I finished. What would you do differently?: Not sure there's anything that could be done differently. I just tried to keep pedaling and not get blown over. Transition 2
Comments: I had no energy when I got off the bike. I was tired of wind. I had not had enough to drink because I was afraid of letting go to grab a bottle and I had no gels for the same reason. I had a bit of a liesurely change to running gear, but did it all standing up for a change. What would you do differently?: Take a nap instead of run? Run
Comments: Once I got going the run wasn't too bad. I take too long to drink at the aid stations, though, and need to speed that up. I think that's really affecting my overall run time. Running in the wind was only a minor headache as the course seemed pretty sheltered in many areas, so only had to deal with it on the beach part. What would you do differently?: Start running more quickly after the aid stations. Post race
Warm down: Got right in the food line. What limited your ability to perform faster: Wind. Wind. And wind. Event comments: Obviously, much of how the race went was out of the organizers' control. I think they did a great job, though, of adapting and getting us out on the bikes after the swim challenges. Team Magic is really a first-rate organization, and I would like to go back and try this one again on a nicer day. Last updated: 2008-08-27 12:00 AM
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United States
Team Magic
75F / 24C
Overcast
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 0/
Getting everything set up and trying to anchor it all down so it doesn't blow away. Nashville was under a wind advisory for the day, and although the previous evening's forecast predicted the wind starting mid-morning, it was in full gale force by 6:00 a.m. The lake looked like an angry ocean. About 30 minutes before the first wave was to go off, they announced that participants could choose to not swim and just do a bike/run. They made it easy too, letting everyone decide at the last minute if they wanted...even letting people change their minds once they got started in the swim. I got in the water (which was just above wet suit legal temp) and the further out I swam, the worse the wave action was. I really was doing okay, but couldn't see for sh!t and not going very fast. I knew if I did do the swim, it would take me probably about an hour (even on the shortened course) and wear me out. The wind was howling, so I knew the bike would be extremely hard, too. I was very torn about what to do, and after watching the first couple of waves go and all the people making no foward progress or getting pulled out, leaning toward not doing the swim. My wave went off, but I did not, and I even considered just going with a later wave, but that's when they called the swim because all the buoys had broken free and there was no course. Once they got all the swimmers out, they started the race all over again as a bike/run. They started with the waves that hadn't gone yet so the those who had swum could rest a while. Everyone started in the water behind the timing mat and ran up the chute for a T1 before getting on the bike. I was originally supposed to start around 7:35 a.m., but didn't end up starting until 8:45 a.m.
Just some swimming in the unpleasantly rough water. One guy whose wave had started the swim was saying it was the second hardest swim he had ever done...and he was a retired Coast Guard rescue swimmer!