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 Swim
Comments: The swim is very much my weak point, and my main goal is not to drown. Mission accomplished! I started off to the left side, and headed straight towards the first orange bouy. I sighted OK, but not great. My biggest problem was that my road ID came loose, and then off, about half way through the swim. I didn't want to lose it, and couldn't get it back on, so I just held onto it, alternating hands. It made my thumbs cramp. I stood up and started wading in as soon as I could touch. i got a dirty look, but I was walking as fast as I can swim so I wasn't too concerned. I did get two jellyfish to the face, which was less than pleasant. It didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would, though. What would you do differently?: Not much that I can think of. Better sighting, obviously, but I felt like I did OK for me. I would have obviously secured my Road ID better!  Transition 1
Comments: Apparently, I'm fairly slow in T1, and I'm not entirely sure why. I think it's just practice, and learning where to shave off time. I really didn't think I did that bad. The results say I was in 938th place overall, and 91st in my AG. What would you do differently?: Pull harder on the legs of my wetsuit, maybe. I just need practice pulling it off quickly when I'm wet.  Bike
Comments: I feel like I did pretty well on the bike, though my AG rankings don't necessarily reflect this (man, this is a fast course!). Over the course of the ride, I had 3 Gatorades and 1 water, 4 gels total, and a Powerbar at 1:15. My nutrition plan felt spot on, and I never had any hunger, energy, or GI issues. I was moving pretty quick for the first 30 or so miles, until the wind turned into a headwind. That slowed me (and everyone else) a lot. But overall, I was pretty pleased with the ride. My one complaint, and I've seen others comment on it, was that much of the bike course was very bunched up. There were many people drafting (some intentional, and some not), and many large groups. The only time I heard a comment about it, was around the penalty tent around mile 40, where the marshall yelled at the group. The groups were hard to pass. Also, there were several people I was near that could not accept me passing them, so would do their hardest to catch back up to me. But after that, they would simply ride in the left of the lane for miles. I had to pass one of these guys on the right. Sheesh. Eventually I dropped most of these types, but it was still annoying. I passed B around mile 42, and yelled encouragement. What would you do differently?: Maybe push a little harder in the beginning, but not too much. I feel like I had a really good ride. Transition 2
Comments: I felt like I had a good T2, but again, my placement doesn't necessarily reflect that. I was 739th place overall, and 71st in my AG. My only complaint was that when I put my Garmin wrist strap on in T1, I put it on upside down, which of course meant I had to fix it in T2. Drat. I grabbed a half full Gatorade to carry with me on the run. What would you do differently?: Put my Garmin wrist strap on the right way, duh.  Run
Comments: I feel like I had good, strong run. I started fairly strong, but was fading a little by the end due to heat, sun, and general tiredness. I carried a Gatorade for the first 4ish miles, to sip on when I needed it. At every water stop, I drank some water, and more importantly ICE. I also dumped water over my head at each water stop. When the Gatorade was done, I started carrying cups of ice to slowly eat/drink along the course. I was very disappointed that the promised sno-cones at the half way point had no syrup. One of my main goals was to not walk at all, and I accomplished that. I saw B around mile 8ish for me (5ish for her), and made her stop for a good luck smooch. What would you do differently?: Not much, I had a good run. I've heard that your hIM run pace should be half of your marathon PR pace, and mine was right near that. Post race
Warm down: Walked around a little, and grabbed several waters. I met a friend, or more accurately, she met me. We then waited for B to finish. Because of the way things were staggered, she wasn't too far behind me. After she finished, we hung out with some friends, ate some food, then headed back to the hotel. We showered, and then went to eat as much as we could. I capped the night off with a few tasty beverages. :-) What limited your ability to perform faster: Being a crappy swimmer, mainly. Other than that, I feel like it's just experience. This is only my 2nd tri, and my first hIM, so a lot of this is new to me. Event comments: Other than possibly starting the waves differently (see bike course above), I feel like the race was run VERY well. The volunteer support was excellent. The fan support was good in places, and non-existent in others. I would HIGHLY recommend this race. Last updated: 2008-10-15 12:00 AM
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United States
Columbia Triathlon Association
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 545/1544
Age Group = M30-35
Age Group Rank = 67/126
My day before the race was a total freaking disaster. RAS26 and I left home around 10:30, and got to the Expo around 12:30 (not much traffic). We picked up the packets, then listened to the pre-meeting from the race director. After that, we drove to the Holiday Inn in Cambridge and checked in. We decided to do a quick swim and ride to check the water and bikes. The swim went fine; we wore our wetsuits and didn't get stung by the jellyfish. Mentor Dave, who we coincidentally swam with, did. We did get kinda hot, since our swim was around 3 in the afternoon.
After that, we decided to do a quick ride to test out the bikes. Just so everyone knows, my bike sucks. I have the worst luck in the world. I went for the ride, and my bike was shifting VERY poorly. Turns out my front derailer was shot. AGAIN. I replaced this thing only a few months before. I tried to fix it myself, but couldn't get it. So after total freakout mode, I took it to the bike guys at the expo *just* in time. They didn't have a replacement 105, so I had to "upgrade" to a DuraAce the day before the race. They got the bike working, thankfully.
While putting the bike back on the rack of my car, I put my wallet on the top of the car, since my swimsuit didn't have pockets. Apparently, I left it there as we drove off. I racked the bikes, then went back to the hotel. It was already too late for "real" dinner, so we ordered "pasta bread bowls" from Dominoes. In case you were curious, these are just personal deep dish pizzas with random pieces of ziti thrown on top. Very strange, and not delicious. When I went to pay the pizza guy, I realized I had no wallet (and $ and ID). Super. We left to go find it - I ate my pizza in the car and B left hers at the hotel to get nice and cold. Obviously, at ~8:30 at night we didn't find it. I went back to the bike racks to talk to anyone associated with the race, to see if they had found it. I met a cop there, who radioed in to the station. They found it! I went to the Cambridge PD to pick it up, and everything but the 6 bucks cash I had was there (thanks Cambridge Police and random citizen!). Whew, what a day.
Didn't sleep too well the night before, but that's fairly normal for a pre-race night. We woke up around 5:15, which was NOT early enough for B to do her hair (which she ever so sweetly reminded me of). I brewed some coffee, and we grabbed a granola bar and Gatorade from the hotel lobby (thanks Holiday Inn!). We got to the bikes, setup transitions, and then hit the portapotties (unfortunately, we forgot TP, which we always remember). B just made it in time to get into the swim wave. Unfortunately, I had another 40 min to "chill." I stretched and paced nervously, and then had a gel.