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 Swim
Comments: Very surprising swim, if only because I expected it to be a lot worse. I've read time and again about how brutal these swims can be and I figured this would be tough with it being a very choppy day, a triangle swim (so the turnaround would be a huge cluster), and a very, very short swim (so no one would get any spacing). I actually felt great on the swim, caught a decent draft on the way out to the bouy and kinda coasted in pretty slow and still came in with a solid time. What would you do differently?: Don't hit the bouy on the turn around, and keep my pace through the end. Rather than coast in I probably should have continued with my rythym.  Transition 1
Comments: Being my first transition I expected some issues. It wasn't terrible but it could have been better. I had no problems with the wetsuit but getting the helmet on, shoes on, and running out of transition was a little slower than I wanted. What would you do differently?: Practice, practice, practice. Also, learn how to clip in after the T1 rather than waste time putting the shoes on.  Bike
Comments: I got passed 5 times: two guys who were doing relays (and thus were just killing the ride) and three times by guys who had tri bikes (note to self: GET A TRI BIKE FOR NEXT SEASON!!!). I managed to keep pace with three guys who looked like legit competitors so I'm pretty happy with the ride. Lots of wind, tons of cross wind and the big downhill was a trip because it was just a ton of cross wind going 40mph...I feel bad for my buddy who had a rear disk wheel. I'm still pretty new to biking and don't feel fully comfortable yet so there were two issues: getting up to speed I had some issues getting clipped in. And cornering was a challenge, I consistently lost time to the guys in front of me then had to reel them back in up to the next turn. What would you do differently?: Cornering just has to improve. Also, learning how to strap the shoes in while on the bike. I drank too much water--almsot 2 full bottles in 50 minutes--and got a little side stitch on the run...definitely need to pace out my drinking a bit better. Transition 2
Comments: Holy crap, my legs were toast...they felt like absolute jelly getting off the bike and I had a tough time going from the bike to T2 to the run. What would you do differently?: More bricks to condition the body for the change-over, and maybe just a better job of stretching while on the bike over the last 2-3 miles.  Run
Comments: Weird...I felt awful, AWFUL, the entire run, the conditions were brutal (see the course description above) and I somehow ended up just :49 seconds off my 5K PR. It is, however, the only part of the race where I was below average in my age group and it's clearly my biggest weakness. I got passed quite a bit, and it was frustrating because I knew that most of them were in my age group (according to the results I was in 7th place in my AG through T2, wound up in 11th...that is just unacceptable). The last mile was a real struggle, I contemplated walking for a bit but just sucked it up an finished...it really was just a ton of pain, but crossing the finish and seeing my time was such a great feeling. What would you do differently?: TRAIN THE RUN! I'm running the Boston Marathon next year so that'll give me some motivation to get the run going. I'm still too bulky to be a 'runner' but I need better conditioning to finish strong. Post race
Warm down: A banana, some stretching and a fantastic (if painful) massage--my first massage ever, if you can believe it. I actually hurt quite a bit because my muscles are just so tight. But it's definitely lessened the post-race cramps. What limited your ability to perform faster: Running, cornering, and transfers. All three are things I can train up and make big jumps real quick because they're all very sub-par right now. Event comments: I don't know if the organizers get a pass because of the wind...it started an hour late and even though this is my first triathlon I feel like that's unacceptable, it's pretty crappy waiting around after getting a good warmup in, a solid swim warmup then standing there for 45 minutes. Overall though I'm very, very happy with my race results...being a first-timer I think I handled everything very well, I paced myself reasonably well and my training's paid off. Much more training to come but I'm definitely going in the right direction! Last updated: 2008-12-29 12:00 AM
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United States
Max Performance
59F / 15C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 57/347
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 11/23
Wake-up at 5:15 with a decent breakfast of oatmeal, a banana and an apple. I made sure to wake up early enough that I could really take my time and if something took a litte me longer than expected I'd have time for it. 40 minute drive top Hopkinton then the long walk from parking to the transition area. It was rather daunting this morning as we walked over the path that the last mile of the run takes and with 20+ MPH of wind today it was WHIPPING, lots and lots of wind coming over the lake and I knew the last mile would be a tough, tough finish.
Unfortunately with all the wind there were a ton of delays, the race didn't get off until after 9am (scheduled to go off at 8am). I got a little jog in, get my left achilles warmed up (it's been giving me big troubles the first mile of every run, I really need to get that squared away), then some stretching and a nice little 200m swim to get some blood flowing...and then we waited, and waited, and waited some more. After a nice warmup I felt like I was going in completely cold...very frustrating.