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 Swim
Comments: I knew it was going to be a bad day from the start. I woke up feeling really run down from the cold/allergies. Stomach was not doing so great, but after the 2nd download, it felt OK. All I could do was cruise! I felt like the swim (and the rest of the race) was IM effort, not HIM. I just had no top gear. As a result, the swim felt effortless. In fact, I fully expected my watch to read 45:xx when I got out of the water! Actual swim was 34:17 so not horrible for me. Though slightly better than my time last year (35:39), which was disappointing, it was much easier. Last year I remember working extremely hard the whole time. This year felt effortless. What would you do differently?: I really should try to hang with the main lead pack in one race. There's no way I could hang with the fastest guys, but I think I could hang with the next group. I lose out a lot by not drafting. I had been training pretty hard and was having no trouble holding 1:25/100 for pool repeats, so I know I can swim faster.  Transition 1
Comments: The transition work we did the night before paid off. Last years time was 2:01 so shaving near 30" was good. What would you do differently?: Nothing - all worked pretty well.  Bike
Comments: Wow. My plan was to ride easy for the first 15-20 miles and pick it up from there. My easy was feeling pretty strong. At mile 20, my average was 23.5 (helped by a slight tailwind most of the way), so I though I might actually have a good race at this point despite the cold/allergies/fatigue. When I went to pick up the pace - nothing! There was no race gear today. So strange. Felt very easy physically, but mentally tough. Also, had some nasty chafing from chamois, so beginngin at mile 15, I stood to stand every mile. Not efficient at all. Last year I rode 2:30:59 (39thOA), so it was dissappointing to ride slower despite being in much better shape. Just like the swim, I was working MUCH less harder. Did not wear HRM, but HR probably was low 130s the whole time. What would you do differently?: This was just an off day. I think it was a good decision not to try to push it hard, might have bailed on the run if I did. For my next half, I need to to get a bike fit or at least start spending more time on the tri bike prior to the race in the aero position. My a$$ was killing me! Transition 2
Comments: Much better than last year (3:46). Saving nearly 2' was cool. This year, I didn't have to go pee off the bike, so that accounted for about 1', but just felt smoother. One big downer: I lost a shoe off the bike! Coming off the pedals, I took my shoe with me when twisting off my left foot. Have not had that problem in a race before, but I should practice for next time. This time, after getting shoes on and helmet off, I ran out the gate with running sunglasses, hat, and number, affixing those as I ran. Seemed to work well. What would you do differently?: Practice the bike dismount so I don't inadvertently pull shoe off.  Run
Comments: Though this pace was incredibly slow for me, I felt proud of my run. I was feeling so bad off the bike I felt like quitting. I noticed that several coming into T2 just walked off the course! I really did not want to DNF like last year, so I pressed on and just vowed to get through it. I shuffled along stopping at every aid station for water on face, neck, ice in cap, HEED in stomach. Seemed to work well. My arm actually started cramping at mile 9, so probably didn't take enough Endurolytes. Should stop for more next time earlier in race. What would you do differently?: I felt like I ran about as I could on this day. I probably could have pushed the pace more earlier, but I truly think it would have been disastrous later on. I definitely should have had more Endurolytes early on in race. Post race
Warm down: Jumped in the lake with my shoes on! Felt great. Saw Coleman finish just two minutes after I did. He had a crappy race as well. He was a mile back at the turn around, so he ran a strong second half to gain back about 7 minutes over 6.5 miles. What limited your ability to perform faster: Sickness, allergies, lack of sleep, heat. I felt recovered from Boston and well tapered, but everything else pretty much sucked. Mentally, this was a slog. I was not aggressive and I was not in a good mood. Just glad to get it over with today. Event comments: Solidly organized race overall. More skilled volunteers on run course would have been nice, but I just appreciate having them well-stoked more than anything else. Set-up does good work Last updated: 2009-01-11 12:00 AM
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United States
Set-Up, Inc.
92F / 33C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 29/363
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 5/42
Spent a good deal of time trying to print up back-up ID for MLK! Dude forgot his DL back in Durham, so we had to go to a public library in Elizabethtown to print off a picture of him from the web. It was frustrating that the race officials wouldn't bend the rules to allow him to pick-up packet without it. There's really no incentive for him to lie about identity and it's really doubtful that the USAT vice squad is going to be auditing packet pick-up. Oh well..
MLK and I stayed at the Days Inn Clinton. For $50/night - not too bad. It is located next to what is either a waste treatment or sulfur processing plant. Either way, it smells like s#!t. Luckily, allergies and a nasty cold had my nose all stopped up so I couldn't smell anything once we got in the room.
Earlier in the day, we did an easy 50' ride followed by 20' run.
We met AC and Lauren for dinner at Front Porch, a local souther fare restaurant. Not good - nearly everything was fried and pretty low quality. We all ended up with a chicken breast plate with a side of baked potato. Tasted airplane quality but it worked. The desert bar was actually pretty good and the server was nice.
MLK and I practice transitions in hotel room. Had a zone bar and a soymilk/protein shake for desert.
Went to bed about 10:30 or so but I could not sleep. I was thinking about my new puppy and a bunch of other crap. I didn't sleep at all! Oh well.
Had traditional oatmeal with nuts, bananas, soy milk for breakfast.
Note to self: whenver doing any races with MLK allow for an extra 30 mins. Late getting out the door, late getting to the race, etc. As a result - no warm-up to speak of. Wait, I take that back. We did jog back from chip pickup to get our race numbers, jog back to drop bibs, etc. Why aren't chips in the race packets? That never makes sense to me.