Buffman and Squeaky
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Buffman and Squeaky - TriathlonOlympic
View Member's Race Log
Swim
Comments: Mass start, 120-something people. All aiming for a 20 foot opening about 100m away. FUN! I landed right in the middle for fear of getting shoved into the shore or into the buoy on the other side of the hole. Surprisingly, I didn't get jostled around too much at the start. I had a hard time sighting at first because we were heading into the sun. Then I got myself confused with the HIM course and tried to round a buoy at a 90 degree angle when it was supposed to be more like 45. Luckily I looked up pretty soon after that and realized everyone else was going a different way. The next buoy I wasn't paying attention either and only knew we'd gone around a buoy because all the bodies around me started going about 45 degrees off my line of swimming. I looked up, sure enough...buoy. I tried drafting a few times, but I think everyone else was having as much trouble going straight as I was and the few folks I tried to stay behind ended up zig-zagging. So I gave up. Plus, about halfway around I started to get jostled around pretty badly. In about 5 minutes I think I got hit by about 7 people. One person even grabbed my legs and pulled themselves over me. It was worse than the start. I wasn't breathing well. I think the wetsuit was constricting my lungs. I was usually breathing every two strokes instead of three. My split is a total estimate for now since my watch wasn't working right. I know from start to exiting T1 I had a 27:11, so I figure I took two minutes in T1. After the results were posted, this swim time isn't anything close to what they had...but they weren't close on my bike split either and I know my bike computer and watch agreed. So I'm going with the number up there. I think it's right. But if you go read the official results, you won't see the same thing! What would you do differently?: Concentrate more on breathing. Wear tinted goggles so I can see the buoys. Transition 1
Comments: OH MY GOODNESS! There were BIKES in the transition area still! Woohoo! I swear the racks looked almost full. I was so excited! This transition felt a little bit slow. I had planned on sitting down which might have sped it up, but there were HUGE ants everywhere around my towel so I decided to stand. What would you do differently?: Practice. I probably spent several seconds triple checking myself to make sure I had everything when I really did have everything. Hadn't practiced transitioning enough to be confident in myself. Bike
Comments: Right out of the blocks are two large and steep hills. Just the way you want to warm up those legs! But I knew it flattened out after that and I would be able to spin so I pushed hard up those two. Then we had a nice tailwind for a few miles before turning into the evil headwind. Wind at 9 am was 15mph...by 10 am it increased to 17mph. Not fun. Way at the end of the evil headwind was another large hill. Yuck. I used EVERY gear. I tried to occupy myself on the hill by counting how many folks were in front of me, but I kept getting distracted. Turn around was right at the top of the hill. That was also the only water station. I grabbed a bottle and tried to use it to fill my aero bottle but that was pretty hard to do while turning around a cone. Once we turned around we had an awesome tailwind. Then a few miles later turned BACK into the wind (which had increased in intensity) and then made the final turn with a tailwind for the last few miles. Right at the very end is another large hill. Going up this one I had a bee fly into my mouth. Got stung. Welt lasted for the first half of the run. I got passed by several people early on but it eventually slowed down. What would you do differently?: Ride more. I suck at riding. I don't think I could hold that effort for a HIM distance. Transition 2
Comments: Smokin'! Wow, I can't ask for a better transition than that. I had put my socks on before the bike...and they were still wet...hmmm.....maybe I should wait til after the bike? What would you do differently?: Again, practice. I still had that 'I'm forgetting something' feeling... Run
Comments: I will admit to feeling REALLY tired. Especially in the core and upper body. Felt like a big noodle running. Really didn't think I was doing 8:30 the first mile. It started getting REALLY hot. There was one section that had no trees and I felt like I was baking. Three water stops, but I had a hard time getting any water down. I just kept thinking...it's only a 10k, you can do that without water if you have to. Will be a BAD strategy for the HIM though! What would you do differently?: Bring a water bottle. Easier to drink out of and stay more hydrated. Do more core work since that started to give out on me. Post race
Warm down: Walked around for a bit, drank some water/gatorade. Ate half a banana and one of those Baker's cookie things. What limited your ability to perform faster: Heat and wind. 'Feel like' temp (according to accuweather) was 74 at race start and 89 by the time I finished. Sheesh. Oh, and I'm a lousy biker. Event comments: Overall...I had a GREAT day. I pushed the swim and I think I did well. I can't ask for more than sub-three first Oly not to mention second tri ever. I got a good reminder of what the BSL HIM course looks like (even if I didn't want to remember those hills) and just how hot it's going to be. Cooler temps would have been nice. Chip timing would have been nice. All my splits above are estimates from my watch. My watch and their clock agreed on the final time within 2 seconds, but our bike and swim times are off by 4-5 minutes apiece (swim not in my favor, bike in my favor). Since my bike computer and watch agree, I am going with my times. That and I know exactly who I was following...she was wearing a distinct outfit for the swim. And her swim time is what I think MY swim time was. Which makes me all the more confident that I was right. I need to ride more...and I need a better sunblock plan...I'm crispy. Last updated: 2005-04-24 12:00 AM
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2005-05-22 6:38 PM |
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General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
M&M
85F / 29C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 55/113
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 4/5
Got up, took a shower, sat around nervously for awhile. Finally drive to the venue. Get there around 6. Set up transition. Stand around nervously watching everybody else set up transition. Couple of last pee breaks, then I yanked on the old wetsuit.
After I got my wetsuit on I jumped in the water and maybe swam 100m. Yup, that's it.