Kinetic Half : Official Thread (Page 5)

Good morning everyone! Rise and shine!

They've taken the rain out of the forecast, according to weather.com. Looks like some wind, though.

Looks like I'm in a later wave this morning too... all packed and off I go... good luck to everyone!  See you there!

OK let me start by saying SORRY I missed the morning meet!!!  I got stuck waiting in line for the bathroom  I think they may need to work on that for next year!! 

I hope everyone had a great day and race!!!  There were so fast times out there today...

I was most assuredly NOT one of the faster times today. I did get a kick out of the number of people who just left after the bike, though.

Really!?!?  as in just DNF when were entered in the whole race (did they even offer aquabike this year?)???  Wow........interesting.  As for your race it's a bit tougher course then B2B (no current on the swim and hills compared to B2B)...

I think everyone had the same problem... arrived at 5:45 and was stuck in long, slow-moving registration line and then back up (in more ways than one) in the bathroom.  I barely got my transition set-up... made it down to the beach for the 4th wave start... just enough time to try out 3 strokes in my wetsuit! 

However, did get to meet Susan and her family completely by chance after the race when we shared a table... so that was good karma.

Yes, it seemed like a very strong field today in challenging conditions.  You all were probably too fast to see the tree down across the road... that was exciting (probably missed me by 2 minutes... did clear out the traffic for awhile though which was nice).  I have no idea what my time was, was fine through the bike, but never did get my gears going on the run.  But am glad to have completed my first HIM!

Curious about the swim times that others posted. I swam a PR by about 5 minutes, and as much as I would like to believe I had a breakthrough, it makes me wonder if the swim was short. Or if maybe the waves were a huge help coming in.

How was your swim, particularly compared to last year?

Great job finishing your first!!!  That's a run course that will bite you if you don't have a perfect day...  So when are you doing your next HIM????? 

Well I didn't use a watch sooo I have NO idea what my swim time was BUT plenty of people talking thought it was short!!  Last years times won't mean much since it was a "different" course---one lap vs two w/a run..........

Finished my first IM too but it was ugly on the run.  You may have seen a guy laying on the ground stretching that was me.  I hurt my back Wednesday and just tried to gut it out. 

I was glad i picked up my stuff on Friday night.  That was long line.  I used the head before the swim too and there was very little time before the swim.

How was your swim, particularly compared to last year?

When I got out of the water, I thought that I had shut my watch off by mistake.  My time was over a minute faster for this swim that I had 3 weeks ago at Rumpass and those were similar swim conditions.

My run left something to be desired, my legs died during the second lap and I struggled through the rest.  I was miserable but finished, good learning experience for the first HIM.

Hope no one is too sore tomorrow.  Im hoping I can get out of bed in the morning...

Last year I swam 30:36, today 26:02. I'd like to believe that I improved that much, but 26?

That explains the teeth marks in my butt :-)

Congrats for everyone.  That was a tough course.  I am beat up.  I didn't see the tree but heard about it.  Thankfully I was already getting my butt handed to me on the run by that point.  I didn't even look at my finish time or basically ever see a clock the whole race.  Oh well, I'll find out soon enough. 

It is possible that many people did not meet the bike cutoff and so they left.  I lapped the first biker when they were only 8 miles into the first lap of the bike course.  Must have been a hard swim for them. 

That was a killer bike ride and hilly run so for me beating my first HIM(patriot 09) I'm stoked. I was a bit unprepared going in to this race, so all in all I'm happy. Sorry I didn't get to meet everyone before the race but really surprised whe Stu and his wife sat down with us after the race.  What a chance meeting. Glad it happened!! As for the swim I can't compare it to anything but I know it must be short because I can't swim that distance that fast in the pool. With the waves and me having to do the backstroke must have been a bit short, but I don't care!!!

Sorry I didn't meet anyone either - I too was one of the people who thought I go there plenty early and then stood in line forever and barely made it to the swim start in time.  I got on the beach with about 30 seconds until my wave (first wave) took off.  I didn't know which way we were going to swim, where the finish was, etc.  Just figured I'd follow people.  My swim was about 5 minutes faster than I expected as well, so I'm definitely leaning towards short course considering how challenging it was with the chop.  But I did get a very good draft for the second half of the swim, which may negate some of those 5 minutes being all a short course.

I agree the bike was brutal with the wind, but I just kept telling myself that everyone was equally disadvantaged.  I rode within my planned HR and let people blow by early.  It was amazing how many of them I passed on the second half of the second loop... they were just dying... I think from trying to hold the speeds they would have wanted on an ideal day despite the wind, and then running out of gas.  The people I was blowing by at the end (these were front-of-the-pack atheletes) did not look like they were looking forward to a half marathon.

I, for one, had a great race.  Broke 5 hours which was a PR for me by about 55 minutes.  Of course now I'm wondering if I would have broken 5 hours if the swim was the correct distance, but I'll take the PR given the wind conditions anyway

My thoughts on the race:

PRO:
- beautiful venue
- multi-loop design is spectator friendly
- relatively affordable
- decent post-race food available
- showers (although freezing) at the park are nice touch before a long ride home

CON:
- aid stations were not stocked as advertised
- styrofoam cups can't be pinched to drink/run at the same time
- pavement during some parts of bike was in really bad shape
- insufficient volunteers at registration to handle day-of registration... LONG lines
- no pre-race sports drink available
- swim was short
- no official clocks on the course to see your time... not even at the finish line.

Josh - that is a *FANTASTIC* race!  Under 5?  Woah!  And PR by 55... awesome.  Sorry I didn't have a chance to meet you in person and congratulate you... well done!  Also thanks for reminding me about what a nice venue it was... it really was a lovely location.  I didn't really get a chance to enjoy it while dodging falling trees and trucks with boat trailers... but a good reminder!  Looked like a great spot to go for a weekend.

-Stu

Josh---smoking race!!!  I did notice that the packet pick-up line seemed long (much different from last year---wonder if selling out had something to do with this?).  And I have to agree with the no clock---at least at the finish---would've been nice on the run to pass it and have a better idea of "race time."

Looks like they are working on posting the results right now...

If you thought we had it bad yesterday, take a look at this post from someone in our mentor group... unbelievable conditions...

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=202641&start=311

Wow.

Heck, I was so exhausted after the finish I didn't even notice that there wasn't a finish clock.  That's really strange for set up!

Josh way to go with a PR!! I'm amazed at myself considering the conditions. I thought they did OK with stocking the water stops. The bad thing for me being slow is that they are always out of the good post race food and the stops start to look sparse. I just need to get faster to get the good stuff.  MAybe that should motivate me a bit

A friend of my DNF the sprint.  SHe hasn't race in awhile and the conditions scared her. Felt bad for her.

Hey everyone!

Like most folks I also didn't meet up because I was scrambling to make it to the beach on time.  In the rush I forgot to put sunscreen on my uber-pasty shoulders - I'm paying for that big-time now

The race went pretty well for me, given it was my first HIM.  I beat my overall time goal!  (came in at 5h 36min, goal was 5:43)  I wish I knew my splits - but the Setup folks seem to be having some problems with their site and/or their database. 

I, too, thought the swim was short.  I had my first (and hopefully last) open water panic attack , but I think I came in around 30 minutes or so despite that and the chop - the course must have been short

Other than the long packet pickup lines and ?l?a?c?k? ?o?f? ?a? ?r?a?c?e? ?c?l?o?c?k, I thought the race was pretty well run.? ?  Lots of rest stops and helpful and supportive volunteers - I really appreciated the spirit they all showed.

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I'll post my race report after the splits are finally available (I'm dyin' here!)

Edited by jeffdav 2010-05-10 8:24 AM

Jeff you ROCK!! That's a killer time for a first HIM.