Giant Acorn International : Official Thread (Page 2)

Weather was perfect. I even ended up with a little sunburn on the shoulders. Bad planning on my part. It looks good with my black eye from being kicked on the swim and skinned knee from a nose dive I took running in the woods. I think the race went well, but the sun made it kinda hard to sight on the way back on the swim.

No big deal. At least when people say, damn, did you get ina bar fight, I can say no, I got kicked in the face during a tri.

Sorry about the HRM, but at least you found it. This was my first HRM race and I was shocked to see my HR at 171 when I got to T1. Never knew my HR during any swims.

Hey all,

Great day yesterday... my first Olympic distance.  Only did one bone-headed thing... forgot my bike helmet in the transition, so DQ for me (and I don't mean a Blizzard).  3 miles into the bike realized it... first time I've ever ridden without it... guess the swim took more out of me than I realized.  The sun did make it hard to sight on the swim and my back was killing me on the run, but overall (other than the helmet), was very happy with the experience.   Water temp was perfect (no wetsuit needed).

Now I need something to aim for again... maybe the Richmond 1/2 marathon in Nov.  Long way until the next triathlon... kind of hooked now.  What do you all do over the winter to keep motivated?

Great day out there today too for the sprint!!!  And not to throw someone out there but one of our own Bters was 2nd overall (clearly NOT me).....  Hope everyone enjoyed their races this weekend.

Edited by Skippy74 2009-10-04 7:50 PM

Not sure why the results aren't posted yet---set-up site says by Mon night at the latest but they usually have them up faster....guess it's the end of the season blues  As for second OA----Docswim crushed it as usual!!!

Results for the whole weekend are now up on set-up...

Was it just inside the woods when you first went in off the road? I caught that root and ended up with bleeding road rash. Didn't notice it was bleeding until I got back in the lake after the race, though.

Yup. Came up the hill from T2, jumped the ditch, hit first or second root, and then hit durt. Nice little dive.

From what one of the spectators said about every third person tripped on that root and about half of those went down. I didn't feel quite so uncoordinated after hearing that

Nice, thanks. I def. don't feel too bad then. I just figured I was too tired to lift my feet high enough.

The Giant Acorn was my first Olympic and only my second tri (I did Smithfield Sprint back in April. I came in dead last of all the men (except DQs and non-finishers) according to the official results. It was a tough day, but the weather was great, the course was nice, I thought, and I enjoyed the swim and bike. The water was good without a wetsuit. My big problem was that I didn't take in enough water or nutrients during the race and when I finished, all the food was gone. I sat down and tried to eat and drink a little something, turned down the EMT (stupid), and rested. After loading up the car, I drove about 10 minutes before puking all over myself. This race was the hardest thing I've ever done. I'll do another one though.

My problem was failure to bike train and failure to brick train. As soon as I got off the bike, my leg cramped up and I had to walk a lot of the run portion (and running was my strong suit). Being underfed and cramping made it a tough third leg. Live and learn. I'll definitely spend more time on my bike and doing bricks.

Just like a lot of people, I hit that first root and skinned my knee. I felt stupid, but now I don't feel so bad with so many others doing it. Like someone else said, I figured I just didn't pick my feet up enough from exhaustion.

Next plans: Wicked 10k on Halloween, Shamrock M or HM in March, Smithfield Sprint in April, Chesapeake Bay Challenge in June, and probably another Oly, either Patriots or Giant Acorn again (provided they get a facility next year).

If you like tripping over roots, try one of the Charlottesville Tri courses... tough bike course followed by a very difficult (for me anyway) trail run.  I guess the good thing is that it is in the shade, but I took a nasty spill on that run.  So you're definitely not alone (and heck, you didn't forget your helmet and get DQed like I did).  Sorry to hear about the post-race situation.  It's definitely a big step from the sprint to the Olympic distance. 

Trying the Waynesboro 10K this weekend.  Maybe Richmond 1/2 in November.  Gotta improve my run performance next year.

-Stu