It suck-diddily-ucked! I don't think I did anything right. Not one thing. Started in the rear of the middle of the Novice wave. Kept climbing over people and getting climbed on. The choppy water made it almost impossible to breathe; kept getting mouthfuls of water, which upset my breathing, which caused me to swallow a lot of air, which gave me gas, which made it REALLY uncomfortable to be in the water. Probably went out too fast because I was getting tired by the first 100 yard bouy. There was more than once that I wanted to quit or thought I was going to drown. When those would hit, I rolled over on my back, tried to catch my breath and gather my thoughts. I freestyled the first 100-150 yds and then did a combo of breast-stroke and back-stroke for the next 250-300 yds. Finished with whatever would keep me alive and get me out of the water. Once I got the to the shore, I walked up to the transition area just to convince myself that I could still finish the race because there were a lot of times in the swim where I didn't think I could.

I need to put in longer swims. If possible, I need to do more open water swims, but I don't trust myself to do an OW swim alone. I've never been a strong swimmer and never preteneded to be one. If I am going to get better at triathlons, I have to get better at swimming.

My bike shoes are not made for triathlons. They have laces AND velcro straps, which makes it a real pain to get into them. The tongue has to be pulled up and then the shoes have to be velcroed closed. I'd like to get some new bike shoes, but we'll have to see. Likewise, I didn't dry my feet as well as I should have. Wet socks do not cushion very well at all. In fact, this would lead to a small blister on my heel by the end fo the day. But, I did have my race belt, gel, and everything laid out perfectly in order. I just started from the top and put it all on. That part went well.

Dry my feet off better.
Get some new shoes.

The bike was good. I got up to speed fairly easily. The hills were a bit of a challenge, still working on my climbing. But, I climbed better than most. The course was not the best laid out. 500+ competitors doing laps around a 6 mile loop? And then a few people either wiped out or collided with other riders, which added emergency vehicles to the course. It got pretty congested pretty quick. But, I was able to dodge the obstacles and post what I consider to be a respectable bike time. At least, it's the time I had hoped for.

I use the bike to try to hydrate and refuel. Took a gel at about 45 min. total time and made the mistake of adding Accelerade for the first time. It would come back to haunt me.

Not mix Accelerate and gel. Drink more water to get ready for the run. Ride more to get faster and stronger.

I was pretty happy with this transition. The only flub was racking my bike on top of my shoes. So, with a little pulling, I was able to free my shoes and get going.

Nothing really.

Run was good. We started downhill, which allowed me to lengthen my stride. First mile felt great. Second mile sucked because of the constant climbing. This mixed with the Accelerade addition made for some gastrointestinal gymnastics. I didn't lose anything, but I sure wanted to. The third mile, I was able to push through and re-gain some time lost on mile 2.

Be sure to hydrate better on the bike.
Nothing new on race day.

Walked over to the food where I had some water, Oreos, a banana, and a half of a bagel. Met my wife and talked with her. We waited a while and still couldn't find Josh. After about 10-15 min. I walked up to the last turn to look for for him. When I got there, he was walking up the hill leading to the last turn. So, I encouraged as best I could and ran the last quarter mile or so with him to the end. Helped him get some food then went to pack up.

Loaded my gear back in my car, grabbed my clean clothes and went for the shower house. Being so slow, there was no hot water left, so I rinsed off as best I could. When I was done, they had results posted, so I checked my rank. At least I was in the top half of my age group. Some of the other "novices" were sandbagging, I think, but whatever makes you feel good about yourself I guess.

I'm glad that I finished the swim and the race. I was shooting for 1:30, but the hilly course and my poor swim pushed me just past. I probably could have done better on a flatter course, but that's for another time.


Oh, where to start on this one?

+Poor swimming technique
+Lack of swimming confidence
+Fuel Issues
+Approx. 30 extra lbs.