Kure Beach Double Sprint Triathlon
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Kure Beach Double Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonOther
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Swim
Comments: This swim was the most dangerous and brutal swim I think I'll ever face in my tri career. A low pressure area off the coast churned up the normally 1 ft waves to 4-5 foot waves. Most of the beaches were red flagged due to the rip currents, but that didn't stop the triathletes. There were 15 beach trained lifeguards, and 1 Coast Guard cutter to help keep the peace. It was very cool to watch the pros go off right in front of us. They got 1/2 way out, and then found a sand bar. Weird to see all the pros walking the swim course. I did it too and it was tons faster than fighting the waves. When my wave started, I noticed the cutter was just a little left of the 1st buoy. Perfect for sighting. My first 100 meters was aiming right for the ship because you couldn't see the buoy with the waves. Too bad the cutter started moving downcourse. I found myself swimming at the 2nd buoy instead of the first cause of the damn ship. Got myself right and ended up finishing 6th out of 34 in my wave and 22nd out of 234 overall. Going out sucked with the waves breaking over top of you, but if you sighted more frequently and ducked under them, it wasn't too bad to deal with. The swim along the length of the beach really wasn't bad at all. Only some chop that far out. Coming back in was another matter entirely. The waves would break on top of you, and sighting them was difficult. Two waves broke on top of me and pummeled me enough that it knocked my goggles loose (which I had secured under my cap). Eventually I got smart and started sighting behind me on breathing strokes by twisting my head back and started timing/ducking the waves. After finishing the first swim I staggered up the beach to get my running shoes. The 2nd swim took place after the 2nd run. I was really worried about this leg of the race. I was freaking tired from running and took a couple extra seconds at my beach transition area to get the heart down a few beats. I nearly forgot to take off the sunglasses (after St. Anthony's they rarely leave my sight. LOL). After getting out of the transition area, we had to run down the beach to a cone where the original swim start was. This run sucked. The calves felt like they were on fire when I finally got to that God forsaken cone. Got in the water with two of the female elites that I'd been pacing since the original run. Same waves hitting me...only this time, one caught me while in a great big inhale. This made me stop in the water and choke for about 10 sec, and that's where the first hammy cramp hit me. Ugh. As soon as it hit, I knew that if I didn't get moving, I might consider turning back. I ended up not kicking and just doing a pull stroke to the first buoy. Once around it, I gradually eased back into a slow kick. I decided the hell with bilateral breathing. Was breathing every two. Got to the second buoy and then about 25m past it when a lifeguard chased me down on a surfboard. He told us to turn back into the beach because one of the buoys had been pulled off course and into the nearby pier. The swim back to the beach I had to stop 3 times. 1 for a huge wave that crushed me, and the other two because of hammy cramps...both legs this time. Was happy to be out and have survived. 2nd swim leg was 15/35 in my wave and 62nd of 234 overall. What would you do differently?: Not do this race again. Don't get me wrong...I love the water. This was just insane. The Race Director lost a ton of money to a previously postponed beach swim tri, so this one was going on (pardon the expression) hell or highwater. The cramps hurt my performance more than anything else. Swim was strong. My age group was hellishly competitive in this race for some reason. Maybe its because the poor swimmers bailed and did the run or even DNS'd (there were 40 guys in my AG that signed up). I'm not too torn up about the times. The run back up to the swim start really added some time to my 2nd swim and I dogged that run so I would be ok breathing on the swim. Transition 1
Comments: Transition times were not kept. Went from swim to run at a beach transition area. Since there were 4 total transitions in this race, I tried to be as efficient as possible. For this RR T1 will be the swim to run transition and the run to swim transition. Swim to run went great. Pulled off cap and goggles on the run. Running in the sand barefoot was a lot tougher than I expected and made the calves burn, but was probably good for getting the blood into the legs. My transition area was a stake driven into the sand with my race number on it. Found it easily, dropped cap and goggles, grabbed shoes, and took off. After exiting the beach, I ran through a baby pool full of water to get off sand and threw on the shoes. I decided to go sockless to gain more time. Run to Swim - The legs were really burning after the 2nd run. Ran back down onto the beach with shoes still on. Took a 5 sec breather at my spot then grabbed the goggles and cap which I put on during my run back to the swim start. With calves burned, I rounded a cone, and entered the water for the last time. Woo Hoo! What would you do differently?: Run! Get through that run to swim transition faster. Bike
Comments: I was soooo looking forward to this segment. 1st race on the new Felt. I really wanted to exceed 20 mph. Time above includes the run to bike transition as well. My watch had 33 mins flat which is around 22 mph. Really happy with this segment! Still have to improve to get competitive in my AG, but really happy none the less. Couse was not entirely flat...lots of really long gradual rollers. Wind was a factor on the way out, and helped a lot on the way back in. The course layout included 1 hairpin turn. We're talking freaking HAIRPIN!!! We had 8 feet to do a turnaround. Wifey tells me that countless people crashed because they couldn't bike and turn so slowly. I deliberately muscled out of the turns. I think I caught and passed about 10 people out of the turns with a quick acceleration. I loved this segment because for the first time in a tri, I was aggressive on the bike. Too often I fall into that "stay in traffic" mentality. When someone passes me I hang back. Not this time. When I got passed, I'd turn it up and hang with em as long as I could or pass em back. LOL! At one point, I must have been too close to some guy for too long. He started giving me hand signals to back off. Which reminds me - NO FREAKING OFFICIALS - were present at this race! Which is probably why I didn't get a "Chris" drafting penalty. :) Decided not to take feet out of shoes near the end even though I've been practicing it. Got a good dismount - passed someone at the dismount line. Very weird thing happened here....somewhere between me dismounting the bike, and coming back to transition area I got a flat. WTF is up with that???? I think someone from Fromer Fitness Fest (FFF) snuck down to Kure Beach and let the air out of my tire. Regardless of how it happened, I was happy it didn't happen during my bike. The bad news about the whole bike thing....I really really tore up my knee. It throbbed for the rest of the day and night and its never done that before. What would you do differently?: Keep hammering. Transition 2
Comments: I'm considering T2 as the run to bike and then the bike to run transition. Un-freaking eventful. Just the way it should be. I came in from the 1st run smoking fast! Was barefoot during the run, so I just threw on the helmet, bike shoes, grabbed bike and took off. My bike shoes are muy comfortable, so went sockless here too. Took maybe 45 secs tops. Little trouble getting 1st foot clipped in, and then a little more getting 2nd foot clipped in...nothing major. And for you snikpos....I retrieved my sunglasses from my Bento Bag after the first 1/2 mile on the bike. You'd have been proud of me. For the bike to run transition, I racked my bike took of bike shoes, helmet and threw on running shoes. I had a pair of socks at the ready just in case I was blistering. Feet still felt good, so didn't do the sock thing. What would you do differently?: Good transitions. All very quick. Run
Comments: I smoked my first 1.5 miles. My watch had 10:35 for the first run which was a 7:03 min/mile. My stride just felt right. Instead of shuffling around, I felt like I was striding. I didn't get a split for the 2nd run and I don't remember where the mats were to see how much of the above time was transition time. I just freaking felt great knocking out that first 1.5 miles. That's how its supposed to feel! That run was so long in the coming. I really believe that the aquathlon that I did a couple of weeks ago helped tremendously in the swim to run transition as well. Stayed with some female elites for the entire 2nd run. Gradually faded during the 2nd run and I walked through 1 water stop to get some liquids in me (lost about 10 seconds). This is the first race where my run age group rank and overall rank were not worse than my overall finish place. What would you do differently?: Keep getting better on the run. Get distance up so that I don't fade and can sustain a faster pace. Post race
Warm down: Hobbled around trying to get rid of some huge quad cramps in both legs. Drank lots of water. Got lots of hugs from the kids. There's also a Kure Beach tradition called the bike toss. This is where they find some junker of a mountain bike and take a sledge hammer to it and then the triathletes take turns trying to throw it the furthest. Me and another guy were tied for first with a throw of 29' 10" when this big freaking hulking SOB of a clydedale comes down and launches it 35 feet. Pecker head. I used the hammer throw technique by the way. LOL! Got to meet Nuke Angel and her family!!!! Woo Hoo!!!! Congrats!!! You finished that damn swim!!! If we head down to the Wilmington tri, we'll be sure to look you up. :) What limited your ability to perform faster: Need to step it up to the next level. I can't help but thinking something Fromer told me during FFF. Your endurance is there...just need to work on the speed, force and power. I think he's all over it. Need to be able to start muscling through the water while keeping form. Get into the next gear on the bike, and move the legs faster. Stupidty factor for this race on a scale of 10: 8 - forgot goggles, tri suit, mystery flat Event comments: The organization was good. Aside from the bike toss, there was nothing else there. No tents selling stuff, no catering, etc. I've been to setup races before...there's typically a lot more going on. This is the first race where after its all said and done, I decided... nah... I don't really want to do this one again. Its hard to find a cheap hotel and its in a more secluded beach type environment. Good if you want relaxation...bad if you want to get a gallon of milk for the kids to eat some cereal. Having forgotten goggles and trisuit, we had to drive up to Wilmington's bike shop to get some gear and for packet pickup.... good thing Denise brought her goggles or I'd have been SOL for the swim. Last updated: 2005-06-20 12:00 AM
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2005-06-27 1:58 PM |
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2005-06-27 2:23 PM in reply to: #184662 |
2005-06-27 2:30 PM in reply to: #184662 |
2005-06-27 3:06 PM in reply to: #184662 |
2005-06-27 3:12 PM in reply to: #184662 |
2005-06-27 3:50 PM in reply to: #184662 |
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2005-06-27 4:06 PM in reply to: #184662 |
2005-06-27 5:11 PM in reply to: #184662 |
2005-06-27 7:50 PM in reply to: #184662 |
2005-06-28 10:36 AM in reply to: #184662 |
2005-06-28 11:08 AM in reply to: #184662 |
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General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
Set-up Inc.
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 55/234
Age Group = M 30-34
Age Group Rank = 17/33
This race is a double sprint which was composed of a 375m ocean swim, then a 1.5 mile run, then a 20k bike ride, then 1.5 mile run, and finally a 375m ocean swim. They didn't keep track of transition times, so they are included in the individual events, and I've added the run times and the swim times together on the summary below. This RR is going to read a little bass ackwards because of this, so bear with me...its a short novel at this point.
Combined this race with family beach trip. The hotel was a bit scary, but it got the job done. Arrived on Friday. Realized I forgot my trishorts and my swim goggles. Nothing like being prepared huh. I ended up driving up to Wilmington's bike shop on Sat and bought a pair of Sugio shorts, got a bike tuneup, gels, and stole Denise's goggles.
Rode the bike course on Sat. Course was mostly flat which was good.
Woke at 5:45. Drank gatorade. Setup bike transition area first. Took bike out for 15 min warmup with a couple of 2 min race pace efforts. Gelled 30 mins prior to race start. Walked to 2nd transition area. Setup run area which was on the beach...essentially my sneakers in a plastic bag, and my run number. Headed out to the water for a swim warmup. Practiced ducking under waves and swimming across, under, over all the crap the ocean could throw at me.