The horn went off and the swimming began... the water being cool actually seemed nice now. I pushed a little more this time (or I tried to) figuring I would need to with that slight current. I popped out of the water and I knew things were going to sh*t on my way to transition. A large wave of nausea overcame me, I couldn't hear to well and I was dizzy.... I have never felt that bad in a race before. It only got worse.

see my comments at the end of this report.

Okay, back to transition.... I got to my bike and knew that something wasn't right. So I opted to wait a minute or two and pick a spot to puke should the need to arise. After what seemed like a really long time the nausea subsided enough to get on the bike and ride. I also couldn't hear very well for some reason...I figured that I would recover on the bike if I took it easy. Well after about 10 miles of pushing and backing off I just kept it slow but knew that the run was going to be misery.

Well after about 10 miles of pushing and backing off I just kept it slow but knew that the run was going to be misery. I really couldn't hydrate much because of the nause... I'm not sure if it was the Blue Powerade or me being nauseated or which one came first...


see comments at the end...

The first 50 yards out of transition were looking good so I had some hope.... but then all those bad sucky symptoms came back again... I was back to jogging and walking...

I very uncomfortable and felt like I needed to just lie down for a while but fought it off and tried to drink water and cool off. I sat in my Expedition with the AC on for about 15 minutes before attempting to drive home.


At this point I want to harken back (I don't get to use the word harken much) to the morning before the race... I changed my normal routine somewhat. At T-gator #2 I ate a gel that had caffiene in it and felt great... So I extrapelated that alot of caffiene and 2 gel's would be even better.... I don't drink caffiene but race day is special... So I got a Red Bull and two Hammer Gel's which were both a new race day change.... Remind me not to do this ever again.


Even after the race I was feeling pretty bad. On the ride home here are the possible/likely sources of my problems...

- Large dose of caffiene when I'm not used to it.
- Trying new gels and doubling them up instead of just eating one.
- Cold water in my ears? Maybe that was why my hearing was dizzy...I did check my ears for water at the time but they were good to go.
- I did drink a Blue Powerade but I don't think that was the source...
- Maybe I swallowed more Cane River water than I thought.




This is a bare bones race. So as such there is not alot of fan fair afterwards and it wasn't expected. I like the race itself but really am dissapointed with myself.