Help allay my nerves (Page 2)

lvthgme - 2007-06-15 10:37 AM

Great idea getting the race belt. I didn't for my first...maybe four races and what a PAIN. Love the race belt.

As far as rain...I've only done one race in the rain so far. It was COLD and I didn't have any rain gear. Or long sleeves. Or pants. But I survived. =) And it was still fun. =)

Have a BAA-LAAAST! =)

sf_biggestloser - 2007-06-15 11:34 AM

Weather for tomorrow keeps changing. One minute they are saying 90 and sunny, then 85 and cloudy, now 87 and thunderstorms.

I need to do some research into transitions and the rain. How do I keep my stuff dry while I'm in the pool? Do I even worry about it? OMGWTFBBQ?!?!

checkpointchica - 2007-06-18 5:17 PM

I cant wait to read the RR! Im proud of you and dont even know you!- stumbled across your post about your fears this past Friday and most of them are MY fears as well so I was realllllllly interested in your post and the replies and thought about you a million times over the weekend! I checked out the course today that I will do on Sunday the 24th (yes, my first sprint,Im scared outta my mind). I walked/drove/scouted it for a basic feel for the area and direction of where Im going.... I know I can do this but the butterflies in my stomach today were really powerful....but I feel like Im more prepared now/as best as I can be and now Im just in it to finish and have fun and learn from it for my next one. Seriously- for every person who posted to your comments Im sure there were a thousand more who read them and experienced a lot of the feelings you were going thru! Good luck with your next one, thanks for helping ME, and cant wiat to read your race report! YOU DID IT!!!
Tara

sweetlou94 - 2007-06-18 10:48 AM

From one big guy (272 today) to another -Congrats on finishing the first one!! As you look forward to your second one, I'm sure that many things you learned this past weekend will come into play. Here's my two cents on what you addressed in your OP.

Walking on the Run! Heck ya, I do it every race! I find that 30 seconds of walking at the aid stations gives me the little rest I need to keep pushing on.

Biggest person on the course/ Don't want to finish last. I have that same feeling and so what. I figure that if race results were calculated on minutes racing per pound of weight that I would be pretty competitive. Obviously that's not real fair to those skinny people, but it makes me feel pretty good. I don't see this method of result tabulation catching on though:-) LOL

Clydesdale/Athena category - there should be another category -lumpy, because that's what I am. I think its a huge myth out there for us really big people that the Clydesdale/Athena division is for us. 200 pounds and you are still a Clyde. 280 and working on getting in shape is nothing like a trim, buff 200 pounder. I have no delusions, so I make up my mythical category of other like sized "lumpy" people and compete against them. You just have to look at us in our wetsuit to know, but at the same time, it takes courage to parade out in front of everyone for that swim if you are in the lumpy category like me. But just think of what you looked like before you chose to get on that beach and into that tri suit....

Transitions....I look at it this way. For someone who will finish a race in a hour, 1 minute of extra Transition time is 1/60 of their race. For someone who will finish a race in two hours, 1 minute of extra transition time is 1/120 of the race. Not as important. So the performance in the actually racing is a little more important that flying through the transition and not doing everything correctly.

Finally, I have a poster in my office that my brother gave to about 10 years ago right after we each did our first triathlon. It says "DETERMINATION - the race is not always to the swift...but to those who keep on running." Ironically it took me 8 years after we did that first tri together to realize that I needed to get back into shape and decided to start tri-ing again. In August we are going to compete in the Brewhouse Tri (his first tri since 1998 and my third in the last two years), but this time its no longer a destination for us, its just a stop along the way to being more fit! The clock alone does not judge our accomplishments!

Keep it up!

sf_biggestloser - 2007-06-18 11:28 PM If there was indeed a 'lumpy' category I so would have taken first place in my group, damn I need to start a petition. You know, in reality I don't think I could have gotten any more pride than had I won my first race. The encouragment and cheering of all of those who finished before me (in fact some finished before I even started my run) just astounded me. I heard cheers as I came out of the water, as I rode in on the bike, and I as turned my finish line jog into a full on sprint as a I finally glimpsed the finish line. A quote has been resounding in my head the last couple days: A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles... And because of this great thing called Triathlons, I have made more friends than i can imagine. Josh