Wednesday, June 25, 2008
6-24-08 no run
My right foot is killing me, so I didn't run Tuesday night. I'm going to rest it for a few days, I think it's a hurt muscle on the outside of my foot, so I'll monitor it for a while. Luckily, all the races/events are done until August (Midnight Express).
Monday, June 23, 2008
Evening run
Just finished a 5 mile run w/Steph at the dam. I ate too much at dinner and it felt like I needed to barf for most of the run. When will I learn?
I nearly frosted over when we left the park - soaked in sweat, after sundown with no top or doors on the jeep - the wind was a little intense.
Didn't time the run, but it felt pretty fast.
I nearly frosted over when we left the park - soaked in sweat, after sundown with no top or doors on the jeep - the wind was a little intense.
Didn't time the run, but it felt pretty fast.
West Point Race Report
It's been about 2 weeks since the race, I guess I should get around to doing a re-cap.
This race caused a change of identity - for the last several months I've been "training to do my first triathlon". After I finished this race - I feel like it's okay to add a name to the list:
I've been a tennis player, a wrestler, a weight lifter, a runner, a cyclist, and a swimmer....Now I am a Triathlete.
It's kind of odd - I set my mind to the Ft. Benning Reverse Sprint for several months. It's what spurred my training, it's what I focused on, it was the reason that I did my daily rituals and tracked progress. I labored over the decision to do it or not ("are you insane?", etc) for weeks, but the decision to do the West Point Tri came within about a week. Pretty quick for a race that was twice as long on the bike, and the run and 3x as long on the swim (my weakest leg and biggest worry).
A week prior to the WP tri, I'd finished the Ft. Benning Reverse, and I'd tried to take it easy during the in-between week - - had to try to recover and not overdo it before the long race. I only swam once, ran once, and biked once (and a brief open water swim during my bike ride).
I was terrified that the water would still be pretty cold. All of my open water forays had been kind of frigid, but the short swim the week before alleviated that fear. The water at the dam was bath-tub warm.
Going into this race I didn't have the concern of goals and expectations. Since this was the first race of this distance, the only real goal was to finish (strongly). I didn't want to break on the course. Keep in mind that this is my home turf - it's the main reason I wanted to do this race and this distance (instead of the Sprint). I train here, the race is on my turf - I just couldn't let that opportunity pass my by. I couldn't stand the thought of a bunch of triathletes within a mile of my house, and me not being among them. And I wanted to finish on my home turf with confidence.
The morning of the race we drove to the race site, and WOW!!! It was PACKED!! - - keep in mind, I'm at this park nearly EVERY day, and have lived within cycling distance of 3 entrances for over 10 yrs and I have NEVER seen this many people packed into the park - much less people on bikes with determined looks on their faces. We parked the jeep and I took down the bike, and we made our way to transition. My support crew was smaller than the last race - just me and the wife. We were both taken by surprise by the crowd. I could see the worry in Steph's face that I may be off the map a little.
When we got to transition, the directors had lain the area out in a pretty streamlined fashion. I was looking for a registration table to pick up my chip and get some instruction for all of the race numbers I'd gotten in my race packet when I saw that you had to go through marking to get your chip, which was right beside the transition entrance. In one fell swoop, I was marked, chipped, and setting up my bike. The loudspeaker was a constant background warning people to get their bikes in the right place (2 minute penalty before the gun even goes off).
The transition area was very tight - we had 6 bikes to a section, and 4 would have been more agreeable. The Ft. Benning race had been about 100 racers... this event boasted over 500 - so it was tight. I had to modify my transition area a bit. I'm still learning how to to set up my transition area: what's needed, what's wanted, and what's just fluff. I'd planned on setting up a place towel (kind of trying to 'define' my space), and a small towel to dry my feet, and a my goggle/helmet area, water bottle, gatorade bottle and a small bag for food/GPS. We were so packed in the rack, I reduced it down to 2 towels, helmet, 2 Gu packs and a bottle and shoes. Which means I forgot my GPS.
I went back several times to check on my bike and 'private' space. I saw a few too many people moving other people's bikes/gear - even I know that's taboo.
Start the RACE!!
We made our way to the water about 7:20 - gun goes bang! @ 7:30!! We got final instructions on drafting and course setup and we all lined up (roughly) with our numbers. This was THE big variable for me. When I registered for the race, I had to declare how long I would take on the swim - I didn't have any real measure for this. All my distance swims had been in the pool (flip turns), and OWS is still new to me (and TERRIFYING). I speculated it would take me about 45 minutes to swim the mile (keep in mind that at 60 minutes that the race volunteers would 'assist me' from the water - per the race rules). Since I told them 45 minutes, I got a pretty high race number to seed me towards the back of the pack. There were about 350 people registered for the Olympic distance start - here's me at the start.
I count fewer than 20 people behind me at the start, which means there are already 330 people in the water....Almost at the very end of the line.
Starting this far back put me alone for a lot of the race...good/bad/indifferent - I don't know yet.
Luckily, when I hit the water all my apprehensions went away and all that was in my head was the swim. My concerns mostly all vanished..just keep stroking: stroke stroke stroke stroke. My goggles fogged up almost instantaneously (typical), so I swam near blind. I wasn't that big of a deal - what's the difference between looking down into brown water, or looking down into foggy brown water? Not much. The fogging did cause some concern when I was trying to sight buoys - I REALLY didn't want to go off course and make the swim any longer.
I learned that if your not getting kicked, or kicking someone that you may be off course. Since I couldn't see out of my goggles except for a small unfogged corner, I had to stop and tread water for a moment whenever I wanted to sight my place in the water. I actually had to keep telling myself too slow down and try to not use my legs so much - race mentality and instinct kept trying to take over. I wanted to still have plenty left for the rest of the race. I read an article online that made a good point - unless your shooting for a podium finish, your not going to break any real barriers by killing yourself in the water. I tried to relax the swim and conserve energy for the rest of the race. Strictly looking at the numbers: The race is 32 miles long - total...the swim is only 1 mile of that, so I still had a LOT of distance to cover after the swim, so CONSERVE. It worked - I actually came out of the water grinning (mostly happy to not be the last out of the water, and not having to be rescued). Swim time: 35:17
See. Grins.
When I cam into the bike corral, it looked like a ghost town. Remember how far back I started? ALL those people were already on the road. The space was good, but to see that everyone had already left was slightly dis-heartening. I really had to fight some internal battles and remind myself throughout the race that I was on the clock, not just on the road. Even though I wasn't up in the pack, I wasn't as far back as it appeared (this was borne out by the race results, too). But it still messed with my head a little. There were less than 10 bikes in the corral when I arrived. It seemed like T1 went pretty quickly, but it still took me over 2 minutes. I exited T1 while watching (and grinning inside) the guy in the rack next to me get shouted down for mounting his bike in the transition area - big No-No.
Let's go pedal!
The bike portion was LOOOONNNNGGGG, especially with no music and no one around me. I think I only saw about 20 people over the course of 25 miles - and most of those were passing me - LOL. I started taking Gu and gatorade as soon as I got on the bike and Gu'd every 30 minutes and drank every time I thought about it. Luckily it wasn't too hot, so I wasn't drying out too badly. I did not, however, drink enough the day before (hindsight).
The course was a hilly meatgrinder. I knew some of the roads I was on, but some of them were new, and all the new ones went up up up up up. I really wished my bike had a gear lower than 1. I spent a lot more time on the little ring than I expected to, but I had made the concious decision to gear where ever I needed to so my my cadence would stay fairly high - still trying to conserve strength for the run.
To anyone who was on HWY 29 on that date: Thanks for not killing us, and sorry for the delays.
When I crossed 29 halfway to Lagrange, the police had traffic stopped for my, and there were cars backed up for at least a quarter of a mile in each direction.
The bike trip proved enlightening. I will need to get some new pedals/biking shoes before next season. My running shoes are not meant for biking and it positions me feet a little too far back on the pedals with the toe cages. The net result was a numb left foot after about mile 18.
As I came back to the park, I could hear the screams from the crowd for the finishers. I knew I still had 6 miles to run after this. I was so far back that they had to shoo people off the road in the park to make sure I didn't run over anyone on my way to transition.
T2 was pretty quick (39 seconds), and my legs didn't jelly beneath me too badly. I grabbed some gatorade on my way onto the run course. This is the course that I run almost daily - it was good to be on familiar ground. I grabbed water or gatorade at every aid station along the way (4 total). I'd drink some gatorade, and pour water over my head trying to keep cool. After about a mile or so, my legs kind of woke up a little, and I started to speed up. The turnaround was another kicker that sped me up a bit. I was glad that I knew the course so well - I knew what to expect at every turn - including the hill that will forever be know as 'the heartbreaker'. The run course took a detour loop (again, one that I know well) to make the distance come out right. Mid-way through this additional loop I came up to the heartbreaker - it's a greusome hill that climbs seemingly straight up for about 3o yards. The only solace I took was that it caught a lot of people TOTALLY off guard (I'm pretty sure of that). After the quick climb, the hill planes out a little, but I was still climbing for about 1/8 mile. Around mile 5 I passed one guy in front of me, and after I got past him (slowly past) he noticed my age on my left calf and commented on how far back we were. I told him we were still ahead of the guys on the couch, and kept on pumping ( I later learned that we were the last 2 in our age group on the clock).
The finish of the race was on a slight uphill climb (who's stupid idea was that???). As soon as I cam into view, the crowd woke up again, and cheered me into the finish gate. It's a weird, surreal moment to be that tired, and hear all the cheering and hear your name going out over the loudspeakers congratulating you.
I crossed the line strongly and confidently (goal accomplished), and immediately hugged Steph. It took me a total of 3:17:19 (which I didn't learn until 2 days later - result lag), and it was incredibly hard for a myriad of reasons....When's the next one???
I was exhausted for 2 days, and have been ravenous since the race (again multiple reasons for that). This was probably my last Tri of the year (unless, you know...). I'm looking forward to this race again next year - and looking forward to finishing faster.
Finishing!!!!!
Pics from the race:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12191083@N02/tags/westpoint/
Final thoughts:
This race caused a change of identity - for the last several months I've been "training to do my first triathlon". After I finished this race - I feel like it's okay to add a name to the list:
I've been a tennis player, a wrestler, a weight lifter, a runner, a cyclist, and a swimmer....Now I am a Triathlete.
It's kind of odd - I set my mind to the Ft. Benning Reverse Sprint for several months. It's what spurred my training, it's what I focused on, it was the reason that I did my daily rituals and tracked progress. I labored over the decision to do it or not ("are you insane?", etc) for weeks, but the decision to do the West Point Tri came within about a week. Pretty quick for a race that was twice as long on the bike, and the run and 3x as long on the swim (my weakest leg and biggest worry).
A week prior to the WP tri, I'd finished the Ft. Benning Reverse, and I'd tried to take it easy during the in-between week - - had to try to recover and not overdo it before the long race. I only swam once, ran once, and biked once (and a brief open water swim during my bike ride).
I was terrified that the water would still be pretty cold. All of my open water forays had been kind of frigid, but the short swim the week before alleviated that fear. The water at the dam was bath-tub warm.
Going into this race I didn't have the concern of goals and expectations. Since this was the first race of this distance, the only real goal was to finish (strongly). I didn't want to break on the course. Keep in mind that this is my home turf - it's the main reason I wanted to do this race and this distance (instead of the Sprint). I train here, the race is on my turf - I just couldn't let that opportunity pass my by. I couldn't stand the thought of a bunch of triathletes within a mile of my house, and me not being among them. And I wanted to finish on my home turf with confidence.
The morning of the race we drove to the race site, and WOW!!! It was PACKED!! - - keep in mind, I'm at this park nearly EVERY day, and have lived within cycling distance of 3 entrances for over 10 yrs and I have NEVER seen this many people packed into the park - much less people on bikes with determined looks on their faces. We parked the jeep and I took down the bike, and we made our way to transition. My support crew was smaller than the last race - just me and the wife. We were both taken by surprise by the crowd. I could see the worry in Steph's face that I may be off the map a little.
When we got to transition, the directors had lain the area out in a pretty streamlined fashion. I was looking for a registration table to pick up my chip and get some instruction for all of the race numbers I'd gotten in my race packet when I saw that you had to go through marking to get your chip, which was right beside the transition entrance. In one fell swoop, I was marked, chipped, and setting up my bike. The loudspeaker was a constant background warning people to get their bikes in the right place (2 minute penalty before the gun even goes off).
The transition area was very tight - we had 6 bikes to a section, and 4 would have been more agreeable. The Ft. Benning race had been about 100 racers... this event boasted over 500 - so it was tight. I had to modify my transition area a bit. I'm still learning how to to set up my transition area: what's needed, what's wanted, and what's just fluff. I'd planned on setting up a place towel (kind of trying to 'define' my space), and a small towel to dry my feet, and a my goggle/helmet area, water bottle, gatorade bottle and a small bag for food/GPS. We were so packed in the rack, I reduced it down to 2 towels, helmet, 2 Gu packs and a bottle and shoes. Which means I forgot my GPS.
I went back several times to check on my bike and 'private' space. I saw a few too many people moving other people's bikes/gear - even I know that's taboo.
Start the RACE!!
We made our way to the water about 7:20 - gun goes bang! @ 7:30!! We got final instructions on drafting and course setup and we all lined up (roughly) with our numbers. This was THE big variable for me. When I registered for the race, I had to declare how long I would take on the swim - I didn't have any real measure for this. All my distance swims had been in the pool (flip turns), and OWS is still new to me (and TERRIFYING). I speculated it would take me about 45 minutes to swim the mile (keep in mind that at 60 minutes that the race volunteers would 'assist me' from the water - per the race rules). Since I told them 45 minutes, I got a pretty high race number to seed me towards the back of the pack. There were about 350 people registered for the Olympic distance start - here's me at the start.
I count fewer than 20 people behind me at the start, which means there are already 330 people in the water....Almost at the very end of the line.
Starting this far back put me alone for a lot of the race...good/bad/indifferent - I don't know yet.
Luckily, when I hit the water all my apprehensions went away and all that was in my head was the swim. My concerns mostly all vanished..just keep stroking: stroke stroke stroke stroke. My goggles fogged up almost instantaneously (typical), so I swam near blind. I wasn't that big of a deal - what's the difference between looking down into brown water, or looking down into foggy brown water? Not much. The fogging did cause some concern when I was trying to sight buoys - I REALLY didn't want to go off course and make the swim any longer.
I learned that if your not getting kicked, or kicking someone that you may be off course. Since I couldn't see out of my goggles except for a small unfogged corner, I had to stop and tread water for a moment whenever I wanted to sight my place in the water. I actually had to keep telling myself too slow down and try to not use my legs so much - race mentality and instinct kept trying to take over. I wanted to still have plenty left for the rest of the race. I read an article online that made a good point - unless your shooting for a podium finish, your not going to break any real barriers by killing yourself in the water. I tried to relax the swim and conserve energy for the rest of the race. Strictly looking at the numbers: The race is 32 miles long - total...the swim is only 1 mile of that, so I still had a LOT of distance to cover after the swim, so CONSERVE. It worked - I actually came out of the water grinning (mostly happy to not be the last out of the water, and not having to be rescued). Swim time: 35:17
See. Grins.
When I cam into the bike corral, it looked like a ghost town. Remember how far back I started? ALL those people were already on the road. The space was good, but to see that everyone had already left was slightly dis-heartening. I really had to fight some internal battles and remind myself throughout the race that I was on the clock, not just on the road. Even though I wasn't up in the pack, I wasn't as far back as it appeared (this was borne out by the race results, too). But it still messed with my head a little. There were less than 10 bikes in the corral when I arrived. It seemed like T1 went pretty quickly, but it still took me over 2 minutes. I exited T1 while watching (and grinning inside) the guy in the rack next to me get shouted down for mounting his bike in the transition area - big No-No.
Let's go pedal!
The bike portion was LOOOONNNNGGGG, especially with no music and no one around me. I think I only saw about 20 people over the course of 25 miles - and most of those were passing me - LOL. I started taking Gu and gatorade as soon as I got on the bike and Gu'd every 30 minutes and drank every time I thought about it. Luckily it wasn't too hot, so I wasn't drying out too badly. I did not, however, drink enough the day before (hindsight).
The course was a hilly meatgrinder. I knew some of the roads I was on, but some of them were new, and all the new ones went up up up up up. I really wished my bike had a gear lower than 1. I spent a lot more time on the little ring than I expected to, but I had made the concious decision to gear where ever I needed to so my my cadence would stay fairly high - still trying to conserve strength for the run.
To anyone who was on HWY 29 on that date: Thanks for not killing us, and sorry for the delays.
When I crossed 29 halfway to Lagrange, the police had traffic stopped for my, and there were cars backed up for at least a quarter of a mile in each direction.
The bike trip proved enlightening. I will need to get some new pedals/biking shoes before next season. My running shoes are not meant for biking and it positions me feet a little too far back on the pedals with the toe cages. The net result was a numb left foot after about mile 18.
As I came back to the park, I could hear the screams from the crowd for the finishers. I knew I still had 6 miles to run after this. I was so far back that they had to shoo people off the road in the park to make sure I didn't run over anyone on my way to transition.
T2 was pretty quick (39 seconds), and my legs didn't jelly beneath me too badly. I grabbed some gatorade on my way onto the run course. This is the course that I run almost daily - it was good to be on familiar ground. I grabbed water or gatorade at every aid station along the way (4 total). I'd drink some gatorade, and pour water over my head trying to keep cool. After about a mile or so, my legs kind of woke up a little, and I started to speed up. The turnaround was another kicker that sped me up a bit. I was glad that I knew the course so well - I knew what to expect at every turn - including the hill that will forever be know as 'the heartbreaker'. The run course took a detour loop (again, one that I know well) to make the distance come out right. Mid-way through this additional loop I came up to the heartbreaker - it's a greusome hill that climbs seemingly straight up for about 3o yards. The only solace I took was that it caught a lot of people TOTALLY off guard (I'm pretty sure of that). After the quick climb, the hill planes out a little, but I was still climbing for about 1/8 mile. Around mile 5 I passed one guy in front of me, and after I got past him (slowly past) he noticed my age on my left calf and commented on how far back we were. I told him we were still ahead of the guys on the couch, and kept on pumping ( I later learned that we were the last 2 in our age group on the clock).
The finish of the race was on a slight uphill climb (who's stupid idea was that???). As soon as I cam into view, the crowd woke up again, and cheered me into the finish gate. It's a weird, surreal moment to be that tired, and hear all the cheering and hear your name going out over the loudspeakers congratulating you.
I crossed the line strongly and confidently (goal accomplished), and immediately hugged Steph. It took me a total of 3:17:19 (which I didn't learn until 2 days later - result lag), and it was incredibly hard for a myriad of reasons....When's the next one???
I was exhausted for 2 days, and have been ravenous since the race (again multiple reasons for that). This was probably my last Tri of the year (unless, you know...). I'm looking forward to this race again next year - and looking forward to finishing faster.
Finishing!!!!!
Pics from the race:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12191083@N02/tags/westpoint/
Final thoughts:
- Hydrate better - I got lucky this time
- Give more thought to transition set up
- still some equipment needed to smooth things
- need more structured swim workouts
- need more OWS training - could be fun
- I want to learn how to recover better
- I am (at the core) a runner - this race proved that
- I NEED goals -otherwise it feels like I'm a little aimless at times
- Racing can get expensive quickly
- I'm loving the challenge that all this presents
- I think I'm a more balance person when I'm training - focus is good.
- I'm glad I have a supportive family
- I need to schedule races more carefully - 2 races in 2 weeks followed by an all night run/walk is hard on the body and recovery.
- need more core training - time to start lifting.
- Long term goals ?? HIM? IM? Half-Mary? Mary? - - prioritize
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Look who was at the dam today.
Steph and I went for a ride Tuesday night, and I did a VERY brief 'confidence swim' near the race site. I also wanted to see if the water had warmed up any, yet. The water temp was great, although it did get about 20 deg colder about 4 ft down.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
6-7-08 Ft. Benning Reverse Tri-Race report
I've been processing everything that happened during my race, and I think I'm ready to do the race report
Thursday night I packed up all my gear in a transition bag and checked, re-checked and re-double checked everything. I think I managed to make it out of the house without forgetting anything major.
Friday after work, I loaded up the bike and packed the overnight bags in the jeep. We stayed Friday night with my mother and aunt, so we wouldn't have to get up so early to be on site in time. I also prepped my bike by taping some Gu's to the top-bar. I'd seen this on a video and it turned out to be one of the best tips I've picked up - just grab a pack, and it opens itself -ready to eat.
Friday night, we had a delicious seafood dinner with lots of carbs...hasbrowns and hobo-cakes (probably not the BEST food, but it was delicious). I was able to get ready for bed fairly early - about 10pm. My aunt had picked up my race packet for me, so I had some time to look through my goodies a little that night.
I slept on the couch and surprisingly, I slept pretty well. I listened to some NPR on my Zune and went right to sleep, but I still managed to wake myself up about an hour before the alarm went off. I just lounged a bit until wake up time - still going over transitions in my head.
Saturday morning: I woke up and immediately panicked - this was to be expected. Everyone knows that you must have several last minute catastrophes, or it's just not a good time. I couldn't find my race packet. I'd have sworn that I put it with my duffle bag the night before - but I'd have been wrong. This was doubly troublesome, because I'd planned on having the powerbar in the bag for breakfast, as well as not having my documentation slip. Luckily we found it in another room where we'd set the bags when we came in Fri night...
Then I realized I didn't have my tag receipt for the Jeep with me - I can't get on Ft. Benning without that (thanks terrorists...always gotta screw with somebody's day,huh?). We immediately took two steps back and punted. I moved the bike to my aunt's suv, and we loaded everyone else into my mom's car. Disaster #2 averted. From here on in it
I have to admit: as silly as it seems, the marking up was kinda cool - don't know why, but this kind of drove it into my brain that this was race-time.
I only re-arranged my transition area about 12 times. I kept checking it to make sure no one had moved anything. There was NO transition area security, racers, officials, and spectators were all wandering through.
At 7:45 the race director got on the bullhorn and gave us final safety instructions. Public roads, stay to the right, no headphones, etc. He also roughed out the course to the pool for the final leg of the race (remember - Reverse Sprint). After the briefing, we were instructed to assemble at the starting flags for the presenting of the colors (again, remember - military base).
At 8:01 the horn blew and we were off, and man was it a fast group.
I had a few goals going into this race some of them important, some of them not so much.
1st goal was to finish strongly, and not feel like I'd been beaten on by the course.
2nd goal was to finish the 5K in under 25 minutes - this was negotiable if it endangered goal #1.
I set the GPS to finish the 5K in 25 minutes, and once we started, I made sure I stayed ahead of the GPS. I passed NO ONE for the 1st mile, and people where blowing past me like I was on crutches. I finally began to gain on a father/son duo just short of 2 miles. The whole time I was ahead of my 25 minute pace. I normally don't take water on 5K races because of the short duration of the race, but we started @ 8am, and it was already warm. I had a long way to go, so I took water at the 2 stations along the way - never slowed down - I just grabbed a cup as I went past. I'd take a couple of chugs and poured the rest down my neck.
I was also running with no music. I almost always have music when I run alone, but I didn't miss it that much. I would have loved some good hard baseline tracks during the last mile or so. I began passing a few people, but nothing to get excited about. When I could see the transition area come into view, I picked up a little. Still about 200-300 ft ahead of pace on the GPS.
When I crossed the timing pad, it felt like I should have had flames rolling off my shoes. I FELT fast, I felt good, and my time was WAY beyond me goal. I entered T1 @ 23:40 (1:20 AHEAD of my goal) - and not having to kill myself for it.
It's probably hard to tell from the photo, but I'm even grinning a little as I enter T1.
I think I had an awesome T1 (especially compared to others in my age group) - I was in and out in 52 seconds - which put me pedaling into stage 2 well before my target stage 1 time...Again, I was even working up a little grin.
Through all of this, I still had no idea where I was in the standings (didn't really care, I just didn't want to be last).
As soon as I got on bike, I started drinking gatorade. I'd taken a Gu one right before the start of the race to get it in my system, and I was planning on taking one every 30 minutes, but I wanted to get some more fluids in my system. The beginning of the ride was 'interesting'. I don't have clip in, or clipless pedals on my bike. Just toe cages. I'd decided to ignore the cages for the first quarter to half mile, and get my feet in them after I was on a straight away, and out of a little traffic. I had to try a few times to get my feet in the cages because they kept rolling over to the bottom of the pedal. This is common, and happens on every ride, but on every other ride, there's not people gaining on me ;). I was finally able to get my feet locked in and settle into the ride. I made it a point to keep the gearing low enough so my cadence would stay high. This kept me on the middle ring, and about midway into the rear cassette. I made pretty good time on the ride, averaging 16.8 mph. There were 3 water stops on the 20K route: one halfway to the turnaround, one at the turnaround, and then again halfway back.
"NEVER USE NEW EQUIPMENT IN A RACE" - How many times have you heard that? Go ahead..count them...I'll wait.
Correct: 18, 358 times
I had a bottle of Gatorade in my transition space (on ice packs), but I was in such a hurry @ transition, that I didn't take any of it..."I've got a bottle on my bike"....a NEW bottle on my bike... a NEW, never before been used bottle on my bike. After I got my feet locked in, I took a Gu, and washed it down with the NASTIEST, FOULEST tasting acidic, chemical tasting drink I've ever had. I tried to get water at the water stops, but as hard as it is to grab a Styrofoam cup when your running it's 1000x harder when your zooming past on a bike. I spewed ice cold water all over the highway at the midway water station.....twice. I ALMOST chucked the bottle to grab a bottle at the midway water station, but figured I'd flub that hand off, too, so I just endured the nasty Gatorade. As I neared the end of the 20K, I caught a little extra boost and pumped a little harder. I cruised into T2 pretty fast and almost locked up the tires trying to whoa it down before the dismount line.
T2 went pretty quickly, too (1:26), but was delayed a little when one of my socks refused to let go. Apparently it had formed a fast and intimate relationship with the tape on one of my toes:
...and I had to step back to repel my own sock.
I grabbed my goggles and nose plug after stripping down, and I'm off!!
(notice the sock still clinging for dear life on my left foot)
I ran to the pool - how sad is it when you pass people in transition?? Is that taboo? against etiquette? I don't know, but I wanted to go faster than they did, so...
Then it all fell apart.
Dear Lord in heaven...I hit the water, and I felt like a graceful trapeze artist..after a horrible accident with a mule.
I couldn't breath ( or rather, I couldn't catch my breath). My stroke felt labored, and the water felt very thin..like I couldn't get an traction. My goggles immediately fogged up, so I was swimming blind. Within half a pool length, my nose clip went off on it's own to explore a new profession as pool decorations. It felt bad.
The course consisted of 11 lengths of a 50 meter pool. Swim a length, duck under the rope to change lanes, swim back in the new lane...repeat. This swim, change routine totally screwed up what little sense of rhythm I had. But, I endured. I kept stroking and heaving - I didn't walk along the bottom of the pool, I just kept pumping - despite being passed constantly. At one point I began to wonder how there could be so many people passing me in the pool - - I thought they all passed me on the run.
I could hear my family yelling for me each time I reached the far end of the pool, and by the time I was on the last length, I was breathing okay, but there wasn't hardly any strength left in my body. I climbed out of the pool and crossed the timing pad and I was finished. I had done it. I had endured - and I was thrilled with it. The time meant little because I had no frame of reference.
The swim was more of a challenge than I expected: partially because of exhaustion, partially because of lack of rhythm. I'm hoping the next race (being in the correct order) will not be so distracting.
Post race water (as if I didn't swallow enough in the pool)
And after it all, I can still act like an idiot in a public setting:
A big thanks to my family, without whom I'd never have been able to do this with a smile on my face.
Would I do it again? Absolutely...in fact, I'll do it again on Saturday..but 2x as long.
Final Stats:
Run: 23:40 pace: 7:37/mile
T1: 0:52
Bike: 44:10 pace: 16.8mph
T2: 1:26
Swim: 15:51 pace: 1.3 (meters/sec ??)
Total : 1:25:57
Place 66 / 96 overall
Place 17 / 25 in age group
Friday, June 06, 2008
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