GENESIS!
So I signed up for this race to give myself some goals and motivation.
As the day approached I was a little nervous, but not to bad.
On Friday I went down and picked up my number and race package, I was given Number 27. So 27 is my
first race number. One for the books.
With that out of the way I was free and clear till race day.
I was maybe a little antsy on Saturday but I calmed down by the evening. Shannon and I went out for sushi
and then back home for an early nights sleep. I slept awesome, I guess nerves hadn't got the better of me.
Perhaps the crappy weather dulled the senses a bit.
BEEPBEEP BEEPBEEP
It's 5am.
Up we get. quick shower, some oatmeal and yogurt, little bit of a protein shake. I mixed 3 bottles. 1
protein, 1 water and sugar and one straight water. Out we go. We have to be there at 6:30 as Shannon is
volunteering with registration.
We pull in to the parking lot and there is a few people there, the butterflies I exprienced on the drive up are
all but gone. They are alleviated even further when I get out and rack my bike. Sure there is some nice
bikes, decked out triathlon jobbies, but there is regular road bikes, mountain bikes and even some that
make ninjas tri bike from last year look high end.
Fitness wise the people ranged from very large to sleek elite eMartin like swimmers. I was pretty
convinced I would not be last. I went over to regsitration and got my body marked with my number. Hey
look Shannon is marking numbers, so she got to write a couple big black 27s on me.
Next I picked up my timing chip and went back to set up my transition area. I had originally brought a towel
to put down and a bag to put over that but the ground was soaked so I just put the bag down. If I had to do it
again I would put the towel down on the garbage bag. I had some leakage so my running shirt was pretty
wet when I put it on. With the transition set I wandered around till they opened the pool building.
With about 40 minutes to kill I walked the run transitions and any areas I was unsure about. In the end I
had a pretty good idea of where I was going. No problem.
Once they opened the pool most of us went in to warm-up or get ready. The pool had a full locker room,
which was also pretty cool.
EVENT #1 THE SWIM! - Feel the morning chill.
Total Distance 500m, 20 lengths of the 25m pool, 4 per lane, rolling start.
We were divided into waves based on our swim time. slowest to fastest, I was pretty middle of the road
here. The first wave was mostly the larger people I had mentioned earlier. Alot of people doing breast
stroke and back strokes. As we progressed into wave 2..3 and 4 you could watch more and more people
switch to a freestyle stroke and better breathing patterns, by wave 5 and 6 alot of bilateral breathers. The
annoucement came for wave 7 to be on deck and so there I went. Into the change room, quick shower and
into line. I progressed through the line pretty fast. Suddenly I was first in line. The caller calls one more
for lane 6, the furthest lane from the timing mats. Oh well. Over I go, BEEP! GAME ON! Goggles down I hit
start on the timex. Into the pool I go.
I start off feeling pretty good, and pass someone pretty quickly, I continue swimming strongly, after every
50m, you are back at the lap counter, who offers you encouragment, "Good strong start!" Off I go again.
25m down, I am close to someone who just left, I take a second to adjust the goggles and off I go again,
after a few laps I end up right on a girl and I touch her feet. I back off hoping to get a pass at the end of the
length. I back off to much and she is gone before I get there. 25m later I haven't backed off as much and
she lets me by this time.
After all this passing and such I have NO CLUE what lap I am on, thank god they had lap counters. I finish
another 50ms , "12 done she says." Cool now I have a clue. I get to my last two, the flutter board is placed
in to alert me I am on my last two lengths. Off I go. 50m later she says, "Your done!" Out I go. I stumble
a bit, but oh well. I get half way across the pool width and check my timex, 12;24s. Wow that's great for me
I think! Outside I go!
EVENT #2 THE BIKE! - Hammer up that hill.
Total Distance 16km, 4 laps of a 4km course.
I exit the pool and cross the next set of mats and run across the grass into T1 barefoot. I slow considerably
because of the gravel on the pavement but I get to my bike and I grab the helmet and start putting it on.
CRAP. I put the helmet down, I grab my shirt, on it goes, I grab my jacket! Gold! I grab my helmet, my
friggin' chin straps are tangled! I fiddle with it and get them to go finally! I grab the hand towel, drop it,
spray off my feet, dry them, socks, shoes! YAH! We are ready to go!
I grab my bike! Apparently I am too tall I can't fit the seat under the rack. I take about 5 seconds and decide
on a plan of action. I drop the seat and pull out the bike and re-set it! I run the bike off to the road, mount up
and AWAY I GO!
I jam up to the big gear on the front and the small on the back and push down the first small hill. I am up
the next incline, drop the gears back a little and keep the cadence up. I am passing people pretty easily.
No problem!
The cycle is going well, the forerunner clocks me in at 27kmph average on the course. The only guys to
pass me were tri-bikes. maybe 5 or so passed me. Overall the bike was pretty good, not alot of wind, I was
already cold and soaked so I did well enough not getting any colder. I lost my cadence once and had to
work to get that back but in the end it wasn't the end of the world.
EVENT #3 THE RUN! - Like I knew I would.
Total Distance 3km, 300m run to lap course. 3 800m laps, 300m run to finish.
I dismount and run the bike back to T2. Crap my legs were bad during my brick....but not THIS BAD!. I
decide to run the bike, just on the getting my legs back merrit. I get back to the rack. I drop the seat, I
re-rack it. I drop the helmet, grab a quick sip of sugar water and I remove my cycling jacket so my number
is visible on my running shirt. I am off again!
I cross the next set of timing mats and I am off on the 3km run. I am SLOW. I finally get the forerunner
switched to run and get it to call up my pace, so I have a clue. My legs feel like hell and I feel sorta
cramped and partially out of fuel. I keep the run up though. I get to the lap section pass the pylon and run
down the path, 200m later it switches to road and I complete the first half lap to the aid station/turn around.
My legs feel better already. I run back to the pylon, 1 lap down. Around I go and back. Pace has improved
alot and by the time I am off the path I pretty much have my legs back again. It's only 3km I tell myself and
I get into a good pace. I finish the 3 laps and run my last 300m to the finish. I get to the last leg and turn on
the jets as much as I personally dare on the slick/muddy grass. I come across the line! OH YEAH!. The
Beautiful Shannon is waiting as a volunteer to hand out metals, but I cross the line into her arms for my
medal anyhow! woo hoo! Race over.
THE AFTERMATH!
Well it's done. T1 Sucked. I lost a lot of time here. Next time I will have the seat in a lowered position so I
can pull the bike out faster. I will also be ready to put on my shirt before the helmet. This will all be good.
What I didn't like is the timing mat set up. The bike leg essentially seems to cover the time I cross the first
mats out of the pool, the Bike and the mats as I cross into the run. IE T1, Cycle and T2.
Alot of guys had long plastic totes as their T area, these would have been great today with all the rain!
THE TIMES!
I quickly looked at my times,
Swim: 12:48: Totally happy with this
Bike: 46! Ugh This sucked. I consulted the Forerunner after. It said I did 18km in 35minutes. The bike
course wasn't exaclty what they showed us on paper, the detour could have easily been an additional
500m. Either way for me 35minutes for 18km is outstanding, so I guess I am ok with it. I lost alot of time in
the Transition area here
Run: 18 minutes. I would have been happy with 20. I'll take 18 all the way to the bank, not a PR, but I wasn't
really expecting one either.
TOTAL TIME: 1:17
You guys have been a great inspiration to me with this triathlon. I had wanted to do one since Fish finished his last year. Now I have. The support I got here was outstanding, which of course it always is!
Thanks again!