This is my race report from my race 3 days ago. I am now recovered up to the point that I can focus on this and "close it up".
This race was to be a "Warm up" race for the Seafair Olympic Triathlon next weekend. It was intended to help me with my transitions and to get a feel for how things will go with my new gear and nutrition.
- Sprint triathlon
- .5 mile swim
- 12 mile ride
- 3.1 mile run
- The results:
- Total Time: 1:24:19
- Swim: 15:04
- T1: 1:31
- Ride: 42:10
- T2: 1:50
- Run: 23:46
- Overall: 8/93
- Age Group: 4/12
The Course:
Using my garmin, I recorded my courses. They are below:
Here is a video from my bike camera:
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:
- The Good:
- I was able to rack my bike right next to the Bike-out route. This was awesome.
- My T1 time is way better than expected. Clearly I had it nailed down.
- My ride was fast
- I was able to stick with a VERY fast runner to pass a couple of people.
- The Bad:
- When I dismounted my bike, I had the front brake on too hard. It caused the back of the bike to buck up, which ejected my water bottle.
- I mounted my bike at the wrong rack. I had to re-rack it at the right place.
- I almost ran out with my helmet on. I had to turn around and put it back in.
- Anything that could go wrong, did.
- The Ugly:
- I spent 2 minutes on the ride keeled over and throwing up. Had this not happened, I would probably be in 7th (or possibly better because of GI issues)
- 1/2 muscle fuel 30 minutes prior to race.
- 1 Catalyst
- Bike Bottle with Rehydrate and L-Arginine
- Gel in transition just in case.
- Pre-race:
- At 3AM, we woke up to a massive lightning storm. There was a huge rain downpour and thunder/lightning and it drew into question how the race was going to go. I figured I would worry about it in the morning.
- I had a breakfast planned, but unfortunately we stayed with other people. Since I was waking up 5:45, I didn't want to wake everybody else up by making a smoothie. Instead, I had an advocare meal replacement shake.
- I rode my bike 3.5 miles to the race venue. I just put my transition bag on my aerobars and enjoyed the morning ride. There were many deer out, and it was a pretty morning. It was wet from the storm earlier in the morning...but it wasn't currently raining.
- I got to the venue about 6:20AM. Got Marked, Got Swimcap, got set up. I was on the rack right next to the BIKE OUT. This is generally the best rack since you have to run in your bike gear the least amount. Oddly enough, everybody put their stuff on the other side and the "best" rack was the least populated. The few of us at the rack laughed about it.
- Watched 1/2 iron people start. It is now Go-Time.
- Took Muscle Fuel/Catalyst 25 minutes before race. I had felt kind of glum as it was early in the morning and it wasn't good weather. I would say my mood was lethargic. About 5 minutes after I took the supplements I felt alive and I felt "above" all of the conditions. It was a race, and I was there to kick butt. It greatly improved my outlook.
- Started my bike camera, put on swimgear and went to start.
- No swim warm up...just stretching.
- Swim:
- As soon as horn sounded, my heart rate spiked, and it was time to go. Just like any other race, you can't tell where you are in the herd. You just keep swimming.
- I kept at a fast pace. My wetsuit restricts my shoulder movement. I need a new one. It seemed to take a long time to get to the buoy.
- It didn't feel "comfortable". I knew it wasn't warm out, and I knew that it might start raining, and I just had the feeling of, "I am kind of chilly and there is no relief from it".
- There was very little contact. I think I only came in contact with 2 people but it was gentle.
- T1:
- I was not going to mess around. I swam until my hands hit the bottom and it was "go time". I pulled my goggles up and just ran while unzipping my wetsuit. Got to my bike, yanked my wetsuit/swimcap off, put my riding shoes on, put my helmet on, grabbed my bike, and off I went. It was very fast.
- I opt to put my riding shoes on in transition because it makes the setup easier, and getting going on the bike is less complicated. I don't have to fumble with straps while moving on a bike. I can do a flying mount, so it isn't a big deal for me to just clip in while riding.
- Bike:
- I started my garmin, got my shoes clipped in, and started getting up to speed.
- It was cold. My feet were wet and cold since I didn't dry off and I could feel the wind all over my body. It really wasn't a comfortable temperature. It began to mist. The good news is that I could just pound through it and get done.
- I wasn't able to "relax" for about a mile.
- About 2 miles in, I had to stop and throw up. I couldn't stay on my bike. This was very different than "exersize-induced" in which I can just stay on my bike. It was like normal bad-food sickness. This took about 2 minutes while people passed me. Each time somebody would pass me I felt a little disappointment, but there wasn't anything I could physically do to change it. After 2 minutes, I felt like I could get back on my bike and I felt fine after that.
- At about 5 miles (a mile before the sprint turn-around), I was able to start telling where I was in the crowd. I counted 4 people and then lost track because I was focused on more important things...Cadence.
- I am usually able to ride long distance, but I was really grateful to see the sprint turn-around. I don't know how much more I could have gone. My throat was sore, my stomach was messed up, and I couldn't take any Rehydrate. I turned around and started focusing on my pedalling.
- I saw my father in the car watching all of the riders go by.
- As I approached transition, I took my feet out of my shoes and put them on top. I was going to leave my shoes in the clips and run barefoot to my spot. This makes it quicker to get running shoes on.
- I *really* wanted a sub :45 T2 time.
- As I dismounted my bike, I had my front brake on a little sharp. The back tire kicked up and ejected my water bottle. I didn't care.
- T2:
- I ran right past my rack and racked another rack down. I looked down for my running shoes and they weren't there. I realized what I had done, unracked my bike and started to go back to my spot.
- At that point, a spectator wanted to return my waterbottle to me. They did this by throwing it from the Bike-In arch. I appreciate the thought...but throwing a full waterbottle 50' to somebody who is holding a bike in one hand isn't a good idea. I just swatted the bottle down to the ground instead of trying to catch it.
- Re-racked my bike, put on my socks and running shoes, grabbed my belt and my garmin, grabbed my waterbottle from center of transition zone and started to run to Run-out.
- Gratefully, somebody else was right ahead of me and made the same mistake I made. His friend yelled out to him: "Your Helmet! Take off your helmet!" Both of us, stopped and reached up. We both had our helmets on. So we both had to run back to our racks and put our helmets down. Nothing looks more silly than running a 5k with a bike helmet on.
- Got out of transition, put on my running belt and put on my garmin. And we were off.
- Run
- I stopped at a portapotty at 1 mile. It was good I did, too. Several people passed me while I did so. As we approached the turn-around, the 2 people I was running near passed me. I told them, "I'm comin' for ya!". They laughed.
- I thought in my head, "Those are probably people who will knock me out of contention...and I really should pass them. Suddenly a voice came from right behind me. "If you're gonna pass them, you might as well do it now, mate...follow me!".
- I was then passed by this guy at a very fast pace. I got behind him and tried to keep his pace. Looking at my garmin, I saw that he was running at a 6:20 mile pace. I couldn't keep that, but I worked for it.
- I passed the 2 others and it was home stretch from there. I put in what I could, but I didn't have much left. I saw the clock was sub-1:30:00, so I was happy.
- After -race
- Did stretches (forgot a couple, which came back for me later) and cleaned up transition area.
- There were issues with the awards and with the results...but that doesn't bother me too much. It bothered some other people. There were a couple of women digging through the name plates as though they had a right to be going through the race director's stuff. I told them to get out of the stuff and just wait. She started to go back and forth with me, and I just kept telling her to wait and leave it alone. The lady said I was very rude. I could have been much more rude by reminding her that she was neither the race director nor an anthlete and had no place being back there and she was merely being a rat digging through other people's things. I decided not to, and told her to just wait once again. She gave me a foul look. Didn't ruin my day at all.
- My wife and I helped out with the kid's race. She stood at the turn-around point for the run, which was .15 miles out. I went to the turn-around point for the bike, which was 1 mile out. In retrospect, I should have ridden my bike to do this, since I ended up doing a 2 mile run after the race for it.
- We encouraged some of the people starting their 1/2 iron/Olympic run. Reminded them that they get to go for a run on the beach.
- Went to house, took at cold water bath and cleaned up.
Now to get ready for Seafair. :D
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