The training hasn't really picked up again, but we're still plugging along getting sessions in when we can. The whole sticking-to-a-schedule thing isn't working out all that well. Part of it is just getting back into the routine; part of it is just finding the time. This past Memorial Day weekend saw a couple of good workouts though. Steph and I joined Teen for a ride down to Mt Vernon on Saturday morning; it was a gorgeous day and we hoped to be out there before the trail got too crowded. It wasn't that bad, but still a lot of folks out riding. In the end we did about 40 miles, which is probably the longest ride I've done this year.
Sunday we were up in Baltimore for an O's game and a 10K in the morning. After success at our last 5K I wanted to see how I was holding up and how my standalone time would compare to what I endured at St A's (I'd never run a timed 10K before). I wanted to at least go under 1:00 (St A's goal time), and would have been happy with a 9:00/mile average, which is about where I thought I should be for this distance. The course covered a lot of the same ground as the St Patrick's 5K we did: nice long downhill on the first mile, then flat to rolling on the main out-and-back leg. The big difference this time was that we had to run back up the hill in the last 1/2 mile or so. I started out way too fast (again) with an 8:00 on the first mile. I slowed back down to just over 9:00 on the next two, but mile 4 at the turnaround was rough. We went out and back across an overpass just before the gates to Fort McHenry and the sun was starting to get to me; it was turning out to be a hot day with not much shade at all on this part. Mile 5 was mostly flat/downhill and I managed sub-9:00 there, but then we climbed one gradual hill back to the Harbor Pavilion and then another steeper one back up to the finish line. Mile 6 was around 10:30, and I was feeling every step. There was a slight downhill to start the last 0.2 which gave me the energy to pick up the pace to the finish. Total time: 56:42, 9:09 average. It's almost 10 minutes faster than my St A's time, so I'll take that.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Moving Along
It's been two weeks since the race, and it's three weeks until the next one. Kind of hard to get back into training mode when you don't have a plan in front of you. Guess that means I'll need to get a new plan! Liz has drawn one up for the NJ tri, so we're following that but not very well. There's no sense of urgency to the training schedule like there was for TNT. Still, I'm out running and in the pool twice a week; I've only really been out on the bike once for any serious ride. I hope to change that this week. Following a reduced training regimen for the sprints will be nice, but I'll have to pick it back up in July for another Olympic at the end of August. I may add a sprint in Charlottesville a the end of June depending on how I feel.
In the mean time it looks like my running is coming along, but I still feel that I have a lot of work to do in order to put up decent times at the end of a race. St. Anthony's was a painful lesson in conserving some energy for the run. A bunch of us ran a local 5K in Reston on Saturday (which Joe promptly won outright with a 90 second cushion or something ridiculous). My previous 5K best was about 26:30 at the St. Patrick's race in Baltimore on a course with a nice, long downhill for almost the entire first mile and no real hills. I have been feeling stronger on the run and felt I could break 26:00. It was a little humid at the start, but not terribly hot. The course was an out and back on the same trail we rode and ran on during training with some small rolling hills. I went out at a 7:30 pace (yikes!) and slowed down to 8:00 on the second mile and finished with about a 8:10 pace. So, yeah, I went out a little too fast and petered out at the end, but it was still good for a 24:30 finish time. 2:00 off of my PR! That felt good, and I wonder if I can get that to translate to a 27:00 or so sprint finish? Who knows. I'm just glad that I can hold that pace for a standalone 5k for now. We're running a 10K in Baltimore over Memorial Day so we'll see what happens then. After that all that is one the schedule are 2 (possibly 3) sprint tris before the end of July.
In the mean time it looks like my running is coming along, but I still feel that I have a lot of work to do in order to put up decent times at the end of a race. St. Anthony's was a painful lesson in conserving some energy for the run. A bunch of us ran a local 5K in Reston on Saturday (which Joe promptly won outright with a 90 second cushion or something ridiculous). My previous 5K best was about 26:30 at the St. Patrick's race in Baltimore on a course with a nice, long downhill for almost the entire first mile and no real hills. I have been feeling stronger on the run and felt I could break 26:00. It was a little humid at the start, but not terribly hot. The course was an out and back on the same trail we rode and ran on during training with some small rolling hills. I went out at a 7:30 pace (yikes!) and slowed down to 8:00 on the second mile and finished with about a 8:10 pace. So, yeah, I went out a little too fast and petered out at the end, but it was still good for a 24:30 finish time. 2:00 off of my PR! That felt good, and I wonder if I can get that to translate to a 27:00 or so sprint finish? Who knows. I'm just glad that I can hold that pace for a standalone 5k for now. We're running a 10K in Baltimore over Memorial Day so we'll see what happens then. After that all that is one the schedule are 2 (possibly 3) sprint tris before the end of July.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Finished!
I only found out my exact time the next day: 2:49:08!! If you're just reading this post the gory details are in the previous 4 or 5, but here's the general breakdown:
Swim - 00:25:17 (1:42/100 meters pace)
T1 - 00:02:57
Bike - 01:15:25 (19.8 MPH pace)
T2 - 00:03:04
Run - 01:02:06 (10:03/mile pace)
Total - 02:49:08
So overall I either hit or was really close to my goals. My swim time shocked me! I found out later that I was only 1:18 away from 10th place in the men's TNT group which would have meant an award. That's almost unfathomable to me; I am not a fast person. And the difference? The 10th place guy (also a D.C. TNT participant) had a combined transition time 1:18 faster than mine. If I had known that could I have gone faster? Maybe a couple seconds in transition, but I really didn't leave much out on the course. I don't think I could have pushed much harder on the run without getting in some real trouble. To put things in perspective here is how I fared overall in my age group (with TNT and novice men 30-34 included) and how I did in the TNT group (which includes TNT men of all ages):
The party at the infamous Cha Cha Coconuts was a lot of fun (just check out the pictures). I have no idea how we could possibly have danced for two hours after that, but we did. Sunday we packed up and headed home, more than a little sore but not as bad as I would have thought. It was an incredible weekend and I can't wait to do more. We will definitely be back next year, TNT or not. We're going to rest up for a bit with only a 5K on the immediate horizon, but here's what's on the calendar for the rest of the summer:
Black Bear sprint
New Jersey State sprint
North East Olympic
Dewey Beach sprint
I don't think we'll squeeze any more in there ;)
Swim - 00:25:17 (1:42/100 meters pace)
T1 - 00:02:57
Bike - 01:15:25 (19.8 MPH pace)
T2 - 00:03:04
Run - 01:02:06 (10:03/mile pace)
Total - 02:49:08
So overall I either hit or was really close to my goals. My swim time shocked me! I found out later that I was only 1:18 away from 10th place in the men's TNT group which would have meant an award. That's almost unfathomable to me; I am not a fast person. And the difference? The 10th place guy (also a D.C. TNT participant) had a combined transition time 1:18 faster than mine. If I had known that could I have gone faster? Maybe a couple seconds in transition, but I really didn't leave much out on the course. I don't think I could have pushed much harder on the run without getting in some real trouble. To put things in perspective here is how I fared overall in my age group (with TNT and novice men 30-34 included) and how I did in the TNT group (which includes TNT men of all ages):
- Overall
- TNT: 16/126
- AG 30-34: 143/252
- Swim
- TNT: 2/126 (!!!)
- AG 30-34: 45/252
- Bike
- TNT: 14/126
- AG 30-34: 128/252
- Run
- TNT: 48/126
- AG 30-34: 185/252
- T1 + T2
- TNT: 37/126
- AG 30-34: 184/252
The party at the infamous Cha Cha Coconuts was a lot of fun (just check out the pictures). I have no idea how we could possibly have danced for two hours after that, but we did. Sunday we packed up and headed home, more than a little sore but not as bad as I would have thought. It was an incredible weekend and I can't wait to do more. We will definitely be back next year, TNT or not. We're going to rest up for a bit with only a 5K on the immediate horizon, but here's what's on the calendar for the rest of the summer:
Black Bear sprint
New Jersey State sprint
North East Olympic
Dewey Beach sprint
I don't think we'll squeeze any more in there ;)
Run
I remember looking at my watch crossing the timing mat out of transition and seeing 1:47-something. My goal for the run had been sub 60:00, a little under 10:00/mile pace, doable as a standalone effort in training in nice cool weather. I would be happy with that time and it would have put me well under 2:50:00 for the whole event. My overall goal was sub 3:00:00 so at this point I relaxed a bit knowing I had that in the bag unless I totally blew up on the run.
The first mile or so out was almost without shade. It was about 11:00 AM at this point and HOT! Heat index was probably 85-90. My stomach immediately started feeling a little queasy (I brought along a gel in my jersey, but decided against taking it). I probably took in to much on the bike and was paying for it, but figured that too much nutrition was better than too little. In truth I was probably already a little dehydrated which isn't good. My legs felt dead. There were water stops every mile and I walked for 10 seconds at the first one to grab some water and force it down. Luckily my stomach didn't reject it like I was worrying. Steph re-passed me at this point; it was good to see a friendly face. I forced myself to stay on her pace for about 2 minutes just to get my cadence up until she pulled away around a corner. At this point my legs had loosened up a bit and my brain started telling me that it could pick it up. That lasted about a 1/2 mile. Slowing down the mile 2 water stop to grab some water I had to force myself to run again. I didn't know what my pace was since I forgot to take my split again, but the first mile I had gone out too fast (probably around 9:00) and needed to slow down. It seemed like forever until the turnaround came at 3.1 miles. There were lots of turns in the residential neighborhood and I kept thinking it would be around the next bend. That's a bad mental game to play so I started concentrating on other runners and the surroundings. There were lots of families out spraying down runners with hoses which felt great. I started seeing lots of folks from earlier waves coming back and saw Teen (but somehow missed Steph after she hit the turnaround).
It was pretty much all TNT on the course at this point so there was lots of "Go Team!" as people passed you. I was hoping the turnaround would be a big boost. Half way home! It wasn't. I was really hot and started to feel a bit faint even. At the mile 4 station I grabbed a water for my head and got some down but still felt light-headed. I wanted to run the whole thing minus the aid stations, but at this point I was really hurting. I stopped to walk and looked up to see Liz coming my way. I walked until I could slap her hand which gave me a boost to get running again. Still feeling queasy I took off my hat to run my hand through my hair. It felt really good! I had put it on to keep the sun out of my face and hopefully keep cool but think it was overheating me. Into the hand it went and I felt a little better instantly. Not good, just not on the verge of passing out. It was at this point that little goals became really important: count strides to that light post, keep your eye on the fire hydrant at the next turn, go strong up and over the bridge, the Mile 5 station is just around the corner! One more cup of water at mile 5 and another over my head. Around that turn there was no more shade, just a straight mile shot to the finish line.
I was in lots of pain a this point, physically exhausted and mentally worn down. I forced my cadence back up and just concentrated on my form and seeing the finish line. Got some words of encouragement from coach Bryan just at Mile 6 and tried to find another gear for the finish. I didn't really start kicking it in until I was in the final turn for the finish chute. It was definitely no sprint to the finish! I didn't even see the clock at the finish line and forgot to stop my watch so I didn't even know what my time was, but didn't care a bit at that point! Got my finisher's medal and an ice cold towel around my neck (which felt better than I could possibly imagine). Teen was right there at the finish line screaming,
"Congratulations, triathlete!". I think she may have tried to hand me a beer, but I don't remember. I felt really light-headed and dizzy. That ended up lasting for about 20 minutes until I was able to get some water and food in me. I knew enough to keep walking around and not sit down yet, but I crouched down by a tree near the finish and almost didn't make it back up! I spotted some more TNTers, signed in so they knew I was alive, and generally walked around in the shade waiting for Liz to finish. We had given the camera to one of the coaches but couldn't find it in the TNT tent so was a bit worried; it turned up but I was hoping to have it for finishing pictures.
Liz finished and we went back to the TNT tent to trade stories, eat and drink more water, get a quick massage, and finally grab a beer!! I started feeling really good if still a bit dazed from exhaustion. I still didn't know my exact time, but figured I was under 2:50:00 which was incredible. In the grand scheme of things that put me towards the back of the middle of the pack in my age group, but it's a time I was really proud of even in my wildest expectations. I didn't even want to think about it and just enjoy being done. Done!
The first mile or so out was almost without shade. It was about 11:00 AM at this point and HOT! Heat index was probably 85-90. My stomach immediately started feeling a little queasy (I brought along a gel in my jersey, but decided against taking it). I probably took in to much on the bike and was paying for it, but figured that too much nutrition was better than too little. In truth I was probably already a little dehydrated which isn't good. My legs felt dead. There were water stops every mile and I walked for 10 seconds at the first one to grab some water and force it down. Luckily my stomach didn't reject it like I was worrying. Steph re-passed me at this point; it was good to see a friendly face. I forced myself to stay on her pace for about 2 minutes just to get my cadence up until she pulled away around a corner. At this point my legs had loosened up a bit and my brain started telling me that it could pick it up. That lasted about a 1/2 mile. Slowing down the mile 2 water stop to grab some water I had to force myself to run again. I didn't know what my pace was since I forgot to take my split again, but the first mile I had gone out too fast (probably around 9:00) and needed to slow down. It seemed like forever until the turnaround came at 3.1 miles. There were lots of turns in the residential neighborhood and I kept thinking it would be around the next bend. That's a bad mental game to play so I started concentrating on other runners and the surroundings. There were lots of families out spraying down runners with hoses which felt great. I started seeing lots of folks from earlier waves coming back and saw Teen (but somehow missed Steph after she hit the turnaround).
It was pretty much all TNT on the course at this point so there was lots of "Go Team!" as people passed you. I was hoping the turnaround would be a big boost. Half way home! It wasn't. I was really hot and started to feel a bit faint even. At the mile 4 station I grabbed a water for my head and got some down but still felt light-headed. I wanted to run the whole thing minus the aid stations, but at this point I was really hurting. I stopped to walk and looked up to see Liz coming my way. I walked until I could slap her hand which gave me a boost to get running again. Still feeling queasy I took off my hat to run my hand through my hair. It felt really good! I had put it on to keep the sun out of my face and hopefully keep cool but think it was overheating me. Into the hand it went and I felt a little better instantly. Not good, just not on the verge of passing out. It was at this point that little goals became really important: count strides to that light post, keep your eye on the fire hydrant at the next turn, go strong up and over the bridge, the Mile 5 station is just around the corner! One more cup of water at mile 5 and another over my head. Around that turn there was no more shade, just a straight mile shot to the finish line.
I was in lots of pain a this point, physically exhausted and mentally worn down. I forced my cadence back up and just concentrated on my form and seeing the finish line. Got some words of encouragement from coach Bryan just at Mile 6 and tried to find another gear for the finish. I didn't really start kicking it in until I was in the final turn for the finish chute. It was definitely no sprint to the finish! I didn't even see the clock at the finish line and forgot to stop my watch so I didn't even know what my time was, but didn't care a bit at that point! Got my finisher's medal and an ice cold towel around my neck (which felt better than I could possibly imagine). Teen was right there at the finish line screaming,
"Congratulations, triathlete!". I think she may have tried to hand me a beer, but I don't remember. I felt really light-headed and dizzy. That ended up lasting for about 20 minutes until I was able to get some water and food in me. I knew enough to keep walking around and not sit down yet, but I crouched down by a tree near the finish and almost didn't make it back up! I spotted some more TNTers, signed in so they knew I was alive, and generally walked around in the shade waiting for Liz to finish. We had given the camera to one of the coaches but couldn't find it in the TNT tent so was a bit worried; it turned up but I was hoping to have it for finishing pictures.Liz finished and we went back to the TNT tent to trade stories, eat and drink more water, get a quick massage, and finally grab a beer!! I started feeling really good if still a bit dazed from exhaustion. I still didn't know my exact time, but figured I was under 2:50:00 which was incredible. In the grand scheme of things that put me towards the back of the middle of the pack in my age group, but it's a time I was really proud of even in my wildest expectations. I didn't even want to think about it and just enjoy being done. Done!
Bike
It took about 20-30 seconds just to get to my bike in the back of the transition area. I quickly got the suit down to my ankle and off (the BodyGlide really helped here). I had a gel bottle with one gel serving and water ready so I took that down with some water and put on my shoes. I was paranoid about getting sunburn so I sprayed some more on my exposed shoulders and lower back even though I had put Bullfrog on before. Sunglasses one, helmet on and buckled, unrack the bike and head towards the exit. Another 20-30 second jog in bike shoes (luckily it was on grass). The timing mat to start the bike was at the transition exit and I had planned on hitting the splits on my watch as I crossed every one. I must have been too excited to get out on the bike course at that point because I forgot. Oh well, I still had the cumulative time running so I could have some idea how I was doing. My goal for the bike was to average 20 MPH which would have been about 1:15:00 on the 40K bike course.
I crossed the mount line (yes, that's what it is called) just as we entered the roadway. I got over to the right side, clipped one foot in, pushed off to clip the other in and was off. The first 300 meters of the bike is over bricks and it really bumpy. I saw a couple folks ahead of me wobbling trying to clip in. I don't blame them, it was rough if you didn't get it the first time. After the first turn it was all on pavement, though. I immediately started passing people on the straights and then ran into a stretch of relatively open road. You aren't allowed to block the left lane, it's only for passing, so I kept checking behind me. You also aren't allowed to draft with 3 bike lengths so I didn't want to be in the right lane weaving in and out of a string of riders. I would hang out in the left to pass packs of riders and stay right as I could.
The bike course wound through St Petersburg with two major out and back sections and a twisting section running through a golf course. The first big out and back was very slightly uphill and I worked on keeping my cadence up and my speed around 18-19 MPH. At the turnaround we headed back downhill and I was able to push for a bit closer to 24-25 MPH except for one train track crossing. It was more of the same heading down to the golf course; I was hitting 25 on some of the straightaways with a tailwind. Overall I felt great. I had my watch set to beep every 15 minutes as a reminder to drink. I had mixed 3 gel servings into each of my two water bottles and wanted to consume at least 1 1/2 of them by the end of the bike. I probably overdid it on the nutrition as I would later find out. I saw Steph just before the golf course; Teen said she saw me coming back on one of the legs as I was heading out, but I didn't see her despite keeping my eyes open. The wind was swirling a bit on the golf course and there were speed humps everywhere. It took me 3 or 4 of them to realize that if I hugged the curb I could avoid them altogether. I was still passing groups of people. Just as we exited the golf course there was a water hand off. I grabbed one of the water bottle and drank about half of it before dropping it. One more out and back and then a turn north along the water. This is where it got a bit rough. We had a headwind the whole way home, the last 5 miles or so. My legs started burning and my speed dropped to around 17 MPH. I had to drop into some lower gears to avoid spiking my heart rate. I probably ended up pushing it a bit too hard; The bike was the best place for me to eat up chunks of time since I knew the run wasn't going to be my best leg.
I was glad to see the finish line in sight and dropped into an easier gear to get my cadence up and loosen my legs a bit. Back over the bricks where I almost bit it on a pothole I didn't see, clip out, coast to the dismount line, and off the bike. On the run back into transition I immediately knew that I was in a bit of trouble; the left thigh was aching and my back was really tight. In transition I racked my bike, got my bike shoes off, took a swig of water, stretched my legs for 20 seconds, socks and shoes on, hat on, more sunscreen sprayed on my shoulders, and back towards transition exit. I didn't know it at the time but my bike leg clocked in at 1:15:25, 19.8 MPH average. Right on pace. My transitions had been just average (6:01 combined, my "goal" was around 5:00), but this was my first tri so I wasn't too concerned about that. Better to take my time than make a dumb mistake. I was already tired and feeling the heat even before hitting the run course. The next hour was going to be tough.
I crossed the mount line (yes, that's what it is called) just as we entered the roadway. I got over to the right side, clipped one foot in, pushed off to clip the other in and was off. The first 300 meters of the bike is over bricks and it really bumpy. I saw a couple folks ahead of me wobbling trying to clip in. I don't blame them, it was rough if you didn't get it the first time. After the first turn it was all on pavement, though. I immediately started passing people on the straights and then ran into a stretch of relatively open road. You aren't allowed to block the left lane, it's only for passing, so I kept checking behind me. You also aren't allowed to draft with 3 bike lengths so I didn't want to be in the right lane weaving in and out of a string of riders. I would hang out in the left to pass packs of riders and stay right as I could.
The bike course wound through St Petersburg with two major out and back sections and a twisting section running through a golf course. The first big out and back was very slightly uphill and I worked on keeping my cadence up and my speed around 18-19 MPH. At the turnaround we headed back downhill and I was able to push for a bit closer to 24-25 MPH except for one train track crossing. It was more of the same heading down to the golf course; I was hitting 25 on some of the straightaways with a tailwind. Overall I felt great. I had my watch set to beep every 15 minutes as a reminder to drink. I had mixed 3 gel servings into each of my two water bottles and wanted to consume at least 1 1/2 of them by the end of the bike. I probably overdid it on the nutrition as I would later find out. I saw Steph just before the golf course; Teen said she saw me coming back on one of the legs as I was heading out, but I didn't see her despite keeping my eyes open. The wind was swirling a bit on the golf course and there were speed humps everywhere. It took me 3 or 4 of them to realize that if I hugged the curb I could avoid them altogether. I was still passing groups of people. Just as we exited the golf course there was a water hand off. I grabbed one of the water bottle and drank about half of it before dropping it. One more out and back and then a turn north along the water. This is where it got a bit rough. We had a headwind the whole way home, the last 5 miles or so. My legs started burning and my speed dropped to around 17 MPH. I had to drop into some lower gears to avoid spiking my heart rate. I probably ended up pushing it a bit too hard; The bike was the best place for me to eat up chunks of time since I knew the run wasn't going to be my best leg.
I was glad to see the finish line in sight and dropped into an easier gear to get my cadence up and loosen my legs a bit. Back over the bricks where I almost bit it on a pothole I didn't see, clip out, coast to the dismount line, and off the bike. On the run back into transition I immediately knew that I was in a bit of trouble; the left thigh was aching and my back was really tight. In transition I racked my bike, got my bike shoes off, took a swig of water, stretched my legs for 20 seconds, socks and shoes on, hat on, more sunscreen sprayed on my shoulders, and back towards transition exit. I didn't know it at the time but my bike leg clocked in at 1:15:25, 19.8 MPH average. Right on pace. My transitions had been just average (6:01 combined, my "goal" was around 5:00), but this was my first tri so I wasn't too concerned about that. Better to take my time than make a dumb mistake. I was already tired and feeling the heat even before hitting the run course. The next hour was going to be tough.
Swim
I was practically bouncing up and down in the starting chute trying to keep loose. We all lined up at the back until the previous wave went off and then walked up to the start line. The swim course was U-shaped and went straight out about 500 meters, took a 90 degree turn to the left for another 500 meters, then a final left turn for about 500 meters to the exit. There were big orange inflatable buoys every 100 meters; yellow buoys marked the turns. You basically wanted to hug the buoys and keep them on your left at all times.
When writing up my race plan I included some goals for each leg, just a time or pace that I thought I could hold in the best of all possible scenarios. I figured if I met those goals I would be very, very happy with my overall time. For the swim it was 27:00 for 1500 meters which was reasonable based on my best continuous swim times in Sunday practice. I would be slowed down in the open water by running into people, picking my head up to sight, and generally not swimming in an exact 1500 meter straight line, but the buoyancy of the wetsuit is supposedly good for 1-2 minutes over the course of an Olympic distance swim.
At the start I lined up in the second row on the inside hoping to be ahead of the pack for the first 100 meters or so to avoid getting kicked. Before I knew it the horn sounded and I was running into the water. Two dolphin dives in the shallows and I was swimming out! I only found a couple guys in front of me before the first buoy but was able to split between them and to the left of a 3rd guy to find some open water pretty quickly. Sighting on the first 2 buoys went well; I pushed a little left heading to the 3rd but was able to correct. Around the 4th buoy before the final turn I ran into some poor woman treading water from the wave that started 10 minutes before mine. I asked if she was OK and she said "yes, she was just catching her breath" but looked a little panicked. There was a lifeguard in a kayak not 30 feet away watching us from inside the buoys. They only pulled one person from the water this year after 30 or 40 the year before in pretty terrible conditions.
After the first turn I looked up to sight on the next buoy and get my bearings. It looked really far away, but I figured my eyes were playing tricks on me so just put my head down. Turns out I went about 20 degrees to far on the turn and had sighted on one of the buoys on the next leg! I soon felt some tapping on my feet and though it was someone drafting off of me but it was a kayaker tapping me with his paddle to let me know I was off course and inside the buoy line. Thanks, guy! After that little detour I straightened out and finally found my groove (it takes me 600 meters or so to really warm up in the pool and get my breathing steady). I had been taking breaths on one side for most of the first leg so it felt good to settle into an alternate-side rhythm and go a little straighter. At this point I started passing people from the previous waves in greater numbers (or rather running into their feet). Some people will literally swim over people in their way but that seems like too much work besides a really crappy thing to do; I just went around except for one guy who crossed my path at literally a 90 degree angle. I think he was well inside one of the buoys and had to swim back out to get on course. I basically hit him broadside while breathing to the opposite side. We stopped and he said "This sucks!" and I went on my way.
Somewhere around the last turn I passed Liz; she saw me but I didn't see her. Ran into lots more folks from the waves 2 and 3 ahead of me at this point but I didn't think much of it. The swim exit was a set of metal stairs attached to the breakwater leading up to a short run to the transition entrance. They have helpers on the stairs to grab your hand to make sure you don't fall back in. It's a short 50 yard dash under a temporary pedestrian bridge where the grass had turned into one huge mud puddle. Gross! I wanted to keep my cap but it flew out of my hand as I stripped it off. No way was I going to stop and get it! There was a water station just outside transition so I grabbed two cups: one to get the salt water out of my mouth, another to dump over my head to get it out of my hair/face. The timing mat for the swim split is right as you cross into the transition gate. I punched the split button on my watch and saw 25:17. Wow! That was way faster than I had expected and a huge confidence booster. I jogged at a quick pace towards my bike rack while getting the top half of my wetsuit down to my waist.
When writing up my race plan I included some goals for each leg, just a time or pace that I thought I could hold in the best of all possible scenarios. I figured if I met those goals I would be very, very happy with my overall time. For the swim it was 27:00 for 1500 meters which was reasonable based on my best continuous swim times in Sunday practice. I would be slowed down in the open water by running into people, picking my head up to sight, and generally not swimming in an exact 1500 meter straight line, but the buoyancy of the wetsuit is supposedly good for 1-2 minutes over the course of an Olympic distance swim.
At the start I lined up in the second row on the inside hoping to be ahead of the pack for the first 100 meters or so to avoid getting kicked. Before I knew it the horn sounded and I was running into the water. Two dolphin dives in the shallows and I was swimming out! I only found a couple guys in front of me before the first buoy but was able to split between them and to the left of a 3rd guy to find some open water pretty quickly. Sighting on the first 2 buoys went well; I pushed a little left heading to the 3rd but was able to correct. Around the 4th buoy before the final turn I ran into some poor woman treading water from the wave that started 10 minutes before mine. I asked if she was OK and she said "yes, she was just catching her breath" but looked a little panicked. There was a lifeguard in a kayak not 30 feet away watching us from inside the buoys. They only pulled one person from the water this year after 30 or 40 the year before in pretty terrible conditions.
After the first turn I looked up to sight on the next buoy and get my bearings. It looked really far away, but I figured my eyes were playing tricks on me so just put my head down. Turns out I went about 20 degrees to far on the turn and had sighted on one of the buoys on the next leg! I soon felt some tapping on my feet and though it was someone drafting off of me but it was a kayaker tapping me with his paddle to let me know I was off course and inside the buoy line. Thanks, guy! After that little detour I straightened out and finally found my groove (it takes me 600 meters or so to really warm up in the pool and get my breathing steady). I had been taking breaths on one side for most of the first leg so it felt good to settle into an alternate-side rhythm and go a little straighter. At this point I started passing people from the previous waves in greater numbers (or rather running into their feet). Some people will literally swim over people in their way but that seems like too much work besides a really crappy thing to do; I just went around except for one guy who crossed my path at literally a 90 degree angle. I think he was well inside one of the buoys and had to swim back out to get on course. I basically hit him broadside while breathing to the opposite side. We stopped and he said "This sucks!" and I went on my way.
Somewhere around the last turn I passed Liz; she saw me but I didn't see her. Ran into lots more folks from the waves 2 and 3 ahead of me at this point but I didn't think much of it. The swim exit was a set of metal stairs attached to the breakwater leading up to a short run to the transition entrance. They have helpers on the stairs to grab your hand to make sure you don't fall back in. It's a short 50 yard dash under a temporary pedestrian bridge where the grass had turned into one huge mud puddle. Gross! I wanted to keep my cap but it flew out of my hand as I stripped it off. No way was I going to stop and get it! There was a water station just outside transition so I grabbed two cups: one to get the salt water out of my mouth, another to dump over my head to get it out of my hair/face. The timing mat for the swim split is right as you cross into the transition gate. I punched the split button on my watch and saw 25:17. Wow! That was way faster than I had expected and a huge confidence booster. I jogged at a quick pace towards my bike rack while getting the top half of my wetsuit down to my waist.
Race Day!
We had the alarm set for 4:45 on Sunday (just like our Tuesday swim practices!). I woke up to use the restroom at about 4:00 and didn't really get back to sleep but managed not to toss and turn before the alarm went off. It was a good night's sleep as far as I'm concerned. I took a quick shower just to really wake myself up, ate a banana and bagel with peanut butter, grabbed the transition bag and headed downstairs. The night before we had packed our bags using a checklist I had written up with my race plan. I was confident that I had everything and knew where it was. The bike was racked and ready. Nothing more to do but get down there and set up.
We me the team in the lobby at 5:15 and walked down to transition in the dark. There was a line to get body marked at the entrance and we had to wait about 15 minutes to get in. While we were waiting some guy walks past to the line and yells, "Any 45-49 age group men might as well go home now that I'm here!!". What a tool! I should have remembered his number and seen if he could back that talk up at the finish line. Regardless, really class act. There was also this young guy who walked up with a pretty expensive bike asking where bike check in was (it had closed at 8:00 the previous day). One of the race officials came up and said, "Sorry, man, you had to be here yesterday. You can't race". That sucks for him! We reached the front of the line a they wrote our race numbers (I was #4050) on each shoulder and the front of each thigh; our age and any special waves (TNT for us) on the back of our calves. The latter was for anybody who might be chasing you to determine if they should bother passing you or not since you would be in their group.
In transition we laid out our gear in our little plots of land behind our racked bikes. I met the two TNT guys on either side of me and took only about 5:00 getting everything set up. We then mulled about as the sun came up, put on sunscreen, and goofed around to release nervous energy. I double checked my set up again and they started to announce that transition was closing at 7:00 when the first pro wave was set to go off. We went outside to use the port-o-potties and watch the pro men and women's waves enter the water across the bay. Only 17 minutes later the first pro men showed up and we watched them run right by us at the swim exit. Holy crap they were fast! We could also see them come out of transition on the bike (in and out in under a minute which is lightning fast). All of the pros and most serious age groupers just leave there bike shoes clipped in to their bikes and pedal on top of them out of transition, slipping their feet in when they get up to speed. Save 30 seconds or so which is a lot of time if you are competing.
After watching a few more come across we started the 3/4 mile walk over to the swim start beach. I was getting pretty nervous at this point and walked back to the hotel for a minute to grab an extra gel to eat just before the swim. We had plenty of time to burn; the first TNT wave wasn't going off until 9:00. I wasn't entering the water until 9:15. That was tortuous; I just wanted to get in the water and go, go, go! I rejoined the group at the beach and picked up my timing chip. I might have been a good thing since the line earlier in the morning was chaos apparently. Some more walking around by myself then I found the group. Lots of laughing and
chatting punctuated by silence and serious faces. Most of us were pretty tense. At about 8:45 I started to get into my wetsuit and applied lots of BodyGlide around my neck and upper arms (BG is basically a non-petroleum lubricant to prevent chafing; the suits can get really bad around the neck and arms if they are sleeveless. I learned this on Friday during our first swim!). I went off to the side of the starting line to swim and warm up for about 5 minutes then back to the group for a couple final photos and to pack away my shirt and flip flops. We cheered on the first 3 TNT waves as they enterd the starting chute: men 35+ at 9:00, women 35+ at 9:05 (Steph's wave), women 34 and under at 9:10 (Liz's wave). Teen went off at 8:50 in her age group. After the 9:10 wave entered the water our final wave got in the chute.
We me the team in the lobby at 5:15 and walked down to transition in the dark. There was a line to get body marked at the entrance and we had to wait about 15 minutes to get in. While we were waiting some guy walks past to the line and yells, "Any 45-49 age group men might as well go home now that I'm here!!". What a tool! I should have remembered his number and seen if he could back that talk up at the finish line. Regardless, really class act. There was also this young guy who walked up with a pretty expensive bike asking where bike check in was (it had closed at 8:00 the previous day). One of the race officials came up and said, "Sorry, man, you had to be here yesterday. You can't race". That sucks for him! We reached the front of the line a they wrote our race numbers (I was #4050) on each shoulder and the front of each thigh; our age and any special waves (TNT for us) on the back of our calves. The latter was for anybody who might be chasing you to determine if they should bother passing you or not since you would be in their group.In transition we laid out our gear in our little plots of land behind our racked bikes. I met the two TNT guys on either side of me and took only about 5:00 getting everything set up. We then mulled about as the sun came up, put on sunscreen, and goofed around to release nervous energy. I double checked my set up again and they started to announce that transition was closing at 7:00 when the first pro wave was set to go off. We went outside to use the port-o-potties and watch the pro men and women's waves enter the water across the bay. Only 17 minutes later the first pro men showed up and we watched them run right by us at the swim exit. Holy crap they were fast! We could also see them come out of transition on the bike (in and out in under a minute which is lightning fast). All of the pros and most serious age groupers just leave there bike shoes clipped in to their bikes and pedal on top of them out of transition, slipping their feet in when they get up to speed. Save 30 seconds or so which is a lot of time if you are competing.
After watching a few more come across we started the 3/4 mile walk over to the swim start beach. I was getting pretty nervous at this point and walked back to the hotel for a minute to grab an extra gel to eat just before the swim. We had plenty of time to burn; the first TNT wave wasn't going off until 9:00. I wasn't entering the water until 9:15. That was tortuous; I just wanted to get in the water and go, go, go! I rejoined the group at the beach and picked up my timing chip. I might have been a good thing since the line earlier in the morning was chaos apparently. Some more walking around by myself then I found the group. Lots of laughing and
chatting punctuated by silence and serious faces. Most of us were pretty tense. At about 8:45 I started to get into my wetsuit and applied lots of BodyGlide around my neck and upper arms (BG is basically a non-petroleum lubricant to prevent chafing; the suits can get really bad around the neck and arms if they are sleeveless. I learned this on Friday during our first swim!). I went off to the side of the starting line to swim and warm up for about 5 minutes then back to the group for a couple final photos and to pack away my shirt and flip flops. We cheered on the first 3 TNT waves as they enterd the starting chute: men 35+ at 9:00, women 35+ at 9:05 (Steph's wave), women 34 and under at 9:10 (Liz's wave). Teen went off at 8:50 in her age group. After the 9:10 wave entered the water our final wave got in the chute.
Race Weekend Day 2
On Saturday we had a relatively early wake up (7:00) to head down to the beach for another open water swim. For some reason I didn't feel like putting the wetsuit on again so I just swam in my tri shorts. I felt a lot more confident and had a good swim. The coaches had us do some running starts to simulate race entry in the water; in the race each wave starts in a corral on the beach and runs into the water at the gun. There's some combination of leaping dives you can do to get out to open water faster, but I just ended up doing a belly flop in the shallows. I decided just to run out until the water got up to my thighs and then start swimming. The New York TNT team was there as well. Their coach was like some drill sergeant yelling commands and having them do crazy drills. He seemed a little uptight.
After a brief "lunch" break at 10:30 everybody gathered on the front porch of the hotel for a final bike inspection. It was one last chance to look everything over, get some lube on the chain if necessary, and take your bike out for a final spin to check that everything was in working order (or for some people to learn how to change a tire). We'd done this before the bike drop off and I was sure my bike was is good shape. I'm really glad that the coaches urged us to take a good close look at everything, because I discovered a scrape on the sidewall of my front tire that was deep enough to produce a pin point hole that the tube was just sticking through. There's a better than average chance that I would have at least flatted on a long ride. Even worse I could have hit a pothole or something that would have turned that pin sized hole into an actual tear. We don't carry spare tires, just tubes. That would have ended my day real quick. Anyway, back down to the expo to pick up a new tire. All the bike tents really had were race tires, but I was able to find one that only set me back $32. Hey, at least I had a faster front slick for the race now and got some extra tire changing practice!
After wrangling the tire on and thoroughly checking the tube (as well as a double check of all other important components) we walked down to the transition area to rack our bikes. It opened at noon and we were one of the first people down there. Transition was huge! Being in TNT we also had some of the less desirable rack spots with the longest walks to the entrances and exits. This is really where it first hit me that we were going to race in less than 24 hours.
Not when we got our participant wrist bands the day before. Not when we did the open water practice. It was when we put the race numbers on the bikes and parked them on the racks. St. A's has assigned rack spaces so there's no fighting over spots at least. I was in among some other TNT teams that hadn't checked in yet, so my bike was looking a little lonely. We also walked over to the swim start to trace the path we would take from the swim exit to our racks. It was easy enough to find when nobody else was there and we didn't have to worry about getting our wetsuits off!Some more down time at the hotel and then we went off to the TNT pasta party a couple blocks away at the really nice hotel where some other TNT teams were staying (what's up with that?). There were "Thank You"'s from the TNT staff and a speech by a cancer survivor who was racing. Then Dave Scott, legendary Ironman triathlete and TNT national spokesman, got up for a little pep talk where he informed a group of nervous first time competitors that we would be fine even if we would all "probably finish in the bottom 10% of our age groups tomorrow". Gee, thanks. Apparently this was better than last year when the message was "even though many of you might not finish at all tomorrow". Either he really has no understanding of the audience he's addressing and is using some bizarre reverse psychology to make people believe that it would be a really cool thing if they just finished the race at all or he is an arrogant prick. Your choice. There was some polite applause and we got up to head back to the hotel where the real pep talk by our coaches took place. Back to the room around 10:00 for bed. I didn't have too much trouble falling asleep all things considered.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Race Weekend Day 1
Well, we all made it home safely, and more importantly after having crossed the finish lie! All in all it was an amazing time down in St Petersburg with the TNT crew. The weather was great if a bit hot, especially on race day. We've posted a bunch of pictures of the weekend and the after-party; the first batch is actually our last group practice in Rock Creek.
We left D.C. around 8:30 on Friday morning for the short flight down to Tampa. TNT orchestrated all of the travel plans for us which made it a lot easier to deal with pre-race jitters. Tuesday before the race we dropped our bikes off on Alexandria to be loaded onto a semi truck that was driven down to meet us. This in and of itself is a huge benefit since flying with a bike case doesn't look all that fun (or inexpensive).
After waiting around at the airport for what seemed like a log time we piled into some vans and were driven to our hotel. The lodging was definitely not the high point of our weekend. Billed as a Holiday Inn it is actually an independently operated establishment. The fact that they probably lost their Holiday Inn accreditation should tell you something. On top of that Liz and I got stuck in what is probably the smallest room in the place right next to an ice machine that made noise all night long. They eventually ran out of towels (Towels! At a beach hotel!!). I really didn't want to drink the water from the taps. Location was nice, though ;)
After settling in for a bit we walked over to the
bike drop off to get our rides off of the trucks and put the pedals back on. Back to the hotel to stash the bikes (which left almost no space to walk around in our little closet of a room) then down to registration to pick up our packets and wander the vendor expo for awhile. I think everybody picked up a few things here or there (I got an ankle strap for my race chip, Liz picked up a new bright pink Bento Box). It was amazing to see the crazy expensive bikes people were wheeling around. Triathlon is a sport that attracts more than its fair share of people with more money than sense, or at least people for whom looking good at an event is just as important as getting a good time. But, hey, who am I to argue with someone who has the money to blow on a set of $3,000 race wheels that may gain them 1-2 minutes on the bike. I would later pass a couple of these people on $5,000 rides chugging along at 17 MPH on the course.
It was pretty hot by the early afternoon so we went back to the hotel again (we were only about 4 blocks from registration and 6 from the transition area). At 5:00 we all went down to the swim start for a little open water swim practice in our wetsuits. They already had the marker buoys in place, and it was really good to try some open water sighting. We had practiced this in the pool numerous times, but it just isn't the same thing. Swimming in the ocean (I mean swimming, not just playing around in the water) was something new for me. On the first 200 meters or so I was having real trouble getting into a good rhythm breathing. Don't know if it was nerves or the wetsuit or if I just went out too fast. Probably a combination of all three. Better to have it happen no and get my nerves in check than on race morning. I eventually settled down on the siwm back in and found a good stroke with my normal breathing pattern. One other thing I discovered: I guess I tend to take in mouthfuls of water when I swim and swish them around before I exhale. This is a much different experience in the ocean than in the pool! I got used to it after a few minutes, but needed a big swig of water after we got out.
We didn't have anything "official" on the schedule for the evening, so we all went home to shower and then back out to grab some dinner for Teen's birthday. Back in bed by 10:00 or so and slept surprisingly well.
We left D.C. around 8:30 on Friday morning for the short flight down to Tampa. TNT orchestrated all of the travel plans for us which made it a lot easier to deal with pre-race jitters. Tuesday before the race we dropped our bikes off on Alexandria to be loaded onto a semi truck that was driven down to meet us. This in and of itself is a huge benefit since flying with a bike case doesn't look all that fun (or inexpensive).
After waiting around at the airport for what seemed like a log time we piled into some vans and were driven to our hotel. The lodging was definitely not the high point of our weekend. Billed as a Holiday Inn it is actually an independently operated establishment. The fact that they probably lost their Holiday Inn accreditation should tell you something. On top of that Liz and I got stuck in what is probably the smallest room in the place right next to an ice machine that made noise all night long. They eventually ran out of towels (Towels! At a beach hotel!!). I really didn't want to drink the water from the taps. Location was nice, though ;)
After settling in for a bit we walked over to the
bike drop off to get our rides off of the trucks and put the pedals back on. Back to the hotel to stash the bikes (which left almost no space to walk around in our little closet of a room) then down to registration to pick up our packets and wander the vendor expo for awhile. I think everybody picked up a few things here or there (I got an ankle strap for my race chip, Liz picked up a new bright pink Bento Box). It was amazing to see the crazy expensive bikes people were wheeling around. Triathlon is a sport that attracts more than its fair share of people with more money than sense, or at least people for whom looking good at an event is just as important as getting a good time. But, hey, who am I to argue with someone who has the money to blow on a set of $3,000 race wheels that may gain them 1-2 minutes on the bike. I would later pass a couple of these people on $5,000 rides chugging along at 17 MPH on the course.It was pretty hot by the early afternoon so we went back to the hotel again (we were only about 4 blocks from registration and 6 from the transition area). At 5:00 we all went down to the swim start for a little open water swim practice in our wetsuits. They already had the marker buoys in place, and it was really good to try some open water sighting. We had practiced this in the pool numerous times, but it just isn't the same thing. Swimming in the ocean (I mean swimming, not just playing around in the water) was something new for me. On the first 200 meters or so I was having real trouble getting into a good rhythm breathing. Don't know if it was nerves or the wetsuit or if I just went out too fast. Probably a combination of all three. Better to have it happen no and get my nerves in check than on race morning. I eventually settled down on the siwm back in and found a good stroke with my normal breathing pattern. One other thing I discovered: I guess I tend to take in mouthfuls of water when I swim and swish them around before I exhale. This is a much different experience in the ocean than in the pool! I got used to it after a few minutes, but needed a big swig of water after we got out.
We didn't have anything "official" on the schedule for the evening, so we all went home to shower and then back out to grab some dinner for Teen's birthday. Back in bed by 10:00 or so and slept surprisingly well.
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