10pm (night before) I leave a good friends wedding where I have been a very good boy all night; only 2 beers (I probably shouldn't have had any... but it's a wedding!)
11pm finished packing the car, printing directions, setting up my breakfast and filling my water bottles.
11:15pm sleeping!
3am: Alarm goes off (Planned Snooze)
3:15am: Alarm goes off again. This time I'm up. Even though it's only 4 ish hours of sleep, I've been getting some pretty good shut-eye this past week. It's still Brutally early but I wanted to eat my standard pre-race oatmeal and start hydrating. I felt fine.
4am: I'm in the car and heading out to the race. I'm usually early to most everything... I can't stand being late. I left a little earlier for the race because the race confirmation directions said it's a little over 2 hours to the race (odd but I went with it)
5:14am: The race email lied! It only took me an hour and fifteen. Whatever... I have plenty of time to get ready (and I'm not the only one there)
5:40am: (ish) I head over to the transition area and pick up my packet.
5:50am: There is a welling of emotion in the transition area and all Hell is about to break loose. The race organizers, who said it was going to be "first come first serve" made a game time decision to section the transition by age (fine) and then again by printing your reg number on a sticker and putting them on the racks. So you had to rack in transition where your sticker was located.
Now for me... this wasn't so bad, I was there early enough to avoid a lot of the ciaos but I saw A Lot of people freaking out. One woman that stands out to me (on many levels) was in the mid 40's group, 6 foot 2 and reminiscent of a 1960's East German Olympian. I swear she almost grabbed the race organizer by the nuts and marched him around until her spot was located. Overall most people weren't happy with how this was done but most got over it pretty quickly.
6:45 - 7:30am: I'm all set up and I see
Loren and Chris (another zTeam guy... who BTW
won the 35-39 age group). Loren and Chris register and then get into the fray of trying to find their rack space. It didn't happen. And they both just grabbed a spot near me... which worked out pretty well for both of them; they were on the ends. Other than that there was some stretching and BSing until we needed to head to the water. The only other notable is reference to the balloon that I duct tape on my rack each race. Let's just say it's phallic (not intentional... they were the only balloons at walgreens). Lots of people besides me where using the balloon as a marker. Loren said if I keep it up I'll be known as the dick balloon guy... "Oh look the dick balloon guy is racing again". LOL. I don't really care much... I haven't been lost in transition yet.
7:35am: At the water warming up and getting ready for our division to start.
7:50am: We're OFF! As usual Loren and I are in the back walking along until we have to swim also trying to avoid the frenzy of kicks to the face. So... now we're swimming along. Loren and I are about the same speed in the water so we're next to each other for most of the race.
As with most races, funny things pop into your head while your trucking along. One thing that struck me as funny was that because Loren and I were on different breathing interval it always looked as though he never took a breath, which for some reason struck my as funny. Anyway beyond the random thoughts... I kept at a good pace and just kept thinking to myself to stay as aerodynamic as possible and keep feeling the water on the pull.
At one point around buoy 2 I saw Loren slowing and on one of my breaths I choose to yell "Lets go Loren!". I think it totally shocked him.
Other than that... about 1/2 way through I was thinking "Man... this swim feels Long!) and then quickly got rid of that thought and just swam buoy to buoy trying to keep my mind quiet.
The swim felt long... but I felt pretty good overall.
8:14 and change am: I exit the water and head to my bike. T1 Sucked for me, 2 min 24 sec. DAM IT!!!! I just couldn't get coordinated.
8:16 +: I head out on the bike and feel Really good. I kick it into gear and begin my work. There's nothing to special to report on the bike... I liked the ride and I felt Really Strong; better than I have in previous races.
Only somewhat funny thing that happened is that my right shoe began to squeak and it was annoying me. As I was passing a few people on the steep hill I yelled at the shoe "Dam It... Stop Squeaking"! There was a laugh or two and in other areas riding with the same people I wouldn't have to say anything when I wanted to pass... My shoe did the talking for me.
9:03 ish: Into T2. This is always a good transition for me, I was in and out in 50 seconds.
9:04 ish: I head into the run at a good pace and feel pretty good. It was getting hotter out now and you could definitely feel it. I knew the first 1/2 of the run would be tougher because it was mostly uphill, but that means the 2nd 1/2 would be fast.
Because I Still don't have my HRM (it's on the way) I've been using a trick of counting strides based on a previous count on the treadmill. It worked really well for me in
Sacramento. Anyway... so I'm doing this and somehow based on my count I completely F'd up my breathing! By mile two I'm totally cramped up and doubled over in pain! I try to go slow and recover. I'm doubled over again!! And then this girl asks me if I'm ok... I say yes and then try to pace off of her until I get back on track. I stop trying to count, I don't think about anything except my breathing and getting rid of the cramps.
I finally get going again but between being stopped and doubled over in pain and the pacing slower to recover... I lost about 5 Minutes!
Basically the Run sucked for me. I ended up running 8 min miles but I know I could have done better. And the 2nd 1/2 of the run Never felt like I was running downhill (that was pretty much the sentiment from most people I talked to).
9:44 am ish: I cross the finish line totally wiped! I head straight for shade, food and water!
Final: 1:55:21 :: 35 in my age group 172 OA
I'm Not Happy with the result. I F'd up in T1 (lost a 1 minute) and lost 5 min on the run due to cramping. Sure we all have bad races and I have to chalk it up to that. Mostly this is just motivation for me to do better next time.
I really enjoyed the venue... very pretty! And as usual pretty much everyone was there having a good time and being friendly. I also got to meet a couple other
zTeam Tri members... Now if we could only get together for a Saturday ride sometime.
Next race...
Windman Triathlon (6/22)
Yes it's kind of funky looking and it weighs about 100 grams more than traditional saddles but it's well worth the trade off. There's also the added benefit for triathletes of having a "hook" on the back of the saddle to allow for easy racking at races.
there's a comment or two from some women who love the saddle as well.
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