I was up on time, gathered all my stuff and finished packing
up the car. Then I headed downtown to pick up Amy. I loaded up her bike and we
were off to the venue. We got there in plenty of time and had a relaxing set
up. I talked to a few people that I knew and a few that I didn’t. The Olympic
distance swim was the last to go after the sprinters so we had a bit of a wait.
My friend Amy was also doing the Olympic distance and we agreed in the car,
that she would beat me in the swim, I would pass her on the bike and she would
pass me on the run.
Swim
The water was reported to be about 76 degrees and as I
donned my wetsuit and headed into the water, it felt about that warm. So I knew
I was going to have the same feeling of being too warm that I had at Trinona. I
did a brief swim just to get used to it and then waited for the start. While
waiting I ran into Elaine Nelson. She was in one of my early tri-swim classes
at the Y. That was before I knew she was one of the top female triathletes in
the state. She asked why I haven’t been swimming with the group on Fridays.
Hopefully I will get back with the group this fall. She is faster than me in
the pool, but not by much so it will be good to keep pushing me.
Then it was time to start. My first wave start race. There was
only about 20 guys in my wave and we had a nice wide area so basically we were
1 deep. At the start, I just kinda let people go a bit so I could sort out how
I was going to get through. Soon I settled into a rhythm and we were off.
I took a quick look at my watch as I made the turn for home
about 1000 yards in, and saw 14 minutes so I figured I was doing pretty well. I
was hot in my wetsuit again. Mostly my arms were hot. I might need to invest in
a sleeveless wetsuit for these warmer but wetsuit legal races.
The swim was pretty spread out pretty quickly so I didn't
have any issues with people. When I stood up in the water at the end of the
swim my watch read 24 and change. It took a bit to get out of the water and
then there is a HUGE hill you have to climb to get up to transition. So I took
that pretty slow.
Overall super happy with my swim. Right where I wanted to
be. As a side note, my friend Amy had the fastest overall swim time, and she
started in the wave in front of me. She also leaves for Korea to swim in the FINA Masters World Championships in a few days.
27:18, 27/70 overall, 19/43 men, 4/7 age group
T1
There was a big hill to climb up before hitting the timing
mats to I took that slow and then jogged through transition. My wetsuit came
off pretty easily this time! I put on my shoes and socks grabbed my helmet and
I was off. My wife yelled “go catch Amy!”
3:00 57/70 overall, 33/43 men, 6/7 age group
Bike
The weather for biking was darn near perfect. Temps were in
the upper 70’s but basically no wind, so this was going to be a fast day. I
didn’t have a power meter on my bike today so I was going by HR only and
wanting to keep that in the 160’s as that should be a hard effort.
The bike went about as good as I could hope. The biggest
problem I had was that I just couldn't catch my breath. It started on the swim.
I just felt a bit constricted in my breathing during the swim. Not panicking,
just not quite right. Then on the bike I was breathing really hard, and really
shallow the whole time. I tried going a bit slower at the start but it just
didn't do anything at all. I tried taking in deeper breaths but that wasn't
working either so I just went with it.
I passed a bunch of people on the bike, and according to
Strava I set PR's in all the segments on the course :-) But I didn't think I was doing that well
because I was breathing so hard to do it. I kept a pretty steady RPE, and my HR
which started in the upper 160's pretty much stayed there the whole time.
I passed Amy at mile 8 and took a big lead against her into
the run.
I tried eating a cliff bar on the bike and nearly choked. It
turns out I can't eat solid food when I am breathing that fast.
By the end of the bike my butt/legs were hurting from the
seat. I haven't ridden with my tri-suit on since my fitting and it is mighty
painful. The KNEE was GREAT! No issues all with the knee but 1 hour on the bike
was it for my ass.
I am SUPER happy with the result. 15th fastest guy on the
bike today (out of 43), but only 4/7 in my age group. I HATE my age group.
These guys are just too good.
1:09:36, 16/70 overall, 15/43 men, 4/7 age group
T2
My butt hurt so bad from the bike, and I was still breathing
hard so I ended up walking my bike through transition just to try and calm my
breathing down some. I racked my bike, swapped my shoes, grabbed my race belt
and then took a swig of water from a bottle I had in transition. YUCK! It was
SUPER warm water from sitting in the sun all day. LOL, lesson learned.
2:40 67/70 overall, 40/43 men, 7/7 age group
Run
So I have a great swim, and a great bike and then I get to
the run.
I start out the run and my breathing is still a big
struggle, so after about a minute or so of running I started walking. My HR
wasn't bad at all, just in the 160's but it was my breathing. After about a
minute of walking I finally got my breathing under control.
Whew!
So then I started to run again, and I basically just timed
my walks around my breathing pattern. When my breathing got to the point where
I couldn't hold a conversation then I would walk for a bit.
The run segments were incredible slow, and it was HOT!!! It
was over 80F on the run course. There was some shade, which helped. Water over
my head, down my back and drinking some too at each aid station. Everyone that
passed me (and that was A LOT of people) were great and encouraging. At one
point at the very end I got passed by a woman and as she passed me she said
“good job sir, you are almost done!” She called me “sir” on the race course?
I saw Amy after I had already made the turnaround, and she
passed me with about a mile to go. She was struggling with the heat too.
Overall she ended up beating me by just 23 seconds.
I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face and a PA
announcer who knew me and is a part time comedian. My family was there to cheer
me on too so it was a good day.
1:14:14, 67/70 overall, 40/43 men, 7/7 age group
Overall Results
2:56:46, 48/70 overall, 35/43 men, 6/7 age group
Final Thoughts
I am SO disappointed with my running. It makes the whole
thing so frustrating. Makes me wonder why I do all this training only to just
totally suck at running come race day.
My age group is so ridiculously competitive. All I want is
to be the middle of the pack and I would have to shave off 25 minutes from this
time to finish 4th in my age group. That means a crazy fast run for
me, and it might just never be in the cards.
Overall I didn't meet my time goal but came close. I did
come close to my stretch goals in the swim and bike and would have crushed my overall
time goal if my run had been a bit better.
I always remember where I came from 2 years ago, and I am
proud of my accomplishments.
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