Walking through the transition area and then standing on the
beach before the start of the race, you get a pretty good idea of how the other
racers are feeling. This was a pretty
big race in terms of participants – close to 900 people signed up for this
one. And in general, everyone looks
happy pre-race. There’s a lot of
talking, laughing, people waving down friends they didn’t know would be
there. Then there’s me… I’m the one not
talking, not smiling, not really looking at anyone. I have my wife and kids with me, but they
know I’m freaking out on the inside.
It’s because of the swim, it’s in my head! I don’t know why. I’ve never had a near-death swimming
experience or anything like that, but I could…right? This lasts, in total, about 20 minutes. My wave is getting close, so I zip up my
wetsuit and go warm up in the lake by swimming for about 5 minutes. That helped.
Getting in and getting wet sort of flips a switch. I know I’m not fast in the water, but I’m not
worried about not coming out of it anymore.
I line up in my wave; I’m ready to go.
Wow do I love a wetsuit!
I might lose time in transition taking it off, but as soon as I got in
the water I could feel the extra float it gives me. This really helped me mentally. I got in, got into a rhythm and just started
going. Despite the high number of
participants, the time-trial start and multiple waves really does help with
congestion in the water. I was able to
get a good line and never had to fight with people for space. Really the only complaint I had was that I
could taste a little gas/oil in the water from the motors on the rescue boats
nearby. As soon as I could touch bottom,
I put my feet down and started taking off my wetsuit as I ran to
transition. Swim distance 0.5 K; time 9:03; 1:35/100 yards avg. pace; 135th
fastest swim split.
I had a little trouble finding my bike, and even more
trouble getting off my wetsuit and putting on socks. Once I was on my bike though, I was feeling
good. Completing the swim always gets me
pumped up and it showed right away on the bike.
My legs felt really good and I decided early on to just go as hard as I
could. Since the bike portion was only
25 K (15.5 miles), I thought I could go hard the whole way and so that’s
exactly what I did. I focused on each
person in front of me, concentrating on catching and passing each person one by
one. I took a few risks with passing
that may not have been wise (squeezing in between cars if needed), but I really
didn’t want to let up. Looking at my
bike computer I was seeing speeds I’ve never done before – no way was I letting
up if I didn’t have to. Coming into
transition, I felt confident with only the run to go. Bike distance
40K; time 38:17; 24.4 mph avg. speed; 11th fastest bike split.
I didn’t wear my GPS for the run. This was the first time that I haven’t worn
it during a race. I didn’t want to waste time putting it on, especially since
it takes a moment to acquire the satellites anyway. I felt strong to start. Actually I felt strong until the halfway
point of the race and then I started to feel myself slowing down. I kept looking at my wrist to check my pace
and distance even though I knew my GPS wasn’t there. I guess I just wanted the security of knowing
I was getting closer to the finish line.
Finally I could see the last turn and I knew I was only a couple minutes
from the end. That knowledge goes a long
way. I turned the corner and didn’t hold
anything back. Run distance 5 K; time 18:08; 5:50/mile avg. pace; 10th
fastest run split.
Total time was 1:08:47 which put me 14th overall,
13th male and 1st in my age group of 35 – 39. Full race results can be found at the
following link.
Overall I was really excited. Outperformed my goal and what I thought I was
able to do. My wife always comes to my
races and brings the kids. It’s so fun
seeing them cheering for me out on the course.
Someday I hope they do one of these races with me, it would be a lot of
fun.
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