JimB.
09-21-2008, 04:33 PM
Happy Sunday folks!
A quick race report for the AFAC Triathlon @ WDW that I ran today. This was my first, but hopefully not my last.
We arrived yesterday morning. I dumped the family at the doorstep of the TTC at about 10 a.m. & didn't see them again until 11:30 p.m..
I met up with my friend (who badgered me into doing) this at about 1 p.m.. Went over to check in, which was pretty efficient. Parked the bikes and was out.
Due to a variety of circumstances, I have gotten only about 4 hourd of sleep on Thursday & Friday, and last night was no exception. Probably about 3 1/2 hours if I was lucky.
During my (poor) sleep, in my dreams I: 1.) Took a wrong turn on the bike course 2.) Got in EVERYBODY's way in the Mount area of the bike transition & finally 3.) caused a major wreck at one of the bike turnarounds. And ya' wonder why I was kinda' nervous when I woke up?
Up at 3:40, drove from OKW to CS to pick up Jeff, and was at FW by 4:30. Got the transition set up and then went and (in between numerous bathroom breaks & 2 Pepto-Bismol) sat down and propped a tree up for a while.
Due to an early morning bout of fog, the start was delayed by about 15 minutes. I was in the 1st wave (or as I put it, the AARP Division). Water was nice and warm. For some reason (Nerves, whatever) I never felt "settled" in the water. Really could not get in a regular rhythm. Also, this being my 1st Tri, I felt like a mullet in a school of Barracuda. It was rough going at the turns. I finally made it out (under my own power, amazingly), but was about 4 minutes slower than I wanted. Some guys that were more experienced said they took longer than they expected too, so maybe the course was a bit long (???). And visibility was TERRIBLE. MAYBE 2' at best. I discovered that this is the "cop a feel" portion of the race. People lay hands on you & vice versa, and no one really cares.
Out of the water i& into the bike transition. I actually felt pretty good, considering. Onto the bike and out onto the road. This was the most enjoyable part of the day for me. I did much better on this part than I did overall. I actually PASSED a lot of people. I had to keep telling myself to keep something in reserve for the run, but I actually did this portion about 5 minutes faster than I had hoped. My two strategic decisions of this part were to really hit downhills hard and to use whatever gear I needed to to keep my cadence pretty high on the uphills. It seems to have had a positive effect.
Off the bike and into the run. About 5 minutes before coming off of the bike, the clouds parted and it got hot. Fast. The one thing I did NOT like was that about 1/4 of the run course was on grass. Wet, humid grass. This part of the course can, IMHO, be done better, There are tons of roads in FW. Lets' use 'em. Long story short, run sucked. Drank lots, used lots of endurolytes, and I was still fighting cramps the whole second lap. I was able to keep moving (slowly), but it was not pleasant. As I turned to the finish line, my legs just seized up like crazy. I managed to make it across without looking too pathetic, but geez, couldn't they have waited 1 frakin' minute!!!!???
My goals today were pretty much fourfold:
1. Don't drown (check)
2. Finish (check)
3. Have fun (check) ( well, mostly)
4. Meet my double-secret time goal. I had, since this was my first Tri, and because my training has been pretty much "hodge podge", had set the goal of finishing (exclusive of transitions) in 3:30 or less. I was able to finish (exclusive of transitions) in 3:23:51 (3:33:17 overall), so I was pretty happy, but REALLY beat (check)
What did i learn today?
1. Tri athletes are very, Very VERY fit people. I have to do a lot more work if I ever hope to get to even "middle of the pack" status. I can place well in runs, but not here, not today.
2. I have got to figure out, somehow, to get this cramping issue under control. It ALWAYS crops up on long distance events for me, & frankly I grow weary of it. My DW, who is a Doctor, thinks it's because I do not ventilate effectively. ("You are not getting enough oxygen!") Maybe work on deep breathing better on long runs.
3. Tri's are fun! In a perverse, pseudo-sadomasochistic kind of way. Out on the course there is a lot of back & forth encouragement going on. I ran about a mile with a South American gentleman who absolutely refused to let me slow down or walk. I finally HAD to, but it was kinda' cool.
So. That was my day (so far). How was yours?
PS - hope this was not too long winded.
A quick race report for the AFAC Triathlon @ WDW that I ran today. This was my first, but hopefully not my last.
We arrived yesterday morning. I dumped the family at the doorstep of the TTC at about 10 a.m. & didn't see them again until 11:30 p.m..
I met up with my friend (who badgered me into doing) this at about 1 p.m.. Went over to check in, which was pretty efficient. Parked the bikes and was out.
Due to a variety of circumstances, I have gotten only about 4 hourd of sleep on Thursday & Friday, and last night was no exception. Probably about 3 1/2 hours if I was lucky.
During my (poor) sleep, in my dreams I: 1.) Took a wrong turn on the bike course 2.) Got in EVERYBODY's way in the Mount area of the bike transition & finally 3.) caused a major wreck at one of the bike turnarounds. And ya' wonder why I was kinda' nervous when I woke up?
Up at 3:40, drove from OKW to CS to pick up Jeff, and was at FW by 4:30. Got the transition set up and then went and (in between numerous bathroom breaks & 2 Pepto-Bismol) sat down and propped a tree up for a while.
Due to an early morning bout of fog, the start was delayed by about 15 minutes. I was in the 1st wave (or as I put it, the AARP Division). Water was nice and warm. For some reason (Nerves, whatever) I never felt "settled" in the water. Really could not get in a regular rhythm. Also, this being my 1st Tri, I felt like a mullet in a school of Barracuda. It was rough going at the turns. I finally made it out (under my own power, amazingly), but was about 4 minutes slower than I wanted. Some guys that were more experienced said they took longer than they expected too, so maybe the course was a bit long (???). And visibility was TERRIBLE. MAYBE 2' at best. I discovered that this is the "cop a feel" portion of the race. People lay hands on you & vice versa, and no one really cares.
Out of the water i& into the bike transition. I actually felt pretty good, considering. Onto the bike and out onto the road. This was the most enjoyable part of the day for me. I did much better on this part than I did overall. I actually PASSED a lot of people. I had to keep telling myself to keep something in reserve for the run, but I actually did this portion about 5 minutes faster than I had hoped. My two strategic decisions of this part were to really hit downhills hard and to use whatever gear I needed to to keep my cadence pretty high on the uphills. It seems to have had a positive effect.
Off the bike and into the run. About 5 minutes before coming off of the bike, the clouds parted and it got hot. Fast. The one thing I did NOT like was that about 1/4 of the run course was on grass. Wet, humid grass. This part of the course can, IMHO, be done better, There are tons of roads in FW. Lets' use 'em. Long story short, run sucked. Drank lots, used lots of endurolytes, and I was still fighting cramps the whole second lap. I was able to keep moving (slowly), but it was not pleasant. As I turned to the finish line, my legs just seized up like crazy. I managed to make it across without looking too pathetic, but geez, couldn't they have waited 1 frakin' minute!!!!???
My goals today were pretty much fourfold:
1. Don't drown (check)
2. Finish (check)
3. Have fun (check) ( well, mostly)
4. Meet my double-secret time goal. I had, since this was my first Tri, and because my training has been pretty much "hodge podge", had set the goal of finishing (exclusive of transitions) in 3:30 or less. I was able to finish (exclusive of transitions) in 3:23:51 (3:33:17 overall), so I was pretty happy, but REALLY beat (check)
What did i learn today?
1. Tri athletes are very, Very VERY fit people. I have to do a lot more work if I ever hope to get to even "middle of the pack" status. I can place well in runs, but not here, not today.
2. I have got to figure out, somehow, to get this cramping issue under control. It ALWAYS crops up on long distance events for me, & frankly I grow weary of it. My DW, who is a Doctor, thinks it's because I do not ventilate effectively. ("You are not getting enough oxygen!") Maybe work on deep breathing better on long runs.
3. Tri's are fun! In a perverse, pseudo-sadomasochistic kind of way. Out on the course there is a lot of back & forth encouragement going on. I ran about a mile with a South American gentleman who absolutely refused to let me slow down or walk. I finally HAD to, but it was kinda' cool.
So. That was my day (so far). How was yours?
PS - hope this was not too long winded.