Wade's First Sprint Triathlon
The following is an email from Wade about his first triathlon, the Emerald Pointe Sprint Triathlon on October 8th at Lake Lanier.
It was awesome!
First thing I got my race number marked all over my body with a sharpie (thighs & arms) by cute race volunteers and my age written on my calf. They should institute this in all races, because it makes you feel cool - like a serious competitor. And did I mention the cute volunteers?
The age marking is also good since it really only maters how you do in your own age group and this way you can identify the competition and decide who you NEED to pass. Then again, it can be demoralizing when you get passed by the 64 yr. old. This generally doesn't happen since you race in waves with your age group. Now don't skip ahead.
The swim was both better and worse than expected. I was anticipating a leathal combination of mobs, violence and water. Not a pleasant thought. As it turns out it was pretty tame and not many people got in my way or me in theirs. In fact for much of the swim I had clear water in front of me and I don't think many people got hit/ kicked.
So with all this calm competition, how did I manage to get kicked in the head while I was taking a breath? I don't know, but I looked up when I came to take a breath and saw my life flash before my eyes. I inhaled more water than I ever have before (within a stone throw of the end no less) - I also got an elbow in the face followed by a foot in the nose just for good measure. I thought I was going to die. I finished up in the back stroke / I'm-dying-position for the last bit.
Despite all that, I did very well in this portion and was (according to Ingrid who walked alongside me on the shore) in the #4 position until the water-inhalation incident, but I still finished #11 in the swim.
My transition from swim to bike took me 5 minutes (slow) - the whole swim only took 7:52. So you can imagine that I need to work on my transitions. A good time would be 2 to 3 minutes and would probably not involve getting stuck in my bike shirt's zipper (as I did when I tried to pull my shirt over my head).
The bike was brutal. I got my ass kicked. I watched as the 30 year olds faded into the distance and enjoyed the brief moment of calm before I was passed by mobs of first 40, then 50 then 60+ year olds, who went racing by in modified peloton style (single file and 2.9 bike lengths between, but still a mob). I did horrible in this section, dropping from 11th to 39th in my age group. My only consolation was that anyone who wanted to pass me had to brave the streams of snot that was my body's reaction to the near-death-water-lung incident. I'm certain that my body produced a record amount of the stuff - I'd venture to say, I saw more snot in that 30 minutes then in my entire previous 32 years. I finished the bike in 39th place and with a horrible sinus headache, but I was pleased to still be alive and still in the race. I had done 13 miles in 47:58 (or an average of 16.3 mi/hr).
This transition (from bike to run) only took me 51 seconds, which was very good - the 7th fastest of any of the 600+ participants in the race. As I was leaving the transition area, I heard someone yell, "Helmet! Helmet!" Helmet? I thought, But you don't need your helmet for the run! I instinctively touched my head and realized that I had failed to take my helmet off.
With all the weird and difficult bits done, finally came the run, which should have been my best part. Still somehow it was difficult because someone stole my legs and replaced them with some scrawny weak ones and filled my shoes with lead. I did alright I guess - I ran a 5k in 28:32 (9:13 min / mile) which is pretty mediocre under normal circumstances - but not these. I was only passed by a single competitor in my age group - who I had no hope of catching (#79 blazed past me at a 6:58 min/mile pace). I briefly tried to catch him and then quickly rationalized myself out of it. I passed 10 fellow age groupers during the run (17% of the field).
My legs finally started to feel normal around mile 2 - so I came into the finish against a fellow age grouper with a lot of power and sprinted to the end to the sound of some very exuberant cheering of "Go 101!" I attribute this mainly to having an easy number to shout. Give it a try against, say, "go number 647 and a half" and you'll see what I mean.
Anyway I finished in 1:30:15 (one hour & 30 minutes) which put me dead in the middle of my age group & overall - (#30 of 59 - 30 to 34 yr olds) (#269 of 600+ registered overall). I was very happy to be done and pretty happy to have done as well as I did with minimal training.
There will definitely be a next time and next time I'll do some more bike work before hand (and not inhale water).
It was awesome!
First thing I got my race number marked all over my body with a sharpie (thighs & arms) by cute race volunteers and my age written on my calf. They should institute this in all races, because it makes you feel cool - like a serious competitor. And did I mention the cute volunteers?
The age marking is also good since it really only maters how you do in your own age group and this way you can identify the competition and decide who you NEED to pass. Then again, it can be demoralizing when you get passed by the 64 yr. old. This generally doesn't happen since you race in waves with your age group. Now don't skip ahead.
The swim was both better and worse than expected. I was anticipating a leathal combination of mobs, violence and water. Not a pleasant thought. As it turns out it was pretty tame and not many people got in my way or me in theirs. In fact for much of the swim I had clear water in front of me and I don't think many people got hit/ kicked.
So with all this calm competition, how did I manage to get kicked in the head while I was taking a breath? I don't know, but I looked up when I came to take a breath and saw my life flash before my eyes. I inhaled more water than I ever have before (within a stone throw of the end no less) - I also got an elbow in the face followed by a foot in the nose just for good measure. I thought I was going to die. I finished up in the back stroke / I'm-dying-position for the last bit.
Despite all that, I did very well in this portion and was (according to Ingrid who walked alongside me on the shore) in the #4 position until the water-inhalation incident, but I still finished #11 in the swim.
My transition from swim to bike took me 5 minutes (slow) - the whole swim only took 7:52. So you can imagine that I need to work on my transitions. A good time would be 2 to 3 minutes and would probably not involve getting stuck in my bike shirt's zipper (as I did when I tried to pull my shirt over my head).
The bike was brutal. I got my ass kicked. I watched as the 30 year olds faded into the distance and enjoyed the brief moment of calm before I was passed by mobs of first 40, then 50 then 60+ year olds, who went racing by in modified peloton style (single file and 2.9 bike lengths between, but still a mob). I did horrible in this section, dropping from 11th to 39th in my age group. My only consolation was that anyone who wanted to pass me had to brave the streams of snot that was my body's reaction to the near-death-water-lung incident. I'm certain that my body produced a record amount of the stuff - I'd venture to say, I saw more snot in that 30 minutes then in my entire previous 32 years. I finished the bike in 39th place and with a horrible sinus headache, but I was pleased to still be alive and still in the race. I had done 13 miles in 47:58 (or an average of 16.3 mi/hr).
This transition (from bike to run) only took me 51 seconds, which was very good - the 7th fastest of any of the 600+ participants in the race. As I was leaving the transition area, I heard someone yell, "Helmet! Helmet!" Helmet? I thought, But you don't need your helmet for the run! I instinctively touched my head and realized that I had failed to take my helmet off.
With all the weird and difficult bits done, finally came the run, which should have been my best part. Still somehow it was difficult because someone stole my legs and replaced them with some scrawny weak ones and filled my shoes with lead. I did alright I guess - I ran a 5k in 28:32 (9:13 min / mile) which is pretty mediocre under normal circumstances - but not these. I was only passed by a single competitor in my age group - who I had no hope of catching (#79 blazed past me at a 6:58 min/mile pace). I briefly tried to catch him and then quickly rationalized myself out of it. I passed 10 fellow age groupers during the run (17% of the field).
My legs finally started to feel normal around mile 2 - so I came into the finish against a fellow age grouper with a lot of power and sprinted to the end to the sound of some very exuberant cheering of "Go 101!" I attribute this mainly to having an easy number to shout. Give it a try against, say, "go number 647 and a half" and you'll see what I mean.
Anyway I finished in 1:30:15 (one hour & 30 minutes) which put me dead in the middle of my age group & overall - (#30 of 59 - 30 to 34 yr olds) (#269 of 600+ registered overall). I was very happy to be done and pretty happy to have done as well as I did with minimal training.
There will definitely be a next time and next time I'll do some more bike work before hand (and not inhale water).
posted by Ingrid at 8:39 AM
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