By the time we got to the race site, it was 55 degrees outside, with a slight breeze. Ben and I were freezing. He in shorts and a t-shirt, and I in my brand new tri suit with workout capri pants and a long sleeved top over it. Only Bubba was prepared for the weather in warm pants, a t-shirt and a long sleeved shirt on top. I got checked in, and went about staking claim to some real estate in the transition area. Much time was taken in planning out towel, gatorade, and shoe placement. My bike was hung on the rack. Pre-race briefing was held. After pre-race, Ben, Bubba and I explored a small portion of the run/bike trail. Basically, the whole run portion was a logging trail. Double track, gravely, but mostly dirt. And it was up hill for the first 1/2 mile.
The water temperature was 68 degrees. That's a little colder than ideal, but not horrific. A lot of people had wet suits on, though. I waited as long as possible before actually stepping foot in the water. The bottom of the reservoir was muddy and rocky. It made me wish I had some water shoes on, but really, those just slow you down. This was my first competition in my new suit, and it seemed to work pretty well in the water. The shorts were awesome. The top seemed to stretch more than a regular swim suit, and I experienced a bit of drag around the neckline, arm openings and the pockets in the back. I won't complain, though, as any time it cost in the water was more than made up for in the transition (in theory). The mass start was a little strange. There were less than 60 swimmers, and we all kind of lined up along the "beach" area such that nobody was behind anyone else. I thought I had made a good choice in positioning myself along the shore, but in retrospect it's pretty obvious I picked a bad line.
Regardless, the gun was fired, and we were off (I'm the manish looking one in the light gray top and black bottoms). I had a decent start, but the cold water mixed with the colder air assaulted my arms and shoulders. There may or may not have been a little bit of current the closer I got to the turn around buoy. I was dragging. I made it around (counter clockwise), and the swim back was easier. I hauled myself out of the water and into transition. The goal was 17 minutes for that 800 meter swim. I made it out in 18:16, but I'm sure because of my line, it was longer than 800 meters. Mistake #2: sitting down to put socks and shoes on. It makes you want to relax a little and probably slowed me down overall. Also....trying to put on that long sleeved shirt while wet. Bummer. But I was able to down some gatorade and an energy gel and I was out in a little over 3 minutes.
Next up: a 12 (or 15??) kilometer "mountain biking" course. My bike training this year has consisted of biking to the gym and spin class. But even so, I really think my biking cardio has WAAAY improved these past few months. The problem with this race was the "mountain biking" component. Even though there wasn't any single track on this course, it was definitely not a road race. Most of it was as described earlier: double track dirt paths filled with rocks. The rest of it (all of the downhill portions) were just straight gravel. Not your run of the mill gravel, either. The rocks (boulders?) were, generally, the size of my fist. But they were loose like gravel. So it was bumpy and skiddy and altogether terrifying. I'm terrified of mountain biking. But the first half was uphill. There was a short uphill (that we had checked out after the pre-race briefing), then a shorter down hill followed by a mile of uphill. It then leveled off for a while, before going uphill some more. There were several leveling off spots followed by steep (or not so steep) uphill sections. During on such section, I was slowing down, so I shifted into an easier gear. Before I knew what was happening, my front tire whipped out from under me and I fell off my bike. My handlebar (?) hit me in the chest, leaving a red crescent shape. I also got a few bruises on my left shin and knee and a bruise on my right forearm.
After that, I was determined to use the granny gears, if necessary, so as not to slow down that much. As it turns out, my front derailleur is weird, and I lost my chain the next 2 times I tried to shift to easier gears. Happy bonus: I'm now comfortable with extremely minor bike repair. I also learned that the rear brake does not, in fact, stop you (or even slow you down at all) when the down hill is steep. I saw a lot of skid marks on the hair pin curves on the way down, which freaked me out. I think going down was the worst part of the race. I was too scared to go fast, even though it would have been a good opportunity for me to make up time. The goal was to finish this leg in 75 minutes. In reality, it took me 72.
The next transition was pretty awesome. Shoe switch went off w/o a hitch, and it was only kind of hard to take that sticky long-sleeved shirt off. My legs were dead, though, and since the bike and run portions overlapped for a mile and a half or so, I knew what I was about to do. Happy news: I didn't walk! I actually passed someone! Sad news: I got passed. I saw a snake and screamed like a girl while jumping out of the way. Even news: the goal was to finish this leg in 30-35 minutes, and it took me 34:25. One bonus (maybe sad news?) was that my upper arm fat would collide with my armpit fat that got pushed out from the tight tri tank. It made this strange, slapping, armpit fart noise which might be embarrassing for some people, but for me, it entertained me and took my mind off the pain of running.
So all in all, I was slower than the 2007 sprint tri, on a shorter route, but I'm actually happier with my performance (I'm number 127). And I'm kind of excited about the next one. Not that I've committed myself to anything, yet...
PS: pictures and/or video will be posted soon.
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