Triathlon Recap (Long Post)

Race day stats - Sunday July 24th, 7:00a
* Weather - mid 70's, fairly humid with a fast moving thunder/lightning storm heading through 30 minutes prior to race start (slightly unnerving). Expected to get into the 80's and mostly sunny.

* Water conditions - 70 degrees, no reported jellyfish sightings (although, I get in the water to warm up and there is a jellyfish....), small waves mostly from passing boats (New London sits on long island sound...half sheltered by Long Island, but half open to the ocean)

Now that I've got the weather report out of the way.... :-)

Mindset - Coming into this race I was way more calm than normal, which is weird since I never have done this and did little in terms of transition practice and just started to really swim (in the pool) 25 days prior. Lorraine was able to answer questions and give some tips based on her experience, which definitely helped. I also did a bit of research online about rules and such, so I felt comfortable there. Having a very low expectation and just wanting to experience this also made it more comfortable.

Pre-race - We made the trek down to the shoreline the evening prior for packet pick-up. I picked up a spare inner tube for the bike after packet pick-up thinning I really want to finish this thing and couldn't if I had a blowout. Had dinner with the kids overlooking Niantic bay. Nice, but the kids were antsy as usual so we made it a quick dinner and got home. Collected all my gear when I got home and loaded it in the car for the morning. Lorraine got a tip about using a bucket to bring your stuff as well as having something to sit on during transition, really helped putting on socks and shoes :-). Applied race tats, number on the bike/helmet, ready to roll.

Left the house at 5 since it takes an hour to get there (down near where I work, fun drive...). Plent of time for me to setup my transition area and just walk around for a bit. They kept us ou of transition during the lightning storm, so my shoes got pretty wet...what can ya do as this storm wasn't expected and came out of nowhere. I did bring an extra pair of socks, so I figured I'd just made due.

Swim - made my way down on the beach and into the water for a quick warmup. With 70 degree water though, nothing was warm, lol. Still, I felt okay in the water. I wasn't sure what to expect with the swim, total wildcard, as I haven't done an open water swim in some time, not to mention one with a 100 or so dudes swimming around me! I was in the first wave and decided to move toward the back of the wave as I didn't want to have one of those "I got dunked on the swim" moments. The couple of guys around me in the back made eye contact with me and seemed to share that same sentiment. :-).

So here's the thing, I get into the water and start swimming and just couldn't catch my breath. It felt like a cross between an asthmatic reaction and anxiety rolled into one. I went from freestyle to breast stroke a number of times to try and get a groove going, but just couldn't. So I stayed outside of the groove and did what I could to muddle through the swim. I knew I wasn't going to drown or anything, but was extremely frustrated that my body was ready to go, but my lungs wouldn't let me.... :-(. Again, total wildcard. I finally made it to shore and almost couldn't believe that I finally made it....snapped out of it and ran up the beach to transition.

T1 - they had little pools with water in them for the sandy feet just outside of transition, awesome! I dipped in and didn't have a spec of and on my feet going to transition. I was wearing a swim shirt (will probably get a Tri top for the next one) that I got off quickly and threw on my Team Voice shirt (had some trouble with the shirt since I was wet...). Slipped on my socks/bike shoes and shuffled out. We were on a wet boardwalk so you couldn' really run on it... Made it to the parking lot unscathed and was ready for the bike.

Bike - after being so disappointed with the swim, I wanted to make it up on the bike/run best I could. I did a lot of passing early on and was keeping a good pace. There were several moderat hills and one very large/long hill which brought me to the lowest gear. The 45 year old Tri studs caught me by mid ride. You could hear the wheels on the Tri bikes come up behind you, so you know just to keep right and let them whiz by! I did get tonpass a couple of them back here and there, which was a good feeling, but these guys ride hard and often so it's difficult to even think about keeping their pace.

Ride was pretty uneventful overall. The course was curvy and slick from the rain, so I played it a little conservative, but did go at it as hard as it allowed me too. I took some cliff blocks toward the end for the run and loaded up on water as I didn't want that full feeling on the run. Made it back but was log jammed outside of transition....

T2 - bunch of people at dismount that I had to work around, but was able to okay. Felt a little more comfortable in transition this time as I dropped my helmet, shoes, threw on my run shoes and, well, RAN!

Run - legs felt a little solid/tight (calf mostly), but no pain or anything so I knew I'd be okay for the short run. Took me a minute to regulate the breathing, but it felt constrained like with the swim, just didn't have the capacity today...probably should have took a hit from the inhaler prior to transition...oh well... Mentally I was ready and felt like the run was my turf. Proved to be right given the runners on course as I started passing early and often. I only had one girl in her 20's pass me toward the end, but she must have been running 7's at that point...no hurt feelings on my end! I grabbed water at the two stops just to dump it on my head which felt good, but on the second one I dumped it too much in the front and soaked my shirt....it felt heavy and I started to get that "rubbing effect". I think y'all know what I mean by that! Only had 1 mile left though so I sucked it up and hit the gas. Finished with a sprint down the boardwalk.

Didn't know what my splits were for any part of the race as I didn't wear my watch or set the bike computer. Probably for the best as I like racing by feel. Being the philosopher that I am, I've been thinking about the race and have a growing fondness for the experience. I know I can do tons better on the swim and still improve on the bike/run as well...although, when I saw my run time my immediate reaction was "I smoked that run!" :-).

Great experience with more to come for sure, but my focus is on a PR for Hartford Marathon this October. I really want to have the same feeling about that run as I did for the Tri run and smoke that thing!