Sunday, June 22, 2008

Bigfoot Race Report

Bigfoot Olympic Triathlon, let' just get to it, no fluff today, least not yet.

Swim
Sigh. That pretty much sums up my feelings on the effort. Experience was closer to my first Aquathon swim than my last. Started in the fourth wave, didn't really have a chance to warm up. Third wave goes off, we shuffle into the water like a herd of cattle and wait for the start. Water was nice.

Course was an out and back just off shore. The out wasn't terrible, very, very, little contact. But it was a long, long way out. Managed to freestyle the whole thing. I felt like just the out was harder than my last Aquathon. There was a decent chop on the water, but other than that, no reason it should have been that hard.

Coming back I just couldn't swim anymore. I'd get through 8-12 breaths and I'd need to take a break. Fortunate thing is the water was shallow and I could stand/walk when I needed a rest. As I'm walking out to the finish G pops up right behind me. At least she didn't beat me out of the water (she started 10-minutes behind me).

Swim 36:23 - 2:13/100 - 371/420 overall

Bike
Pissed off. Those were my emotions coming out of the water. I actually intended to try and pace myself a bit on the bike, but pace and pissed off don't exactly walk hand in hand. So I went out hard and never really let off. Somewhere midbike I forgot about the swim and started having fun again.

Drank my gatorade but found solid food was too much of an inconvenience. Around mile 17 I decided to put it in the big ring and push it the rest of the way in. With the exception of a couple of hills I managed to do just that. There's something to be said for cruising at 23+ miles an hour, even if I need some elevation relief and a tailwind to do it.

Bike 1:18:35 - 19.0 mph - 202/420 overall

Run
Coming into T2 I could barely walk much less run, hamstrings were in bad shape and I thought I was in for a long, long, 10.5k trail run.

Turns out it wasn't so bad. I walked through the water stations and, except for the first major one, the hills as well. About midway through the bike I started to feel the need to pee. So when I came upon a state park outhouse near the end of the first loop I decided to duck in for some relief.

Most disgusting outhouse I've ever been in. Just glad I wasn't having any more serious issues.

Second loop was much like the first. Took shirt off for a good part of it to help with the heat, otherwise just kept moving. Run went as well as I could expect. Came into finish and Patrick joined me for the run across the line.

Run 1:04:22 - 9:54/mile - 336/420

Overall time 3:03:33
58/65 age group
318/420 overall

It was great having family there to cheer us on. Really looked forward to seeing (and hearing) them throughout the race. Thanks much for coming out and sharing the morning with us. I'll post pictures when mom sends them over. Big thanks also to Kelly and Matt for letting us crash at there place and hauling us to the race at an ungodly hour of the morning.

I have a bunch of other thoughts on the race, but I'll save those for another post. If you need me in the next couple months, I'll be up at the lake swimming.

And for those of you who must know. The 10-minutes G put on me in the water were just too much to overcome. She had a great race, coming in at 2:56:49.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know I said it yesterday...but I'll say it again. It was just awesome watching you race. I am so proud of you!!! A year ago, I would not have been able to picture you doing this. I didn't know you had it in you. But yesterday, you looked like a natural (well, except for those first few unhappy steps out of the water). But really, you did a great job, and you should be proud too. One more step towards being an ironman. Great job!

Tea said...

Hey a 3:03 Oly is GREAT! Those were some GREAT times. I gotta tell you though that comment about standing when you needed a rest, just blew my mind! Where was THAT lake when I did my first tri?