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 Swim
Comments: Fortunately, I was near the front of the group as there were people still getting in the water when the gun went off. So a bit of a chaotic start between people jumping in and the cold temps. No time to think. Just stayed a bit on the shore side so less current and made my way to the turn buoys. Once heading down stream, there was plenty of room. Even flipped over on my back when I went underneath the bridges which provided some decent sighting. I've only used my wet suit in a race once before and have had a few regrets about purchasing it. Today, those thoughts were erased for good :-) Dang that water was cold. What would you do differently?: Can't say I was able to focus on my stroke for most of the race, and my goggles were fogging up all the time. Need to get a better pair - that definitely slowed me down.  Transition 1
Comments: It was a long way from the swim finish to the transition area and on top of that I was slow in transition. Today was about finishing, so I took a little extra time in the transitions. What would you do differently?: Probably shouldn't have worn socks. That was a waste.  Bike
Comments: Can't find ranks for bike alone. I lost a few places on the bike, but more or less kept my same overall rank that I had at the end of transition. Lost 11 spots on the 1st half and gained back 5 on the second half. I was feeling relatively good at the halfway point, so I did push a little more coming back. Did get to see the professionals on the way out. They were flying. Also was passed by the leaders of the HIM. Again, it is kind of motivating to see just how much faster those guys are than I am. Oh, and I was really happy that I had my bike tuned up. It rode really well. What would you do differently?: I think it was the right approach for the day. I left some on the bike, but my training has been lacking a bit there, plus didn't think it made sense to push the limits in the rain. I'm putting average for today given the conditions, but relative to past bike rides, it was below average. Transition 2
Comments: Everything was completely soaked. Decided to take off my rain gear for the run and change socks, so again, transition was slow. Again, lost significant places here. What would you do differently?: Probably nothing.  Run
Comments: No ranking for the run, but I actually picked up 11 places on the run. First time I've ever been under 1 hour on the run of an OLY. Really pleased about that. Back was bothering me (as usual), but didn't affect run much. Great to see Karen and Mike's crew under the bridge near the finish! What would you do differently?: Nothing - really happy with my run. By far, best run in an OLY ever. Post race
Warm down: Grabbed a quick sandwich and went back to the transition to get the bike so we could get back to the hotel for a hot shower before check-out and getting back to see Mike finish. What limited your ability to perform faster: Bike training, weather. Event comments: Hard to separate out the race from the conditions. Swim walk to start and transition to bike were long, but I think they made the right calls. Just the nature of the set-up. Bike course would have been pretty nice on a good day. Probably the most climbing on a course I've done... which is actually kind of a nice change of pace. Thanks so much to the volunteers and police doing the traffic. It had to be awful to be out in that mess for hours. Since Karen was there, she even snapped a couple of pictures. Usually I'm solo, so 'tis a rarity to have a few snapshots. Profile Album Last updated: 2013-04-12 12:00 AM
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United States
REVOLUTION3 Triathlon
56F / 13C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 217/355
Age Group = 50-54
Age Group Rank = 7/13
First time I've done a triathlon as a "destination". My BIL signed up for this and so our families decided to make a weekend of it. Definitely made the weekend much more fun. Got to explore downtown Knoxville on Friday and Saturday night. Had dinner with friends on Friday and then BIL's family arrived around 10:30 and we all hung out for a bit in their room before crashing. Saturday picked up packet, took bike down to transition, checked out swim, and drove part of the bike course, otherwise just doing things with the family. Decided against a practice swim. Didn't think experiencing the cold in advance would help much on race day. Did alot of walking - maybe 6-8 miles in all as the transition areas were a decent hike from the hotels and finish area and we walked all around downtown. Got to bed at a good hour after eating a few too many slices of pizza. Have to admit, after hearing about the 59 degree water temps and the 2-4 inches of rain forecast, there were moments I considered passing on the race and just enjoying the weekend with family. Karen would have preferred that, but she's used to my strange priorities in life :-)
Got down to the transition area (which fortunately was in a covered garage, so our stuff stayed relatively dry) about 6:20. Set my area up which included more items than usual b/c of the weather. Ate a potato roll and drank some water and gatorade. No coffee this morning - figured the water would wake me up :-) Forgot about functioning in the transition set-up though. Managed to remember most things. Found Anthony's set-up but no Anthony. Chatted with some other 50+s in my neighborhood and a young guy from Nashville who was next to me. He was hoping to win his age group. Then walked down to the swim start around 7:30 so I could see the start of the professionals. It was a fairly long walk (maybe 1200 yards) to the start. Standing around in the cold rain certainly acclimated me to the temps.