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 Swim
Comments: This was my first race in a wetsuit. I was so glad I had done the practice swim on Saturday since it definitely made me feel more comfy in the wetsuit. The swim was choppy. I started with some guys in the 40-54 AG range, and I had soon left them behind, so I didn't get to draft much. There were way too many boats on the course, one boat blocked my view of the next buoy. I saw people swimming but I couldn't see the buoy and then the boat moved and there it was!!! The middle portion of the swim was awesome and this is where the wetsuit really helped, not once did I feel breathless even though the waves kept on pounding my face. Looked at my time and I have no complaints for my first Olympic swim. What would you do differently?: Attack the waves more, I could have pushed harder on the out and back legs. Try to find a fish and draft of him/her.  Transition 1
Comments: The wetsuit came right off, and I ran thru the transition passing a lot of people. I wasted some time packing up the wetsuit and putting on two layer of clothing. I had planned on having the shoes clipped in the bike, but since my spot was so close to the bike exit, I forfeited that plan. What would you do differently?: Just wear my tri-top, it wasn't too cold on the bike course.  Bike
Comments: The goal coming in to the bike was to do a 1:15 and maybe push for a 1:10. I had heard about the poor road conditions, which were definitely more treacherous when wet. I had driven the course on Saturday and made mental notes about hills, cracks on the road etc. Get out on the bike, overtake about 50 people on the dam section. Put the bike in top gear and blast on the downhill section of FM 1382. Pull back right before the start of the hill. The hill was challenging since I had my chain stuck in the big chain ring. I did pretty decent speed until I reached Westmoreland. The conditions on this road were the worst. Potholes filled with water, large cracks, RR tracks, bumps etc. I hit a small pothole that was filled with water, luckily nothing happened. I didn't see anyone crash but I saw about 20 people on the side of the road and a couple riding with severe road rash. At mile 20 my left leg started to cramp, lowered my cadence to alleviate the cramp. Finally saw the buildings of Downtown Dallas and gave it one final push. What would you do differently?: Not cramp on the bike leg, climb the hills on the small chain ring. Transition 2
Comments: I wanted to do a flying dismount but my right foot got stuck in the shoe. I just stopped at the dismount line took my foot out of the shoe and ran in. I loved the individual numbered racks, makes the transition very smooth. Running shoes on, fuel belt on, and on to run 6.2 miles. What would you do differently?: Get out of the shoes 500 m before the finish line.  Run
Comments: Started out the run with still some remnants of the cramp I felt on the bike. Did the first 2 miles in 18 minutes. The run was the best feature of this race. The weather was nice and the trail was fairly flat. Hit the turn around and the volunteer shouted "It's all downhill now", initially I didn't think much of it but there was indeed a slope. Picked up my pace considerably and did the last 2.2 miles in ~15 minutes. Ran with a 40 year young lady for the last mile, she was fast and left me with .25 miles to go. Sprinted in the last 100 yards. What would you do differently?: Nothing, this was very close to my target time. This was also my first time running a 10K, the most I did in my training was 4 miles. But I had done a ton of bricks coming in to the race. Post race
Warm down: Had some fruit and a lot of water. The food was alright, I have been to races with way better selection. Went to the bag pickup to get my T1 bag. It was like organized chaos over there. I was able to locate my bag, once again I was in luck. As I was getting my bag, they were starting the pro award ceremony right next to me. So I was listening to Matty Reed talking while I was changing my clothes :) Saw the results and I didn't do so hot compared to my age group. We had some fast people in the age group, my goal time of 2:40 was only good for 10th place. What limited your ability to perform faster: I think I hadn't tapered enough for this race. I had some pain in my legs before the race. Also I was so excited pre-race, I only slept for like 2 hours. Event comments: The race was pretty cool, I liked the point to point format. But I am ambivalent about returning next year given the pre-race mess and the horrible road conditions. Last updated: 2009-05-01 12:00 AM
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United States
Lifetime Fitness
52F / 11C
Precipitation
Overall Rank = 322/637
Age Group = M 20-24
Age Group Rank = 18/24
So this was going to be the final race of this year, my first year doing triathlons and also my first olympic distance race. I realized this was going to be a new challenge to me from the outset, though I didn't know that even getting to the race was going to be a challenge.
I woke up @ 4:30, made myself some grits and a PBJ sandwich. Since this was a point to point race we had to set up T2 first, catch a shuttle to race start and set up T1, the bike had to be checked in the day prior to the race. So I get to the AAC @ 5:30, set up T2, get in line for the shuttle by 5:50. By this time the shuttle line is 400-500 people long. I realize I'm good since the race start is at 7:30, I will still be in time to catch the pros start off. So we are waiting and it's been 20 minutes and only one bus has come by. Everyone realized that the shuttles are coming at intervals of 10-15 minutes and since they take like 60-70 people at a time, it might take some time. As all this was happening, we were all hanging out in the cold, wet weather wasting our energy keeping warm.
Finally @ 7:00, three buses showed up at once and we can finally get to the venue. At this point people were getting desperate and just wanted to get to the race venue. Then our bus driver started quarreling with the race officials that he won't take any standing passengers, even though people had been standing in the prior shuttles. Citing safety issues he tells people who were standing to get off the bus. We waste 5 minutes more because of this and by the time we leave, there were still ~50 people waiting for the bus. By this point I had given up on seeing the pros start, I just want to wanted to make it to my wave since that went off the earliest among the AG'ers at 7:46 am. I was still hoping that if I had a good enough bike split, I would see them @ the finish line while I was starting my run.
All these hopes were lost when 20 minutes in to our bus ride, the driver told us that he was lost and had been given the wrong directions. We back track almost all the way back to AAC and @ this point I don't give a f*** and start talking to other people about getting our money back because this was just ridiculous.We finally get to the swim start at 8:10 am and I run straight for the restroom.
I had planned on doing a warm up swim, but all the warmup time had been taken up by the journey to the race start. I had to jump the transition fence to set up T1, since there was such a crowd at the transition entrance. It was crucial to have your T1 set up properly, since after you left T1 the race officials were going to transport your T1 bag back to the finish line. So T1 had to be streamlined so that you could pack your bag very fast and not waste too much time. Since it was raining the luggage tag they had given us got wet and came off my bag, luckily I had a mesh pocket on the outside of my bag and I just stuck it in there. Given the quality of race so far, I didn't have much trust in the race officials getting my bag back to the finish line.
The only good thing about the whole pre-race ordeal was that as I was setting up my T1, the pros were finishing their swim and I got an up-close look at them running through transition and getting on their bikes. It was pretty cool since I was one of the few people in transition at that time and got to see them in their element.