General Discussion Triathlon Talk » the good and bad, need your comment Rss Feed  
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2015-04-21 4:40 PM

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Subject: the good and bad, need your comment
Just did a sprint tri last Saturday (my 2nd triathlon, been training for less than a year)

The Good:

Day before the race
-gears on my bike rattled
-had enough time to take my bike to the bike shop for repair

Bike
-broke my personal record compared to 1st tri
-more challenging hills
-increased speed by 4 mph
-total feet climbed 508 ft
-most challenging hill is 100 ft
-can't believe I was passing people
-#167 out of 213 racers

Run
-broke my personal record compared to 1st tri
-faster by 3 minute/mile

Overall
-my 1st tri, I was the last person
-this triathlon I was 196 out of 213 (I'm almost 50yrs old, beat 30yr olds)

The Bad
-someone racked their bike in front of my bike and pushed my bike back and another person bike
-this is an out of state race, I was at the race site 2.5 hrs early (my bike is #8)
-the person that pushed my bike back has her bike on top of my transition items (helmet, sunglasses ,shoes etc.)
-the other person's bike that got pushed back looked at me in disgust, she thought I did it arggghhhhh
-I could not find the owner of the bike that pushed our bikes back; found out about it 3 minutes before it start

Before the swim
-it was 59F but the wind was blowing hard
-racers had a hard time warming-up

Swim
-water got in my goggles after the 3rd lap, so I had to switch to backstroke (made my swimming time a lot slower)
-got kicked on the head several times
-some racers held on to me and got submerged under water several times
-after the swim, my heart was racing not because of the swim workout but because I had to survive and not panic

The Good
-I kept on going in spite of the pool experience
-amazingly my body is not sore the day after the race (my first tri , I was very sore for days after the race)
-I'm planning another Triathlon next month

------
What would you have done differently if these happened to you ?


2015-04-21 5:56 PM
in reply to: Phebes

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Subject: RE: the good and bad, need your comment
I tell ya, I just had my first pool tri experience and I hated it! I could have written the same swim write-up as you did. Though technically my first tri, I have done dual events with mass swim starts, with #'s in the 1-500's and I found the pool experience FAR MORE annoying than open water in regards to the people, the traffic and the claustrophobia! The number one thing to take from this for me, would be that I did well for my personal standards despite some mentally distracting and frustrating situations that could have affected my overall performance. I'm sure others with more experience will chime in, but I am definitely with you on that swim.
The swim is definitely the most mentally challenging with so many variables. Great job by the way
2015-04-21 11:26 PM
in reply to: Phebes

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Subject: RE: the good and bad, need your comment
You could have stooped at a wall to fix your goggles.

I once had someone move my stuff in transition. Dude found his bike on the ground and his stuff scattered about.

Congrats on your improvement.
2015-04-22 7:43 AM
in reply to: Phebes


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Subject: RE: the good and bad, need your comment
Congratulations on major improvements!
2015-04-22 9:41 AM
in reply to: MikeD1

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Subject: RE: the good and bad, need your comment
While it may be tougher in a local/municipal tri (if that's what you were doing), you can find a race official and report that your stuff had been moved. That's a against the rules (tampering w/ other's equipment) and from what I've been told by several officials is that I can also be in trouble if I move their stuff back (or to the ground, which another poster mentioned and I will admit is VERY tempting to do).

As for the rest of the race it sounds like it was a rocking success! Pool swims are often a crapshoot, and if they aren't organized well or if people blatantly lie about their estimated times then they can become a bit of a nightmare. Luckily for me I'm typically one of the front starters and so everyone is pretty well behaved, but I can't imagine the chaos that must begin once you get towards that middle third of the pack!
2015-04-22 12:45 PM
in reply to: Phebes


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Subject: RE: the good and bad, need your comment

Do enough of these races, and you'll realize that it's completely not worth getting annoyed over transition things like this, even if your stuff and even your bike are moved about some. 

 

Think about it - people have nothing to gain from intentionally messing with your stuff, and not only will they possibly incur someone's wrath, but also cost themselves precious transition time. 

 

The far, far more likely scenario was that someone was either going as fast as they could through transition and either mixed up their stuff with yours or accidentally ran through your stuff (sucks but happens), or they were literally so winded and out of it that they got confused. It happens - in tight transition spots, my stuff is somewhat jostled and my bike shifted a good third of the time. 

 

Just include it in the cost of racing. Fortunately, if you're fast enough to podium, you'll usually be at transition before anyone can even mess with your stuff in T1, and if you're not on the podium, a few extra seconds in transition isn't a big enough deal to get angry or even annoyed about. 

 

Just you wait - as you improve in swimming, you'll soon find yourself in 'the mix', and you'll suddenly think people are beating all over your with their arms even though it's just a powerful pull motion that happens to land on you if it's crowded. One of the most common complaints of 'people are trying to kill me in the swim I swear!" on this forum, when in reality, NOBODY intentionally does anything like that.



2015-04-22 1:20 PM
in reply to: 0

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Subject: RE: the good and bad, need your comment

Originally posted by Phebes

The Bad -someone racked their bike in front of my bike and pushed my bike back . . .

Before the swim -it was 59F but the wind was blowing hard -racers had a hard time warming-up. . .

Swim -water got in my goggles after the 3rd lap, so I had to switch to backstroke (made my swimming time a lot slower) . . .

What would you have done differently if these happened to you ?

Control the things you can control, ignore the things you can't!

Someone racked their bike in front of yours and created some problems.  You weren't there and had no control of what happened.  Accept it, don't dwell on it, and move on.

Weather - it is the same for everyone and you have absolutely NO control over it.  Accept it, don't dwell on it, and move on.

Learn to swim without goggles.  Goggles break, goggles come off, goggles get knocked off.  Certainly in a pool you can continue without goggles.  My competitive swimming career started BEFORE such a thing as goggles existed.  You swam and got red, sore eyes from the chlorine.  Arguably you can continue a swim in open water also.  Is that the best thing?  NO.  But it is preferable to a DNF.

Congratulations on an awesome finish by the way!



Edited by k9car363 2015-04-22 1:22 PM
2015-04-23 9:52 AM
in reply to: 0

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Subject: RE: the good and bad, need your comment
Originally posted by yazmaster

  •  

     

    Just include it in the cost of racing. Fortunately, if you're fast enough to podium, you'll usually be at transition before anyone can even mess with your stuff in T1, and if you're not on the podium, a few extra seconds in transition isn't a big enough deal to get angry or even annoyed about. 




  • Unfortunately it happened during the opening ceremony, I saw about 4 racers strolling in with their bikes at 7:15 am (race starts at 7:30 am). When I went back to transition area to leave my jacket, there it was, my bikes plus others got pushed back. The race organizers were rushing us to leave the transition area in 1 minute

    I agree with you not be annoyed or angry. When I thought about joining tri races months ago, it was for: loosing weight (accomplished); staying healthy ( I don't get sick any more) and a new hobby ( fun and leisure). I certainly , definitely want triathlon to stay fun.

    I like after race events like the giveaways, food (this particular event had free food plus free nail spa :) )

    Edited by Phebes 2015-04-23 10:09 AM
    2015-04-23 3:22 PM
    in reply to: Phebes

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    Master
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    Subject: RE: the good and bad, need your comment

    Phebes I don't have much to add. You've received some great comments. I just wanted to say congrats on a stellar improvement. You'll continue to improve from here. Control what you can and let the other stuff go.

    2015-04-24 5:30 AM
    in reply to: Phebes

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    Subject: RE: the good and bad, need your comment
    Thank you all for your well-wishes and helpful comments. Currently, I'm training for another sprint tri next month. I'm only doing nearby races (out of town/state) which are not a lot to choose from, so I can gain more experience.
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