My First Triathlon Harrison Mills (Page 2)

great job on the pre-game planning, you are way ahead in the race already. I think the biggest mistake people make is that they do not prepare for the race. For example, I have driven / rode the bike route for every race I have ever done, it makes for an easier day I think

As for the bike shorts, I did my first sprint in bike shorts and it was no problem. I would suggest you try getting them wet and going out for a run. Train like you are going to race. You may find you might need some chamois butter or lube to protect against chaffing, but the only way to find out is to practice, good luck!

Thanks. Is the chamois lube something easy to find? I tried the running room for the tri shorts but no luck. Would vaseline work or is that just getting really really messy?

I think I'll go for my first "wet run" tomorrow. It'll look funny getting out of my daughter's wading pool! I have done a swim and then transitioned into a bike ride and I don't think it was too bad but I'll definitely try out the run in wet shorts.

 GD

here is a link to TRIGEEKS who supply a lot of great stuff (and they mail it out for free I believe) They sell the chamois butter and also will be out at the Walnut Grove race this weekend. They will no doubt have an expo display set up where you can pick up a bunch of neato stuff and also get some information on what may work best for you. I'm also racing there this weekend so feel free to make up signs and cheer me on

Edit - forgot to add the link...duh!

Thanks for the advice. I'll drop by Life Cycles today after work. Looking forward to this weekend. Good luck in the Walnut Grove Sprint. Wish I could be there to cheer you on but I'll be rolling through Harrison Mills trying to break 1hr 20mins myself...we'll see.

 Thanks again.

GD

Hey Hazmaster,

 All is well! I am waiting to put up a race report since I didnt' time myself and the RD hasn't posted the times yet. Overall, I really really enjoyed the experience. it was much harder than I thought it would be and yet a ton of fun. Here's a brief play by play on how things went down.

Pre-race...jitters, can you say jitters. Couldn't even drink my morning coffee  

Walked the "trecherous gravel" route out of the swim area. Decided to go the long route out as it was quite a bit smoother. I went for a short jog...warm up...dressed in wetsuit and got in place in the line up.

When the horn went I ran into the water completely jazzed!! Dove in and my goggles filled with water. Emptied the goggles and started digging in to catch the two (yes two!!) people in front of me. I was about 150 m in when I realized I am not a strong swimmer and couldn't figure out why I tried to keep up to the two human motor boats in front of me. I had to break my rythm and do the breast stroke for a bit. That's when the masses of people rushed by me!! YIKES. Pretty funny getting out to such a quick start only to crash early. No worries though, just dug in and tried to get some rythm going. There was one point where a guy next to me was running on the bottom as fast as I was doing the breast stroke. I thought it must've looked pretty hilarious from shore. I exited water around 28th overall. The really cool thing was a little 12 year old girl exited in third! I was pretty empressed by her efforts! (More of her to follow)

When I exited the water I ran up the beach to my bike to get changed. I was exhausted. It was crazy how tired I was compared to the training sessions I had done. Pretty wild. I had my wife and family cheering me on but at one point in my getting the wetsuit off my wife suggested I sit down to do it!! I must have looked pretty toasted...her voice had that little bit of care in it. I successfully changed grabbed my bike and jumped out to my route. It was funny, i was the only one to take this route and there were a ton of other road bikes there. It was extremely rocky.

The bike was my best stage. I flew!! I passed a ton of guys and was in about eighth at the turn-around. I was behind a group of five when i noticed they all started drafting each other up the hills. They lost me after about a km. I still pushed on and didn't give up any more positions! I was pretty stoked. I think I completed the ride in about 35min. (PB!! maybe...)

When i transitioned into the run there was this tall atheletic dude getting coached by his parents. I was amazed at this guys size! Tall and ripped...I though, maybe I could draft him??? When I tried to switch to my running shoes my right calf balled up into one nasty cramp!! I felt it a bit on the ride which makes me think that I didn't drink enough water the day before. Next time... I waited for the cramp to stop, streched the calf quickly. threw on my left runner and grabbed a quick drink of gatorade from my bikes bottle. I looked up and amazon man was still standing there prepping for the run. I beat him out of the tranisition. I thought "I am a triathlon GOD!!!" and started out on the run. I couldn't stride out so I thought just keep the pace and then worry about the second half. meanwhile, I felt a rush of wind by my left shoulder about 400m into the run and wouldn't you know it. Amazon had trasformed into a gazelle and lightly and briskly (well more like a jet) went by me! i knew I was in a little trouble.

I kept pushing it seeing another four guys in my sites. Top ten...could it be. I will share more of the run in the race report since it was my hardest leg. I also am a little ashamed that this beautfy of a woman gracefully blew the doors off me in the last 750 meters with her running partner which left me in 12th. AS I was approaching the finish line I was smiling ear to ear with the applause that I was hearing!! And it just felt so good to finish. then I realized that all the applause was for the woman in front of me since she was the first female to finish the race!!! Embarrassing! Not really as she was a great runner and i was pretty happy with my placing.

All in all, the event wasn't that bad. the water was cold but not that cold. I didn't hear a ton of people complaining about it after the event. It wasn't super organized but it wasn't super bad either. The bike transition area is pretty sketchy for road bikes but the overall routes were pretty decent. partly because I had an idea of where to go. It was true that there were no signs and it was a little confusing and the RD wasn't even up before 8:00am but that was understandable as his IM went till midnight the night before. Overall in would probably rate it a 2.5 out of 5. It makes a nice introduction because you know everyone there is in the same boat.

I was hoping to do the Olympic in van but I'm not sure I'll be able to finish so I may just do the Sprint.

How did your race go. I read a little of the Triboy77 post. I heard you rocked on the bike. Looking forward to reading the race report!! Talk to you later.

GD