With a 0730 start, I awoke at 0430 to eat breakfast, pack, and begin the trek to Va Beach. For breakfast I ate a peanut butter and banana sandwhich, heavy on both the bananas and peanut butter. I also drank a large coffee.
Parking wasn't detailed in any of the race information posted on the race's website, so Cary and I followed the car in front of us into a parking garage and paid 10 dollars. I have never paid ten bucks to participate in a triathlon for parking, and I would have expected that to be annotated on the website but, whatever.
The transition area was easy to find and I began to setup my station. The bar to hold up bicycles was a little lower than normal, and would not hold up my bicycle by its handlebars. I was able to lean it on a wooden pole and that appeared to keep my bicycle upright. I also recently purchased a "Tri-shirt" that I could wear while swimming, running, and biking. This was an attempt to decrease the amount of time that I spend in the transition area putting that bicycle shirt on after the swim. I also purchased a cheap-o speed indicator for my bicycle that displays how fast I'm going.
This Tri was also the first ocean swim for me. Competitors started on the beach and ran into the ocean at the sound of the horn. I, and the rest of the Clydesdales, started in the 8th wave. Earlier waves of contestants did get pushed around by the waves breaking on the shore, but once one got out to the buoy and made the turn to parallel the shore it looked OK.
When the horn sounded I began a quick sprint to the ocean, did my best to high step some waves and dove over the first large wave that came close to shore. I fought through a couple of waves between the beach and the turn buoy, but nothing that pushed me way off course or made me eat salt water. Once I made it to the turn buoy and began to parallel the shore I started looking for the next turn buoy, couldn't see it, and other swimmers so I could avoid their legs and start passing them. I felt very comfortable on this swim, I didn't swim too hard and loose my breath while I was out there and was passing swimmers regularly. I did swallow a couple mouthfuls of water but this also appeared not to affect me. I could have probably saved time on the second buoy and my approach to it. I did several course adjustments as I approached, something was going on in the current there that I Was unable to figure out. The swim back to shore was fine, I did the help of some waves. I also had a hard time finding the exact spot where one was supposed to exit the water and head on over to the transition area. When I did find it I was almost there and then began my 400 pound log jog. As I was jogging up the beach I did hear Cary cheering me on which always helps.
In the transition area I quickly put on my socks, with some sand, bike shoes, glasses, and helmet. Then it was off to start the races. Not having to deal with putting on a shirt after the swim is great for saving time. The air temperature for a 15 mile bike ride was great, I never felt that I was overheating and using my speed indicator I was able to determine when I was at 21, 20, or 19 miles per hour. For most of the race I was able to stay at 21 and not feel that I was getting my heart rate up to high. I think, without any scientific proof, that this was the fastest bicycle leg on any triathlon I've competed in. I will give part of the credit to being able to determine exactly how fast I was going and not doing that sprint at the begining of the swim.
During the ride there were a couple of packs of slow riders that I had to go around and one errant water bottle. The course was a strait forward out and back.
Returning to the transition area I changed shoes and removed my helmet and proceeded to the run. I left my sunglasses on to look cool, which is very important. Other than not being a good runner, the most difficult part of the run was being exposed to the sun on the Virginia Beach boardwalk. Having this race any later in the day would have made that leg very difficult. I also experienced some chaffing in the groin area that gave me some discomfort.
About 500 meters before the end I knocked off my timing chip. I carried it by hand the rest of the way, fortunately it still worked.
Overall I did very well compared to the other participants.
Overall Males I places 74 out of 270. In the Clydesdale category I placed 5th out of 38. Had I been low enough weight to compete in my age group I would have also gotten fifth out of 21 (30-34).
82nd was my overall place including women and the relay teams.
| First Name | Last Name | Bib | City | State | Gen | Age | Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | Total | Penalty | Group | Grp Pl | Gen Pl | |
| Jacob | Braun | 707 | Norfolk | VA | M | 34 | 0:20:08 | 0:01:46 | 0:42:11 | 0:00:59 | 0:26:17 | 1:31:24 | Clydesdale | 5 | 74 |
No comments:
Post a Comment