DQ Tri race report

While I am not as prosaic with my prose as Tigerchik, I will try to do justice to my first race back after surgery this March. This race came up as a surprise when CB suggested it as a "training tune up" before the NJ State race in two weeks. So, wanting to race, liking that it was local, and feeling good about my training, I plopped down the active.com surcharge and signed up.
We woke to the humid haze after a sleepless night for me. Late yesterday, my ex-brother-in-law called to inform me of the recent antics of my sister, who is doing everything in her power to convince everyone around her that she has more than just a substance abuse problem. This was weighing heavily on my mind, since she is no longer talking to my mother or father, and my younger sister is too far removed and has her own baggage to carry around. The again, don't we all. So, when I beat the alarm to the 4:30 wake-up, I was far from refreshed. Still, it promised to be a hot and sunny day, a good day to race, and I was excited to race the new bike with the 404s, the aero lid, and run in my new mizunos.
We stopped off at a local guys house who was also racing with his wife, and they, a friend of theirs who is on their masters swim team, and we carpooled to Vincentown. Stopped at double D to pick up coffee, but CB and I already had some. On the road agian after a long line, and we made it to V-town at about 6. CB and I then drove one loop of the two loop ride course to scout it out. Flat and fast. Perfect. We then parked a ways away from registration, and shuttled our gear over early. Got a great transition spot right at the bike exit/entrance, so we both opted to put shoes on rather than pre-clip. We had to run a total of 10 feet to the mat, so why not! All looked good, until we saw the...ahem...lake.
What best way to describe the swim site? A kids dream fishing spot, perhaps? The good news was that it was short. The bad news was a long list starting with algae, and ending with mud. The shutes and lanes going out and back were narrow, too. We resigned ourselves to another paddle in chocolate milk, and got ourselves ready. 2nd wave, 35-44. Did a quick warm-up swim, and I immediately started to hypervent. The lack of vision was bad. The good news was that after swimming 100 yards in warm up, I settled down, and then I stopped swimming and looked up. There was CB about 100 yards further up, standing. Standing in the swim course. More than halfway through the swim course. Up to his waist. In muddy water. Yes, the deepest the "lake" got was 3 feet. Literally.
So, I line up behind CB and Derek, who runs the masters swim group, knowing that they are both fast and I can catch their feet. 2nd row outside center. Big mistake. Within the first 25 yards, I am cudgelled by everyone from the outside trying to angle in for the first bouy. That would be after about 50 yards. Started hyperventing again, breaststroked, settled in to some clean water, and tried to get a rythm. Finally, after walking around the turn bouy, I got in a rythm, but I couldn't see a blessed thing, so I had to sight on every other stroke. Walked the last 20 yards because it was 2 ft there and totally black, and off I went to transition: Swim time: 6:30 (46th OA)- not a good swim for me.

T1: Got in, too car of business, and got out. Time: 1:13.

Bike: Hit the ground screetching, and rode hard for the first 7 mile loop. Pavement was bouncy going out, but flat and fast, and the pavement was good coming back. Motored by lots of AGers form the wave in front of us, and reeled in some of my AG. Felt great. Bike was crisp and predictable. On the second loop, my plan was to ease up, which I did, but I got caught by the faster legs of the next wave and the disc brigade (at least a few of them). Caught up to Derek and we chatted during the last few miles, then sped on and hit T2 feeling great. Time: 40:07, 22.7 ave, 44th OA.- a solid bike.

T2: Fast: :52.

Run: Crap! The wheels fell off the wagon again on my run. I felt ok for the first mile as my legs adjusted, then I felt like I had no legs anymore. Lungs burned. Got swallowed by anyone with a heartbeat. By the final mile, I resigned to just cruise in as this was a training race anyway. Let a couple of young guys catch me at the line (they were 3 minutes behind me anyway) and tried to smile for the camera. I have to figure out the run recipe, as I tried to use flat coke on the ride, but I was burping and felt sick on the run. Run sucked: Time: 27:03, 8:44 pace (my worst race ever) 90th OA.

Total time: 1:15:10, 51/200, 9/28 AG.

What did I learn: I have to get some better nutrition plan in place before and during races so I have more kick on the run. I do not think I went too hard on the bike, but I was anxious before the race, and I did have some adrenaline on the swim due to getting slammed around, so maybe that did me in. I think I will try some Shot Gel or some SHot Bloks for NJ State. Bottom line: I had fun, raced well on the bike, but I have work to do on my running, though maybe it is only a reflection of nutrition and poor adrenal management. We'll see in two weeks when it is SHOWTIME! (Oh, and CB won AG and got 7th OA- He's an animal- but he was on the US Tri team back in the day) Pics to follow when they are posted!