Race 1 of 2011! (Intro and swim)
May 8, 10:04 AM
We got down to Athens at about 6:45am for the race. It was a little later than planned but I was able to get checked in and my transition area together without too much hassle. Right from the start I knew the initial transition was going to be rough. The transition area was a parking lot but the pavement was COLD!!!!! I was walking around barefoot and my feet were pretty frozen by the time I got over to the pool to get things started. I was a bit rushed but everything got together pretty well.
The swim was 500m (550yd) in the OU Aquatic center. It was a serpentine swim with everyone getting in one end of the pool and swimming up and back through the lanes before getting out at the other end after 5 laps. I had hoped to warm up in the pool for a few min but didn’t get to because we got into Athens a bit later than planned. Before the race started they got everyone together on the pool deck and did a quick overview of how everything would work and followed that with a prayer by OU AIA staff member Mark Heflin before we started lining up.
Everyone was seeded based on how long we expected to do the race so I was number 72. They had everyone get in order by number and started off the first racer. They were putting people in the water ever 3 seconds so the crowd started moving pretty quick. The ordering was pretty loose so I just kinda got in the mass of people and started moving up toward the start. I didn’t want to be too far back because I didn’t want to get caught behind anyone too slow. I finally got up to the start mat (it’s chip timing so the timer starts when we cross a sensor on the floor), the person said “Go” and I went.
Before I continue, I want a quick caveat: I’m really happy with how I did overall for the race. It was a good start, it’d been almost 2 years since the last time I did one of these and I shaved 15min off that time. Over all, I know I could have improved but I can’t change what has been done so I’m going to be analyzing things and pointing out things I can improve, but I’m still really happy with my results and I’m ready to improve things in my next race!
OK, so back to the race.
I got the go signal and jumped into the water. Right away I was caught off guard because I had assumed we’d be jumping into the shallow end (even though I could have seen we weren’t if I had looked and thought about it) so I dropped much farther than expected. I pushed off and started swimming. The next 10 min were a blur of trying to remember my stroke, avoid getting hit by people faster than me, avoiding a few slow people who I passed and just trying to stay focused on swimming.
There are a bunch of things I knew I needed to improve even while I was in the pool. Since we were supposed to be going from one lane to the next, I was having a hard time turning and angling well from one to the next. My arms weren’t able to get up into the streamlined position and that slowed me down every time. I also was kicking too much with my knees and that slowed me down. A big part of that was because I usually have to think a bit about that and I was too distracted with everything else that I couldn’t concentrate enough on it.
So I finally got through the swim and was actually feeling pretty good energy-wise coming out of the water. As I got out Kristy shouted my time in the water, about 10min, and I headed out the door towards transition. We had a few hundred feet to go over open pavement before we got to transition and that pavement was COLD! My feet were getting seriously cold and it was a pretty big shock to the system since it had been around 80 degrees in the pool! I got to transition and got myself started for the bike. I started my GPS watch so i could keep track of my time and all during the ride and run.
Big thing to improve during transition was my shirt. I really need to get a tri shirt I can swim in. I probably could have taken off at least 1 min if not longer for just that! If I can get that taken care of I don’t really need to dry off as much which also would cut time. Coming out of transition I got on my bike and headed out.
Older Articles: 40mi and My First Race! Newer Articles: Race 1 of 2011! (Bike and Run)
I am really proud of all that you’ve attempted and then accomplished! You’ll have to do some laps in our pool in the back yard.
— Dad · May 19, 07:44 PM · #