Jun
13
2010
Redondo Beach Triathlon 2010
Author: adminThis is the first race of the year for me. I think it’s probably the best race to get your feet wet in. For one, it’s a shortened sprint with only the swim being a standard distance. The bike and the run are 6 miles and 2 miles respectively.
The Tri was put together very well. I picked up my race packet the day before at Triathlab. There was music playing and they had an excellent questions and answers for all the beginners lime myself. They even had a guy perform the entire triath Lon (in the same place) so we could see what was involved in the ever scary transition area.
Evening before Race Day:
I really watched too many movies on pre-race eating and for some reason I decided that I should carb load the night before. I know I read it somewhere. I stuffed myself. Here is the problem with that, first, I had to go to the bath room A LOT so that did not do much for my rest. Secondly, I was so wired I didn’t sleep all that well. I finally managed to fall sleep around 1ish.
Race Day:
I woke up on time and nervous. My wife wanted to go with me but it was really early and that would mean waking up the 3 year old. No thanks. I was still stuffed from the night before. Note to self, don’t do that again. I pushed down a peanut butter bagel and left the house. It took about 45 minutes to get there.
I arrived on time but I probably should have been there at least a half hour earlier. By the time I hit the transition area, my wave was full, so I had to setup in the under 20 group. No big deal but it can effect you. After setting up, it only left me about 10 minutes to warm up. Really not enough time to have a proper warm-up.
We all headed to the starting line. The 800 yards looks much longer than I remembered it. I started to get a l title nervous but I ran into a guy that calmed my nerves. One the horn wen t off I jumped in, I decided to take my time going in, which in hind sight was probably a bad idea. I went in slow, trying to allow for the fast swimmers to get out first. The problem was that I myself was faster than some of the people I let go ahead of me. This meant a lot of unnecessary bobbing and weaving around people. Once I hit the buoy I was finally able to pick a lane away from people. I felt pretty good in the water. I was tired but not exhausted. The worst part of e swim is looking at the shoreline and realizing how far you are away from land. I shut that out of my mind and pushed on focusing on my breathing and stroke extension.
I hit the sand and decided to walk up the path to catch my breathe. This was a mistake because you’re swim is not over once you leave the water, it is over once you cross the mat. It effected my time and made my swim appear slower than it really was. (always run to the mat).
Once in the transition area I removed my wetsuit, put my bike shoes on a began jogging out for the ride. I was still tired when i left transition so it took a while to get my legs moving. Its only 6 miles so you really need to get moving fast. Mistake 3: I immediately when into a higher gear than i should have to try to get speed up. Bad Idea. I ended up wearing myself out because I was working too hard.
T3:
This was my fasted transition and I actually finally felt good leaving the area, well, at least my lungs did. My legs decided to punish me for not warming up. About 2 minutes after leaving T3 I developed not one, but Two cramps. One in my calf, the other in my groin. Do you know how frustrating it is to get cramps when you feel great? Guess i should’ve haas a sweet potato instead of the pasta the night before. I decided to push on and the cramp was manageable, only if I did not push it. I was forced to slow down to keep them at bay. I finished with a respectable time of 1:00:29. My goal was 1:00 so I had to be happy with it, but I wasn’t loving it. I have more in me…next time.
