Shermanator or Terminator???
The Shermanator this past weekend...More like the freakin' TERMINATOR! I think I retired from Triathlon about 6 times. Once during the swim, twice on the bike and 3 times during the run. It was a very tough race, to say the least.
When we arrived at the race site, we were surprised to see how busy things were. We had to park out in the back 40, and we were there an hour a 15 minutes before the start of the race. We later learned there were 400 athletes signed up for the Oly, Sprint and 5k races. Why they chose to mess with a 5k race is beyond me, but hey, I'm not the race director.
We walked our stuff down to the YMCA to find a line out the door for packet pick up. It seems there was no Friday night pickup so everyone had to check in, sign their waiver, get their packets and get marked on race morning. Adding to the chaos as the fact they they tried to contain all this in two relatively small rooms. It was a mess. The upside was the nice pre-race deuce facilities available to us after check in!
Paul, Tommy and I were the last three out of the building. There was NOBODY out front when we headed towards transition, and it was only 7:15. We had no idea how far away the transition area was, so we headed where the signs told us to go. About 10 minutes later, we arrived. Holy crap, it was a long walk! (Mental Note: Arrive earlier next time)
Kudos to the organizers for trying to keep the sprint and Olympic distance bike racked on separate sides of transition. However, it was clear they weren't counting on so many athletes, and it was evident the sprint race was the overwhelming choice for those in attendance. I racked my bike and turned around in time to see two women with their rear tires actually touching. I was fenced in and decided to move real quick.
My packet said "wave 5", so I assumed I would be in the 5th wave after the 8am start time. As I headed towards the swim start, I heard the announcement that all men, 39 and younger, would be in the first wave. Needless to say, I boogied on down to the swim start, which was about 100 yards down a rocky trail. I arrived about 3 minutes before we were to head out.
The swim was to be in 83 degree Sherman Lake, which was very nice. No wetsuits, so that was not very nice. The race started and I headed out towards the first buoy. No problem...a pretty straight shot. Buoy #2 was way the EFF off to the right. I could barely see it from shore. When I turned at the first buoy, I couldn't see it at all. (Mental Note: Ditch the blue tinted swim goggles. Everything is blue...even the orange buoys) Our swim wave was so spread out by then, and so small in numbers, that I had no bodies to follow. I was completely alone in the middle of the swim course when I finally asked for directions from the scuba guy 30 yards to my left. He was supposed to be on my left!
I made it to the second buoy and turned to look for #3. Of course, I couldn't see anything that wasn't blue, so I started swimming in the direction I thought I should be going. As I swam, I noticed a young lady in a kayak paddling up alongside me. I stopped and asked where I was to go, and she said "Swim directly to the sun..." I did, and eventually made it around #3 and headed towards shore. I could see the finish area (it was blue) and for no other reason than luck, I saw a 4th buoy on my left. I didn't want to get DQ'd, so I had to swim to my left for about 25 yards to pass the buoy on my right hand side. Finally, it came to an end...around 36 minutes...far too long, for my taste. I learned later the course was long, but that doesn't make me feel any better about the effort.
The bike...oy vay, the bike!! Let's just say, I wasn't too excited as I drove towards the race site that morning...down hill for a mile or two. Which meant, of course, we'd be climbing right out of transition...and they hills never stopped coming. I could have been just fine on my road bike Saturday morning as I seemed to spend very little time in the aero position. It was tough, to say the least. Despite the tough conditions, I though my effort should have been a little better. I've been biking a lot lately and felt I was pretty strong heading into the race. Oh well...not every race can be you best, right?
Then I had to run. The 10k course was creative, to say the least. However, too many of those pesky hills for my taste. I was reduced to a shuffle, then a walk, in pretty short order. No mile markers, so I had no idea how much longer I'd be struggling to finish this one. I actually cursed when I had anticipated a turn back towards the finish line, only to learn I had about 3/4 of a mile left to go. It was the closest I've come to a DNF. I had to talk myself out of just calling it quits...only to keep the string alive, I guess.
Peace out.
When we arrived at the race site, we were surprised to see how busy things were. We had to park out in the back 40, and we were there an hour a 15 minutes before the start of the race. We later learned there were 400 athletes signed up for the Oly, Sprint and 5k races. Why they chose to mess with a 5k race is beyond me, but hey, I'm not the race director.
We walked our stuff down to the YMCA to find a line out the door for packet pick up. It seems there was no Friday night pickup so everyone had to check in, sign their waiver, get their packets and get marked on race morning. Adding to the chaos as the fact they they tried to contain all this in two relatively small rooms. It was a mess. The upside was the nice pre-race deuce facilities available to us after check in!
Paul, Tommy and I were the last three out of the building. There was NOBODY out front when we headed towards transition, and it was only 7:15. We had no idea how far away the transition area was, so we headed where the signs told us to go. About 10 minutes later, we arrived. Holy crap, it was a long walk! (Mental Note: Arrive earlier next time)
Kudos to the organizers for trying to keep the sprint and Olympic distance bike racked on separate sides of transition. However, it was clear they weren't counting on so many athletes, and it was evident the sprint race was the overwhelming choice for those in attendance. I racked my bike and turned around in time to see two women with their rear tires actually touching. I was fenced in and decided to move real quick.
My packet said "wave 5", so I assumed I would be in the 5th wave after the 8am start time. As I headed towards the swim start, I heard the announcement that all men, 39 and younger, would be in the first wave. Needless to say, I boogied on down to the swim start, which was about 100 yards down a rocky trail. I arrived about 3 minutes before we were to head out.
The swim was to be in 83 degree Sherman Lake, which was very nice. No wetsuits, so that was not very nice. The race started and I headed out towards the first buoy. No problem...a pretty straight shot. Buoy #2 was way the EFF off to the right. I could barely see it from shore. When I turned at the first buoy, I couldn't see it at all. (Mental Note: Ditch the blue tinted swim goggles. Everything is blue...even the orange buoys) Our swim wave was so spread out by then, and so small in numbers, that I had no bodies to follow. I was completely alone in the middle of the swim course when I finally asked for directions from the scuba guy 30 yards to my left. He was supposed to be on my left!
I made it to the second buoy and turned to look for #3. Of course, I couldn't see anything that wasn't blue, so I started swimming in the direction I thought I should be going. As I swam, I noticed a young lady in a kayak paddling up alongside me. I stopped and asked where I was to go, and she said "Swim directly to the sun..." I did, and eventually made it around #3 and headed towards shore. I could see the finish area (it was blue) and for no other reason than luck, I saw a 4th buoy on my left. I didn't want to get DQ'd, so I had to swim to my left for about 25 yards to pass the buoy on my right hand side. Finally, it came to an end...around 36 minutes...far too long, for my taste. I learned later the course was long, but that doesn't make me feel any better about the effort.
The bike...oy vay, the bike!! Let's just say, I wasn't too excited as I drove towards the race site that morning...down hill for a mile or two. Which meant, of course, we'd be climbing right out of transition...and they hills never stopped coming. I could have been just fine on my road bike Saturday morning as I seemed to spend very little time in the aero position. It was tough, to say the least. Despite the tough conditions, I though my effort should have been a little better. I've been biking a lot lately and felt I was pretty strong heading into the race. Oh well...not every race can be you best, right?
Then I had to run. The 10k course was creative, to say the least. However, too many of those pesky hills for my taste. I was reduced to a shuffle, then a walk, in pretty short order. No mile markers, so I had no idea how much longer I'd be struggling to finish this one. I actually cursed when I had anticipated a turn back towards the finish line, only to learn I had about 3/4 of a mile left to go. It was the closest I've come to a DNF. I had to talk myself out of just calling it quits...only to keep the string alive, I guess.
Peace out.
posted by The LaceDog at 10:26 AM
1 Comments:
Ok, you said you Love your wife. When you got up that day you must have put your wifes shorts on. Suck it up..
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