It was a cool Saturday (race day) morning. If I only new......., I should have arrived earlier. By the time I got there the parking lot was already fool. I checked-in and brought my bike to the transition area.
The morning was chilly and very windy, indeed. In fact, it was so chilly that I got cold even before the swim began. On my way to the swim start I heard TOM-a-Lot yelling to me “Go Team IRONTOM.” While waiting for the gun to go off, I noticed that about 80% of the athletes in my wave were wearing wet suites (I did not). Initially, I did not think it would make a difference since I never swam in one before. Was I ever wrong about that.
By the time I got to the first buoy I was having a tough time breathing, my body was getting colder and the waves were crashing against my head. I ended up swimming almost all the strokes I practiced with the Masters; free style with my face out of the water, breast stroke and a decent amount of kick on my back. Somehow, I missed the dolphin but there is always the next time. Past the turn around buoy I started feeling better and my breathing became normal. My swimming performance placed me somewhere in the middle of the pack (about 90th out of 170), with which I was quite pleased.
I really took my time in the transition, and later, instead of running, I decided to walk my bike to the road (I may reconsider this strategy at the next race). Once on the bike, I was still hyperventilating from the swim. The short bike course brought me back to the transition area, in what I thought, was no time at all - however, it placed me in the high 130’s, overall. At that time I also noticed my family there. My Mother, Sister and her kids made it to the race to cheer me on.
Once on the run I finally started to warm up. The run was very pretty as it took us off road. I covered the 5K in about 28 and a half minutes, which perhaps, was not great but placed me again in the 90’s. Overall, I finished 120th, with the official time of 1 hour 38 minutes. It also placed me in the middle of my age group. In a nice gesture, TOM-a Lot came over after the race, introduced himself and congratulated me on a good race – I really appreciated that.
So, what have I learned?
1. Arrive to the race early;
2. Wear wetsuit whenever and wherever possible, regardless of the season;
3. Try incorporating a dolphin stroke into my swimming (just kidding);
4. Swim, bike and run faster.
