Vermont Half Journey 2008. There couldn’t have been a better day for a triathlon than this day. The weather was nice even prior to race time. I set up my stuff at transition in a relaxed fashion since I was there early. (A benefit of camping at the state park where the triathlon was located.) I looked around once in a while for TOMahawk since he said he was going to make a showing but no sight of him nearing the start of the swim. I took a short warm up swim before the race mostly to get used to the water. It wasn’t bad but a bit shallow. While I was getting out of the water they started making announcements so I hurried to the area. While there I got a greeting from TOMahawk. We talked a bit during the announcements and then headed to the swim start area. I got to the start area pretty relaxed and ready for a long day of exercising.
When my wave got started I entered and started swimming and it felt a bit crowded even though it wasn’t. I remember feeling a bit anxious after going a hundred or two hundred yards. I started thinking I better relax and slow down a bit so I’d be calmer. I slowed down a bit and relaxed and after that I was pretty relaxed and was able to keep a pretty good pace. The only problem after that was about a quarter of the way through the first loop of the swim I felt water coming into the right eye of my goggle like at the Stoked Xterrea race. There wasn’t a lot of water in the goggle but enough that I thought I probably lost a contact again and was wondering if I should try and bike the course with one contact or take the one out and bike with glasses. The one contact was winning the debate while swimming. A 39:29 swim which wasn’t terrible if you compare it to times I had for other swims this year but not bad, but not great, compared to the other competitors.
So, in transition and while coming out of the water I’m looking in my goggle to see if it still might be around. No luck at all, except I roll around my eye all over the place and to my luck it is still in. I strip out of the wet suit, put on socks and bike shoes, getting food for the bike while trying to eat a banana. Not really pushing it with this being my first ½. A bit of a long transition but I’m off. The bike was pretty nice overall.
The course is on Route 7 for 90% of the race and the road has break down lanes so you don’t have to worry about traffic. It also has some nice views of farms and mountains and such. I do remember there being a pretty good head wind going south on 7. This was a benefit on the way north though but was still trying when facing it. My bike wasn’t bad although I stopped twice to use the woods and once to refill on water at the aid stations. I’m guessing this slowed me down a bit and will need some work next year. Final time on bike 3:13:27.
This event was my worst event which is typically the case when I do triathlons. In transition two I had a Cliffbar and water along with 2 Endurolytes. (I’m not sure if this is a great combination but that is what I had.) Got my running shoes on and as I was thinking on part of the bike. It is going to be just a run. I’ll take it easy and do it. I’ve done plenty of long runs before. So, I started running and at a steady pace with some guy ahead of me doing a better pace which was disheartening. I kept running my pace and caught up to some people. Again the course had some great views. This time of the lake and area around it. After a while I started getting tired a bit but kept thinking to myself that I wanted to run the whole course and to just keep that slow steady pace for the whole run. Nearing the end I picked up the pace a bit just so I could stay ahead of anyone behind me. In the process I almost caught up with the guy in front of me. I actually slowed back to my normal pace near the finish since he was going to go through with his (or someone’s) kids. Run time was 2:07:52 which placed me 66th of the 149 finishers in the run. 95th place overall.
Lessons learned:
1st, and probably most important. You can never put on to much sunscreen before a race. Not wearing tank tops during the summer except at races I got a pretty good sunburn because I didn’t apply enough. With a father who has battled skin cancer I don’t want to go through the same process.
2nd, I need to train more and look at ways to reduce my bike times.
3rd It is great to be on a team like IRONTOM where you have teammates for support (along with family and friends of course.)
