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Yesterday I completed  the Lobsterman, my first Olympic length triathlon (1500 meter swim, 40k bike, 10k run). This race was the culmination of a long summer of training with various ups and downs. The short summary is that it was a gorgeous day, although a bit windy and very hilly. I completed the race in 2:48:38 with splits of swim 31:38, bike 1:21:03, and run 51:47. Complete race report follows. If you’re interested in reading about my first triathlon here are links to part 1 and part 2.

After the Powow Triathlon in July I decided I wanted to start racing longer distances. The sprint length was a bit short and I never really got into any of the three events. Just when I was hitting my pace on the bike, it was time to run and just when my legs were warm running, the race was over. The next distance up from a sprint is an olympic/international distance so I targeted the Lobsterman in mid September as the end of season race as my training goal.

Now that I had a race plan I decided to invest some money in better equipment. I went out and bought a wetsuit since a lot of swims in New England are in the cold ocean. The crown jewel of my purchases was a brand new Cervelo P1 triathlon bike with a Powertap. The thoughts were that the triathlon frame and position would increase my speed over my 12 year old road bike by keeping me in an aero position. The Powertap is a device to measure how much power my legs are delivering and is a very useful training device to see how much real work the body is doing.

Training was progressing very well through July and August. I ran the Yankee Homecoming 10 mile race and was learning and loving my new bike and training tools. Unfortunately my whole summer was changed on August 25. As I was finishing a training ride a Lincoln Town Car pulled out from a side street trying to cross the main road I was on and t-boned me.

I haven’t blogged about the accident because it really has evoked too many emotions to be described in a blog post. The summary is that I feel very lucky that I escaped as well as I did. I ended up flipping off of my bike onto his hood, sliding up the hood and cracking his windshield, before being thrown to the ground 6 feet in front of his car. My bike ended up another 10 feet or so in front of the car. I got taken to the hospital for x-rays and to make sure I wasn’t bleeding internally,etc. My bike, however, was totaled. Check out this neat shot of the front fork sheered off by the impact.

I guess I rolled pretty well because I took most of the force rolling across my shoulder and arm on the right side of my body. In the end the right side of my body was bruised up in addition to my knee, thigh, and knuckles on my left hand. After all of that, nothing was broken. It’s now almost 4 weeks after the accident and I still have a barely visible bruise on my right quad and the muscles deep in my right shoulder and quad are still sore. I’m still significantly more tired, thirsty, and hungry than I was before the accident. I guess healing bodies require food, water, and sleep in large quantities.

I first suspected I would have to skip the race based upon how bruised and sore I was for the first week after the accident. I did a follow up appointment with my primary care physician who took some more knee x-rays. When those were cleared the following week, I decided to go test out my sore body and see if there was any hope of still racing. That 2nd week I did a short 500m pool swim, a 5k run, and a short 12 or 15 mile bike on my old road bike.

After that quick test I gave my body another full week of rest before deciding what to do for my final two weeks of training. I was feeling pretty depressed because the two weeks I had to take off were supposed to be my two peak weeks for the season. Instead of working out for 12-14 hours each week I had to settle for about an hour of get out and see if my body still works time. It’s hard to describe how unsettling that was for my body and mind. At this point I decided I would still try to race but that I should have very realistic expectations for my performance.

The week before the race I got a new bike, although it’s still not completely built. I have the basic frame and components so I could get used to the bike the week before the race. However, my wheels and Powertap are still being replaced so Marty at Fitwerx2 arranged for me to borrow a Powertap for the race. I can’t say enough good things about my experience with Fitwerx2.

The night before the race, Dan Dunn came up to Newburyport to relax with me and take my mind off of the big day. Also, we had to leave for the race site at 5:30 in the morning so he just spent the night in the guest room. After a nice pasta dinner I managed to get about 4.5 hours of decent quality sleep before the alarm went off at 4:30. I had some breakfast, mixed up my nutrition drinks for the day, and loaded the car up. We saw a gorgeous sunrise as we drove the 1.5 north to Freeport, ME for the race.

At the site I checked in, set up my transition area, and had a half hour to spend with Dan, Susan, and Emily Kubec who drove over from New Hampshire to cheer me on. I really appreciated having Dan and Emily there to cheer for me and keep Su company while I was out on the course. About 8:45 I put on my wet suit and went down to the cold ocean to get my body used to the water temperature. When I got out of the water it was time for the walk down the beach to the start area for instructions and the nervous wait until my wave (wave 4) was launched.

Swim start

The tide was coming in during the race setting up some interesting current patterns in the bay. The first leg was pretty easy and I spent it going slowly because 1500 meters in the ocean was substantially longer and harder than the 750 meters I did in the calm lake last triathlon. The back straight was the longest leg of the race and sighting the next buoy became an issue. I spent a significant amount of time and energy making sure I was still on a good line. The final leg back into shore turned out to be the hardest. There was a significant current that was pushing everyone way off course. What I was hoping would have been the easiest leg due to the incoming tide was actually very tiring fighting to hold the proper line.  I came out of the water in 31:38. I expected to come out between 30 and 35 so I was right on my target. I think I did a good job holding back physically so I wouldn’t exhaust myself for the bike and run legs, but there was a lot of mental energy put into the ocean swim.

Coming out of the water after 1500m

The transition area was up a rocky hill and down a rocky path. Fortunately my feet were too cold from the ocean to feel anything. I was quite dizzy from coming out of the water which was something I expected from the last race, but the effect from the longer swim made it a more powerful disorienting feeling. I had no problems getting out of my wet suit but almost fell over trying to put my bike shoes on. After a decent 2:30 transition I mounted my bike and started down the sandy exit road from the park.

The sand/stones on the exit road seemed a bit dangerous to me. There were other athletes moving very fast out of transition on their bikes while I was just trying to get my legs moving and not hit a sandy patch. Fortunately that section was only a few hundred meters long and we were onto the open road. I took the first 1.5 miles or so to get warmed up and to try to get my heart rate and breathing under control from the swim. During this time I got passed by a bunch of people, many of whom I would catch later when I was properly warm.

Start of the bike leg on a sandy road

I had looked at the course elevation profile before the race, but it really did not do justice to the number of hills on the course. I estimate there was less than 1 mile of truly flat terrain on the entire 25 mile bike. This, combined with some very rough road conditions from frost heaves, and gusty 10-20 mph winds made for slower bike leg than I would have liked. I ended up finishing in just over 1:21:00 with an average of 18.3 mph. The good news is that my legs felt fairly fresh as I had used the power meter on my bike to limit my exertion. At one point I dropped my chain trying to shift on a steep uphill, but that only cost me 20 seconds or so to hop off and slip it back on.

Apparently I did a good job holding back sufficiently because I cheesed for a photo on the run out. I remember giving the thumbs up, but I don’t remember looking quite so happy.

CHEESE

The 10k was the same course as the first 3 miles of the bike course so I knew to expect the hills. Despite the terrain I managed to run 8:10/mile for the run. About mile 3 or 4 I felt warmed up and had a good final 3 miles into the finish. The last half a mile was made happier by a spectator’s german shepherd who she had singing/howling at the runners as the owner whooped to cheer us on.

After crossing the finish line in 2:48:38 I did all the usual post race activities including cramming myself with food and water before wandering off to find my support crew. I was very happy to finish within the goal time I had set for myself. I figured I would come in somewhere between 2:45 and 3:00 and given that 4 weeks ago I didn’t know if I’d race at all I felt a bit emotional.

Afterwards we all headed off to Gritty McDuff’s for a post race burger and beer before heading home for a well earned nap. It’s now 24 hours post race and my body is still tired and sore, but it’s a good tired and sore. My shoulder and quad that were most injured in the accident are definitely feeling the exertion more than the rest of my body, but given the circumstances I’m feeling confident.

Over the next two weeks or so I’ll sort out what my race plans are for next year and start an off season maintenance routine. Overall, I pronounce my first triathlon season a success and I’m looking forward to figuring out what’s next!

Labor Day weekend held glorious weather, which allowed us to *finally* get in our first hike of the season.  We originally planned to leave at the crack of dawn on Saturday, but later decided that nothing beats a good sleep to start the long weekend, and traffic cooperated so we didn’t kick ourselves for making the choice to sleep a couple more hours.  We headed up to the Tripyramids for an 11 mile loop that bagged two more 4000 footers.  The hike included plenty of warm-up on the logging road, as well as plenty of typical New England hiking – straight up a rock slide (and also down a rock slide, which might be just as bad)!  Just as we’ve learned that running any road with “Hill” in its name means you’ll get just what is advertised [Old Town Hill, Cherry Hill, and most notably Meeting House Hill], when the trail has “Slide” in its name you’ll similarly are signing up for a challenge!  We were rewarded with great views from the rock slides.

On Labor Day I ran the “Around Cape Ann” road race.  This is round 2 of my 2000 season repeat, and I was a bit nervous before the race given my struggles at the Yankee Homecoming race.  I fared better this round with a time of 2:15:52, beating my 2000 time by almost 10 minutes.  I was especially pleased with running strong through the “16 crazy hills” – the slogan of the race.  Here’s the terrain map with approximate splits.  (Note that some of the markers were probably off, because I don’t think I ran a 7:55 nor do I think I ran a 9:55.  I’m pretty sure my pace was between 8:15 and 9:10 for the most part.)

We hope to get in some more beautiful fall hikes between our major races over the next month.  Up next – Brian races his International length triathlon in Freeport next weekend!

Brian reads a lot and I love reading, though it seems the only time I sit still long enough to read a book these days is on vacation or on an airplane.  I’d been looking for other ways to meet Newburyporters – and to inspire me to dedicate more time to reading – when my friend Carrie suggested the “most laid back book club.” When I met the organizer at Carrie’s Chocolate and Champagne party, I was hooked before I even went to the first meeting at Cafe DiSiena (the local coffee shop on Pleasant Street, a relaxing oasis Brian and I would frequent when reflecting on a day of house-hunting, before moving to Newburyport).  Summer also seemed like the perfect time to get into the habit of reading, and one book a month doesn’t seem like too large of a commitment.

I tend to read business books (my stack of future reading is now quite large) so the club provides a impetus to read books I might not otherwise select.  For my class in June I read Soul of a New Machine, with books on project management, executing strategy, leadership and organizational culture before that – some might consider these boring in the whole scheme of literature.  My friend Abigail always has good recommendations when I get around to asking and borrowing, usually right before a big trip.  Ab has been a godsend for letting me borrow Harry Potter, introducing me to Thursday Next, and I can’t even count the range of fluffy to thought-provoking titles over the years.  My friend Sue also offers recommendations when I see her, though that’s about twice a year on visits to Ohio.  Brian will read topical books and fantasy, so sometimes I’ll pick up one of his nonfiction too – most recently Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which was lifestyle changing last year.  So I’m not completely lacking in assistance, but I still tend toward the dry-but-applicable reading most of the time.

For the book club, July started with Olive Kitteridge – just reading fiction as definitely a change of pace.  After that we read Reach of a Chef, followed this month by Julie and Julia.  The book club is definitely helping me stay relevant with mainstream topics.  We’ll have to leave the cooking/food theme to avoid a rut, and now it’s my turn to pick a book for October.  I’m debating picking something new that I have not read or suggesting a favorite for the others to read.  Any suggestions?

One day while chatting in the library we looked outside and noticed something exciting!

Red peppers, with a backdrop of blackeyed Susan and mums

Our peppers started to turn red!  I had been wondering if I had enough patience to let them turn red – I picked one green just to see how hot it was, and then kept my fingers crossed that they would ripen quickly once I confirmed they were indeed tasty and spicy.  We have a few Roma tomatoes ripening as well, so the garden is not a complete wash, though I had to pull the lettuce that went to seed, and we never did see any peas, eggplant, broccoli rab or strawberries.  Next year we are planning to do raised beds and haul in new soil like our friend Katie, who’s had a bumper crop in a very small space.

In the mean time, we enjoyed heirloom tomatoes with basil from the farm share for Friday dinner (plus mozzarella, and some brie with crackers), while we watched Project Runway (recorded).

Friday dinner - basil, tomato and mozzarella salad

You can see our other bounty in the background – summer squash, new potatoes, more basil, more tomatoes, zucchini and corn.  Fresh produce is colorful this time of year!

We combined our Juddmansee forces for pickling this weekend.  Brian had put up peaches last year, so was familiar with the canning process.  I had done sun pickles in the past, but hadn’t graduated from pickles that can be stored in the refrigerator to long-term shelf-table preservation.  Inspired by our CSA’s recipes, falling a bit behind on eating through the green beans and cukes, plus Saturday thunderstorms that prevented us from hiking, formed the “perfect storm” for pickling.

Dilly beans and pickles

We did 3 quarts of dill pickle spears and 2 quarts + 1 pint of dilly beans.  We’ll enjoy a taste of summer when the weather turns cold this winter!

We’ve both been considering some races for the fall as we’ve been training through the summer. Here’s the confirmed lineup.

Brian is competing in the Lobsterman Triathlon in Freeport Maine, recommended by our Ironman dentist and Triathlon magazine as “the” Olympic distance triathlon to do in New England.

To continue reliving my 2000 season, I’m running the “Around Cape Ann” 15 mile race on Labor Day as a marathon tune-up. This race – and Brian – kicked my butt 9 years ago, but I’ve been doing more hill work this time, so hopefully it will be less painful. I also pulled the trigger and registered for the Bay State Marathon on October 18. Maybe I will even be one of the 38% of runners who clock a Boston qualifying time!

Of course we’re both registered to run the Disney Half-marathon with Leslie in January.

It’s incentive to keep putting in the miles and laps, even when it’s [finally!] hot, like this week! Although I have to say that Brian’s ocean swims, even for 1200m+, seem like a much smarter idea than my 18-mile runs when it’s 95 and humid.

Like many towns, Newburyport has an annual festival.  I grew up anticipating the Three Rivers Festival – watching the parade on TV, attending an event here and there, and often enjoying an elephant ear (NOT to be confused with its smaller and less crispy Yankee cousin, Fried Dough) as an annual treat.  In Newburyport, we have Yankee GO HOME Homecoming.  Most years we seek to stay inside or leave town to avoid the crowds and traffic that invade our neighborhood for the week.  This year Brian’s mom and grandma came to visit, a great excuse to take in more of the festivities.  We started with the race.

I’ll point out that this race is the reason we moved to Newburyport, and a contributing factor in our marriage.  I first ran the race in 2000 when we were training to run a marathon.  A friend from church was also training for a marathon, and he suggested the 10 mile race for its unusual length (between a 10k and half marathon), its picturesque setting, and its reasonable distance from Boston.  I ran well and appreciated Newburyport for its bustling downtown, fantastic architecture and proximity to the water and the state park.  Later that year Brian and I drove up to Newburyport on a date, explored town, and eventually decided to buy a place there and get married, to make a long story short.

At any rate, we decided it was high time to run the race as Newburyport residents.  We made sure to hydrate well on Tuesday since it’s notoriously hot on the last Tuesday in July at 6:30pm.  This year was no exception – 85 degrees and humid at race time.  Our initial plan was for me to run hard and to do a real time trial, and for Brian to hang back and run a more relaxed race due to the sweltering conditions.

They didn’t bother with a chip-adjusted start, so our first mile came in at 8:02 even though clock time was about 8:22.  Barb and Grandma Hume cheered for us from the Mall as we ran past.  We kept up the pace for the second mile as well, largely pulled along as part of the 1500 runners for the 10 mile race (another 2500 ran the 5K).  Around Mile 3 we settled into an 8:17 pace, about what I wanted to run on average for the race.  Mile 4 starts a long slow incline; Brian pulled ahead during what turned out to be my first of a series of failed attempts at drinking water.  By halfway through the 4th mile I was getting chills and feeling no sense of competitiveness – not a great sign.  During the 5th mile I focused on getting some water, losing all momentum up the hill in order to hit the water stop and consume the 8 oz, and clocking my slowest mile at 9:11.  I shuffled along during mile 6 at about 9 minutes, by which time Brian was no longer in sight, and finally felt normal at Mile 7 when I was able to resume a reasonable ~8:30 pace.   Either the shade,  the rural setting, or the water finally kicked in, because I managed to finish the race strong and holler a greeting to Joe and Marybeth (new Newburyport residents sitting on their front lawn, friends via Brian and Heather Kennealy).  My last zippy mile was just over 8 minutes, for a total time of 1:25, averaging an 8:30 pace.  Brian kicked my butt, coming in 3 minutes faster at 1:22, a sub-8:15 pace.  No surprise, his rigorous training is working!  After the race we jogged home and ate a quick dinner before falling into a very sound exhausted sleep.

Wednesday those who didn’t have to work enjoyed walking around town and playing cards, while I had a productive day at the office between my early race-inspired departure Tuesday and taking a day off Thursday.  Thursday morning we got up early and drove to the Berkshires for a day of sightseeing.  Although the train was not running, we still had a fun day at the Normal Rockwell Museum, lunch in Stockbridge, a river walk in Great Barrington, then getting stuck in traffic.  Oh wait, the driving was the less fun part because we had torrential rain on the way there, topped by extreme rubbernecking and a car in a tree on the way home.  We still considered it quality family time though – plenty of conversation and reminiscing and joking.

This blog is already long, so I’ll summarize from here.  Friday there were sidewalk sales and more cards and a trip to the CSA (and more working).  Saturday we ventured to the Nubble Light and did a walking tour of Congress Street in Portland. We topped off the weekend with fireworks on Saturday night, and outdoor worship service on Sunday morning, and the big parade on at noon.  Throughout the week we had tasty dinners and enjoyed the dishwashing fairies who kept the sink clear.  Slinky had plenty of attention.  Despite his early concerns with someone moving into “his room” by the end of the week he was well accustomed to having more conversation and petting than any cat could hope to have, and was clearly distressed to learn that the nice ladies were not staying indefinitely.  We all miss our visitors and hope they will return next year, perhaps enticing Ken and Leslie to join us, for another fun week of summer New England activities.

I completed my first triathlon today and wanted to get my thoughts down while they are still relatively fresh. The short story is that I had a great time, finishing 23rd out of 53 in my age group (Male 35-39) and 100th out of 450 overall. Official results are here.

Advance warning, this is going to be a long post. After seeing how long it is I’m breaking it into two parts. Part one is a bit about my personal journey to get to today and part two will be my actual race day experience.

Continued from part one…

I went to bed about 10pm the night before the race and managed to fall asleep relatively quickly. That’s a bit unusual for me as I usually have a very active mind and have a hard time falling asleep in general, let alone before my first race.  I woke up about 2:15, hit the bathroom (was trying to rehydrate after my long drive the day before), and then lay in bed until about 3am. I wasn’t falling asleep so I got up, puttered around a bit on the computer, and lay back down about 4:15 with my alarm set to go off at 5am. I got about 45 more minutes of quiet “meditation” time before finally getting up. Ending up with 4 hours of sleep and another 1.5 hours in bed relaxing is about as good as I ever do before a big event so I felt pretty comfortable.

I woke up and went downstairs, fed the cat, made some coffee, and started the water boiling for oatmeal. After Su got out of the shower I hopped in while the oatmeal cooled. I had packed my bag the night before so all I had to do in the morning was mix my HEED (calories and electrolyte drink) and load my bag and water up in the car. Breakfast was oatmeal with brown sugar and the peaches I had canned the previous year. Before we left I took a short walk around the yard to relax my mind. The bee balm bloomed while we were on vacation making for a nice garden scene.

Bee balm

Loaded up and ready to roll

We got to the race parking lot about 6:15 and walked over to the race site about 6:30. I felt some nerves because the staff was still setting up the transition area even though it was supposed to be open at 6am. About 6:45 they opened the transition area which is when I discovered I was missing the bar end cap from one of my handlebars. Apparently this is illegal but fortunately the race director had spare bar ends I could use. I found my rack spot and proceeded to unpack my stuff as best I could.

Next I got my race numbers marked on my arm and leg and scouted out the lake and transition area.

A lot of people say that getting the race number marked on them is a very cool feeling and makes the event feel “real” and I have to agree. At that point I felt like I was prepared and I fit in here with the other athletes.

I did a short test spin on my bike to loosen my legs up a bit and to check for any last minute mechanical issues. I reracked my bike and headed off for a visit to the portapotties. I didn’t want to get to the starting line and discover I had made a miscalculation in timing…

There was supposed to be a prerace meeting/announcements at 7:30 so I made sure to warmup my legs running just before that. My plan was to warmup my legs, attend the meeting, put on my wetsuit, warm up my arms at 7:45 and make it to the start line by 8 for my 8:05 swim wave start. Well, 7:30 came and went, 7:45 I warmed up for the swim, 8:00 came and went. At about 8:15 the crowd starting moving to the start line and the race director(s) gave approximately 30 seconds of largely inaudible instructions over a megaphone. At this point I was feeling a bit annoyed as I was anxious and ready to go and now my warmups had been far too early for the actual race start.

Finally, 8:20 something and the first wave of men 30-34 take to the water. I waded in with the rest of my wave and waited 3 minutes for the horn to sound to start the men 35-39. The horn sounds, I wade a bit deeper and dive in from the back middle of our wave of 50 swimmers spread about 4 deep and 10 yards wide.

The first 25 or 50 meters was a bit rough. I was drifting a bit wide right and was trying to concentrate on relaxing and settling into a nice easy stroke while not getting kicked in the head. A few people grabbed my ankles as they passed me and I ran my hand into a few feet as I passed some others. My open water stroke is normally breathe every 3 strokes and sighting every 12. With the turmoil and chaos I was breathing every 2 to 4 strokes and sighting every 3 to 18 depending on how much chaos was occurring around me.

By midway to the first turn I was feeling pretty relaxed and had settled into a decent stroke, despite the fact I felt like I was swimming fast. I rounded the first buoy and immediately ran into a swimmer from the first wave (I caught somebody!) who was on his back doing a very space consuming float and push with the arms wide. Once I navigated this obstacle it was clear swimming to buoy 2. Just as I was approaching the second turn and entering the homestretch I saw a silver cap rocketing by me. I had just been caught by the first under 29 female swimmer who was moving at an amazing pace. A minute or two later another woman passed me. I marvelled at the booming depth charge sound her very strong two beat kick made as she passed me by. I managed to catch a nice draft off of her before she left me in her wake. I adjusted my sighting directly into the sun for the return to the beach. On this last stretch I remember thinking how the hard part was done and I could enjoy the rest of my race. In restrospect I think the swim was the easiest part of the day.

I came out of the water and had run 5 yards up the beach trying to reach my wetsuit zipper while simultaneously pressing my split button on my watch when I realized two things. One, I had come out of the water in 13:30, which is 3 full minutes faster than I had swum a half mile previously. Two, my legs weren’t really working. I had no clue how I was still on my feet.

I managed to get my breathing under control while trying to get my legs working and extract my arms from the wetsuit as I ran into the transition area. My transition went pretty smoothly. The wetsuit came right off thanks to a liberal application of body glide on my calves, shins, and forearms pre-race.  I managed to not tip over while I rolled my powdered socks on and slip into my cycling shoes. I had a hard time getting the velcro straps in place for some reason. I put on my helmet and sunglasses, took my bike off the rack and headed out of the transition area running toward the mount point.

I tried to hit my watch while running over the timing mat, but I must have missed the split button. On my watch I ended up recording T1 and the bike leg as one segment. Later in the bike leg this caused me some concern as I thought I had taken over 40 minutes for a bike leg I thought would take 37 to 39. Only later did I realize I had the entire 2.5 minute T1 added in there so when my watch said 40:00 I was really at 37:30 as I came in off of the bike.

Once I got on the bike I concentrated on starting my legs spinning in a low gear as I rode out of the parking lot and on to the open roads of the bike course. Since I had trained on this course I was familiar with it and had a plan for warming up in the first gently uphill 1.5 miles before finally starting to really push. During that first 1.5 miles I was passed by 5 or 6 people as I concentrated on getting my own legs moving. From my previous running experience I knew how important it was to “run my own race” so I managed to restrain myself at first as I had planned so I could warm my legs up.

I suspect I pushed too hard on the swim leg as my legs were very heavy and burned from the moment I got on the bike. I also wasn’t prepared for the fact that the air on my wet thighs would be so cold on the bike. I’m not sure how much of the “burning” was sore muscles versus the shock of cold air.

By mile 3 or so I had managed to get my breathing under control and ignored my legs. They were working fine despite their protests and I started picking people off on the rolling hills that made up the middle half of the course. I probably passed 20 or so people during this section. I got passed by 3 or 4 people on the long back hill leading up to the final huge descent/ascent/descent combo. I’ve been having problems since I put on my temporary tri handlebars keeping my bike handlebars from moving, despite having tightened them multiple times. I think this, combined with a lack of muscular endurance led to my slowing down.

I managed to muscle back up the final huge hill before spinning my way down towards the transition area. Su was at the corner cheering for me and managed to snap a photo.

While I was climbing the final hill I went through a strange series of thoughts as I stepped on the pedals. I was thinking that I’m never going to do this again and this was much more painful than I had expected while training. I was still pushing hard but I started feeling a bit depressed that I was going to do one tri and quit after that. It also didn’t help that I thought I was 2.5 minutes slower than I actually was.

I rode into T2 and as I approached the dismount point the volunteers were telling me to slow down. I thought I was going plently slow but my speed perception was clearly off. As I dismounted I nearly launched my bike over its own front tire as I applied the brakes. Once I recovered from that I went into the transition area for a relatively quick change into running shoes.

As I was exiting the transition area I remember thinking how my legs felt like they were really just plodding and stomping along. I felt very slow, but since I had trained for the bike to run transition I thought they’d feel better shortly. In short, my legs never really loosened up. My calves were threatening to cramp most of the run and I didn’t really feel normal running until about 2 miles in on the downhill back towards the finish line. Most of the run was a mental battle to keep telling my legs to shuffle forward and telling myself it was all just mental. If I kept my legs turning over I’d be moving at a decent pace and get done quickly.

After passing Su for this photo the spectators cheers carried me the final 1/2 mile into the finish. I stopped my watch for a time of 1:21:15.

My first thought was that time was in the faster side of what I expected to race. My second thought was that my run was slow and this sure was harder than training had made these distances seem. My third thought was that this was ok and I’ll probably race again, although definitely not jumping to a half ironman distance this year.

I grabbed a bunch of water and then wandered off to find Su. The volunteers were great at this race. Other than the transition area not being open and the start being pushed back to allow stragglers to come in the race was well organized and run. I don’t have other data points except for running races and Su’s tri, but it certainly was acceptable to me. Once I found Su I grabbed a banana and a huge tasty chocolate/caramel/coconut  cookie/brownie combo and felt much happier!

I ended up finishing 23/53 in my age group which I am very happy with considering I need to lose 15 more pounds and have only been training for 3 months. If I had raced as a Clydesdale (200+) I would have finished 6th and would have only been 1 minute off of 3rd and a podium spot. My swim was much stronger than expected swimming 1:43/100m versus 2:05/100m in training, but I think I kicked a bit too hard and wasted some energy. My bike was a bit harder than expected but I came in about 19.3mph versus my fastest time trial at 19.8 mph on the same course. My run 8:08/mile versus 7:30/mile for 5k in training turned out to be my weakest event which was somewhat surprising. I chalk that up to several factors. One is the heat and humidity which always impacts my running heavily, plus the fact that I had never swim or bike raced before and my notion of pacing is not nearly as developed as it is when I run. In any case, I was in the top 50% of my age group for every individual event. This is definitely a happy result and something I can build on if I decide to keep doing triathlons.

Now I need to figure out what to do next. I’ll keep marathon training for an October race which will cover my running mileage. I need to decide if I want to jump to an international length triathlon this year or stick with sprints. I’m pretty sure I’d be able to do the international distance but I think I’ll be more competetitive at sprint. I’m leaning towards a sprint tri in August for practice and then trying to find an international in September as the peak of my season.

I think I’ll probably spend some money on a better bike now that I’ve completed one race. I can save about 10 pounds in just bike weight because of tech changes in the past 10+ years. At some point I’ll probably need to buy a wetsuit, but I may hold off on that since I’m still losing weight. I also need to decide if I want to keep mostly self coaching or whether to employ a part time or online coach to help me with the next 3 months. Everything I’ve done so far has been based off of The Triathlete’s Training Bible by Joe Friel and off of information gathered from the very helpful forums at beginnertriathlete.com

I also plan to keep training and eating healthy (lots of local produce now that it’s summer) and hopefully drop the weight to 185 by the end of the race season. If I can do that I feel like I’ll have had a successful running season and be mentally prepared to fight through the doldrums that accompany winter in New England.

Now that my first race is over, I’m happy with the overall experience. The training has been a lot of fun and I genuinely like swimming (especially open water in a small lake/pond) now. The race was harder than I expected both mentally and physically. My end result was better than I thought it would be 3 months ago, but there is definitely room for improvement and I feel a little disappointed that I didn’t go even faster today.

I’ve read a lot of people who have written you never forget your first race, so I wanted to write down these thoughts while they were still fresh. It really was quite the experience and now I can officially call myself a triathlete.

I completed my first triathlon today and wanted to get my thoughts down while they are still relatively fresh. The short story is that I had a great time, finishing 23rd out of 53 in my age group (Male 35-39) and 100th out of 450 overall. Official results are here.

Advance warning, this is going to be a long post. After seeing how long it is I’m breaking it into two parts. Part one is a bit about my personal journey to get to today and part two will be my actual race day experience.

My first experience with triathlon (like many others) was seeing Julie Moss crawl to the finish in the 1982 Hawaii Ironman Triathlon.

I continued to follow triathlons (mostly Ironman) on and off through college when they happened to be on weekend sports shows. When I moved to California in 1996 I found a more active fitness community and I had a friend who actually had competed in a triathlon which raised my interest in the sport. I learned about the shorter distance races and was intrigued that you didn’t have to race 14 hours in order to be a triathlete. I got as far as buying a book or two about triathlon and doing some rough bike and run training, but never planned an actual event. I also was not a very strong swimmer having only learned to front crawl and breathe in 1996 in the MIT pool for a total length of 100m.

When I moved back to Massachusetts in 1999 and started dating Susan we ran a lot together since she was a runner. As we got more serious, our runs also got more serious and we ran a marathon together in October, 2000. I now had a run base and had confidence in my biking ability from all the biking I did as a teenager.

Marriage and job occupied the next several years and in 2004 Susan decided to do a Danskin Womens Sprint Tri with a friend. She trained hard for it, bought her first road bike with clip in pedals, learned how to swim and breathe, and finished in the top 20% of the race on the strength of her killer run fitness. The gauntlet had been thrown down.

By this time my weight had gone from 185 from running the marathon in 2000 up to an all time high of 231. In 2006 I decided it was time to get my weight under control, start working out again, and as an incentive I signed up for the local triathlon. By July when the race rolled around I had done a good job losing weight, but a bad job of sticking to a workout plan. I also had not put any effort into swimming. I figured I would borrow a wetsuit and wing it.

The night before the race I headed to packet pick up and was completely overwhelmed by the crowd. Pickup was taking place in the same tent as the prerace supper, the place was loud and disorganized, and I was not feeling very confident. I used the disorganization and crowd as an excuse to walk away from the race. After that I pretty much fell off of my diet and since I wasn’t really exercising I gained back almost everything I had lost over the previous year.

Since 2006 my weight has mostly been around 220 with some brief dieting based forays down to 205 or so.  At the end of 2008 our friend Heather talked us into signing up for the 2009 Covered Bridges Half Marathon and my little sister decided to run the 2010 Disney Half Marathon in January, 2010.  Starting in March I embarked on a 12 week half marathon running program with a starting weight of  220.5 pounds and the ability to run 4 10 minute miles before being tired.

My run training was progressing well and the miles I was running meant I didn’t have to change my diet too much to start losing weight at about 1 pound per week.  By early April the triathlon urge started again and I decided if I was going to do it, I was going to train for it and do it properly. I signed up for the Powow Sprint Triathlon on July 11, 2009.

I joined the local YWCA pool and decided to start taking swim lessons. I’ve been spending 30 minutes with a coach every 2 to 3 weeks working on my form and getting drills to do for the following weeks. Additionally, my 1/2 marathon training has had me running 25 to 35 miles per week. In early May I finally hauled my bike out of the garage and gave it a quick tune up and started riding.

May and June came and went and our half marathon was a very successful 1:53:xx. My weight fell from 220.5 down to 201 on my way to a theoretical eventual weight of 185. At least that’s where I plan to stop and evaluate how I feel and look. It’s amazing what burning an extra 1000 calories a day will do.

I stopped swimming as much in the pool and added in a few open water training sessions to get used to a wetsuit, sighting, and the fact that swimming in cold, deep, murky water is a bit disconcerting.  I increased my biking mileage although nowhere near as much as I should be doing. Most of my hours are still put in running since Su wants to do a marathon at the end of this year.

My swim times in the pool/open water were pretty consistent at 2:05/100 meters, bike time on the tri course on my 1996 Specialized Allez road bike weighing in at 28 pounds averaged ~19 mph, and my run speed was 7:30/mile for a 5k. Once I had managed to swim 750 yards in open water relatively easily I knew I had the ability to finish the race assuming I didn’t panic during the swim or break down on the bike. I promised to refrain from buying a new bike until I had actually completed a race. I didn’t want to have a $1200 bike sitting in my garage if I decided to freak out and walk away from the starting line again.

Two weeks before the race the weather in New England turned crappy which I didn’t mind too much as I was starting my taper. The week before the race I went on a road trip vacation to the midwest to visit family and friends. I knew I’d manage to workout some this week although I wouldn’t have any biking.

The day before the race I arrived home after a long drive, picked up my wetsuit at the tri shop, drove to the course for packet pickup, and headed home for dinner and to try to get some sleep. I was a bit road weary, but splitting the drive into two days helped with that somewhat and I felt pretty good (~75%) heading into bed the night before the race.

Race day! (part 2)

Last week was our annual summer vacation to Ohio and Indiana (or vowel states as Dan Dunn calls them) to visit our family and friends. We really enjoy the chance to catch up with many people we haven’t seen for a while and hopefully escape the recently abysmal New England weather.

This year our adventure started early on. We arrived at Logan early to fly to Detroit. We knew there were 2 hour delays but this is why I booked the 6pm flight instead of the 9pm flight. By arriving early we also got to relax in the Harpoon Brewery pub in the recently built Terminal A. I’m always thinking ahead.

Just as I started on my tasty beverage, my mobile phone rang. It was an automatic voice message from Northwest Airlines. I already knew the flight was delayed so I was tempted to hang up, but the pleasant voice announced that our flight was cancelled and that we had been rebooked at 12:55… (I’m thinking after midnight so we’ll be tired but still get in) …in the afternoon the following day.

Well, after some discussion we decided an 18+ hour delay to travel 750 miles was unacceptable. The main reason we flew is that we had a tight schedule to keep with family members and I wanted to get back so I could race in my first triathlon without being tired from a long drive.  I called the airline but the best they could offer was a refund or keeping the next day flight. I have little confidence in the ability of Northwest Airlines to get me to my destination in a reasonable amount of time and little confidence they would even get me back in time for my race despite booking a flight early in the day. I’ll leave the complete rant about how terrible airlines are for another time.

Since we were already packed and ready to go we went to the parking garage, hopped in the car, and started driving west on I-90. A mere 11 hours and 40 minutes later we were pulling into my mom’s driveway at 5:45 am after a lovely night battling thunderstorms across New York and Pennsylvania.

We grabbed a short 3 hour nap and hopped back in the car to see my Grandma Krueger who is in a nursing home out in Swanton. Also joining us were my aunt (in from Houston), my cousin and her daughter (in from Oklahoma), my other cousin (already in Toledo), my other aunt, and some significant others. Grandma was much more active than our past few visits despite having had hip replacement surgery since we last saw her at Christmas. It was very good to see her gathered with so many family members.

After that visit we headed back to my aunt’s place for some tasty lunch and some time splashing in their pool. Despite the fact it was only 70 and the water was cool we couldn’t keep my little cousin Aubrey out of the water so I had to take a dip as well.

On Saturday, Su and I hopped in the car with my mother to head out to Edon, OH for the annual Holliker campout/barbeque/3 day party. We saw all the usual suspects as well as my cousin Eric and his wife Celia. Su hasn’t met either of them and I had never met Celia.

Susan, Brian, Barb, Emily, Greg, Celia, Eric

Late Saturday we continued our journey on to Fort Wayne, IN to spend some time with Susan’s folks.  Sunday was a nice, slow day that offered a chance to relax a bit and just catch up with my in-laws.  Susan got to enjoy a trip to her youth church to see both the old and the new.

Monday, we were back on the road again with a trip to St. Marys, OH to visit Su’s grandmother. She wanted to go out to lunch and the Buick needed to be driven so we fired it up and headed into Celina for lunch on the lake at Pullman Bay Restaurant. After lunch (and a piece of pie) we drove to K.C. Geiger Park to visit Grandpa’s tree.  Grandma and the rest of us were in high spirits after such a nice day.

Susan’s father acquired an old Corvette several years ago that he is in the process of making roadworthy. Most of the body work has been done and he dropped it off on Monday for brake work. Since the garage was in Decatur on the way back from St. Marys I got to pick it up and drive it home. I could get used to having such a good looking car.

Allan's Corvette

Tuesday was our day to visit old friends. For lunch we headed out to Grabill, IN to meet Su’s oldest friend Dawn. She works as a librarian in the Grabill branch and we got to enjoy some home cookin’ at the Grabill Inn.

After lunch I went for an open water swim at Fox Island County Park. On our way to dinner we stopped in to visit Susan’s friend Miriam who is in a nursing home in Warren, IN. Miriam seemed pleased to see us, especially when we told her we were going to her favorite restaurant for dinner. We are always thankful for a chance to visit with her when we’re in the area. After leaving Miriam we headed down the road a bit further to Ivanhoe’s Drive In. We met Hans, Dawn, and their 3 boys for a quick dinner and a chance to catch up on what they’ve been doing since their visit last year. Of course after dinner I got one of their 100 tasty shakes for the road. I think that may become a regular stop on the way south from Fort Wayne in the future.

On Wednesday we bid adieu to the Woodmansee clan and headed back to Toledo for a chance to see my family a bit more. I managed to resurrect my mother’s computer that had acquired a nasty suite of viruses which was easily the most painful thing I had to do all week.

Thursday we started our trip back to Boston stopping for dinner in Buffalo in a restaurant that happened to have one of my favorite beers on tap. On Friday we completed the drive, stopped in Boston to pick up my rental wetsuit from the tri shop, headed to Amesbury to pick up my race packet, before finally heading home to unpack and have dinner.

WordPress says my current word count is over 1100 words which is 1100 more than the number of frequent flier miles we received for this surprise driving vacation. It was a fun week and although I’m glad to be back home, I’m looking forward to seeing our midwestern family and friends again soon!