The Best Laid Plans of...

     It's done! We did it! WE? My wife and I.  She kicked butt, me, not so much. The title of this turns on that familiar phrase to suggest I COULD HAVE PLANNED BETTER! Let's do a plus and minus column. On the plus side I planned and executed some things well.

Positives +

• I brought extra bike tools and supplies, they were used up til 5 minutes to race time (more about that later)
• I packed a water bottle with tap water just to wash my sandy feet off before biking and running
• I planned on not swimming in a straight line and was prepared for this confusion in the murky bay

Negatives -

• I didn't plan my two transitions very well and they took me over 7 minutes (my wife who didn't know they were even TIMED!) did both in less than 4 minutes total.
• In my nervousness over the swim, I forgot for the first 100 meters to use my nose plugs that dangled around my neck.  Treading water I swallowed a big salty mouthful as I tried to get them into place.  (not a highlight of the day)
• I showed up with a 7-10 year old front tire/tube combination that would not hold air the morning of the race.  I needed help at 15 minutes to race time by a kind racer whose fingers were less stressed then mine and we got the new tube in with 5 minutes to spare.  Another racer (at t-minus 5 minutes) borrowed my pump in vain and couldn't inflate his tire, and had no back-up.  Hopefully he borrowed a bike, even a spectators, so he could complete the race.

       

Neither a positive or a negative, I correctly knew the difficulty I would have swimming in a straight line, without the ease of swimming pool markings on the bottom of the pool to keep me in my lane. So when I had planned on swimming 30 strokes of crawl, followed by 60 breast strokes, I found that way too stressful to be swimming that long "blind". The new math was 10 crawl strokes followed by 20 breast strokes so I could keep a straighter path. While breast stroking and I could easily see, I saw one swimmer just ahead of me swimming off to a 30+ degree angle before he looked up to correct himself. My wife said that the best swimmers in her heat were doing the crawl but looking UP and FORWARD (and not to the side) to breath. We will have to practice that before next time.
         Also, I relied on my old running trick of finding someone to run with, talk, relax a bit, and then say goodbye and move on to someone else 30 to 50 yards ahead. And then repeat. I also did the same with a guy on the bike. But he and I rode for maybe the last 5 miles together as he rode at a fair pace and I had to "save something" for the run. But I did the bike at 17.75 mph pace which was okay, not great but I am fine with it. My wife, riding just 5K less than I, rode 17.3 mph, on a bike heavier by maybe 5 lbs, heavier and wider tires, and a flat handlebar. She's an animal! My run was done in 27:24 or about exactly 9 minutes a mile. I swear the last half mile I was doing under seven-thirty pace but it probably was a minute slower than that and just felt fast to me. Again, I probably had 2 to 3 catch up to you, talk and then leave you behind experiences over the 5k and it served me well. My wife ran her 2 miles at exactly 8 minute pace. Hum... I think she should have been drug tested after the race!

         While my first triathlon 29 years ago left me with a "wow, that was fun" kind of feeling I didn't have that same thought when I finished 4 days ago. "Wow, I am glad that was over" and I had a mild sense of accomplishment was all I could muster, but still it was overall a good experience and one I hope to repeat before next years race. I was disappointed that I didn't come in around 1:20, instead I ran in at 1:32 but had I been mindful of the transitions I could have easily dipped under the 90 minute mark. But this was more about getting reacquainted with competing. The 27-ish year old couple who I saw near me at both transistion times were also relaxed and friendly and we talked casually as we not so hurriedly put on our various shoes. So call it a SOCIAL TRIATHLON for me, rather than a full-on "pedal to the metal" grind. I did run hard but since my legs were not sore the next day indicates I probably had left a bit too much gas in the tank during the race. I would estimate that if my wife had done the same triathlon distances as I she would have beat me by 5 to 7 minutes. As it was she was the 2nd women at the Super Sprint distances and was only beat by a women who was in the 21-30 age group. Not bad for a 44 year old who had never done even a competitive 5k in her life. And she only missed winning by 14 seconds. I am now eyeing another tri a month from now, with an open water ocean swim. Same distances pretty much (except for 100 extra meter swim) so we will have to see. I would hate to lose this well earned conditioning I came up with. We'll see.