posted Jun-17-2007 04:28 PM               

Short story:
1M swim 31:03 (31 m/M)
about 4:00 to run to T1
T1 about 1:43
26M bike 37:19 + 39:07 = 1:16:26 (20.4 mph)
T2 1:35
6M run 48:51 (8:09 m/M)
2:43:40 total
7th in AG.

Loooong story:
International kind of means like an Olympic length but they’ve screwed up the distances. This one is 1M/26M/6M (Oly is 0.9M/25M/6.2M or 1.5k/40k/10k). The long swim vs bike and run leg is baaad for me. But it’s 2 weeks to the Patriot half ironman, so what the heck.

Got up at 5 to eat. Found out from TV that I need to save my soul. Had coffee. Left to arrive about 1 hr early. Driving there I went on autopilot and starting driving to work! Ack! Had to regroup and force my car towards the tri.

Checked in. Brought my new BD present, a tri backpack, with everything in it. It works. Waterlily and friends bought it for my BD present because they noted that I show up to tri’s with six Walmart bags to hold my stuff. So having this tri backpack was really great. It took me most of Saturday to figure out how to get all the Walmart bags in it though. Somehow, the weather turned out perfect. 60’s moving to 70’s as the morning progressed. I can only assume that my most recent birthday, and living my life right, has cast me into a new weather consciousness which will insure good weather for all races I enter until A) the next BD cancels everything, or B) the powers that be figure out that swimming biking running drinking beer is not quite the definition of living your life right. Who cares I’ll take it for now.

I found LeftRightRepeat and stopped to say high. Sad to say, Mrs. LLR, Gator Tri Grl, was under the weather (no connection to good weather) and not available. So I made like I actually was happy to connect with LRR and not disappointed that GTG had gone missing (and he didn’t bring Lori as a backup either!). We chatted about goals, so I set mine at his minus 1 second each leg.

Ok race time! We stand around in the water for while for speeches, national anthem, and more. Then the race folks announce “THE FIRST WAVE WILL BE THE ELITE ATHLETES!”. That’s all it took. The elites were gone. No gun. No ready set go. Just frothy water. They were yelling STOP, COME BACK! Sure, their heads are all underwater. I guess the race is started. I am in the next wave, 2m, and a count down, we’re off. I try to just stay calm in the swim, because it’s a blender and I swim like a tomato. I am going straight, and people are swimming over me at 90 degrees out. It settles down and on the long parallel to beach leg and I am pretty happy. Then the next wave, fast 30 somethings, catch up. More people swimming over me. Ugh. Ok, ok, I survive. After an eternity I pull in at about 31 minutes. A good mile for me.

Ashland has the distinction of being the worst swim to bike transition in the entire world. It is about 1/2M, uphill, from the water to the bikes. Trail running. I put some water shoes near the water exit, stripped my wetsuit there, put the shoes on, and headed up. About 4m to get there. I was huffing. Another 2m or so to don bike shoes, helmet, glasses. Ok.

The bike goes ok. It is hilly. After a few miles enter Hopkinton, MA and start down the Boston Marathon route. Remember the wheel chair crash? This is downhill. I was 37 mph tucked and not pedaling. Max speed on the day was 42 mph. Passed a few AG’rs. In downtown Ashland traffic is a bit dicey. I am stunned that with a race on, and clearly hundreds of bikers strung out along the route, a few cars will not give in. Examples were plenty of a stopped car, and a car trying to squeeze by on the right, and failing, blocking the bike route; a big SUV putting down the psgr window and screaming at the racers for 2 miles; a stop light where cars just hang on the right shoulder blocking the bike route, even though they just passed 37 bikers racing along the shoulder.

Ok gotta cut it short. Heading for the cape to see mom.
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Follow up:

Rereading I see I was getting a little negative right about when I had to cut out. I’ll try to stay away from that.

Special mom insert: So I had to cut out and head for Cape Cod where my mom lives. She went in for open heart surgery involving a new valve, a few inches of aorta, and a bypass. This was Friday. My sis was there, but Sunday is the first day she was really up for visitors. We asked lots of questions about all the work done, but the drs. and nurses assured us this was common and that mom was really in great shape to tolerate it and do well. And it appears she is. All good news so far. Except that mom is basically a child of the 20’s and internet access is not high on her list of necessities. Basically, she is a luddite. So I am offline unless I sit outside the public library and drink my Poland Springs water from a brown paper bag like my friends here.

To finish up. The bike did go well. [whine] And this is on my beater. My tri bike has lost its seatpost clamp and must go for open frame surgery. So Big Red (the rock), is pressed into service. [/whine] I passed a half dozen of my AG on the bike. The people who passed me were younger. This tends to happen when you swim like a tomato. After that downtown traffic on the first loop, a young woman passed me on big uphill. (We have traded places about 6 times already.) She says, good job in that traffic back there. I mutter, yeah, stupid cars. Then I add, I’ll see you on the next downhill. I guess that just fired her up; I never saw her again.

T2 – 1:35. Good. No Yanx laces just tie em up like every other day, grab the water bottle (I’ll add pics if they show up), and head out.

Run – Kinda slow. It was getting hot by this time, and the first 1/2M is the bike course start, also uphill. The water bottle was actually Heed with E-Caps added. I drained half of it in the first mile and stashed in my back shirt pocket. Finished it in the second mile. Besides the early breakfast, I had a bike bottle of Perpetuem, a drink mix with real nutrition and electrolytes, etc. I drained it well before finishing the bike so I was ready for the HEED, and it was cold from an insulated lunch box. But I was still getting little twingy hamstring cramps that warned me about picking up the pace. So I settled in at twingy plus a few seconds per mile, and nursed it up the hills too. I was still pretty much catching people the entire run, and passed another 5 or 6 AG’rs. On the final hill, another teammate appeared I was hoping it would be enough to place. It is a tough course.

I failed to catch Fearless Leader (damn). This is a tough pill to swallow, since he biked 120M the day before. To add insult to injury, as I pulled in to the finish, there he was, cheering me on with “Just one more loop Craig, just one more loop and you’re done!!!”. Yuk, yuk. This requires pay back.

I did manage to stay ahead of Waterlily. Barely! Her swim was 1 minute behind me. She ran equal. I think I edged her in the bike.

Post race was a BBQ with BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, great mixed veggies, corn bread, gravy, and lots of sports drinks. Besides that our combined clubs had tent with more food, beer, lots of families, and all that type of picnic stuff. Fearless Leader had a cooler of excellent beer. I helped myself to all I could and still be able to drive home (that’s payback). I was hoping LRR would stop by and visit a bit more, but it didn’t happen. Probably because Thor was with him, and then that would have included actually meeting Thor, who has resolved himself to never meet me, ever, ever.

See ya,
Caig
r

[This message has been edited by TheProFromDover (edited Jun-18-2007).]

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posted Jun-17-2007 04:36 PM            

Fast, fast and fast got you to 7th in AG.

It sounds as if your transitions went better and that your bike seat didn't drop on yout his time.

Part 2 waiting ...

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posted Jun-17-2007 04:42 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by TheProFromDover:
I try to just stay calm in the swim, because it’s a blender and I swim like a tomato.

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Great race and report! I love reading these tri reports. It’s like another world to me, but very exciting! I so admire those of you who can take on these multisports. I admit I don’t really know what the numbers mean, other than your running pace, but it sounds like you did well. How many people were in the race total?

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Holly

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posted Jun-17-2007 05:00 PM            

Epic swim, Pro. Darn dumb drivers.

Your report is hilarious, esp. your morning jitters.

Oh, and we'd be interested to know whether anyone made comment about your bike shorts making you look fat.

Looking forward to the finale.

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posted Jun-17-2007 06:36 PM               

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->>> John <<<-
Go write something in the Newbie Wiki!!

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posted Jun-17-2007 06:38 PM            

.................and great RR.........

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posted Jun-17-2007 06:42 PM               

TomS

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My Profile

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posted Jun-17-2007 06:51 PM               

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Fortunate--a volleyballer with a running problem
Profile

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posted Jun-17-2007 07:20 PM            

Critical details are missing.

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posted Jun-17-2007 07:33 PM            

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posted Jun-17-2007 07:40 PM               

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posted Jun-17-2007 08:43 PM            

Pro, you are still on track and meeting your goals. Is the next one the biggie?

BTW, on this morning's run I saw a pack of runners at the lake coming my way, led by a guy named Dave Scott, who is supposed to be a well-know tri guy. Have you ever heard of him? He runs a lot here with our group in TX. Spareribs

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posted Jun-17-2007 10:48 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by TheProFromDover:
Got up at 5 to eat. Found out from TV that I need to save my soul. Had coffee.

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This was my favourite line. (I have been there...)
I heard about the blender (or washing machine). Staying calm is the best strategy, just prolly easier said then done.
T1 sounds really tough. I wonder what happenes to the stuff the racers leave behind, for example, how do you make sure your wet suit is there where you leave it after the race?
Stupid arrogant drivers. There is always a couple no matter where you go. Knuckleheads...
As for the run...ummm, I'll comment once I hear the details. Or maybe no comments was the point? Hope you had a nice visit with your mom Pro.
Congrats on the AG place, it's a great achievement in my book.
j

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posted Jun-18-2007 05:06 AM               

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Never regret anything that made you smile, SteveP

My User Profile

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posted Jun-18-2007 06:21 AM            

For starting out without a prayer, since you refused the need for soul saving, it sounds like you did okay. As for swimming like a tomato, don't tomatoes go fast in a blender? That paints a mental picture that you were fast, but didn't get anywhere. Your time belies that.

SS, speaking from experience, it's not the shorts that make you look fat.

Hope you had a good visit with Mom.

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posted Jun-18-2007 07:51 AM            

I'm glad you figured out how to get the 6 Walmart bags in your cool Tri Backpack. Chuckle.

You are an inspiration to me. Keep it up!

Bill

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posted Jun-18-2007 10:50 AM            

Here's your official time from the web (they've just posted a minute ago). I also did some analysis for you.

1M swim: 30:24 (compared to 30:55 last year)
T1+26M hilly bike: 1:22:45 (compared to 1:27:29)
T2+10K run: 50:28 (compared to 50:04 last year)
Total: 2:43:39 (compared to last year 2:48:30)
Category 7 out of 24 (top-3 are 2:24, 2:30, 2:32)
Overall 113 out of 330

Your swim & run time are almost exactly the same as last year, the big improvement is from the bike, and you haven't even used your tri bike! Way to go, Craig!

I would like to add some comments on your comment on weather and your BD....I told ya, you need a BD cake with candles that you can make a wish on for your BD

Hope your mom is doing well...

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posted Jun-18-2007 01:48 PM               

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- Runnin' in Rochester

Rochrunner

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posted Jun-18-2007 02:11 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Spareribs:
BTW, on this morning's run I saw a pack of runners at the lake coming my way, led by a guy named Dave Scott, who is supposed to be a well-know tri guy. Have you ever heard of him?

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Yah... He's had some small amount of success in triathlons. Brief bio here.

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->>> John <<<-
Go write something in the Newbie Wiki!!

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posted Jun-18-2007 02:58 PM               

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My Profile
"I think I can, I think I can"

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posted Jun-18-2007 03:41 PM               

Also, for Econo, can you provide water and air temperatures and maybe current, visibility and wildlife?
Congratulations on the fine performance!

Steve

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posted Jun-18-2007 05:11 PM               

SS, I would NOT trust anyone's judgment except yours. Well maybe one other.

LRR, You did kill me on the commute, especially the return trip! No beer and chips after?

E$, I am working on getting the rules changed to favor swimming, biking, running, and drinking beer. Could be an uphill battle.

THWIP, We are in luck. Htfd will be golden!

Ribs, See LRR note on the famous Dave Scott. It can't be that long ago, I watched all his races on TV.

jura, You have to carry your wetsuit to your bike spot. The transition area is fenced and guarded, kind of. At a big race last year, I estimated over a million dollars in bikes parked in transition.

brugtr1, I have been called on the carpet and have to confess, I use Target bags. I just thought Walmart was more generic.

Waterlily, Your added details (thank you), are empty without your race report.

-Cakrt

[This message has been edited by TheProFromDover (edited Jun-18-2007).]

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posted Jun-18-2007 05:27 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by TheProFromDover:
SS, I would trust anyone's judgement except yours. Well maybe one other.

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Oh, yeah. And our date next April is off. Off, off, off.

Grrrr.

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posted Jun-18-2007 06:18 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Sans Souci:
Originally posted by TheProFromDover:
SS, I would NOT trust anyone's judgement except yours. Well maybe one other.

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Just for that, I ain't reading, you old crank.

Oh, yeah. And our date next April is off. Off, off, off.

Grrrr.

Oh gosh, I am reading and rereading trying to understand your anger.
Then I noticed the the missing not. Edited to correct. Honest SS, only a typo. Oh boy, what a hole. Dig, dig, dig.
-craig

[This message has been edited by TheProFromDover (edited Jun-18-2007).]

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posted Jun-18-2007 09:19 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by TheProFromDover:
LRR, You did kill me on the commute, especially the return trip! No beer and chips after?

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Sorry Dude... My sick wife, Gator Girl, was kind enough to stick it out and try to keep my two kids from killing each other for the three hours it took me to race... I felt like asking her to stick around and watch me drink beer might have been pushing it - even if it WAS Father's Day. Next time.

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->>> John <<<-
Go write something in the Newbie Wiki!!

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