Buzzard's Bay Sprint Triathlon RR, Sept 30, 2007

Buzzard's Bay Sprint RR
Dartmouth, MA
Sept. 30, 2007

1/3 mile swim, 18.5 mile bike (actually 20 mi.), 3/1 mile run

Total time: 2:06:11
Swim - 17:32 (204)
T1 - 4:14
Bike - 1:10:03 [17 mph avg] (182)
T2 - 2:25
Run - 32:00 (202)
203rd out of 226
9th out of 14 Athena

RACE REPORT:

I set out to do this as a fun, end of season race. I also planned to do it in order to complete my first-evah ocean swim in a triathlon. I’m scared silly of jellyfish, which sounded quite funny today when I was telling my friend Kendra about the race. I missed her fabulous birthday celebration Saturday night because I was at the North Dartmouth hotel. She just laughed when she was listening to me and then said, “But Robin, you’ve been in shark-infested waters with me and you’re telling me you’re scared of jellyfish?!?!??” ha ha. She was right! About a year ago, we were in Belize snorkeling amidst all types of creatures, including SHARKS! I didn't personally see the sharks, but she did, as well as others. Pretty funny. I have to say after this observation of hers, I did mention the turtle this summer at Walden Pond, and she did seem a bit more reserved about that, especially when I said they are snapping turtles….

Anyway….my Race Report:

PRE-RACE, THE DAY BEFORE:

I headed to the race site but wasn’t able to get there before registration closed. I wanted to ride the course leisurely and register. However, it was going to be dark in about an hour, so I decided to drive the course. I made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up off the course and at Horseneck Beach. I decided to park and walk around the beach for a few minutes before heading to the hotel to meet Marla.

I had really wanted to ride the course leisurely, really because I had not been on my bike AT ALL since FirmMan—about THREE WEEKS. Oh well. I reminded myself that I had no time goals for this race; it was to accomplish the ocean swim and have fun—no matter what the time.

Met Marla at the hotel. We relaxed, went to dinner and then back to the hotel for sleep. I’ll forego the story of the woman in the room above us (one floor up) who was making mega noise, how we called the front desk and they said they’d take care of it, and then how this woman was knocking at our door and when we didn’t answer, she called and I squared off with her on the phone but not until she after she got banana-nasty. (Meaning #2: She almost went bananas and got real nasty. Banana-nasty.) Lovely. I can hold my cool, but one need not stay cool with banana-nasty peeps. For once here was a race that started at 10:00 AM; Marla & I were actually going to get 8 hours sleep before a race. Unheard of! Still is unheard of! Although, I have to admit, we still got more than the usual timeframe of sleep.

RACE DAY:

We woke up, ate breakfast in the lobby of the hotel (also unheard of, usually) and headed off. Since I didn’t ride the course the day before, I had said before bed that I just wanted to ride 10-15 minutes on my bike race morning before I set up transition. I don't usually do this, but I thought it was a good idea this time. While it was a good plan, it never happened. We opted for an extra 10-15 minutes of sleep. :-)

It was a great morning weather wise. John C. came over to me, having spotted me in transition. Then, after I set up, I turned around to see my friend John M. located right across from John C. in transition. I introduced the two Johns. Then, Marla & I saw Charlie and Greg, listened to the announcements, and started walking to the start. We again saw John C., so I introduced him & Marla and we three headed down. Everything was so well organized. I was very impressed with the organization, I have to admit.

SWIM:

Here we were! Ocean swim here I come! When signing up that week, I decided at the last minute to register Athena, so I was in the last wave, with first timers, relay, and females 50+. The water looked a little choppy, wavy, whatever --- not “that” calm. They said that we would be swimming with the current, so that was good. We were swimming counter-clockwise, which was not good (I realized during the swim). I was chatting with a few women. I realized one of them, Sandi, was the woman next to me in transition. I mentioned that this was my first ocean water swim in a tri. I said that I was a bit suspect about the jellies, because I still was suspect, although I wasn’t too worried because my swim partner’s girlfriend mentioned to me a couple weeks ago that it was too cold for jellyfish. “Oh yeah", I said to her. "You're right!” Even race morning, with the weather having been pretty warm, I figured it was too late in the season for jellyfish. I was suspect, but not that fussed. Until this woman, Jenelle, told me not to worry about the jellyfish. “Don't worry. There not bad here.” Hmmm…So, they are...here. But it was too late to worry. I figured they might be out there, but as Jenelle said, “they’re not that bad here”.

It was an in-water start. The water was shallow out to the 1st buoy, which was where we’d start. You could walk about 2/3s of the way to that buoy, but I swam. I thought I saw one. It was very small, white, almost transparent. Maybe I was making it up, I thought to myself, and disregarded the sighting. Especially since we haven’t even really started the race yet! What did not come to mind was, “Maybe I’m making it up. Like I was making up seeing the flash of lightening at Walden.” Good thing that thought did not come to mind at that moment. But there was a very clear parallel, as I would soon find out.

Our wave started and so did we. It didn’t feel like I was swimming with the current (and wouldn’t feel that way until I turned the last buoy). I didn’t like swimming counter-clockwise, either, as I kept turning my head into a wave since I breathe to the right. I can breathe every third stroke in the pool, but that's after I’ve warmed up, so in a race I usually breathe every stroke to my right.

I swam, not that fast, but was happy I was swimming in the ocean. About two thirds of the way through, I saw a jellyfish. It looked just like that first sighting so I now knew this was actually jellyfish #2. I had said all season that one jelly fish--I’d probably keep going; two jellies I was OUT. While my swim partner’s girlfriend was WRONG, Jenelle was right. These weren’t THAT bad. I kept swimming.

Just before the left turn back to shore, I saw another one. And another one, and another one. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. I started to see a #8, but decided right away that it was better to stop counting at #7, since #7 is supposed to be a lucky number. I cannot really say how many I saw in all (since I stopped counting) but I think if I had continued counting, I would be able to say I saw somewhere between 9 and 12 jellies. I thought at that moment that I could keep swimming, but I better make sure to keep my mouth closed enough so one doesn’t swim in! I can say that I was thankful I had a short way back to shore, and I can also say that I was thankful that it was feeling like I was finally swimming with the current behind me.

It was supposedly a 1/3 mile swim. It seemed longer. Who knows. It was slow swim.

Time = 17:32

T1

I walked into T1. When I heard the announcer say “#131 from Somerville, MA walking into T1”, I shuffled a bit more. No socks, but definitely gloves. Headed off. It was still a long time, but less time than usual. I was glad to have finished the swim. Ocean swim in a triathlon. Check. :-)

Time = 4:14

BIKE

I hadn’t even thought about time goals in any specific way. I knew I hadn’t been on my bike in three weeks (no exaggeration—last time was Sept 9th at FirmMan). I had spent my time thinking about the swim. Then, I was on my bike. I went up the first of two hills on the course. John had warned me. One hill out of transition, and one hill at around 3 miles. I had heard reports that the rest of the bike course was flat. However, Charlie mentioned before the race that many people have different versions of “flat”. Hmph. Don’t we know that! So I expected two hills and maybe some rollers, maybe some false flats. I hit John’s two hills, which I actually saw on the ride the day before in the car (saw them before my wrong turn). Then, there were a few false flats. (especially at ~mile 10-11). However, at Mile 5, I noticed I averaged 16 mph.

Once I saw that, an immediate goal flashed into my head. That goal was to ride the course at least at an average of 17 mph. Since the course was primarily flat, and I was at 16 mph and getting a bit warmed up, and since I had not been on my bike in 3 weeks, I thought this was a reasonable goal. Off I went.

The good part about racing in my AG, or in a relay, is that I’m around a lot of people on the bike. The bad news is that while I’m passing some, I'm also getting passed by a lot. Racing Athena and being in the last wave has me riding alone a lot, but also affords me the opportunity to pass more people than those who pass me. I can pass a lot of the people who passed me on the swim. They may pass me again on the run, but I can get a good number of ‘em on the bike. :-)

I rode. It was tough given my time away from my bike. But it was still FUN. I really like riding my bike.

I ended up averaging 17 mph since the course was 20 miles, not the advertised 18.5. John confirmed this for me after the race, too. Plus, I made sure I started my computer at the timing mat out of T1 and I looked at the distance at the timing mat into T2. I was happy. I thought about what I could have done if I had been riding and training since FirmMan, but I’ll have to wait until next year to find out. I was content with meeting the goal I set 5 miles into the course.

[Diversion: Let me tell you this story, though: So, I’m riding my bike, I picked off three people, I could see one more not too far ahead. I was out to pass him! However, within no time, there was a Subaru Forrester riding next to him. I figured this car was afraid to pass the cyclist. There were now two more cars behind the Subaru. It seemed that the drivers were a bit frustrated, too, as I noted how the first one took a sharp left and how the second one finally passed the Subaru, on the left crossing over a double yellow line.

The Subaru was still there, and looked to be driving alongside the cyclist. It was my turn. There was not enough space in between the cyclist and the car to pass the cyclist on the left. I thought about passing the car on the left, too, but now there were cars coming in the opposite direction. I rode behind the two (the car and the bike) in the middle back, for a minute as I figured out what to do. Finally, the car moved an inch to the left and I passed. As I passed, I looked at the cyclist and said, “What’s up with these guys, huh?” I got an awkward smile back. As I passed a woman popped out of the top of the Subaru’s sun roof with a camera with a HUGE zoom lens. I thought to myself, “Wow. These are the race organizer's photogrpahers. They should know better than to block the cyclists!” I planned to talk with Max Performance, as up to that point, I had been highly impressed with their coordination. I don’t think I would have gone any faster than my average of 17 mph, even though it took a good bit of my momentum away and added some time. Maybe 17.1, but I wasn’t as miffed as I should have and could have been, I’ll say that.]

Time = 1:10:03 (20 miles and 17 mph average)

T2

I headed into T2. As I racked my bike and was switching shoes, I hear the announcer say, “Here comes Kevin Dubuque from MTV’s (named of show…I forget)!” Then it dawned on me. It wasn’t the organized race photographer! It was the MTV filming crew! Then, I got a little ticked. Not at Kevin. He was having fun. More at big name media who think about themselves –getting the shot they want – and that they are not concerned at all that they were holding up other cyclists – in a RACE. Luckily, I had hit my goal that I set at 5 miles out and came in at 17 mph. Therefore, I wasn’t totally riled up. I looked up and shouted to Kevin, “So, they were YOUR crew!” He smiled awkwardly again. I smiled, too, to show him I wasn’t angry at him because the dumb MTV crew, over which he had no control, held racers up.

I headed out, still having fun. This was a fun race!

Time = 2:25 (wow, I thought I was faster…)

RUN

I didn’t care about my run. I should have, but I didn’t. I was running (not too fast), smiling, soaking up the weather. Uh-oh. Right away, I had something in my shoe. I didn’t wear socks; it felt like I had a twig under the ball of my left foot. I was approaching the first hill out of transition. I thought to myself that this was probably a phantom feeling. I thought I felt a twig. But there was no way a twig could have gotten in my shoe. But, I didn’t check my shoes before I laid them in transition. There’s no way I have a twig in there. But boy, it sure feels like it. If I feel a twig like I see jellyfish, then I certainly have a twig in my shoe. I thought to run with it in there. But then, I had decided I would run slowly up the hill and I was now at the hill. I decided it would take too much time to take my shoe off. Then, after a few more steps, I decided that it would be a real pain to run with a twig for about 3 more miles. “It’ll be quick, I have no socks on,” I thought. I stopped. Shoe off. No. Twig. HAH! It was a phantom twig! But, I made the right decision, because twig or no twig, when I put my shoe back on and started running, the twig feeling disappeared! That was good.

What was bad, was that I now thought I lost a lot of time, so instead of running faster than planned up the hill, I walked it. You see, while I was more comfortable running, I lost some of my running mojo after stopping to take my shoe off. But, I was still having fun. I ran, I walked, I was cheering people on running in the opposite direction. I saw Louise from Trifury. I was having fun. I was walking more than I should have been. Oops. It was a nice course.

Time = 32:00

I wondered what would have happened if I ran faster. Oh well, I can find out next year.

That’s right. I decided I don’t like these ocean swims. I won’t do too many of them, but this one wasn’t that bad. I’d do it again. It was a fun race, overall. Well organized, great location, nice course, and a fun end of season race. And next year, if I see it in my way again, I’m riding over the Subaru. ;-)

It was great to see the two Johns, Louise, and meet a few new people. Congrats to John C for doing the swim sans wetsuit (start looking for sales!) and on the 20 mph avg on the bike! Congrats to John M for coming out solo anyway! Hope you had fun! Thanks for staying to see me finish! Congrats to Louise C for placing in her AG! Fun stuff, Marla, glad you did the individual race with me!

Total Time = 2:06:11

Last tri of the season. Although it’s a road race, the Tufts 10 K this Monday officially ends my 2007 season. Then, the recap and the off-season begins.

Also -- thanks to John & his family for snapping my photo. I'll try to post it this weekend!