Psydotek
04-30-07, 11:42 PM
3 consecutive weekends, 3 consecutive triathlons... I'm pooped. :lol:
Yesterday i took part in the PossAbilities Loma Linda Triathlon.
http://mountainmultisport.com/lomalindatri.html
I was really debating with myself if i wanted to do it or not since i had gotten sick after the Desert Triathlon. I wasn't sneezing/coughing much at all but i probably had 3 or 4 cold sores open up in my mouth and throat the day after the Desert tri and i was feeling tired all last week. Fortunately saturday afternoon i was feeling much better and the cold sores were nearly healed so i decided i would get out there and do it. I also wanted to try out my new aerobars and TT helmet. :D
Mornings have become fairly routine. Woke up at 4:30am, brush teeth, get dressed, load car, attempt to use the bathroom, and head out the door at 5:00am.
I arrived abit after 5:30am at my sister's place. She lives about a mile from the start so i just parked there and rode my bike over so i wouldn't get trapped in the parking lot (they closed the adjacent street for the race and didn't reopen until around noon). Since i wasn't sure if i was going to do this event i didn't pre-register so i had to pay the nominal $5 late fee for a total of $60. Registered, got my number and my goodie bag (contained fliers, t-shirt, cycling water bottle, and a Snickers Endurance bar :D ) before heading out to set up my transition area right around 6:10am. My two friends who should have done the desert tri but didn't showed up as did my brother in law (who did do the desert tri the previous weekend with me). Also, my friend's dad showed up to try his had at the event. :)
The race was supposed to be a 3 mile run, 10.5 mile bike, and 150 yard swim in the university pool. Temperature was in the mid 60s at the start with clear skies and no wind.
The run was a simple out and back course with a small elevation change as you climbed a bridge which went over some train tracks. The run went pretty good actually but that could be because it was first and i wasn't tired yet. :lol: However they made a mistake setting up the course so the turnaround cone/sign wasn't quite at the right spot which put the run at 2.5 miles instead (i wasn't complaining one bit). Despite being fresh for the run, i'm still relatively slow and had just recovered from being sick so i ended up finishing the run behind 3/4 of the people racing (and last in our little group of friends/family). I was able to run most of it only walking for about 50 yards towards the end to catch my breath before running the rest of the way into the transition area.
T1 (or is it T2?) - As i was running into the transition area i was already putting my cycling gloves on (yes i carried them with me on the run), and caught up to one of my friends who was flirting with one of the girls on the same rack. Swapped shoes, threw on my helmet and glasses, grabbed my bike and was out of there before my friend realized what had happened. Hah! :D Couldn't have been more than a minute. The temperature had also warmed into the low 70s by this time i'm guessing. I know i was sweating a bit.
The bike route looks like this:
http://www.routeslip.com/routes/34073
A short outlet onto the main road, 3 loops on the main road, then back in. What great is that there's a nice long decent at the west end of the loop. What sucks is that there's a big climb at the west end of the loop... The new aerobars were great though i had a bit of a hard time breathing at first since i was still breathing heavily from the run (which i normally wouldn't be doing if i had swam first). I was hitting 20-23mph on the flat section, 31mph on the downhill, and a whopping 7-9mph on the climb! :p I was passing people with regularity though which was alot of fun though some would catch me on the climb (which i'm pretty slow at and aerobars and a TT helmet do nothing). I even caught up to my friends dad who had not studied the map for the bike course and had stopped to ask a volunteer for information. He said he was able to almost catch me on each of the 3 climbs but i would pull away when we got to the top. After the first loop i was able to finally breathe easier as i got into a rythm and got used to the aerobars. My cyclometer showed 11 miles when i got back to the transition area.
T2 (or is it T1?) - Dismount, run with bike (thank goodness you can run in crank brother quattro cleats without killing them), rack bike, strip off UA shirts and shoes, pull on swim pants (DeSoto Speedtube neoprene pants, 5mm thick), remove socks and glasses, grab goggles/noseclip, and run for the pool.
Enroute to the pool i put on the goggles and noseclip. And yes, i wore neoprene pants. I can't swim worth a crap without them (or a pull/pool bouy which i'm sure isn't allowed). Otherwise it feels like i'm swimming at a 45 degree angle. :lol: Jump in feet first and it was 6 lengths of the pool, zig-zagging from one end to the other. I thought i would be wiped out from the bike and run but i was able to swim pretty fast (thank goodness my arms were fresh) and passed 5 or 6 people in the water. Water was warm too so there was no "shock" when jumping in. Climbed out at the other side, and ran for the finish line (and even passed some dude who was taking his time walking down the finish chute).
Overall time: 1:13. Not fantastic, but not bad either. My brother-in-law finished first in our little group with a time of probably a bit under 1 hour (just a guesstimate, i didn't check his time and the results are posted on the intr4w3b yet). The slow one in our group finished with 1:17 (see what flirting does?) and my friends dad finished with 1:14 (see what not knowing the course does?) :lol:
Good race with lots of free foodstuffs at the finish area (i ended up eating a snowcone, a bunch of cookies, a banana, oranges, breadsticks, HEED sports drinks, and water and was still hungry).
Then afterwards we went back to my sister's/brother-in-law's place and made a huge brunch with pancakes, hash browns, veggie sausage, and OJ (and we ended up eating just about everything).
So now i get a 2 week break before i get to go back to Bonelli Park and do it all over again... Aaargh!
(post race "body report" - my body feels fine so far. Definitely tired, but nothing is hurting out of the ordinary. My neck is a sore though from using the aerobars but other than that, i'm good. My knees feel good (which is what i'm usually worried about), and i don't feel like i'm getting sick again. At least not yet... Other than riding my bike to work hopefully on thursday and friday, I doubt i'll be doing any training this week just to take a break. I'll run and swim once or twice next week to prep for the next race though.)
[no pics yet, my regular photographer (a.k.a. my girlfriend) couldn't make it but i have a few friends who were spectating and did take pictures so i'm working on getting them e-mailed to me still] :D
Yesterday i took part in the PossAbilities Loma Linda Triathlon.
http://mountainmultisport.com/lomalindatri.html
I was really debating with myself if i wanted to do it or not since i had gotten sick after the Desert Triathlon. I wasn't sneezing/coughing much at all but i probably had 3 or 4 cold sores open up in my mouth and throat the day after the Desert tri and i was feeling tired all last week. Fortunately saturday afternoon i was feeling much better and the cold sores were nearly healed so i decided i would get out there and do it. I also wanted to try out my new aerobars and TT helmet. :D
Mornings have become fairly routine. Woke up at 4:30am, brush teeth, get dressed, load car, attempt to use the bathroom, and head out the door at 5:00am.
I arrived abit after 5:30am at my sister's place. She lives about a mile from the start so i just parked there and rode my bike over so i wouldn't get trapped in the parking lot (they closed the adjacent street for the race and didn't reopen until around noon). Since i wasn't sure if i was going to do this event i didn't pre-register so i had to pay the nominal $5 late fee for a total of $60. Registered, got my number and my goodie bag (contained fliers, t-shirt, cycling water bottle, and a Snickers Endurance bar :D ) before heading out to set up my transition area right around 6:10am. My two friends who should have done the desert tri but didn't showed up as did my brother in law (who did do the desert tri the previous weekend with me). Also, my friend's dad showed up to try his had at the event. :)
The race was supposed to be a 3 mile run, 10.5 mile bike, and 150 yard swim in the university pool. Temperature was in the mid 60s at the start with clear skies and no wind.
The run was a simple out and back course with a small elevation change as you climbed a bridge which went over some train tracks. The run went pretty good actually but that could be because it was first and i wasn't tired yet. :lol: However they made a mistake setting up the course so the turnaround cone/sign wasn't quite at the right spot which put the run at 2.5 miles instead (i wasn't complaining one bit). Despite being fresh for the run, i'm still relatively slow and had just recovered from being sick so i ended up finishing the run behind 3/4 of the people racing (and last in our little group of friends/family). I was able to run most of it only walking for about 50 yards towards the end to catch my breath before running the rest of the way into the transition area.
T1 (or is it T2?) - As i was running into the transition area i was already putting my cycling gloves on (yes i carried them with me on the run), and caught up to one of my friends who was flirting with one of the girls on the same rack. Swapped shoes, threw on my helmet and glasses, grabbed my bike and was out of there before my friend realized what had happened. Hah! :D Couldn't have been more than a minute. The temperature had also warmed into the low 70s by this time i'm guessing. I know i was sweating a bit.
The bike route looks like this:
http://www.routeslip.com/routes/34073
A short outlet onto the main road, 3 loops on the main road, then back in. What great is that there's a nice long decent at the west end of the loop. What sucks is that there's a big climb at the west end of the loop... The new aerobars were great though i had a bit of a hard time breathing at first since i was still breathing heavily from the run (which i normally wouldn't be doing if i had swam first). I was hitting 20-23mph on the flat section, 31mph on the downhill, and a whopping 7-9mph on the climb! :p I was passing people with regularity though which was alot of fun though some would catch me on the climb (which i'm pretty slow at and aerobars and a TT helmet do nothing). I even caught up to my friends dad who had not studied the map for the bike course and had stopped to ask a volunteer for information. He said he was able to almost catch me on each of the 3 climbs but i would pull away when we got to the top. After the first loop i was able to finally breathe easier as i got into a rythm and got used to the aerobars. My cyclometer showed 11 miles when i got back to the transition area.
T2 (or is it T1?) - Dismount, run with bike (thank goodness you can run in crank brother quattro cleats without killing them), rack bike, strip off UA shirts and shoes, pull on swim pants (DeSoto Speedtube neoprene pants, 5mm thick), remove socks and glasses, grab goggles/noseclip, and run for the pool.
Enroute to the pool i put on the goggles and noseclip. And yes, i wore neoprene pants. I can't swim worth a crap without them (or a pull/pool bouy which i'm sure isn't allowed). Otherwise it feels like i'm swimming at a 45 degree angle. :lol: Jump in feet first and it was 6 lengths of the pool, zig-zagging from one end to the other. I thought i would be wiped out from the bike and run but i was able to swim pretty fast (thank goodness my arms were fresh) and passed 5 or 6 people in the water. Water was warm too so there was no "shock" when jumping in. Climbed out at the other side, and ran for the finish line (and even passed some dude who was taking his time walking down the finish chute).
Overall time: 1:13. Not fantastic, but not bad either. My brother-in-law finished first in our little group with a time of probably a bit under 1 hour (just a guesstimate, i didn't check his time and the results are posted on the intr4w3b yet). The slow one in our group finished with 1:17 (see what flirting does?) and my friends dad finished with 1:14 (see what not knowing the course does?) :lol:
Good race with lots of free foodstuffs at the finish area (i ended up eating a snowcone, a bunch of cookies, a banana, oranges, breadsticks, HEED sports drinks, and water and was still hungry).
Then afterwards we went back to my sister's/brother-in-law's place and made a huge brunch with pancakes, hash browns, veggie sausage, and OJ (and we ended up eating just about everything).
So now i get a 2 week break before i get to go back to Bonelli Park and do it all over again... Aaargh!
(post race "body report" - my body feels fine so far. Definitely tired, but nothing is hurting out of the ordinary. My neck is a sore though from using the aerobars but other than that, i'm good. My knees feel good (which is what i'm usually worried about), and i don't feel like i'm getting sick again. At least not yet... Other than riding my bike to work hopefully on thursday and friday, I doubt i'll be doing any training this week just to take a break. I'll run and swim once or twice next week to prep for the next race though.)
[no pics yet, my regular photographer (a.k.a. my girlfriend) couldn't make it but i have a few friends who were spectating and did take pictures so i'm working on getting them e-mailed to me still] :D