Oceanside 70.3
1
Member
1009 days
jksu posted 2 years ago.
california 1/2 was my first triathlon... and i am definitely looking forward to tackling it again next year.
my background was a little high school track/cross country and then recreational mountain biking and recently road biking thanks to tri buddies. they talked me into trying a triathlon -- since they're all full ironman, the least i could do was try a 1/2, right?
i had done 1 ocean swim about 3 weeks prior and training was interrupted with a 2 week trip to malaysia 6 weeks ago... and i had just learned to swim this past winter. but enough excuses..
my girlfriend (the best and most supportive woman in the world) stayed at the motel 6 in carlsbad the night before. it was pouring rain all night and drunk +/- insane people made noise all night long -- no more motel 6 next year, or at least i'll bring the ear plugs.
got up at 4am since i couldn't fall back asleep. we were at the transition area by 5am. i set my stuff up as best as i could -- but essentially left it all in my duffle bag and covered it with a garbage bag the guy next me offered me. was too pumped to notice the wet or the cold, but took me forever to get my wetsuit on. i had to rush and squeeze through folks already in line to get to my group (30-35).
so we ease into the water and i'm thinking, i love this wet suit. i could just float all day. as folks warmed up swimming towards teh start, i kind of paniced a bit. not used to swimming in the wet suit my stroke felt awkward (even more so than it already is).
the start was fine, i was already in the back but just couldn't get into a rhythm. i'd stop and laugh at myself as wave after wave of people passed me. i never really got into a rhythm of more than 4 or 5 strokes until the turn around -- only because at that point i really wanted the swim to end soon!
my arms never really got tired because i stopped so many times, but my legs cramped a bit because i would tread water when i stopped -- later i realized i didn't really need to with the wetsuit.
in any case, my blazing 55minute swim was finally over =) i was a happy man to hit dry land and get to my bike...
on the bike, my strongest leg, i flew by a lot of people... i kept telling myself not to use it all up, but i literally hit the wall at the first big climb... bonked. i had tried to take lots of gu and fluids but i could feel the energy leave my legs and lost snap to get up the 2nd climb. also felt twinges of cramping coming again. i tend to cramp either when exhausted or cold -- and this time i think it was more the cold.
so i eased back, lightly pedaled, tried not to push the cranks at all, but enough to keep rolling. my average speed dropped from low 20s to teens and a few people passed me. it was tough to swallow. at the same time, pelotons of guys came by -- that pissed me off to no end. that was one thing i thought was cool about ironman's, no assistance, right? it was purposeful drafting. made me sick as i plowed away in the wind.
the last 10 miles i had recovered a bit and started pushing again. it was a pleasure to pass some of the cheaters -- i went by way wide so they wouldn't have a chance to draft off of me. came into t2 very concerned about the upcoming run. my bike leg was 2:48.
my girlfriend was at transition "what took you so long?" she said. i told her about bonking and cramps coming as i flew through t2. but it was exhilarating because i knew i was 2/3 through my first triathlon and that i was closer and closer to finishing!
the excitement carried me to a quick start on the run -- until i hit the beach. oh man, my friends didn't tell me about this! i guess it's new this year ... so painful and at the end of it, both quads and hamstrings went into full contraction/spasm. i was bent over trying to massage/stretch them... oh boy this would be a long 1/2 marathon i thought to myself.
an angel volunteer came over to ask if i was okay (probably make sure i wasn't having a heart attack or something). she offered some pretzels and gatorade and i gulped them down. after about 5 minutes i could limp a bit. i made my way to a porta potty since i hadn't peed yet in the race (possibly a measure of not drinking enough). more massage, and i started walking along. when the cramps didn't come back, i started a slow jog.
that would be the way it would go the whole run...2:05. i was hoping for 2 hours...my only other timed 1/2 marathon was at carlsbad a few months earlier of 1:45.
but i finished... i was emotional and exhausted at the finiish, seeing my girlfriend at the finish. but not so exhausted or in pain that took away from the joy and sense of accomplishment. i would be back next year -- it would be great if the weather was better next year (and they get rid of that sand portion).
overall time: 5:58.
john
I have officially finished my first 1/2iM! Slightly unbelievable since I had quite a different mindset a week ago. I arrived at check-in to a reported water temperature of 53 F and the newly introduced option of a 700m swim alternative - what!?! This started me in the mini-mind panic I had on Friday. I don't want to say that I am a wimp, because I wouldn't have been doing this in the first place if I was; but I've had severe thermal injury on my toes before and am prone to them going numb for no apparent reason on slightly chilly days, let alone in cold ocean water. Fortunately I had a more experienced friend to calm me a bit and I came to the conclusion that I'd just do the entire swim and if I had to quit because I couldn't walk through T1, then at least I tried.
Race morning energized me enough that I could put the cold rain and cold pavement and the cold water to come out of my head and focus on what I needed to do. And I did it, I made it through the swim, heck I even passed people on the swim (I consider myself a slow swimmer). The biting feeling in my hands disappeared less than half-way in and I thought I was great. 44 minutes later, I was running through T1 mentally ready to bike, when I sat down and realized that my hands were so cold I couldn't feel that they were numb. I couldn't pull my wet suit off, and had to arrange each finger through the finger holes in my gloves! 15 minutes later they had enough blood in them to function enough to hold onto my bike . . . what a sobering transition moment.
After that I was fine, I was better than fine, I had toe warmers in my bike shoes and I was biking fast and happy and mentally back into racing (okay I won't say racing, because my goal was to finish and still want to do another one at the end). The sun even came out and the bike was beautiful. The hills weren't even bad, just the nice head wind that we had to drill into the last 8 miles.
T2 went really smooth (3 minutes this time) and it was great and sunny for the run. Now I'm a runner so this was what I new I could get through no matter what, but I didn't look at my watch until the last out and back, but I was amazed at how cleanly I handled it. Aside from the annoying sand 'path', I felt like I could have kept on running.
I finished in 6:19, which aside from the slightly long swim and T1, is about where I expected. I wasn't sore at all after and finished happy. Part of me keeps telling myself that if I finished that well, then I could have gone harder. I think that I certainly could have gone harder on the run and maybe on the bike, but I wouldn't have been this excited about looking for my next 1/2iM.