So, I typed my lengthy race report on my son's new laptop and then blew the laptop away. So here goes version number 2.
Let's get a couple of things out of the way first. IMHO, eating corn the lunch before a race is an awesome idea. It helps you to track down your digestion status quite easily and hopefully will help you to prevent GI distress. The second thing refers to having a dog. Usually, Lee walks the dog in the early a.m. Actually she runs with him. I usually walk him (VERY) early in the a.m if I have a race or if my training is (VERY) early. The day of Tobay, I walked the pooch at 4:15 in the morning. Had keys, flashlight, cellphone and my pants were falling down. Wasn't even a fashion statement. Now, the wonderful thing about dogs is that they need to be walked. They don't care if you just did a marathon or about to race. When all you want is to sit down after a marathon, the right thing for recovery is to walk! Hence, another wonderful quality about dogs.
Anyway, Hurricane Danny the whole week was threatening the race. They weren't sure if it was going to go right on top of us or not. Saturday was the race pickup and also the kids races. I went to pick up my stuff and found out that the kids did swim but right after them, they closed the beach down due to runoff. Wonderful. Saturday night, I get an email that the swim is on. Bring it on!
Sunday morning, I walked the dog and left the house. It was pitch black right before 5am. I'm on the GCP at the point where it switches to the Northern State Parkway. Right at the area where the speed limit switches from 50 to 55. I'm the only car on the road when I suddenly notice a shadow on the divider. Trooper! I was going 59 MPH. There's a car behind me that's speeding. Trooper lights up. Heart rate goes up. The car behind me immediatly pulls over. My cardio is done for the day - Not me tho. Good thing I left ridiculously early. No point to rush.
Got to race site at 5:25. Still pitch black outside. Left flashlight at home by accident. Hard to tell what the air pump is showing but I manage.
Got a sweet spot at transtion. Porta pottie, body marked and chip. Time to walk and talk.
In previous years, I was in later waves. This year I'm in 3rd wave. Right after the first 2 elite waves. I already checked and the water is warm. That's good. When I walked the dog it was 68 degrees and climbing. At race site it was 62 degrees and I was freezing. I didn't bring a wetsuit. Never did Tobay with a wetsuit. In fact, usually most people do Tobay without a wetsuit. Not this year.
Met Andre at swim start. Talked and then went to warm up. DAMN! The water is COLD. Oh crap. I'm not warming up. There are 2 sections to the water. The place where the swimmers start and the area where people warm up. Wave 1 and 2 go off. I'm in the water for wave 3. We got 5 minutes to start. 4.3.2.1. 30 seconds to go. I'm still cold. Teeth chattering. I seeded my self on the outside on the right. The bell goes off and we start. Oh crap again. The area where people were warming up go off too. I'm right smack in the middle between 2 groups and I am getting beat up. I let them go and go to the outside to do my thing. Get my rhythem and swim. I catch up to people.
There is a guy with a bloody gash on his cheek. I wonder what happened to him...
Swim is almost over. I can see the boat ramp to get out of the water. I climb up and my toes go right into a hole. I stumble and fall. Little blood on a knee and my foot is very sore. I don't know what the run will be like. I run to T1. People walk and I hurry. I know they'll get me on the bike anyway.
Climbed up Moore's hill and the last 2 on 25A. Later I heard that one of the elites climbed up Moore's hill and vomited. Not me. I did see people walk up the hill with their bikes tho.
I wanted to beat 30 minutes on the bike but it wasn't meant to be. Still improved tho.
At about mile 7 (out of 9.3), Erik caught me. I expected him and was wondering where he was. Told him I was waiting for him and that I was getting worried about him. He laughed and flew down the hill.
Got to T2 and went chasing. Had to catch him. I knew he beat me since he started in a later wave but it was the principle. Caught him and told him I'll be waiting for him a little further. At the finish line that is.
Overall the race went well. I hoped to do better. That much is true. I wanted to break 30 for the bike - didn't happen. On the positive note, Total time is about 3 minutes faster, swim 30 seconds faster, T1 30 seconds faster, bike 1 minute faster, T2 1 minute faster and run 2 seconds faster. I should have wore a wetsuit - that would have helped. I should have pushed more on the run. Still, this is my last Tobay and it ended well like NYC. I have improved and that's all that counts.
I found this link on mapmyride.com. It maps the bike portion of the course.
| Elevation Map |
|---|
|