PRE-RACE:
530AM - Woke up (no sleep -- too excited)
531AM - Got a big bottle to put water in and start getting hydrated
6AM - En route to the race -- Had some water and half a protein bar (Myloplex I think?) I was so excited and nervous I didn't really have an apetite
630AM - Body paint, chip pick-up, and setting up transition
645aM - Jumping jacks, run-in-place, stretching for warmup. I know next time that I need WAY more time to warm up, probably even start before I get there.
The entire race I wanted to do in my "base-aerobic-zone", but it just wasnt possible. My excitement jacked it up crazy so I spent most of the race trying to keep it low or else I would have probably had to "stop". I didn't stop swimming (except for a 20 second backstroke), I didn't stop pedaling, I didn't stop running. I was impressed.
RACE START @ 7AM
SWIM: After reading Ashley's Uncle's post, I took a few things into consideration for the swim. The 2 that I followed closely were: (1) start about 25 yds away from everyone else even though it makes it a lil longer this way you dont get kicked in the face (2) Swim on the INSIDE of the bouys as long as you go around the first and last bouys correctly. I avoided alot of kicking in the face this way! Because I was SO excited, my heartrate jumped up to almost MAX in the water! I swore I was about to pass out then I got into my relaxed-freestyle stroke that I KNEW relaxs my heart-rate in my training so it worked here too, but not by much. Because of me being excited, my heart-rate being jacked up, and swimming in the ocean with the motion of the waves (motion sickness?) I felt I was almost going to black out. But I got myself under control somewhat -- looked ahead of me and noticed I passed a few people so I put my head down in the water and just went... I touched a few peoples feet since my visibility was only 2 feet or so, so I felt their feet before I saw. When I felt someone else I popped my head up and attempted to pass them which I did!! I was out of the water in the middle point of my group.
TRANSITION #1: Ok, this sucked. When I got out of the water my heart-rate was really high so I WALKED to the transition area to try to get it to come down a bit, which it did. Since I was walking I hit the shower on the way to rinse my feet off of sand. Dumb move. I shoulda kept walking to my bike. After I rinsed my feet off I finally made it to my bike. I utilized David's tip on the helmet and tape trick, but that was a waste since I put my helmet on before I put my shirt on! So I had to waste the time taking my helmet off and getting my shirt out and let me tell you that trying to put on those Under Armour shirts while you're WET *DOES NOT WORK*. It bunched up and it took forever to get it on. After that I got my shoes on and off I went.
BIKE: (40min) I thought the swim was going to be bad, but that was cake compared to the BIKE. Jeez. I will say that I'm glad I did it on my mountain bike for my first time to see if I was going to like doing these things, but man. I got passed CONSTANTLY. However, I made it a point to pass atleast 1 person (which I did). I think this part of the race got me due to the equipment honestly. I could have been atleast 7min faster I think. My bike probably weights 30+lbs easy.
TRANSITION #2: From bike to run wasn't that bad. I don't think I switched socks honestly. But, I threw my visor on and hauled.
RUN (34min): I simply CANNOT STAND RUNNING!. But I had to. You just can't stop after you're done with the bike. It was 1.5miles down the road and then turn around and come back. How annoying. The whole time I kept thinking , "I am I even close yet?". Eventually, I made it to the finish line. I seriously need to work on running
