TDD Sprint - 19 Sept 09
After Timberman, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do another race...but there was quite a few planning on doing TDD, and I wanted one more time w/the gang. Due to managing an injury through training for Timberman, I had to stop running, so I convinced my son to be part of a relay team and run for me. That gave him ~3 weeks to train and get up to 3 miles...but he was game and did outstanding!
The TDD Triathlon is a memorial race for Tyrus, Dante, and Daniel Vescio, and a fundraiser for the UMass Memorial Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. So a very worthy cause. They let go three star balloons as a tribute to the triplets and a little boy sang the national anthem - he did awesome!
The race was in Douglas Ma, a few towns over from me, so very easy to get too and didn't mean I had to rouse the troops before 6:15 AM. We were all grumbling though when the time came!
We got to the race site around 7:00, parked, met up with Cake and Suzy and brought the stuff down to transition. The race venue is beautiful, but not set up well for a triathlon (more on this later). Grabbed our race packets got body marked and kept asking ourselves *why are we doing this again?* given that it was MAYBE 50 degrees, IN THE SUN! Dang it's going to be chilly. We met up with Beth, Eve, Lynn and Carlee...generally milled around and tried to stay warm.
The race went off late, but no one seemed to mind as we wanted it to warm up some more! It was a 1/4 mile swim, with (5) waves and a TON of first timers. The waves went off every (2) minutes and relays were in the last wave. Cake was in the last wave also and we couldn't believe the *mayhem* that was going on in front of us. Think mass start for the entire 1/4 mile. There were people everywhere and you couldn't find open water. GREAT! NOT! Needless to say, I never got into a rhythm, tried not to get kicked and swam as hard as I could to get out of the mess.
The timing matts were at the entrance to transition, so the swim time includes a run from the beach to the entrance. I hit my watch on the beach to get a realistic time, 5:50...uh, ok, no way was that 1/4 mile! Swim: 6:19
Into transition and Wyatt was waiting for me...trying to talk to me about the swim...asked if I needed help...dang it - I can't talk and breathe at the same time!! Decided to throw a long sleeve shirt on to cut down on being cold and couldn't get the dang thing down over my body...yeesh...I started laughing as I grabbed my bike and headed out - telling him thanks! T1 - 1:51
You had to ride over a sandy/gravelly road within the park before you got to the pavement (still within the park)...what a mess...I ran my bike out over the crappiest part and then got on. It was hard to get going and then once I did, I had to dodge all kinds of traffic as people had NO CLUE how to ride in a race. There were many a time that I was on the wrong side of the yellow line passing, and when I let them know I was passing on the "LEFT" they didn't move! This happened throuighout the bike part and got scary in places. The route was mostly rollers w/one steep hill around mile 8. I saw people walking their bikes on the smaller hills before mile 8 and thought, what the heck are you going to do later on??? There was never a time where I wasn't in a pack of people. Coming back into the park was nuts too, as you had runners coming at you on the right. Worst was when one of the runners who was on the return loop cut right in front of me and 4 other riders, to run on the left side of the road. He didn't even look and had been any closer, I would have clocked him ( I was doing ~20 mph)...I made some smart ass comment as I went by him, couldn't let that one go.
Had to dodge more bike traffic AND an ambulance coming out before I was able to get back to transition. They had cones up seperating the runners and riders, but the riders got the rocky side and I had to swing out wide at one point to avoid them and got yelled at for it - better to get yelled at than to go down. Been there done that! Bike - 39:12 (or something like that)
Into transition, gave my son the chip and sent him off. My daughter was helping out by directing the runners out of transition....T2 - 0:33
Whew, I am done! The plan was to get my camera and get some pictures of Cake and Suzy in transition, but Cake was so fast that all I could do was cheer her on as she ran out to the run! I was able to get a couple of Suzy and help her go the right way out!!! ;p I then made my way over to the finish and got my son coming in. He did awesome for only having 3 weeks worth of training and not doing many hills. Run - 31:30
Total: 1:19:26
Ok, besides having fun w/DS and the other triers that were there, I will NOT be doing this race again. It was INSANE and poorly thought out by the RD. Apparently, the number of athletes doubled from last year (~500) and its obvious that the race venue CANNOT accommodate that. If I did this race as a "1st timer", I probably would never do another one.
Let the OFF season begin!!
The TDD Triathlon is a memorial race for Tyrus, Dante, and Daniel Vescio, and a fundraiser for the UMass Memorial Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. So a very worthy cause. They let go three star balloons as a tribute to the triplets and a little boy sang the national anthem - he did awesome!
The race was in Douglas Ma, a few towns over from me, so very easy to get too and didn't mean I had to rouse the troops before 6:15 AM. We were all grumbling though when the time came!
We got to the race site around 7:00, parked, met up with Cake and Suzy and brought the stuff down to transition. The race venue is beautiful, but not set up well for a triathlon (more on this later). Grabbed our race packets got body marked and kept asking ourselves *why are we doing this again?* given that it was MAYBE 50 degrees, IN THE SUN! Dang it's going to be chilly. We met up with Beth, Eve, Lynn and Carlee...generally milled around and tried to stay warm.
The race went off late, but no one seemed to mind as we wanted it to warm up some more! It was a 1/4 mile swim, with (5) waves and a TON of first timers. The waves went off every (2) minutes and relays were in the last wave. Cake was in the last wave also and we couldn't believe the *mayhem* that was going on in front of us. Think mass start for the entire 1/4 mile. There were people everywhere and you couldn't find open water. GREAT! NOT! Needless to say, I never got into a rhythm, tried not to get kicked and swam as hard as I could to get out of the mess.
The timing matts were at the entrance to transition, so the swim time includes a run from the beach to the entrance. I hit my watch on the beach to get a realistic time, 5:50...uh, ok, no way was that 1/4 mile! Swim: 6:19
Into transition and Wyatt was waiting for me...trying to talk to me about the swim...asked if I needed help...dang it - I can't talk and breathe at the same time!! Decided to throw a long sleeve shirt on to cut down on being cold and couldn't get the dang thing down over my body...yeesh...I started laughing as I grabbed my bike and headed out - telling him thanks! T1 - 1:51
You had to ride over a sandy/gravelly road within the park before you got to the pavement (still within the park)...what a mess...I ran my bike out over the crappiest part and then got on. It was hard to get going and then once I did, I had to dodge all kinds of traffic as people had NO CLUE how to ride in a race. There were many a time that I was on the wrong side of the yellow line passing, and when I let them know I was passing on the "LEFT" they didn't move! This happened throuighout the bike part and got scary in places. The route was mostly rollers w/one steep hill around mile 8. I saw people walking their bikes on the smaller hills before mile 8 and thought, what the heck are you going to do later on??? There was never a time where I wasn't in a pack of people. Coming back into the park was nuts too, as you had runners coming at you on the right. Worst was when one of the runners who was on the return loop cut right in front of me and 4 other riders, to run on the left side of the road. He didn't even look and had been any closer, I would have clocked him ( I was doing ~20 mph)...I made some smart ass comment as I went by him, couldn't let that one go.
Had to dodge more bike traffic AND an ambulance coming out before I was able to get back to transition. They had cones up seperating the runners and riders, but the riders got the rocky side and I had to swing out wide at one point to avoid them and got yelled at for it - better to get yelled at than to go down. Been there done that! Bike - 39:12 (or something like that)
Into transition, gave my son the chip and sent him off. My daughter was helping out by directing the runners out of transition....T2 - 0:33
Whew, I am done! The plan was to get my camera and get some pictures of Cake and Suzy in transition, but Cake was so fast that all I could do was cheer her on as she ran out to the run! I was able to get a couple of Suzy and help her go the right way out!!! ;p I then made my way over to the finish and got my son coming in. He did awesome for only having 3 weeks worth of training and not doing many hills. Run - 31:30
Total: 1:19:26
Ok, besides having fun w/DS and the other triers that were there, I will NOT be doing this race again. It was INSANE and poorly thought out by the RD. Apparently, the number of athletes doubled from last year (~500) and its obvious that the race venue CANNOT accommodate that. If I did this race as a "1st timer", I probably would never do another one.
Let the OFF season begin!!
posted by zojmn151 | 11:30 AM
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