JCC Triathlon by the Sea - 2008 Race Report

Official Results - 51:30, 3rd Overall out of 248, 1st M25-29 out of 10

Pre-Race: The day before Jess and I decided to drive the course, since someone from TriFury was kinda enough to send out a pre-race report on the road conditions, but I wanted to check them out for myself. Sure enough the roads were full of potholes and there were alot of turns. There were a couple of areas that were tricky if there wasn't anyone directing. The run also consisted of alot of turns, but was pretty flat except for one hill about 3/4 of a mile in. The swim was going to be interesting as well since it was a pool start. It started out that you swam down the first lane and then the next 4 lanes you swam both up and down and then the last lane you swam down and exited out the door and ran out to the transition area.

Well the night before we were in bed early at 9pm and up at 4:30am so we could be there by 6:30am to check-in and get my transition area set-up. I slept great for about 4 hours and didn't have the race on my mind at all since I've done a few of these last year. Then for some reason I woke up at about midnight and from then on I was having nightmares that I screwed up the swim and only did half the distance. Then, the next 2 dreams consisted of getting lost and taking the wrong turn and the last one being that I crashed hitting a huge pothole. My last dream then consisted that I took a wrong turn on the run. Needless to say after all these dreams last night I was a little nervous and anxious this morning.

Swim: 3:45, 6th OA, 1st AG

Well the swim was based on the seeded time that you had to submit when you registered for the race. The good thing was that I originally submitted a slower time of 4:30 and then changed it to 4:10, but needless to say that was to slow as well. Our race numbers were based on when we would be starting the swim. I was number 66 and I didn't enter the water for some time. They started people off with a 15 second gap per person so that you hopefully wouldn't have to pass anyone. Well sure enough, I caught the girl in front of me in the 2nd lane and then got tied up behind 2 people in the 3rd lane. I was able to pass them in the 2nd to last lane, but it cost me about 15-20 seconds if not more having to slow down behind them so that I could safely pass them since I had to pass them while people were swimming at me. I was also able to catch someone in the last lane as well. My enter to exit time from the pool was 3:38, but because the timing mat was so far from the pool, my official time was 3:45.

Bike: 31:08 (20.2 mph) 11th OA, 1st AG

I was worried how I was going to make out on the bike, not because of mileage, but because of the weather. It was cold this morning, but by the time I got out of the pool and back outside it wasn't that bad. I ended up wearing my tri top for the swim and I wasn't sure if that was going to cost me and leave me cold on the bike. Sure enough it was perfect on the bike with only my feet getting cold. My overall average speed is slow because this includes my transition time to my run. I ended up averaging 22.0mph according to my bike computer and finished the bike in 28:38. My transition time took me awhile because for some reason I tried to run with my aero helmet on, which needless to say, was pretty funny!

Run: 16:38 (5:33), 1st OA, 1st AG

Running has been my strong point, since this is the background I came from before starting triathlons. I had no idea I was going to dominate the run and have the fastest run of the day by almost a minute. (Beating elite triathlete Dean Phillips.) The run was mostly flat with only 1 hill at the 3/4 mile mark. This was where I caught alot of people before hitting the finish line. The only problem I had during the run was some cramping because instead of bringing water with me on bike, I brought with me my Cytomax drink. The cramps weren't bad enough to slow me down though.

All and all it was an awesome race since I was able to use some of my new gear. This was the first race that I was able to try out my new Vision Tech TriMax Plus Flat aerobars and the 2nd time I was able to use my Sidi T-1 shoes and my new Guru Advantage 2 Helmet. With it being Mother's Day, my parents were able to make it to the race today, which was great! Then afterwards the Ellis's were able to finally meet Jess's Parent's for the first time. It was a good day for racing and a great Mother's day for both Mom's.