D-Day at Devil Tri

It's a done deal. I finished the Devilman Triathlon in under 2.5 hours. Whew! I wish I had pics to post, but they're still in my 'analog' camera. Nonetheless, the official time results for all the athletes are here.

Pre-race: Only a few hours sleep, as usual. Left home at 4:30 am & arrived 7:15. (Melinda and the kids came along too; thank goodness for their in-person support. Bless you sweeties for waking up so early.) With only 45 minutes left til the 8 am start, I went through the standard long rituals of bike/helmet inspection, check-in registration and body numbering. (I always thought of having your race number markered onto your body as being very cool and attributed it as unique to triathletes.) While waiting to be marked, I realized I still had jeans on with only boxers underneath and forgot that they needed to write the numbers on my thighs (arms and calves also)--oh man! Well, it was getting close to race time and I still needed to hurry and setup my bike and gear in the transition area; so down went my pants along with my pride :-). Write on me, baby!

Swim (0.6 miles, lake): Finished in 28 minutes at the top 98%. Practically last. Slow but sure. (The winning time was 11:43 minutes!) Geez, I thought I was going to die during the first few strokes! I wore a wetsuit, but it was perhaps a little tight or that the water was too cold. I just couldn't breathe well at the start, not to mention all the kicks and bumps from the other swimmers going past me (I noticed a long 3 inch bloody scratch below my calf after the race, probably from some swimmer's uncut nails). Eventually, I calmed down, found my rhythm, focused on distant objects to keep my direction straight and made it to the shore exit.

Transition 1: Out of the lake, hobbled to the bike transition, off with the wetsuit, donned my bike gear and out on the road. All in under 7 minutes. (Winning time is under 2 minutes.) Try doing this pissed drunk because that's what I felt like coming out of the water. And my jelly arms couldn't do anything for the life of me!

Bike (19 miles, open road): Finished in just over an hour at the top 79%. (The winning time was 49:19 minutes. Goodness gracious!) Nice flat roads, but mother-of-mercy headwinds! My cyclometer measured an avg speed of 18 mph with a top speed of 25 mph.This was my best leg. I felt comfortable and I knew exactly how to crank: peddle a fast cadence on a low gear; no need to muscle it. I was able to pick off some of the riders ahead. Still, I think I could've ridden faster, but I had to make sure I had some gusto left for the run.

Transition 2: Off of the bike, off with the cycling shoes and on with my sneakers in about 3.5 minutes. (Winning time under 1 minute.) I was darn thirsty and chugged down almost 2 bottles of Gatorade for some energy boost before I headed out.

Run (4 miles, sandy trail): Finished in almost 40 minutes at the top 79%, about a 10 min/mile pace. (The winning time was 23:04 minutes, a 5:46 min/mile pace!) It took a while to get my legs at normal stride from the bike, but I never let myself succumb to walking even with the heat and humidity. I paused only briefly at 3 of the Gatorade stations to drink up; I never have been able to drink efficiently while running--it just splashes all over me--so I just stop and chug it all in. Toward the end, I thought about a favorite workout song for some added adrenaline and began to sprint. I leapt across the finish in the fashion of my tri idol, Greg Welch.

Race done and over. What a relief.

Some interesting tidbits:
1. All competitors used pinky-sized timing chips, like those EZ-Pass devices that cars use for tolls, which we strapped to our ankles. Our times automatically registered when we stepped on mats at the finishes and splits.
2. It's very difficult to swim in a straight line in open water without focusing on a distant object. Some guy actually swam across in front of me, perpendicular! It was funny to watch as I had done the same in my very first race. Many others swam in zig-zag patterns.
3. Drafting is not allowed when biking and violators are given 2 minute penalties. It's everyone for themselves.
4. The oldest competitor was Bill Schweizer at 82 years! He wore bib# 1 and finished 285th, only a few minutes after I did. He won his age group--80 to 99--as he was the only one in it, and received the most cheers on and off the course. Melinda got a chance to talk with him just before the swim as they were the first ones waiting at the start. She remembers seeing him from my other races in 1993!

Now I must get some sleep. I'm quite tired. What a day.