Race Result

Racer:	Shawn Clark
Race:	Kinetic Sprint
Date:	Sunday, April 22, 2007
Location:	Spotsylvania, VA
Race Type:	Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	1:31:53
Overall Place:	86 / 332
Age Group Place:	5 / 36
Comment:	good start to the season

Race Report:

This was the first Tri of the season for me and I wasn't sure how it was going to go as I have been nursing some nagging injuries from the running training this past winter which has kept me to running once or twice a week for the past month. That coupled with the fact that the water was psyching me out made for an interesting morning. It also didn't help that a buddy I grew up with was in town and we were out all night drinking which is absolutely the wrong way to carbo load.

We arrived to the race plenty early and got all the administrative details out of the way. I set up my transition area, which took me a while since I haven't set one up since last October but I finally got it ready and started getting dressed. This was my first time in a full wetsuit and it felt a little restrictive but warm especially with the warm sun beating down on it. I had a neoprene swim cap, earplugs (I always have them for ear issues), and booties that at the last minute I elected not to wear.

I said see you later to my wife and friends and headed down the water to get warmed up where I ran into Kevin and Will and then I waited. I was in the Clydesdale category which meant I was going in the sevent wave. I felt like I was going to melt I was so hot and nervous but eventually the race got under way. I had trouble breathing at first and had a brief moment of panic but then told myself I can swim 750 meters any day of the week and that seemed to calm me down. I got out of the water after 13 minutes and change which was my best swim to date and I was only back about 6 places.

T1 - This was a miserable experience as I felt like I was never going to be done taking off my layers of neoprene but eventually I got moving and headed out on the bike.

The bike course and weather conditions were awesome! I felt like I was flying passing one person after another, if you remember I started in the seventh wave so I had lots of people in front of me and that was a huge ego boost. One guy did pass me toward the end but I kept him in my sites and by the time he was running into the transition area I was off my bike and running as well.

T2 - no issues here except I forgot where the exit was and did a little confusion dance around my bike which must have been funny to the spectators.

As I started my run I heard my friend Shana say "can you believe my friend is doing this hung over?" She said the ladies response was "yeah well my husband is fat." (or something like that) I ran up that incline at the beginning of the run wishing to God that I had gone to bed early like a good little athlete but pushed myself to keep running until my side ache went away which was just before the turn around. I managed to pick up the pace for the second half but it was too late as I had seen 2 big Calves with the letter 'C' run by me already. I did my best to catch up but couldn't do it.

All in all I had my best race to date finishing 5th in my category and I've identified areas that I need to work on. I need lots more work on my swim to bike transition, I need to be more diligent about getting my bricks in, and mostly I need to be more responsible with the partying, I can guarantee that won't happen at Mooseman.