Race Result

Racer:	Shawn Clark
Race:	Giant Acorn Triathlon
Date:	Sunday, October 8, 2006
Location:	Bumpass, VA
Race Type:	Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	1:31:16
Overall Place:	151 / 226
Age Group Place:	14 / 25

Race Report:

What a day for a race. My wife and I got up well before the sun, loaded the car, and headed out for Bumpass, Virginia. We made it to the race without incident just as the sun was coming up. The car told us it was 54 degrees and my shivering body agreed. It would prove to be a tough race for me. I had done enough training so I felt comfortable going in, at least on the bike and run. I am a really weak swimmer but all I wanted to do for the swim is finish. The run, of all things, would prove to be my downfall.

Swim:

Getting in the water was actually a blessing. I am not sure what the temperature was but the scuttlebutt was around 69 or 70 degrees which from above you know must have felt great. It really did. Getting into that water after shivering on the beach was like sinking into a warm bath. There was some confusion on the course and after the first wave was in the water they told us that the last two buoys should be on our right while all the rest would be on our left as we swam in a counterclockwise direction. This was only my second race so I am not sure if it is normal to put out new information after the first wave is already swimming or not but that is what they did. So I did my best to stay to the outside and stay on target. I am still terrible at looking up while swimming but I managed to stay pretty straight until those last two buoys where I swam in a snake like pattern trying to a) not drown from fatigue and b) head back around the buoy I had missed. My wife tells me that maybe about half the people did the race right. Oh well, like I said the goal here was to finish. So for the day the swim was a personal victory albeit it a slow one but a victory nonetheless.

Bike:

I slurped down half an orange hammer gel and some water during the transition and hopped on my bike. I felt pretty good on the bike. The course was rolling hills and pretty fast. 3 people managed to pass me on the ride and I passed probably close to 15 people. I felt pretty good until about half way through when I noticed my stomach starting to tighten up along with a dull ache but since I was bent over it didn’t seem to be anything major. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Run:

I transitioned slowly while scanning the area for a porta-potty. There were some about 50 meters from the transition area but I figured there had to be one on the route for emergencies so I kept running. My legs were burning from the ride and I was slowly jogging until the acid subsided a little. After about 200 meters I knew I was in trouble. My stomach hurt so bad it was forcing my body into a slight forward lean and every time I tried to stand up my stomach would double me back over. I finally found a construction site with a porta-potty just shy of the halfway point that I quickly jumped into. 4 and ½ minutes later I was back on the course and able to run. By this time though I was so far back it didn’t matter. I finished the race though and I am happy with the effort I put forth. It was a fun race and I will do better next time.

Overall:

Some work on my swimming and a loss of 10 pounds will make a huge difference and I think next season we are all going to see a different Shawn racing. I feel that my first Tri-season (cut short by 3 months of travel for work) was an amazing one and I wish we could skip winter altogether so I could keep racing. I am going to keep working through the winter and I have some springtime goals that I’ll tell y’all about closer to the time. I also hope to get out to some workouts with you all for a weekend ride and/or weekend swim.

Shawn