Race Result

Racer:	Mike Tine
Race:	Make-A-Wish Sea Colony Triathlon
Date:	Saturday, September 24, 2011
Location:	Bethany Beach, DE
Race Type:	Triathlon - International Distance
Age Group:	Male 40 - 44
Time:	2:32:17
Overall Place:	27 / 327
Age Group Place:	4 / 45
Comment:	Chest cold and lack of training made this a challenge but I fought through.

Race Report:

Swim: 27:57 (31)
T1: 2:42 (32)
Bike: 1:09:35 (36)
T2: 1:06 (38)
Run: 50:59 (94)

I was really 6th in my AG, but 2 of the top 3 were in the same AG.

This was a tough race for me. In fact, I almost didn't do it because I had a pretty bad chest congestion. However, it's one of my favorite races so I decided to go ahead.

I got to the race site early and it was a very quick setup. I sat around as much as I could, then walked down to the starting line very early (mile walk down the beach) so I had time to warm up.

The waves were growing larger by the minute. I was concerned that a big set would roll in when we had to start. Luckily, it happened to the first wave, but ours lucked out with only medium waves. I dove in and started swimming at a fairly constant pace. I was definitely towards the front of my wave, so when one of the other men stopped to sight and then proceeded to swim directly into me, kicking me in the face, it pissed me off! Despite having to stop twice to clear the goggles from this face kick, I still got out top 5 in my wave. Great swim for minimal training!

Transition was uneventful. Then off to the bike. I couldn't catch my breath for a long while, but I just kept pressing as much as I could. I settled into a rhythm and pushed it all the way through to a 22mph average.

I was breathing pretty hard coming into T2. Unfortunately, the chest congestion was starting to get to me. Off onto the run, I immediately ran into trouble. I willed myself to run for about 1.25 miles, but just needed to walk to clear my breath at that point. Once I walk though, it's easy to walk again. Still, this was probably a wise move given my chest congestion that was making it hard to breath when running.

In the end, a bunch of people passed me while I was walking, but I held them off while running. I finished with an 8:13 pace, so I was very pleased with that given the chest issues and the walking.

27th overall for a "sick day" was a good one to put in the books. I had plenty of leg strength left at the end. It was my breathing that got the best of me.