One foot in front of the other.
Strong Island Rookie Triathlon
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During the Redondo Beach Triathlon this past Sunday, in the bike leg of the race I drafted for about 30 seconds. It has since been brought to my attention by Jeff of Road to nowhere that drafting may be illegal in some triathlons. So, I checked the official USAT rules (USA Triathlon) and Jeff is correct, at least for age group racing.
Drafting is basically where one rider rides very close behind another. The advantage of this is that the front rider creates a “hole” in the air and the rider or riders following fit into that “hole”. This makes for a smooth and easier ride for the rider in the back.
Drafting is not only allowed in cycling, but is, in fact, the norm. In triathlons however, the USAT states that only athletes in Olympic qualifying and professional races may draft, thus allowing them to ride close together in packs. In age group racing, which is what most races are (like Redondo), USAT rules say that riders must maintain a distance of at least three bike lengths between them and the rider in front of them.
I would like to say that I was not aware of this rule prior to being told by Jeff (Thank you!!) and I am really sorry that I performed an illegal maneuver, no matter how brief.
San Diego Rock ‘n Roll Marathon
Redondo Beach Triathlon results
Bobby crosses the finish line at clock time 5:18:27 (click here for the video!)
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Here are the details:
First; about 3 days before the race I was riding a bike to the store. The bike has SPD pedals, but I was wearing flip flops because it was just to the store and back. Somewhere along the way the pedal rolled and I cut my the high part of my heel (almost near the bottom of my achilles). No real damage, but there went any hope of not wearing socks.
Days before:
I kept up regular, but lesser workouts up until the Friday before the race (race was on sunday). During the day on Saturday, I went to the check in/clinic they had for the event. Got to take a look at the course and so on. On Saturday night I had a big plate of penne with pears in a gorgonzola cream sauce. Went to bed at 10 pm.
Race day:
I woke up at 5 am, had two eggs with cheese and a banana. I wanted to be checked in and in the transition area by 6:15, but made it at about 6:20. I had plenty of time to set up my transition area just right. I was wearing a one piece tri suit by TYR, and a Zoot Fuzion, full wetsuit (which I will never do again, I’ll explain later). I had two bottles of water set to hose the sand off my feet and everything ended up working out just right.
The start:
The day was overcast, so not so hot and the water was about 62 (f-ing cold). I was in the 3rd wave, which I think was the biggest (34-14 y/o). I got near the front of the group.
The swim:
Had a clean start and got into the mix right away catching multiple feet hands and elbows to my face and other parts. I am sure I also returned the favor. It took me about 5 minutes to pull out in front of the big pack. There was one guy that just took off and ended up out of the water about 30 seconds ahead of me. I pulled way out and I think I was third out of the water for my wave. The reason I will never wear a full sleeve wetsuit again is that it created resistance to my stroke. I had to work harder to get my arms out of the water and this ended up killing my breath. And let me tell you, I am feeling it today.
Coming into the breakers was fine. I caught a couple nice wave that gave me a great push, but I also caught one that broke under my legs and almost flipped me. Once i was standing, I had about 20 yards of water to run out of, which was SOO hard. Once out of that, I had about 75 yards to go to the transition. The real problem was that the entire run up the beach really was UP the beach. By the time I hit the boardwalk into T1 I was in so much pain. I got to my area ok, took a drink of FRS and got my socks and shoes and helmet, etc. on. I then tried to get on my bike before they reminded me that I had to run out of the transition. All in all, I think I was in the transition for about 45 seconds to a minute.
The bike:
I was riding a Cannondale R5 with Look Keo Sprint pedals. It is a road bike and not a tri-bike per se, but it did a great job, and since I train on my own road bike anyway, it is what I am used to. I did rather well on the bike and I believe I only lost about 4 places to guys that were definitely seasoned triathletes and riding $5,000+ tri-bikes. I took advantage of drafting and using it even passed one of the guys that had passed me. I made it into the transition very well and got my cycling shoes off and my running shoes/hat/glasses on in about 30 seconds.
The run:
I was using Yankz for my shoe laces so I saved a lot of time with that and the fact that I had socks on made my shoes go on even faster. The run was a 2 mile course, that was on a lot of boardwalk, which was nice and easy on the legs. However, running is by FAR my weak point and I lost probably about ten or so places to guys that were crazy fast. At mile one there was a set of about 5 stairs that burned like hell. Just beyond that was a water station. It was at that water station that I discovered the bad side of drinking water from a cup while running (I choked). I also dumped the remainder of my water on my head, forgetting the fact that I had a Nike Dri-fit hat on and it would push away any water that hit it! Oh well. The final 30 yards included a hill (up) which sucked and then a nice sidewalk.
My official time was 52:48 and I finished 6th in my age group. I am not sure about my overall place, but I will let you know once they post that info (if they post that info). Overall, I was extremely pleased with my performance. I need to work on my running, no doubt, but I hung in there and it felt awesome to finish.
So, as I have said, I am doing the Redondo Beach Triathlon this coming Sunday, June 8th. I am now in Santa Monica and have been training as much as I think is good the week before the event. After checking out last year’s split times for this same event, it looks like the most challenging part for me will be the run. If I am correct, the top finishers from last year did the run portion, which is 2 miles, in about 11 minutes!! That means I need to try to be well ahead coming out of the water in order to be competitive.
Anyway, Bobby finished his marathon (busted knees and all) in 5 hours and 16 minutes!! I will try to post a video of his finish in my next post which should also be an interview with Bobby about his experience.
As I write, at 7:27 am PST, Bobby is running his Marathon!!!
So, as I spoke about on my last podcast episode, I’m back! So is nipple chaffing!
The problem I run into is that I get going, only intending on going for a short-ish run and that turns into me going for close to an hour…hence the nipple chaffing. I am now keeping a stick of Body Glide in my gym bag constantly to hopefully alleviate this problem.
Anyway, in less than 48 hours I will be driving across the US from NYC to Logan, Utah with my wife and my dog in three days. The problem is that I have to get in my workouts!! My goal is to run every day once we arrive at our destination (1 night Moline, IL; 2nd night, somewhere in Wyoming) given that it’s not too cold and that I can motivate myself to even THINK about running after having driven for 15 hours+.
On top of that, it will be three days that I am out of the pool and not able to swim. This is important because, as I said, I have the Redondo Beach Triathlon on June 8th. ANOTHER problem is that, the morning after we arrive in Utah, I fly to San Diego to lend my moral (and if needs be, physical) support to Bobby as he runs in the San Diego Marathon. As soon as my plane lands, I am heading to the hotel and then to the race course to run, with Bobby, however much of the race he has left.
SOOOOO…..focus. I have to be focused and intent on my goals. Off we go!
THE ARGYLE AVENGER!!
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After a short absence… I’M BACK!! Running 30 min’s today, I am now SLOWLY rebuilding toward my previous runs. Check out the episode (number 4 even though I say number 3 at the beginning of the show) below.
Links to check out:
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Welcome to episode 2! Hope you enjoy!
Go check out: Running with the Pack
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Hey there everyone! This is the first episode of my podcast tracking my progress. Either listen to it here, or check it out in Itunes!!
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Hi. My name is Brandon Wood. On November 2, 2008 I hope to run my first marathon, the New York City Marathon to be exact.
With this blog I am going to try to document the pains and gains of my journey. Along the way I will be joined (in spirit seeing as we live on opposite side of the country) by my best friend, Bobby Cockrill. He too will be keeping a blog to keep anyone who wants to listen abreast of his path to his first marathon (which will be in June in the San Diego Marathon). If all goes well, we’ll be running the New York City Marathon together.
Thanks so much for visiting my site! My name is Brandon Wood and I am the social media manager and a customer service rep for Newton Running. This site and podcast follow my adventures on the way to competing in and training for all kinds of endurance events, especially triathlon and running. Click the "About Me" tab for more info!
Who: This contest is open to anyone and everyone in the U.S. and Canada (also APO)! Tell your friends!
What: Stuffitts! I have spoken about these simple yet awesome shoe savers in the past. Click here to read more about them. I cannot say enough how great they are!
When: Starting NOW! This is an ongoing contest that will be every month, or until every person on the planet has nice, fresh smelling shoes!
Why: Because Stuffitts are awesome! The folks at Stuffitts are being SUPER generous and I also want to give you guys something that I think is a great addition to any athletes arsenal!
How: On the last podcast episode post of each month (example: Episode 99 on June 28 HERE) entrants should leave a comment (however long you'd like). On the following week's show (the first show of each month) I will draw, by random number generator, one winner! That's it!
Good luck!
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