Gulf Coast Half Iron Distance Triathlon - Shecky's Legs Relay Team

Gulf Coast Triathlon - Half Iron Distance Triathlon - Mixed Relay
Date of Race: 05/10/13
Total Race Time = 4:40:42
Overall Place = 5/19

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Sheryl Shectman
Swim: 31:52 (Pace: 1:31/100yd)

I did this race for 3 reasons:

 

I have never done an ocean swim

See where I am in relation to my Louisville goals

Have a fun, awesome weekend

The day before the race, I noticed many athletes were getting in the water to practice. I wasn't planning on it. After I ran into Patti, Rich, Jeff, and Kim, they said I should. I did, and boy am I glad. I'm glad I spent 15 minutes or so figuring out the waves before the race.

I warmed up for about 200 yards or so the morning of the race just to get my arms loosened up. The relay wave was last, so I waited on the beach for almost an hour after the start. Typically my nerves get the best of me and I have to hit the port-a-potties, but for this, they didn't. The swim only aspect of racing must calm me down.

The announcer counted down from 10 and I ran along with the other yellow caps through the waves into the water. As soon as I could, I started swimming -- bad move. I realized that most people kept fighting through the waves until the last moment. Before I knew it, I was in the middle to back of the yellow pack. Slow Start!!! The first part of the swim was getting through the breakers. I was so determined to get through them, I really have no idea how many people hit and kicked me. Once I got about 200 yards out, it got a little better. While there were still waves and chop, it was nothing like the beginning of the race. The problem with the ocean swim is that I was never able to get into any kind of a rhythm. I continued swimming and soon I was passing bunches of the yellow caps. Again.... super slow start, but I was getting into it. I had some trouble sighting with this one, because the waves were in the way. I don't think I found myself off course at all, but I had to tread water a few times because just lifting my head to sight wasn't cutting it.

For any OWS, I always set my Garmin to auto lap a quarter of the way through. For this race, I set it for every 528 yards. The beginning of the race seemed to go on for a while. Once my watch buzzed, I was relieved. A quarter of the way down; Sheryl, pick up the pace just a little. The course turned left and we were now swimming parallel to the shore. This was interesting as I was fighting the waves now on my left side instead of in front of me. My watch buzzed; Time to pick up the pace again. About 200 yards later, we turned left again and headed back to the beach. Swimming back to shore was a new experience. The waves would pull me out and then push me back in to a point that sometimes I felt like I wasn't moving. I finally found a rhythm for the last half of the swim. I felt good and tried to pick up my pace. After all, I wasn't biking or running. I could leave it all out there! The watch buzzed a third time. Only 528 yards to go; Time to pick up the pace yet again and bring it on home!

At this point, I still felt good, but I was just ready for the race to be over. It felt like every time I tried to take a breath, a wave would come. I'm sure I drank at least a gallon of saltwater that morning! I had a lot of difficulties finding the blue fence which was the end of the swim. Later I realized that I should have used the buildings for sighting. It would have been a whole lot easier than trying to find those buoys among the waves! Lesson learned. Maybe I would have saved some time. I finally got to the point where I could stop swimming. I fought my way out of the water and up the beach-- not easy! I went flying into the sand on my hands and knees. I walked up the rest of the beach. Once I got to the pavement, I started running into transition even though I shouldn’t without my ankle brace. Patti took the timing chip from me, placed it on George and he was off!

T1 Time: 3:02

George Darden
Bike: 2:10:18 (25.8 mph, 288w) fastest bike split overall

 

After I saw Sheryl off on the swim, I headed to the transition area to get ready for my bike leg. Gulf Coast required the relay-ers to stick around a tent near the entrance of the transition area. I wanted to warm up, though, so I ended up running laps around the edge of the transition area for about fifteen minutes. If you saw me turning and going behind the port-a-johns when you were coming across the parking lot, that’s why.

 

I changed into my race kit about five minutes earlier than I had planned because I was getting anxious. As it turned out, it was a good thing I did, because less than three minutes later, here comes Sheryl RUNNING through transition. I knew that she wasn’t supposed to be running, but I certainly wasn’t going to say anything. Patti pulled the strap off Sheryl’s ankle, strapped it on mine, and I ran to my bike to put on my shoes and helmet. I ran out of transition, had a ridiculously bad bike mount, and I was off.

 

I was passing a lot of people throughout the ride given that we were in the last wave. I am accustomed to this, though, since as a bad swimmer, I normally come out of the water pretty far back. It got dodgy a couple of times when I was passing clumps of riders and cars at the same time, but that only served to spike my adrenaline. The only problem I had in the first ten miles was hitting a bump that rocketed my water bottle from the cage between my elbows. I didn’t stop for it, so my beloved IMCdA water bottle is now likely sitting in a west Florida landfill. (Tear.)

 

Once we got out on the highway, things opened up more and I was able to begin focusing. I tried to keep my power between 270 and 310, and I tried to keep my HR under 170. The flat course was fast, but it presented two really difficult challenges. First, I never stopped pedaling, and it was hard to keep my power high. In plain terms, I simply got tired of pedaling hard. To remain focused on my goal, I started thinking everything I knew where they mentioned “O” or “Oh” (as in two-oh-nine, or 2:09). The lyric “Oh, oh, oh, oh” from Led Zepplin’s D’yer Mak’er kept going through my head, as Justin Beiber’s singing “Baby, baby, baby, ooohhh.” I even thought about the guy from Office Space talking about his “oh face.” Second, I had to remain in the aero position the entire time. There was one bridge on course that enabled me to sit up, but otherwise, my face was between my forearms the entire time. This was both physically and mentally difficult. About the only break I got from the hard pedaling and staring at my computer was when I passed ATC folks. I enjoyed that, and I tried to say something whenever I passed. As it was at John Tanner, one of the highlights was passing Dave Gill and getting his rebel yell-ish “Go George!” as I went by. Lots of other people cheered for me as I passed, and I appreciated that.

 

I nearly missed the final turn onto the beachfront drive, but other than that, it was a pretty straightforward fifty-six mile time trial for me. When I crossed the finish line, I saw 2:09 on my computer, but alas, my official time was 2:10:18—less than half a second per mile off my goal time. I’m happy with it, but I wish I could have found an extra nineteen seconds to get my “oh” time. A volunteer car blocked me during one of the feed zones. I had to slow down for drinks since I lost my bottle. I had a terrible mount. I didn’t get into the “red zone” as much as I expected to in the last six miles. I screwed up that last right turn. What if . . .

 

I passed off to Patti and she took off on the run just as the rain began.

 

T2 Time: 0:55

 

Patti Danzig

Run: 1:54:38 (Pace 8:45) 

This run was being used by me to figure out how to set the pace for my upcoming marathon so when George sent us an email with a hint towards trying to make the podium, I was actually happy for the push. That was until I saw 2 18 yr old guys warming up in the relay area and also knew that another local Atlanta's team runner was very fast. Ugh...at least three runners who are going to hit 1:30. Instead of giving up, I used this to push as hard as I could. (They all ended up being in mixed relays and oddly enough our team beat all of the male relays teams)

I always run with music but knew that the distractions of the race would keep me going for the 13.1 miles without it. It helped my pacing and form not to have it. I could hear my feet land and my breathing. There were several short discussions along the race that wouldn't have been possible with earbuds blocking the sound. It was a nice change but I really felt the struggle starting around mile 6 or so. I was pushing hard against the wall of discomfort and knowing there were 7 more miles of it was difficult.

The cloud cover and light rain helped make it an easier run for sure but it was no picnic. I was dumping ice water on my head very early in the run. Biggest mistake I made during the race was I went out too fast. I don't have a Garmin but I was timing myself and my first mile was 7:53 and the second one was 8. My goal was 1:52 with the hopes that a perfect day might produce a PR. (I would have had to break 1:49:30). I finished in 1:54:38 and think that perhaps I could have reached my goal but maybe not my PR if I had paced a little better. This was a great lesson because a mistake like this only cost me a little in a half-marathon but it would have cost a lot more in a full. I decided to buy a Garmin for training and racing to improve.

What did you enjoy most about the race?

Sheryl: Not having to worry about doing a long race. I really enjoyed the aspect of a relay. If it fits into my training schedule, I will certainly do one again.

George: Being on a relay team with Sheryl and Patti! Thanks to them, I was able to take part in a great ATC event that otherwise wouldn't have fit into my training or life schedule.

Patti: I was super happy with my form and how strong my legs felt. And that despite my lack of speed training, I was able to push much faster than I train. It was also absolutely incredible to come down that finish chute and have the loud music and cheers of so many ATCers.