Participant: Shawn Newton
Event: Beach2Battleship Half 2009
Date: Saturday November 7, 2009
Invoice: R-I-88785-50506
============================
Yep, I signed up for a half-iron distance triathlon. For those not in the know, that's a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. Yes, all in the same day.
Funny. About a year ago, I was telling my friends there was no way in hell they'd ever get me to do a tri. Guess I showed them ;)
By the way, my pushers, Nancy and Linae , are both doing the full (2.4/112/26.2)
Let the training begin!!
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
RR: Suncoast Sprint Triathlon
Saturday, October 25, 2008. 660 yd swim/10 mile bike/3.1 mile run
Reader's Digest version: 1:41:07, four and a half minutes faster than my last time on this course back in August. And this course was a bit longer, so it's all good :)
Extended version: Linae and I were lucky enough to spend another fantastic weekend with Lisa Limper, who descended upon the Bay area to play sherpa and volunteer extraordinaire for the Suncoast triathlon :)
I picked up Lisa at the airport on Friday afternoon. After getting us lost at least twice, despite TomTom, I finally managed to make it to Linae's house. Stupid road construction :-P We dropped off our stuff, gave the Dobie some lovin', and headed out to eat. After some moderately decent Tex Mex, we girls hung out around the computer for most of the evening while Joe and his school band played the high school football game. So instead of picking up our race packets in a timely fashion like responsible triathletes, we screwed around online updating fantasy football rosters and picking out my new ringtone for Linae's phone (It's "Some Beach," in case you were wondering :) )
Race day was cold and rainy and windy. The four of us woke up between 0500 and 0530. We all stumbled around for a bit, got our gear together, and headed off to Fort Desoto, near St. Pete, to pick up our packets. Lisa volunteered doing body marking while Joe, Linae, and I headed to the start. We ran into Linae's friends Sherry and Jared, who were doing their first tri. We decided to try to stay out of the wind by huddling behind a sign on the beach. The sign said, "Dangerous Currents. No Swimming." I found this ironic, as it was about 1/8 mile from the swim start.
When the sun started to come up, we went in to do a quick warm up swim. The water was fairly cool, probably around 75F, but tolerable once you actually got in and started moving around. Once again, our wave started last, so we stood around waiting, teeth chattering. When Joe's wave went off, we noticed a pod of maybe eight dolphins in the water, really close to the swimmers, like maybe 10 feet away. Way too close for my comfort. As everyone was ooohing and aaahing over how cool it would be to swim with dolphins, I just kept thinking, "I hope they leave before I get in there." I have a healthy respect for marine life, and there are certain parts of it I don't want any part of. A wild dolphin encounter is one of them. I guess I've been hanging out with the marine biologist for too long ;)
Anyway, by the time we went in, the dolphins had left, but we then had the problem of the rough swim. I tried to calm myself beforehand by breathing deeply and telling myself that I wouldn't drown. We swam along the sandbar, and I could almost touch bottom if I needed to. The current helped, making the swim faster, but it still felt like an eternity because of the swells. I swallowed a fair amount of seawater, and if I didn't swallow it, it went up my nose. It was not a fun day in the water, and I was grateful to be done.
Saw Lisa on my way into transition, got a high five, and it was on to the bike. On my way out, a lady came up beside me and said, "Great job! Jesus loves you!" I said, "He must, because I didn't drown and I wasn't molested by dolphins, so it's a good day." The ride was fairly uneventful, despite wet pavement and a vicious headwind from miles 5.5-8. What with all the marathon training I've been doing, I hadn't worked on my cycling. I no longer have an excuse, and it's GOT TO get better if I ever hope to have a decent 1/2 IM.
Saw Lisa again on my way out of transition, pointing us in the proper direction. She later told me, "You were *not* in your happy place." And how ;) The run was okay. It takes me a half-mile or so to get my legs to not feel Jello-y, so that combined with the loose-sand beach run in the beginning of the run made for a slow first mile. But I picked it up a bit, and felt decent toward the middle and finished fairly strongly.
Final time: 1:41:07, which is almost four and a half minutes faster than my previous race on that course. And this course was longer, so I'm pretty happy about that.
After champagne in the parking lot (no tequila this time--sorry Neil!) we cleaned up, gorged ourselves on hot wings and Amber Bock, took a nice nap (hey Linae, do you have a black snake I could borrow??) had a beer at Andreychuck's, went to the Ice Palace, where the San Jose Sharks spanked our Lightning (but we still had fun,) went to a Halloween party thrown by Joe and Linae's friends, went home and crashed at 1300.
Today was Busch Gardens with Lisa's friend from college and her family. I think we're all pretty much beat :)
A HUUUUUGE thanks to Lisa for volunteering. You're awesome, girl, and it was fantastic to see you again!! See you in February for Gasparilla!
Reader's Digest version: 1:41:07, four and a half minutes faster than my last time on this course back in August. And this course was a bit longer, so it's all good :)
Extended version: Linae and I were lucky enough to spend another fantastic weekend with Lisa Limper, who descended upon the Bay area to play sherpa and volunteer extraordinaire for the Suncoast triathlon :)
I picked up Lisa at the airport on Friday afternoon. After getting us lost at least twice, despite TomTom, I finally managed to make it to Linae's house. Stupid road construction :-P We dropped off our stuff, gave the Dobie some lovin', and headed out to eat. After some moderately decent Tex Mex, we girls hung out around the computer for most of the evening while Joe and his school band played the high school football game. So instead of picking up our race packets in a timely fashion like responsible triathletes, we screwed around online updating fantasy football rosters and picking out my new ringtone for Linae's phone (It's "Some Beach," in case you were wondering :) )
Race day was cold and rainy and windy. The four of us woke up between 0500 and 0530. We all stumbled around for a bit, got our gear together, and headed off to Fort Desoto, near St. Pete, to pick up our packets. Lisa volunteered doing body marking while Joe, Linae, and I headed to the start. We ran into Linae's friends Sherry and Jared, who were doing their first tri. We decided to try to stay out of the wind by huddling behind a sign on the beach. The sign said, "Dangerous Currents. No Swimming." I found this ironic, as it was about 1/8 mile from the swim start.
When the sun started to come up, we went in to do a quick warm up swim. The water was fairly cool, probably around 75F, but tolerable once you actually got in and started moving around. Once again, our wave started last, so we stood around waiting, teeth chattering. When Joe's wave went off, we noticed a pod of maybe eight dolphins in the water, really close to the swimmers, like maybe 10 feet away. Way too close for my comfort. As everyone was ooohing and aaahing over how cool it would be to swim with dolphins, I just kept thinking, "I hope they leave before I get in there." I have a healthy respect for marine life, and there are certain parts of it I don't want any part of. A wild dolphin encounter is one of them. I guess I've been hanging out with the marine biologist for too long ;)
Anyway, by the time we went in, the dolphins had left, but we then had the problem of the rough swim. I tried to calm myself beforehand by breathing deeply and telling myself that I wouldn't drown. We swam along the sandbar, and I could almost touch bottom if I needed to. The current helped, making the swim faster, but it still felt like an eternity because of the swells. I swallowed a fair amount of seawater, and if I didn't swallow it, it went up my nose. It was not a fun day in the water, and I was grateful to be done.
Saw Lisa on my way into transition, got a high five, and it was on to the bike. On my way out, a lady came up beside me and said, "Great job! Jesus loves you!" I said, "He must, because I didn't drown and I wasn't molested by dolphins, so it's a good day." The ride was fairly uneventful, despite wet pavement and a vicious headwind from miles 5.5-8. What with all the marathon training I've been doing, I hadn't worked on my cycling. I no longer have an excuse, and it's GOT TO get better if I ever hope to have a decent 1/2 IM.
Saw Lisa again on my way out of transition, pointing us in the proper direction. She later told me, "You were *not* in your happy place." And how ;) The run was okay. It takes me a half-mile or so to get my legs to not feel Jello-y, so that combined with the loose-sand beach run in the beginning of the run made for a slow first mile. But I picked it up a bit, and felt decent toward the middle and finished fairly strongly.
Final time: 1:41:07, which is almost four and a half minutes faster than my previous race on that course. And this course was longer, so I'm pretty happy about that.
After champagne in the parking lot (no tequila this time--sorry Neil!) we cleaned up, gorged ourselves on hot wings and Amber Bock, took a nice nap (hey Linae, do you have a black snake I could borrow??) had a beer at Andreychuck's, went to the Ice Palace, where the San Jose Sharks spanked our Lightning (but we still had fun,) went to a Halloween party thrown by Joe and Linae's friends, went home and crashed at 1300.
Today was Busch Gardens with Lisa's friend from college and her family. I think we're all pretty much beat :)
A HUUUUUGE thanks to Lisa for volunteering. You're awesome, girl, and it was fantastic to see you again!! See you in February for Gasparilla!
Sunday, August 03, 2008
RR: Top Gun Sprint Triathlon
**Linae got some post-race pictures from Saturday. They can be found here.
It was better. Much, much, much better than my first. Certainly still some room for improvement, but I'm happy with my performance.
Spent the night prior to the race at Linae and Joe's, where we had pizza, watched a goofy movie (I'm telling you guys--next time, Talladega Nights!!) and I made friends with the Dobie. Was finally able to get a little sleep, and woke up at 5:30 race morning. To quote Joe, "Nothing good happens at 5 AM..."
I'd been a bit anxious about this race, mostly from my prior experience: The swim still freaks me out; what if the G-D bike breaks? what if I get lost? But I felt a lot better after getting into Fort Desoto and seeing that this was a really well-organized event. That, and even *I* couldn't get lost in the park--there's one road, and volunteers/officials everywhere. I felt fairly relaxed going into the water. We were the last wave, which made me happy. Nobody to swim over me :) I did manage to swallow a decent mouthful of tasty saltwater, but I didn't drown, so it's all good.
The bike was fairly uneventful. I felt like I was going to retch through most of it. Around mile 8, I saw a dude blow past me. I thought to myself, "Does it say "86" on his leg??" Yep. I got passed on the bike by an 86 year old man. Note to self: More saddle time, please. ((sigh))
The run was hot. As usual, it took me about 1/2 mile to get the jello-y feeling out of my legs. And then, about 3/4 of a mile into the run, the dry heaving started. I got off the trail a bit, stopped, and there it was: the saltwater. Gross. Only the second time I've puked in a race (frankly, I thought it would have come much sooner.) The other time was the Kiawah Island marathon two years ago. I spewed on someone's lawn in front of the ginormous tree in their front yard. Anyway, I felt better and managed to finish in 1:45:28. Certainly not fast, but definitely something to work to beat in October :)
A few firsts: My first triathlon puke; first time I left the finish line with a guy on each side of me (okay, so it was Linae and Joe's friend Kurt and an Army guy of all of maybe 23 years old, but still ;) ) And it was the first time I've done tequila shots out of the trunk of a car at 10 AM. (Note to self: No tequila before noon.)
I'll be back at Fort Desoto in October. As I've been told time and again, "You can never leave The Firm." It seems I don't want to.
It was better. Much, much, much better than my first. Certainly still some room for improvement, but I'm happy with my performance.
Spent the night prior to the race at Linae and Joe's, where we had pizza, watched a goofy movie (I'm telling you guys--next time, Talladega Nights!!) and I made friends with the Dobie. Was finally able to get a little sleep, and woke up at 5:30 race morning. To quote Joe, "Nothing good happens at 5 AM..."
I'd been a bit anxious about this race, mostly from my prior experience: The swim still freaks me out; what if the G-D bike breaks? what if I get lost? But I felt a lot better after getting into Fort Desoto and seeing that this was a really well-organized event. That, and even *I* couldn't get lost in the park--there's one road, and volunteers/officials everywhere. I felt fairly relaxed going into the water. We were the last wave, which made me happy. Nobody to swim over me :) I did manage to swallow a decent mouthful of tasty saltwater, but I didn't drown, so it's all good.
The bike was fairly uneventful. I felt like I was going to retch through most of it. Around mile 8, I saw a dude blow past me. I thought to myself, "Does it say "86" on his leg??" Yep. I got passed on the bike by an 86 year old man. Note to self: More saddle time, please. ((sigh))
The run was hot. As usual, it took me about 1/2 mile to get the jello-y feeling out of my legs. And then, about 3/4 of a mile into the run, the dry heaving started. I got off the trail a bit, stopped, and there it was: the saltwater. Gross. Only the second time I've puked in a race (frankly, I thought it would have come much sooner.) The other time was the Kiawah Island marathon two years ago. I spewed on someone's lawn in front of the ginormous tree in their front yard. Anyway, I felt better and managed to finish in 1:45:28. Certainly not fast, but definitely something to work to beat in October :)
A few firsts: My first triathlon puke; first time I left the finish line with a guy on each side of me (okay, so it was Linae and Joe's friend Kurt and an Army guy of all of maybe 23 years old, but still ;) ) And it was the first time I've done tequila shots out of the trunk of a car at 10 AM. (Note to self: No tequila before noon.)
I'll be back at Fort Desoto in October. As I've been told time and again, "You can never leave The Firm." It seems I don't want to.
Friday, July 18, 2008
One more shot...
This message is generated as confirmation of your recent registration on Active.com. You have been successfully registered for the following:
Registration: Top Gun Triathlon VII (2008)
Purchase Date: 07/18/08
Category: Individual
Event Date: 08/02/08
Name: Shawn Newton
Registration: Top Gun Triathlon VII (2008)
Purchase Date: 07/18/08
Category: Individual
Event Date: 08/02/08
Name: Shawn Newton
Saturday, June 21, 2008
RR: Maverick Sprint Triathlon
Well, it was my first tri. It was supposed to be a 400-yard swim, 13 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. It pretty much sucked ass for me, but I'm guessing it wasn't totally *me.* NOBODY seemed happy with this race, from the fact that there was virtually no information on the website to the lack of water on the run. When we picked up our packets, he asked us if we had USAT cards. We said yes. He said, "Okay." He's supposed to check them and our IDs. Then he had the wave starts up on a board, but they were scratched out and scribbled over to the point where it was illegible. So we figured we'd just get our information from the race packet. Not so much. There were some flyers for other races, but NO INFORMATION for this race at all.
While I avoided stingrays, snapping turtles, and sharks, I *did* manage to find a damn sinkhole while walking into the Gulf for our pre-race, get-used-to- the-water swim. Now I have a slightly puffy ankle that doesn't really hurt much unless I rotate it, but I'm icing it anyway.
While we were racking up the bikes and Linae was showing me her transition layout, we met a Pinellas County cop and his wife. They had done a bunch of the tris in the St. Pete area, and we chatted them up a bit. When they found out it was my first, they told me not to base my opinions of triathlons on this race. I told them that I was already planning on doing Top Gun in St. Pete, and they said that would be much better. About half an hour later, the husband got the duathletes organized. Even though he was not a race official. It's just that nobody else was doing it. He made friends with the Sarasota County cops out on the race site, and found out the course logistics, and just...took action. God bless him :)
The swim was okay, even though I freaked out a little. I kept getting kicked by this chick in front of me, and no matter how I tried to get away from her, she was like a magnet. Wherever I moved, there she was. I finally got far enough away from the buoy and out of her path. But then I got kinda swum over by one of the 40-and-over guys that started after us, and someone kept grabbing my ankle. I wound up breaststroking A LOT, which wasn't in my plan, but whatev. And once we rounded the last buoy and I saw there were some guys standing up in the water, I did the same when I thought I could touch bottom. Lesson: I need more open-water swim practice. I came out of the water at 13:05.
I didn't time my transistions; I'm lucky I knew where the hell I was :)
The first part of the bike went smoothly for me. Made it to the first turnaround, saw two people behind me. One was a lady, the other a guy being followed by a motorcycle cop. The lady passed me; I never saw the guy or the cop again. The bike course was not marked well AT ALL. There were some sporadic 8.5 x 11" signs that read, "Slow! Bike race in progress." At one point I asked a spectator if I was going the right way. I almost took a wrong turn, going off to the right instead of straight. Kept on going down the road, and came to a place that said "Bike Turnaround," but it was unclear WHERE you actually turned around. There was a lady in a day-glo yellow vest directing traffic, so I slowed down and asked her, "Where do I go?" She said, "What?" I repeated myself. She said, "What do you mean?" "I need to know where I'm supposed to turn around!" "Oh, are you part of that Police Olympic thing?" Now, at this point, I was stopped in the middle of the freakin' road, and I must have bumped my chain or something, because it came off. I'm not a mechanically- inclined person AT ALL, so I wheeled it over to the sidewalk and started monkeying around with it. Day-glo girl asked me THREE times if I wanted to put the bike in her truck and she'd take me to the finish. I told her THREE times I'd like to at least TRY to finish the race. After about five minutes, I finally got the damn thing back on, and went back down the street to Siesta Village. (I knew that's where I was going because she FINALLY was able to give me directions.) I was on the bike 1:07 and change, including chain-fixing. Lesson learned: I need more time in the saddle. And a basic bike maintenance course.
I was pretty annoyed, and a little disheartened by the time I got into T2. Some dude had racked his bike right over my stuff, so I just moved down the rack. Idiot. I lost the helmet, put on my visor and race belt, and started off on the run. Before I left the TA, I had a real bad feeling, so I went back to my bike and grabbed what was left of the water from my bike. I figured they'd run out because this jackass had done such a stellar job of directing thus far, so I thought, "Screw him. I'll bring my own." Good thing I did. As I was running onto the beach, Linae was running off, and we chatted for a few seconds. She told me there was no water at the aid station OR the turnaround. Big shocker. I got kinda tired of dodging the beachgoers and little kids, so I walked a lot of the beach. As I've mentioned, I'm not the most graceful creature ever created, so sand (and then a trail run through the woods) is not ideal for me. But I did what I could, ran whenever my give-a-damn came back, tripped on two tree roots and narrowly missed a hole in the woods, and hauled myself over the finish line. Their clock said 2:07; my watch said 1:52:35, not counting transitions; my actual time is somewhere between the two.
Afterward, I heard some scuttlebutt that both the swim and the run courses were a little long. I also heard that the RD got kicked off the beach by the cops for screaming at a spectator (the previously-mentione d Pinellas County cop.) And that when there actually WAS water, there were no volunteers; a tourist and her grandkids who felt bad no one was helping the runners decided to fill cups and hand them out. Un-freakin'- believable.
This pretty much blew, but I'm not ready to give up the sport just yet. I told Linae and the Tri-Gator guy by us that if I didn't know this isn't how most tris are, I'd never do one again. I'm going to give it one more shot in August, so I'll reserve judgment on the whole tri thing until then :) I figure, if seasoned triathletes think this is the worst race they've ever done, I owe the sport one more chance.
Margaritas and pizza at 9:30 in the morning--I LOVE endurance sports!! Drank too much tequila afterward, had a fabulous Cuban sandwich, chatted with the bartender, and then we headed back to our own neck of the woods.
The next one WILL be better.
While I avoided stingrays, snapping turtles, and sharks, I *did* manage to find a damn sinkhole while walking into the Gulf for our pre-race, get-used-to- the-water swim. Now I have a slightly puffy ankle that doesn't really hurt much unless I rotate it, but I'm icing it anyway.
While we were racking up the bikes and Linae was showing me her transition layout, we met a Pinellas County cop and his wife. They had done a bunch of the tris in the St. Pete area, and we chatted them up a bit. When they found out it was my first, they told me not to base my opinions of triathlons on this race. I told them that I was already planning on doing Top Gun in St. Pete, and they said that would be much better. About half an hour later, the husband got the duathletes organized. Even though he was not a race official. It's just that nobody else was doing it. He made friends with the Sarasota County cops out on the race site, and found out the course logistics, and just...took action. God bless him :)
The swim was okay, even though I freaked out a little. I kept getting kicked by this chick in front of me, and no matter how I tried to get away from her, she was like a magnet. Wherever I moved, there she was. I finally got far enough away from the buoy and out of her path. But then I got kinda swum over by one of the 40-and-over guys that started after us, and someone kept grabbing my ankle. I wound up breaststroking A LOT, which wasn't in my plan, but whatev. And once we rounded the last buoy and I saw there were some guys standing up in the water, I did the same when I thought I could touch bottom. Lesson: I need more open-water swim practice. I came out of the water at 13:05.
I didn't time my transistions; I'm lucky I knew where the hell I was :)
The first part of the bike went smoothly for me. Made it to the first turnaround, saw two people behind me. One was a lady, the other a guy being followed by a motorcycle cop. The lady passed me; I never saw the guy or the cop again. The bike course was not marked well AT ALL. There were some sporadic 8.5 x 11" signs that read, "Slow! Bike race in progress." At one point I asked a spectator if I was going the right way. I almost took a wrong turn, going off to the right instead of straight. Kept on going down the road, and came to a place that said "Bike Turnaround," but it was unclear WHERE you actually turned around. There was a lady in a day-glo yellow vest directing traffic, so I slowed down and asked her, "Where do I go?" She said, "What?" I repeated myself. She said, "What do you mean?" "I need to know where I'm supposed to turn around!" "Oh, are you part of that Police Olympic thing?" Now, at this point, I was stopped in the middle of the freakin' road, and I must have bumped my chain or something, because it came off. I'm not a mechanically- inclined person AT ALL, so I wheeled it over to the sidewalk and started monkeying around with it. Day-glo girl asked me THREE times if I wanted to put the bike in her truck and she'd take me to the finish. I told her THREE times I'd like to at least TRY to finish the race. After about five minutes, I finally got the damn thing back on, and went back down the street to Siesta Village. (I knew that's where I was going because she FINALLY was able to give me directions.) I was on the bike 1:07 and change, including chain-fixing. Lesson learned: I need more time in the saddle. And a basic bike maintenance course.
I was pretty annoyed, and a little disheartened by the time I got into T2. Some dude had racked his bike right over my stuff, so I just moved down the rack. Idiot. I lost the helmet, put on my visor and race belt, and started off on the run. Before I left the TA, I had a real bad feeling, so I went back to my bike and grabbed what was left of the water from my bike. I figured they'd run out because this jackass had done such a stellar job of directing thus far, so I thought, "Screw him. I'll bring my own." Good thing I did. As I was running onto the beach, Linae was running off, and we chatted for a few seconds. She told me there was no water at the aid station OR the turnaround. Big shocker. I got kinda tired of dodging the beachgoers and little kids, so I walked a lot of the beach. As I've mentioned, I'm not the most graceful creature ever created, so sand (and then a trail run through the woods) is not ideal for me. But I did what I could, ran whenever my give-a-damn came back, tripped on two tree roots and narrowly missed a hole in the woods, and hauled myself over the finish line. Their clock said 2:07; my watch said 1:52:35, not counting transitions; my actual time is somewhere between the two.
Afterward, I heard some scuttlebutt that both the swim and the run courses were a little long. I also heard that the RD got kicked off the beach by the cops for screaming at a spectator (the previously-mentione d Pinellas County cop.) And that when there actually WAS water, there were no volunteers; a tourist and her grandkids who felt bad no one was helping the runners decided to fill cups and hand them out. Un-freakin'- believable.
This pretty much blew, but I'm not ready to give up the sport just yet. I told Linae and the Tri-Gator guy by us that if I didn't know this isn't how most tris are, I'd never do one again. I'm going to give it one more shot in August, so I'll reserve judgment on the whole tri thing until then :) I figure, if seasoned triathletes think this is the worst race they've ever done, I owe the sport one more chance.
Margaritas and pizza at 9:30 in the morning--I LOVE endurance sports!! Drank too much tequila afterward, had a fabulous Cuban sandwich, chatted with the bartender, and then we headed back to our own neck of the woods.
The next one WILL be better.
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