Current mood:

angry

The Racing Debacle! Lake Delavan Oly
RACE REPORT Delavan Lake Triathlon 2006-06-03
In: Delavan, Wisconsin
Run by: Lake Geneva Extreme Sports
Weather: 70F / 21C + Sunny

Triathlon - Other
Total Time = 2h 8m 35s
Overall Rank = ?/? Age Group Rank = ?/?

Warmup
A quick jog of a few minutes, riding the bike for about 5 minutes mostly to check the shifting. Because I didn't intend to go out hard in the swim I didn't concentrate on warming up, preferring to save my energy and warm up on the swim.


Swim
Supposed to be: 1500m Actual Distance: This may be the one thing they got right!
Time: 28:47
The lake was warmer than people thought it would be, but the 'picturesque' and 'spring fed' lake was actually a weedy, duck-poop lake. Smelly. My hands were almost always reaching down into the weeds, and I got lake-weed stuck on my goggles approximately 3 times. The course itself was U-shaped, and relatively calm water except for a few boat wakes.

Start was good, I started in the back on the oustide (to avoid being swum over) and pretty quickly ended up at the front of the pack. I was quite jittery before the race, partially from nerves and partially from my inhaler, so it took about 200m for my breathing to finally calm down. I was still breathing on every other stoke most of the time, but it was a comfortable breathing, not from pushing too hard. I actually caught up with the guys Oly race (started ~2 min before the women). Had issues with drafting though, cause the people I caught were going too much slower for the draft to be worth it.
MASSIVE confusion about the return part of the race. Was it supposed to be 'Go out with the bouys on the left, return between the two sets' OR 'Go around the two sets of bouys so that they're always on your left.' There was complaining after the race too, from somebody who went the long way. I turned around the far bouy and pretty much stopped to see where the race was going. I followed the race, which went back in between the two sets. If that wasn't what the race director said, it should have been, because going all the way around would have been too far. My time was about right.

What would I change?
NOT RACE WITH THIS RACE DIRECTOR (OR COMPANY)!!!!!
Relax more before the race. Draft a bit more at the start.


T1
Time: 1:32
Should have practiced more with getting the shoes on while riding, because I think I actually lost time jumping on the bike compared to mounting with the shoes on.

What would I change?
NOT RACE WITH THIS RACE DIRECTOR (OR COMPANY)!!!!!
practice getting shoes on more. get tri shoes with the nifty little loop to help get them on.


Bike
Supposed to be: ~25 miles. Actual Distance: between 15 and 20
Time: 47:02 (not that it means anything since I don't know how far I went)
Um....there really is no way to know how far I actually went as my bike computer crapped out a few days ago. Shame really, it would be nice to know exactly how much this race director F*#@ed me over.

Scenic with rolling hills. NOT MARKED WELL AT ALL (for the Oly. I'm told the marking for the sprint was superb). At one point the race was supposed to go left and make a little box, come back up on the same intersection and go left again (Going S, turn W, circle around and end up going E). The very well-informed volunteers told me to turn directly from S to E. Missed a few miles there. So did most of the other people. I don't blame the volunteers. I believe that the race director SUCKED @$$ and didn't tell them what to do properly. He certainly did a terrible job of telling the athletes what to do. So from that mistake, there was another, COMPLETELY UNMARKED TURN. WITH NOBODY STANDING THERE!!!!! Now, seriously, is it too much to ask for a few arrows that say "Triathlon Bike Course?" I paid $100 for the entry fee, that ought to buy a few signs, and a sharp turn in the middle of nowhere deserves a volunteer, I think. The Sprint and Oly courses split off about 4 miles into the ride, joined up again a few miles later, and then split off again. I only saw the first split, and never saw another sprinter until the very end. At one point I pulled over with a group of 19 guys and 1 other female all huddled around a map trying to figure out where the hell we were. Once we picked a direction, off we went in our own little peloton. If this race wasn't draft legal (another thing the race director neglected to specify either way) it became so for us. Passing the map back and forth between a few people trying to figure out where to go. We finally rejoined the course, and the guy standing at that turn (VERY OBVIOUS TURN, he should have been at the hidden one) said 'don't worry, you're not the only ones.' ::sarcasm on:: Oh, yeah, that makes it all OK then doesn't it::sarcasm off:: I finished somewhere between 5 and 9 miles early. Some people went 22, some 15, some 19, and one very unfortunate fellow got really lost and rode 42 miles. OH, words cannot properly express my indignation at how horribly this was run!! After the race, Oly competitors were greeting each other with, "So, how far did you ride?" Never a good sign.

Really, signs don't cost that much. Something bigger than 6in by 12in, so you can see it at 20mph, and with something like 'Triathlon' or 'Bike course' on it, so it doesn't look like one of those signs pointing the way to a house for sale.


What would I change?
I am NEVER racing with Lake Genova Extreme Sports EVER AGAIN!!!
If you were thinking about it, DON'T DO IT!!!


T2
Time: 1:06
Fast transition, but I was really confused entering it, since I was obviously several miles short. You just don't ride an Oly course in under 50 minutes. It doesn't happen. Not if you're me anyway. It slowed me down somewhat, thinking, really, I go run now, shouldn't I just stop or something....

What would I change?
FIND A DIFFERENT RACE, where I can actually follow the bike course.


Run
Supposed to be: 6.2mi Actual Distance: ~7mi
Time: 51:03 (boo!)
I felt awful coming off the bike, and was really not up to the mental challenge of 6 times over the same course. It nearly drove me crazy. But it did have one advantage, there was always somebody else nearby for me to try to work up to.

After the second loop I allowed myself to slow down, cause I felt awful (poor nutrition, I think). After the 4th loop I made a deal, I could go as slow as I needed to, but I would not walk. That kept me going a bit. I started trying to use my mantra, the one that the hypnotist gave me that I associate with one of my best races ever. Usually when I recite that I get a little bit of a boost. Didn't work this time.

Last loop I wanted to pick it up a bit, but pretty much instantly after crossing the timing mat to start the loop I had an asthma attack. I slowed somewhat too keep from passing out, and managed to get myself together enough to speed up a tiny bit to the finish (not nearly the devistating kick I used to have).

On a side note, even with the messed up bike resulting in some really disjunct arrivals from the different races, I was not passed by a single female (sprint or oly) throughout the entire run (or the bike, but that might be because no other female took the same course I did, since everybody did their own thing)

What would I change?
FIND ANOTHER RACE SERIES

Not have an asthma attack. Even though I took my inhaler before the race, I didn't really believe my doctor about having exercise induced asthma since all my symptoms went away when the weather warmed up I thought that my only trigger was cold. I guess I have to go back and refill my perscription then, since I let it lapse.

More bricks. My horrible positive splitting in this race tells me that I was not nearly as prepared as I thought I was. Just think how much worse it would have been if I actually did the entire bike course,


Warm down
I finished and got a bit dizzy for a few seconds. I managed to walk to my bike to get my inhaler to stop the asthma attack, and then my warm-down was mostly walking around. Don't think my legs could have carried me much further anyway.

Overall Comments
as far as I am concerned, I would love to organize a boycott of Lake Geneva Extreme Sports.

For the Oly results, apparently only 2 women counted as having finished the course. At least 30 started it. Several guys counted as finishing, not sure how many, but probably 50 or 60 guys started, so it makes sense that a few more of them would finish 'properly.' But who knows who finished properly because there weren't volunteers to note when you went off the course.

BOYCOTT THE LAKE GENEVA EXTREME SPORTS RACE SERIES!!!

AND I WANT MY MONEY BACK. (Yes, I know, it's my reponsiblity to know the race course, but when >75% of the racers get lost, in several different ways, the race director did something wrong)

The race director has admitted this in offering all Oly participants a free spot in any of their other races this season. But, why would I want another experience like this one, even if I wasn't going out of the country.

Now begins the campaign to get my entry fee back!!!