Jerseyman Race Report

I'll make this brief. Two things need to be known before I begin. I think I weighed about 280 on the day of the race, and I haven't trained in months. I have not swum since January, and I haven't run since February, and even that month was only once, I think. Add to that the fact that I got a new bike two days before the race, and only rode it about 2 miles before throwing in the car and taking off for Matt's house. That should probably give you a pretty good idea of how I did in this race.

The swim was a very nice half mile laid out as three-sides of a square in a pretty cool lake. I think this was my most comfortable swim so far, that being my third ever. When the airhorn went off, I waddled into the water trying to let everyone else get a lead on me. That worked for a while until I caught up to a clump of guys and got jostled around a bit. This caused me to do the dog paddle a few times to try to get my bearings and avoid getting kicked again. It worked. After the first buoy, it was smooth sailing. My form was not good, but everything felt fine and I started passing people on the third section, similarly to what happened in Morgantown. I seem to either speed up or other people start to run out of gas as we approach the end. I always feel much better by then than I do at the beginning, and I feel like I could swim all day. I came out 206th out of 277 starters. That was my best split by far. I beat 71 people! I should be happy with that, given my Mooseman performance and my lack of experience. Of those 71 people, about 56 of them passed me in the bike, which is a disgrace. The bike is supposed to be my strong discipline. I guess I should stop saying that. It never has been. And as long as we keep doing hilly courses, I doubt it will be unless I drop 75 pounds. The new bike worked great. I was fast on the flats and downs, much more so than everyone else, but the ups, which were numerous and sizable (combined with my commodious fat), killed me. I was 260th on the bike. Pitiful. I then ran and walked the 5K, knowing that there could only be a few people behind me, and most of them passed me there. I did keep ahead of a couple of people, I guess they were all women, though I think there were a couple of guys who ran faster than me but were far enough behind that they didn't catch me. Five maybe. My run was 269th out of 272 finishers. Wahoo!

So this experience has revealed my weaknesses starkly, and informed me about what I need to do by June, July, and August. I have races in all three months. Of course in August is a half-iron, which will just be downright ridiculous if I am in this kind of shape. Thus I have vowed to change myself in the next three months. I'm not going to be winning anything, but I would like to at least keep up some kind of respectable pace in all three parts, given my size. I am going to be doing my own Biggest Loser fitness-fest, and seeing how it affects my endurance and my weight-loss. It begins tonight. First exam is the Mooseman.

I guess the good news is that I felt fine afterwards. I was not exceptionally beat or sore. So I think there must be something leftover from before. I hope to build off whatever that is. The other good news is that I don't have to run in the Mooseman! Yay! I'm hoping with a little practice, my swim might fall into place. Practicing the bike and losing weight will be the key for the first month. I will certainly be swimming and running too, but probably not as much at first. And that's all I have to say about that.