Post by JenCollister on Jun 27, 2005 8:47:44 GMT -5
Matt, Suzi and I did the Mountaineer triathlon in Morgantown, WV yesterday. Matt did the half-IM, while Suzi and I did the Olympic.
It was a "short" 3.5 hour drive from Cleveland for Matt and me. After checking in at the expo on Saturday, we rode up the hotel elevator with a woman whose biceps made both Matt and me feel inadequate. Turned out that she was pro-triathlete, Andrea Fisher. She was the first of many triathlon celebrities that we saw over the next day. (We also became minor celebrities with an article about Matt and me in the local paper.) So, after checking in the bike and having dinner with Gordon and Suzi, we headed off to bed.
We arrived at the transition area (in a garage close to our hotel) at 6:30 am. My plan to use my aero drink system was foiled, when my recently adjusted bars wouldn't accommodate the system any longer. Luckily, I brought my camel back. With temps heading toward 95, lacking sufficient hydration was not a good plan.
Suzi and I did a quick run warm-up, then headed to the swim start. Matt took off first, because he was doing the half-IM distance. Before we knew it, it was our turn. We swam out to the swim start buoys in the river, then heard the siren. The swim was a partial rectangle in the Mon River. Suzi got out about 7 minutes ahead of me and I didn't see her again until the run. The transition area was quite close to the swim finish, so a quick transition had me onto the bike course. At mile 7, the map said "huge climb". They weren't kidding. It was about .75 mile long. Luckily, the triathlon camp had me prepared for such hills, so I passed many people here. Later on around mile 11-12, I got stopped for a few minutes because three ambulances were heading off the course. I found out later, that a guy had a heart attack on the course and died. I'm not going to complain about my finish time being a few minutes later than it would have been. My thoughts go to his family. Around miles 14 and 15, there were a couple short, steep hills that as Scott Erdman put it "knock the wind out of your sails", but most of the trip back was down hill. I was conservative on the bike, so my running legs were there immediately. I ran well for the first 3.5 miles (saw Suzi around mile 2.75 heading back). Then, the heat got to me. The last 2.7 miles were hard and I had to walk twice. But, I got to see my husband on his way out on the half-IM course (I'll let you tell him about the hills after the 10k turnaround) and other Cleveland triathletes (Jeff Juergens, Kevin Park, Angela Forster and Scott Forster) on my way back. That helped get me through and before I knew it, the finish line was in front of me. My official time was around 3:20. Suzi's was around 3:07. Matt finished strong at around 5:20 and had conquered the bike hills (he had to go on them twice), the run hills (nonexistent on the 10k course) and the blistering sun. He finished in front of Andrea Fisher. I'm quite proud of him!
At the food tent, I saw Heather Gollnick and Luke Bell. Speaking of food, the postrace food was quite good. HFP put on a quality race and you couldn't tell that it was the Inaugural race. I would definitely recommend it!
So, that's the end of my long story. I know many Newbies raced Stow this weekend. I'd love to hear how it went. Hope you all had a great race weekend!
Jen
It was a "short" 3.5 hour drive from Cleveland for Matt and me. After checking in at the expo on Saturday, we rode up the hotel elevator with a woman whose biceps made both Matt and me feel inadequate. Turned out that she was pro-triathlete, Andrea Fisher. She was the first of many triathlon celebrities that we saw over the next day. (We also became minor celebrities with an article about Matt and me in the local paper.) So, after checking in the bike and having dinner with Gordon and Suzi, we headed off to bed.
We arrived at the transition area (in a garage close to our hotel) at 6:30 am. My plan to use my aero drink system was foiled, when my recently adjusted bars wouldn't accommodate the system any longer. Luckily, I brought my camel back. With temps heading toward 95, lacking sufficient hydration was not a good plan.
Suzi and I did a quick run warm-up, then headed to the swim start. Matt took off first, because he was doing the half-IM distance. Before we knew it, it was our turn. We swam out to the swim start buoys in the river, then heard the siren. The swim was a partial rectangle in the Mon River. Suzi got out about 7 minutes ahead of me and I didn't see her again until the run. The transition area was quite close to the swim finish, so a quick transition had me onto the bike course. At mile 7, the map said "huge climb". They weren't kidding. It was about .75 mile long. Luckily, the triathlon camp had me prepared for such hills, so I passed many people here. Later on around mile 11-12, I got stopped for a few minutes because three ambulances were heading off the course. I found out later, that a guy had a heart attack on the course and died. I'm not going to complain about my finish time being a few minutes later than it would have been. My thoughts go to his family. Around miles 14 and 15, there were a couple short, steep hills that as Scott Erdman put it "knock the wind out of your sails", but most of the trip back was down hill. I was conservative on the bike, so my running legs were there immediately. I ran well for the first 3.5 miles (saw Suzi around mile 2.75 heading back). Then, the heat got to me. The last 2.7 miles were hard and I had to walk twice. But, I got to see my husband on his way out on the half-IM course (I'll let you tell him about the hills after the 10k turnaround) and other Cleveland triathletes (Jeff Juergens, Kevin Park, Angela Forster and Scott Forster) on my way back. That helped get me through and before I knew it, the finish line was in front of me. My official time was around 3:20. Suzi's was around 3:07. Matt finished strong at around 5:20 and had conquered the bike hills (he had to go on them twice), the run hills (nonexistent on the 10k course) and the blistering sun. He finished in front of Andrea Fisher. I'm quite proud of him!
At the food tent, I saw Heather Gollnick and Luke Bell. Speaking of food, the postrace food was quite good. HFP put on a quality race and you couldn't tell that it was the Inaugural race. I would definitely recommend it!
So, that's the end of my long story. I know many Newbies raced Stow this weekend. I'd love to hear how it went. Hope you all had a great race weekend!
Jen
