T-Gator Series Triathlon #1 April 6, 2008
CLICK HERE FOR THE RACE PICTURES SWIM START VIDEO

The T-Gator Series is a series of races that are put on by the Lake Charles Triathlon club. The race that I did yesterday is the first of the series with the other two taking place later this year. The T-Gator Series #1 race is a sprint tri with a 400m swim, 10 mile bike and a 2 mile run. Yeah, a breeze in comparison to the Lone Star Quarter Ironman that I did last weekend. All three of the T-Gator series races take place within Sam Houston state park in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

A great way to describe the race yesterday would be uneventful. I didn't panic nor did I receive a roundhouse kick to the face in the swim and most importantly I experienced NO gastric distress during the race. Nutrition wasn't really a factor because the race was so short.

Beth and I left my house at roughly 4:40AM Sunday morning. Sleep? Not much, but that's typical for me. I packed up all my gear the night before double checking to make sure that I wasn't forgetting anything. I did forgot my earplugs again but what's a little river water in your ears is no big deal. I snacked on a piece of toast as we made our way to Chris Boggs house for the 2 hour road trip to Lafayette. Company to Lake Charles was Chris, Norman, Caroline, Deb, Beth and I. So basically a bunch of experienced, fast triathletes and slow ole' me. I spent the ride badgering them all about everything from advising me about my racing schedule to trying to get some suggestions for my inefficient swim stroke. I enjoyed the ride and chatting all the way there (and all the way back) made the time fly by.

The sun was peeking above the horizon as we arrived at the park. Fog was rising above each of the little cypress bayous that we passed on the way to the course and the transition area. The weather was surprisingly chilly for this time of the year and I figured the water would reflect that.

First stop was packet pickup and body marking. After pumping a bit of air into my bike's tires, I grabbed my gear bag from the truck and wheeled my bike into transition to setup my area. T-Gator was nowhere near the size an event as Lone Star or even Athens but I liked the idea of a more 'intimate' event. This was the first free-for-all transition area that I've experienced. There were no assigned spots and you could setup wherever you wanted. I chose a spot one row from Deb and right next to Chris. I knew during the race that my bike would probably be close to the last one in transition because I'm so painfully slow in the swim.

We walked towards the swim start at around 7:45. I was in the 2nd wave. 8AM rolled around and as the first wave jumped in the water and edged towards the starting line. The race director counted down from 10 and the first wave was off. My wave's turn to get in the water. I slid down the boat ramp and jumped in. A few moments of an uncomfortable chill and I was warm and ready to go. I wasn't experiencing any of the nerves as I did from Lone Star. I'd be so bold to say I was even somewhat relaxed as the race director shouted the 30 second warning. I waded to the far right and tried to get towards to back of the wave as to avoid other swimmers. Well, not so much the other swimmers but rather the other swimmer's feet. 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1. GO!

I guess I was going too fast to start because I immediately ran ass end into the swimmer in front of me. I lifted my head above the water, got my bearings and tried to establish a rhythm. I did at least a couple minutes of freestyle before I switched to breaststroke. I did 20 or so repetitions of breaststroke and then switched back to freestyle for a bit. I continued this for the entire race and I daresay that I did get into a groove. I was calm and not once did I feel the 'panic' that I felt during Lone Star. The distance was roughly 1/3 of what Lone Star was but that doesn't matter. It was open water and open water is what has concerned me in the past. I'm sure my fear hasn't 100% subsided but it was definitely a step in the right direction. With the finish buoy in site and my watch reading 9:30 I pick up my pace and finish as strong as I can. <Swim time - 10:29.67>

I exited the water and franticly yanked at the back of my wetsuit but I couldn't get the zipper undone. I shuffled through the kiddie pools to get the crud off my feet and still was wresting with my zipper as I got to my area. I knew that I couldn't get Beth to unstick the zipper because I would get penalized with outside assistance so I ran to the first volunteer I could find to get them to give my zipper a tug. Wetsuit exiting must be an art. Some people spray their body down with PAM but I didn't seem the need to resort to that. The wetsuit strippers had it down to a science at Lone Star, pulling my wetsuit off in mere seconds. I yanked off the arms but struggled with the legs. I'd step on one side and pull with the other foot but nothing seemed to free me from its grasp. After tugging and pulling and then tugging and pulling some more I finally was free of the beast. I slid on my Team 464 race jersey and my shorts, put on my bike shoes, grabbed my bike and clippity clopped over to the mount point. <T1 time - 3:19.87>

I sped out of transition onto the bike course. I wanted to keep a good pace and actually maintained close to 20mph. My mom helped me fashion a velcro strap to hold my hydration bottle in place which worked out great. Thanks mom! The only problem was I put the thing on backwards so to drink I had damn near lean over the front of the bike. The couple times I tried to drink I almost lost control of the bike. It was a short ride so I didn't bother stopping to fix it. The course had small, rolling hills and was straight as an arrow after leaving Sam Houston state park. At around mile 3 I saw a girl on the side of the road crying. I slowed down to ask her if she was OK and she gave me a thumbs up so I didn't stop. I found out after the race that she crashed and had a big gash in her leg. She finished the race by the way, gash and all. I hit the turnaround in what seemed like record time to me, all the while passing more people than I could count. I think during the race I was only passed by one person. I heard the distinctive 'whomp, whomp, whomp' of the tri bike as the guy zipped past me. The bike was over before I knew it and I was feeling good. I sped into transition and made sure to unclip 100 meters before dismounting so I didn't suffer another zero mph crash like at Lone Star.

The only complaint I have about the bike is the traffic during the race. Both lanes were open and even though everyone else and I stayed to the far right as possible the cars were passing left and right going a bit too fast. A Toyota Civic, going what seemed to be around 70mph, passed within a couple feet of me and almost hit the cyclist coming the opposite direction. <Bike time - 31:18.04>

I hopped off at the dismount point and shuffled into transition. I grabbed my race belt, took a shot of water and ran out transition as quickly as I could. It was a nice touch that the announcer called out your name and wished you luck on the run as you left transition. <T2 time - 1:21.98>

I find that it takes me a quarter mile or so to get my legs back after the bike. It took at least that getting out of transition. I was averaging around 8:30 - 8:40 pace for the first half mile before I got into a groove. The run course was probably my favorite of the day. The course ran along the side of the campsites and more than a few of the campers stood by the road and cheered us on as they sipped their coffee and munched on their breakfasts. I saw Chris headed to the finish on the home stretch when I was about a quarter mile or so from the turnaround.  Chris is a trooper and I have the greatest of respect for the guy.  He's on his own weight loss journey right now and he's doing a helluva job!  Check out Chris' webpage at
www.tri-ingfatman.blogspot.com.  After a high five and an exchange of well wishes I continued on to the turnaround point. My pace had steadily increased to 7:45 to 8 minute miles. I wanted to finish strong so I upped my pace for the last half mile. <Run time - 16:17.18 / 8:09 minute pace>

I was really pleased with my performance today. <Total Time - 1:02:46.74> Although it was a short race I can see that I am slowly getting better. I still have lots of room to improve in all three sports but I do seem to be getting stronger with each race. I'm not an Ironman yet but it's on the horizon. A few hundred more miles in the water and a few thousand on the pavement and the bike and I'll be ready! Much thanks to all the guys and gals in the Baton Rouge triathlon club.   I really enjoyed meeting and racing with you all this weekend and look forward to LA Tri in 12 days!

I hope you enjoyed reading my race report as much as I enjoyed writing and living it.