Race 7: Vineman Showdown

Date: April 11 2009
Distance: Swim 440, 9 Mile Bike, 3 Mile Run

The 2009 season had an early start when I found a mid day triathlon in San Rafael California. I was really excited to start this race, as I had done a lot more training in the off season. Longer and faster runs, with lots more time in the pool to help out my weakest discipline. My biking could have probably used more work, but I didn't really like riding in the dark, and I could have planned my weekends a bit better.

When the race started I was still a little bit shy about swimming in large groups of people, and still thinking that my swim was weaker than the majority of the competitors, I let most of my fellow age groupers enter the water before me, and slowly started my swim a few seconds behind. This was one of my first swims where I realized that I wasn't as bad as I thought, because I kept finding myself trapped behind packs of slower swimmers, causing me to either swim slower until a space opened up, or take the long route and swim around them. After dealing with about 3 or 4 packs of swimmers, I exited the water in 8 minutes and 17 seconds. One of my fastest swims thus far.

The bike portion started with a long, steep uphill climb. Many of the competitors elected to walk/run their bike up the hill because of the steepness of the climb, but one of my proudest moments of this race was declaring that I muscled though it, and climbed on my bike all the way to the top. After that it was a fairly flat course with small hilly sections along the northern San Francisco bay on an out and back style course. Coming back into the transition area, we were required do dismount our bikes on the top of the steep hill that we climbed up because it was to dangerous to ride down mounted. I finished the bike in just under 37 minutes, and I was feeling like I still had something in the tank for the run.

The run started with the same hill climbed for the bike, which made for a slow start. I was able to hold a steady pace though, and once I reached the top was able to keep my legs moving though the entire run. I even had enough strength to sprint to the finish with one other competitor (he out edged me in the end) and felt like I had really made some real progress over the winter, and was ready to tackle the 2009 season. My final time was 1 hour, 14 minutes and 34 seconds.

It should also be noted that I always remembered this one race, because it was the only one that gave me a free pair of socks instead of a t-shirt, which I thought was pretty original!

Links:

Official Time: http://www.j-chipusa.com/results.php?bib=mccarry&eventid=2671&p=&Go=Search

Race 6: 2008 San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island

Date: November 8th 2008
Distance: 1.5k Swim, 40k Bike, 10k Run

The Treasure Island was an especially important race in 2008. For one, it was the last race of the season, and if I was going to accomplish something big this year, this was going to have be it. Second, it was going to be my first Olympic distance triathlon, which was a huge step up.

The Olympic distance triathlon is an internationally recognized distance (hence the measurements in kilometers) and is the distance Olympic athletes compete at every 4 years (hence the name). It consists of a 1.5 kilometer swim (0.93 miles) 40 kilometer bike (24.8 miles) and 10 kilometer run (6.2 miles). This was going to be more than twice the distance I have ever race in any of the 3 disciplines, and to say I was nervous, would be putting it lightly.

 The swim took place just off of treasure island on a cool Saturday morning. It was a deep water start, so I was forced to jump into the San Francisco bay and just wade in the very cold water for about 5 minutes before the air horn sounded to signal the start of the race, and what was going to be a long one at that. Knowing that I wasn't going to be any threat to any of the fast racers, I allowed all the ambitious swimmers go on ahead, and started up slowly behind them.

The entire swim course consisted of 2 triangular loops, finishing on a makeshift stage connecting the water to the parking lot of an old army building. It took nearly 40 minutes, but I was able to exit the water dizzy and delirious, but alive and ready to continue on... if only I could remember what to continue on to.

You see, when you swim 1.5 kilometers in 60 degree water, you start to get really dizzy and confused. As I came out of the water, I had to remind myself what exactly I was doing. First, I had to remember that I was doing a triathlon, next I had to remember that the bike comes after the swim, and lastly, I had to remember where I put my bike. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember where I put my bike, and was afraid that I was going to have to scour the entire transition area looking for my bike. Fortunately, all amateur athletes rack their bikes together with others in the same age group, and seeing as I was the last out of the water in my age group, my bike would be easy to find sitting all alone on an empty rack.

The bike ride is a 6 loop course around treasure island. Something that I learned from a course preview that I took a few weeks earlier was to tape 5 numbered tabs on my bike and remove one every time I completed a lap. When there were no more tabs to remove, my 40k was finished and I could start my run. This information was invaluable considering I was having a hard time counting to 6 after the swim, let alone keeping track of 6 laps over an hour and a half.

I've ran 6.2 miles before. In fact earlier that year I finished a half marathon, so I felt like I was pretty well prepared for this race. What I forgot about was planning for my legs to be as sore and wobbly after 40k of biking as they were. If you have ever had that weird sensation of walking after taking a long bike ride, imagine trying to run. I can imagine I must have looked quite comical for the first 1/2 mile while I tried to adjust to the new motion I was asking my legs to perform, but hopefully I was not the only one. While I was running, I was holding a good steady pace, but I was unable to hold it for longer than about 1 mile when I began to walk. I pushed myself to run as much as I was able to, and finished the course in 3 hours, 12 minutes and 19 seconds. Crossing the finish line was so incredibly rewarding. I was exhausted, water logged, sweaty, and accomplished. In just 1 season, I was able to finish both my first sprint distance, and Olympic distance triathlons. They were not particularly fast, but I finished everyone, and I couldn't wait until next year to do it all over again, pushing myself to go faster and farther.

Links:

Website:
Official results: http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20081108_San_Francisco_Triathlon_at_Treasure_Island.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Olympic+Individual~M20-24

Race 5: 2008 Scott Tinley's Adventures

Date: October 4th, 2008
Distance: .25 Mile Swim, 12.4 Mile Bike, 3 Mile Run

The triathlon season was winding down, and I really wanted to end the season with a great overall race. I was hoping that Lake Lopez Park would provide me with that experience.

The swim was better than the last two races, probably because it took place in a lake, away from the chop and salt water of the ocean. Running up the boat ramp I felt really excited to take on the rolling hills surrounding the lake. Weather conditions were not perfect, as there was overcast and a slight drizzle in the air, but the temperature was at a nice cool temperature, and I felt as though it could help keep the heart rate down and my speed up. This is where everything fell apart for me though.

As soon as I got to my bike and started to take off my wetsuit, I noticed that my t-shirt was knocked off where I had hung it to sit in a pool of icy cold water. Having to wear an already soaking wet shirt was not in the game plan, but I sucked it up and got all the wet shirt and bike equipment on and headed out on the small climb out of the campsite. If the wet helmet was the only thing that went wrong with that race, then the day could still have been saved. Unfortunately, the bike went much less than ideal.

About 1 mile into the bike ride, I felt like things were going a little sluggish. At the top of a hill, I checked tires and noticed that my back tire was completely flat. I'm not sure what had happened, but I rode the entire first mile of this bike ride with a flat tire. On top of that, I have never had a flat tire or changed a tube before, so this was going to be interesting.

The first thing I tried was to use my CO2 canister to fill the tire back up, assuming it didn't have a hole in it. I attached the canister to the presta valve on the rear tire, opened it up, and a flood of freezing cold air flew into my tire. Something was off because a large bulge started to form on the side of the tire followed by a large pop. If there wasn't a hole in my tire before this, there sure was now. I eventually figured out how to actually change the inner tube of the tire, and pumped it up with my spare hand pump and was on my way. I had no idea how much time this had cost me, but I was glad just to be on my way again. However, my bike troubles were far from over.

Somewhere along the line of replacing the inner tube, I punctured a small hole in the new inner tube, causing a small leak to occur. Within a few more miles of riding, I was back to a sluggish back wheel slowing me down. Every so often I would have to stop to put more air into the tire. Eventually I would give up on that, and ride the majority of the bike ride with a flat tire.

I knew that after the multiple flat tires on the bike, I was never going to be able to get the time that I wanted for this race, but my next goal was just to finish. I ran the 3 mile run discouraged, but I still ran it. I finished with a time over 2 hours and 7 minutes for dead last in my age group. I accepted my finishers medal, and already moved my thoughts towards my next race, which would be my first Olympic distance race.

Links:

Website: http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/Tinley2012-main.htm
Official Results: http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20081004_Scott_Tinleys_Adventures.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Sprint+Individual~M20-24
How to change a flat tire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5K-DXt9djA

Race 4: 2008 Triathlon at Pacific Grove

Date: September 14, 2008
Distance: .25 Mile Swim, 12.4 Mile Bike, 2 Mile Run

Located in nearby Monterey, the Triathlon at Pacific Grove was another sprint distance race that made me nervous. Coming off my horrific ocean swim in Santa Cruz a month earlier, I wasn't exactly excited to jump back into tiding salt water again any time soon. Nevertheless, I accepted the challenge this race venue provided, at least so I had thought.

All the green is the kelp

What I didn't ask from this race was what else the ocean might want to throw into the mix to make things a little bit more difficult and uncomfortable. The answer to this was kelp. Lots and lots of kelp. If you haven't swam through kelp before, I'll help you paint a picture. It's like one hundred St. Bernards all trying to lick your face at the same time. Although it was probably the most uncomfortable I've ever felt while swimming, I was able to keep it together for the entire quarter mile swim, mentally at least. Physically, I was the 2nd last out of the water in my age group.

The biking portion of the race could have been better for me. I was still wet from the swim, and it was cold and windy out. I never really was able to settle into any kind of rhythm and was definitely used to being in warmer climates. (Weird, considering I am from Canada).  However, every time I saw a camera man, I cheated a little, turned on the gas, and made sure to get a picture that really looked like I was trying. Amazingly, I was able to catch 1 racer in my age group by the end of the 12.4 miles, ending up only 3rd last off the bike. Improvement is always a good thing!

Around the time of the run, the weather started to warm up a little bit, which made the run a little easier for me. I was able to run the entire 2 miles in just under 16 minutes, posting my fastest pace that year. Although the swim and bike were not overly impressive, the run surely made up for the race as a whole. I crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 15 minutes and 30 seconds, for 11th out of 14 people in my age group. Although I was pretty low on the standings, I still felt like I had accomplished something with the run, and I knew I would be able to better myself in the coming years.

Links:

Facebook Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.27402464229.36711.502259229&type=3
Website: http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/PG2012-main.htm
Results: http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20080913_Triathlon_at_Pacific_Grove.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Sprint+Individual~M20-24
St. Bernard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bernard_%28dog%29

Race 3: 2008 Sandman Triathlon

Date: August 3rd 2008
Distance: .75 Mile Swim, 13 Mile Bike, 4 Mile Run

Until this point, my two current races were off road triathlons, making use of my mountain bike both times. This race however would be my first of many races to take place entirely on paved roads. I could have used my mountain bike for this race, but I wanted to really be able to sink my teeth into triathlons, so I decided to spring for a new, entry level road bike. After much research and window shopping, I ended up with a Fuji Newest 3.0. Purchased shortly after my race in June, I had a little under 2 months of time to be able to get used to the handling and shifting required by road bikes. But to assume that was the only new challenge I was going to face in this next race, you would be sorely mistaken, quite like how I would be that morning.

The swim in the Sandman takes place at Seacliff state beach in Aptos, California. This would be my first ocean / salt water swim, and at .75 miles, would also be my longest swim. This is a bad combination of 'new'. I have been working on my distance swimming in the pool, but if you have ever swam in the Pacific Ocean in northern California, you know that this is no pool. That morning, the water was cold, waves were choppy, and there was a small amount of morning fog that made the orange boys you needed to swim around seem much farther than they actually were. Against every feeling I had in my body, I entered the water at 8 am that morning with the rest of the male athletes competing that year.

Not so happy about the swim

It seemed like 10,000 needles were stabbing my body and face within seconds of entering the water. The temperature alone causing my heart rate to jump up, and gasping for air was made difficult by the waves pushing you back towards the shore. If this sounds like a nightmare, it's because it was. This was still the most frightening swim I have ever done in my athletic career, and I hope it remains that way. It wasn't until about the last 3rd of the swim when I was able to relax, and that is probably because I was finally headed back to shore. I can still remember finally being able to touch the bottom of the ocean floor, stand up, and walk the rest of the way to mount my bike, and continue on with the race on dry land.

Swim over, Bike Begins

I'm not sure what happened to my brain, but all I can remember about this bike ride was up hill. It seemed like every time I made a turn, I had to climb another hill. There were very few flat parts on this ride, with what seemed like less downhills, which of course impossible seeing as how I ended up back at seacliff state beach after 17 miles of biking.

4 miles of running I was ready for, 4 miles of running on a beach I was not. This was an entirely new experience for me. If you have ever tried to run on sand, you know exactly what I am talking about. The way the sand works your calves and takes away about 20 - 30 percent of your energy from each stride takes its toll. I made every effort to run the whole thing, made harder while running though the camp grounds past the smells of fresh bbq being cooked near by, but my efforts would be thwarted about 2.5 miles in where I was forced to walk for about 5 or 6 minutes to catch my breath and give my calves a much needed break. Nevertheless, I ran the rest of the race and finished with a respectable time of 2 hours, 1 minute and 47 seconds.

Reflecting back on my race, I decided that I really did enjoy the challenge, even with the terrifying swim. I vowed that day to return the next year to better my time.

Running slowly, but hard to the finish

Links:

Website: http://www.sandman-triathlon.com/
Official Results: http://www.scsla.org/sandman/results_2008.html