Free At Last: A West Point Olympic Triathlon Race Report

Life is a tapestry. Upon it, the image of our life is cast. We are players, living out our lives on top of the tapestry. Much like the spider, we feel our way along the myriad different paths with delicate touches and frantic bursts of speed. Sometimes the path is clear. Sometimes the weave is so convoluted, we blindly stumble our way through.

Zappo! Philosophical Wes step aside :-) What brought that on? LOL. The realization that my race stories often start long before the race. Why should this one be any different? It takes hard work, both on my part, my wife's part, and my family's part for me to do these things. Their effort should not go unrecognized. It will never go unappreciated.

Jimmy and Matthew had a soccer tournament this weekend. This was the first tournament in memory that I did not help referee games. I trained five months for this race. There was NO WAY that I was going to let anything keep me from being in top form. You have no idea how many times I had to tell myself NO! One game was not acceptable. I could watch. I could cheer, but I could not referee. I was not happy, but I did what I had to do.

My day started at 6 AM. Jimmy's first game was at 7:45 AM. I wanted to make breakfast for him, but I was too tired. We opted for McDonald's instead. I had a hash brown, sausage biscuit, and a coffee, and that was just the start. Jimmy's team was "elite", but it was their first tournament game together. They played well but made several fundamental mistakes, and it ended up costing them the game. After we got home, I woke up Matthew and made him breakfast. I helped myself to waffles and sausage! LOL. I WAS carbo loading :-)

On the way to Jimmy's second game, we stopped at Quik Trip (gas station), and I had my lunch. Who knew that a hot dog and a bag of Doritoes was so good? Jimmy's team beat the crap out of their opponent in the second game, as did Matthew's. Unfortunately, Matthew's second game didn't start until 6:30 PM. This kind of put a damper on my parade, as I wanted to get to West Point early and hang out with my tri-bud, Murtha. Needless to say, we didn't get the kids situated and out the door until around 8:30 PM. I told the boyz before I left, that this race was very important to me. I wasn't going to be comfortable unless I knew they were safe and taken care of. They promised me to be on their best behavior. Dee Dee and I packed the Silver Streak and headed out the door for West Point. On the way out, we stopped at Arby's so I could eat a roast beef sandwich and some french fries. That about concludes my tail of carbo loading.

We made it down to Lagrange, GA with no problem. We stayed at the same hotel as we did for the Callaway Gardens Sprint Triathlon. On the way down, I called Murtha to see how he was doing. He had gotten down much early than I and was doing all kinds of cool stuff to his bike. I teased him about disassembling his bike before the start of the race, and after a short conversation, I told him I would see him in the morning and hung up. We arrived at the hotel at 10 PM. We got situated really fast. The hotel clerk had made a map to the race site for all the participants. I thought that was the coolest, and I told her so. Dee Dee and I made our way up to the hotel room with Aerowyn and bedded down for the night. I was very tired. Dee Dee put on a comedy show, but it didn't take long for me to pass out. I woke up a couple of times during the night. Once, close to the time I was due to awaken, I got excited, but I wanted that extra 1.5 hours of sleep, so I calmed my nerves and went back to sleep, and I slept good.

At 5:15 AM the various alarms started going off. The first alarm was the clock. The second was my watch, and finally the wake up call from the hotel. I opted to stay in bed while Dee Dee showered. She asked me if I wanted to shower, and I was like, "No!", I'm getting ready to get into the lake. What do I need to be clean for :-) We were dressed and downstairs for breakfast by 5:30 AM. It was really cool that the hotel had breakfast ready for us so early. I probably ate more than I wanted to, but I felt the need to be properly fueled. We repacked the car and left for the lake by 6 AM. Unfortunately, I misjudged the amount of time it would end up taking to get to the race site.

My first problem occurred when I took a wrong turn. The clerk did say bear right at the second light, and she was as sweet as she could be, but she really meant the "third" light. We quickly realized our mistake and found our way to the lake. I had no idea that they would make us park so far from the race site. I ended up having to walk a half mile to the transition area. By the time I got there, it was 6:30 AM. I was really mad at myself for getting there so late, and it showed. The young lady that was marking me asked if I was nervous. I laughed and told her no, I was perturbed that I got there so late. When I took my bike into the transition area, they wouldn't let me in without my race number being on the bike. I unceremoniously dumped all my stuff on the ground and walked my bike over to the nearby racks. I found my race number and put in on my bike. Getting all my stuff back on so I could get into transition was really frustrating me, but I tried real hard to keep it all in stride. I found my position in the racks, got Aerowyn setup and began the process of preparing my transition area.


In case you wondering, this is living proof that Dee Dee is fixated on my butt :-) Doesn't Aerowyn look marvelous in the rack? Purty, purty.... It didn't really take that long to get setup. I laid all my stuff out. Prepared my bottles, then took my first electrolyte tablet. About that time, Murtha made his way over to say "Hi!". He was in a few racks down. He had gotten there a bit earlier than I did, and he was already set up. I had the opportunity to meet Andy's boss, who had also made the trip down. As the sun came up, we decided it was time to make our way down to the beach to warm up for the swim.


This picture more than anything else shows exactly how far out we had to swim in the lake. Murtha had told me they had scoped it out the evening before, and it was daunting. Evidently, the buoys had drifted, and at some point, they put out more buoys and put them in their proper place. If you look to the right of the first boat, you can see the furthest buoy out in the distance. My understanding was they had trouble finding a route out in the lake where you actually had to swim the whole thing. Ummmm. Yea. OK!

As I prepared to warm up, I tried to put my nose plugs on. I had used them on my swim Wednesday of last week, and I really like them. Well, they snapped in two. LOL. Fortunately for me, this was the last bad thing that was going to happen to me this race. I certainly wasn't worried about it. I had raced multiple times without a nose plug. This one didn't need to be any different. I had just enjoyed not having to deal with water through my nose, and I was a little disappointed. C'est la vie!

I swam out to the first buoy and decided that this was as far as I wanted to go. The nerves were kicking in, and I could already feel the dread of the swim coming onto me. I swam some more along the shore and began the process of banishing negative thoughts from my mind. As I was standing along the shore after my warm up, the race director came over the loud speaker and called all triathletes to prepare for the start. For this race, he announced, everyone would be starting in pairs, three seconds a part. The timing chips would record every second of our race.


This picture is of Andy and I waiting for the race to start. LOL. Andy is to the left of me with his arms crossed. If you look closely, you can see the bulge from the SwimSafe belt under my tri suit. Compare that to the bulge in Andy's midsection ;-) We really need to get Dee Dee to center us in the picture. What are we paying her for? ROFL. She really, really, does a good job. You should see all the great pictures she took. There are simply too many to put here!

It really didn't take that long for us to reach the start. Right before we got there, I decided to switch to the left lane. The guys over there had no problem letting me switch. I joked with them that I wanted to take the outside path to avoid the crowds. Triathletes are so cool. As we were standing in front of the starter, I had an "Oh, shit" moment. Pardon my cursing :-) He said "3-2-1, Go!" and we were off.


Can you tell from this picture that I am in a hurry to get started? Andy is to the right of dude in the Yellow Peachtree Tri Club race gear. He started three seconds behind me, but he is diving into the water first :-) I laughed as I ran out into the water about waist deep. It was the last time I would see Andy until I had reached the turn around in the run.

What can I say about the swim? My swimming had been a mixed bag. Some had gone OK. Others had been awful. I was determined, resolute even, that this swim would go well. I hit the water and started the swim. Almost immediately, I began talking to myself. I felt the same foreboding building up. That feeling that ended in my gagging and feeling out of breath. In all the other tris I had done, I had had the option of finding a place to stand. There was no place to stand in this swim. It was all, or nothing.


The time to the first buoy was almost like slow motion. I had a deep down man to man conversation with myself. I was close to panicking. I focused really hard on relaxing. The question I asked myself was how could I ever hope to do a half Ironman if I wasn't comfortable on this swim. I told myself, I could swim forever at this pace. I remembered David's comment about humans drowning in six inches of water. I knew what he was trying to say. The depth of the lake didn't matter. I had the strength to swim the distance. The water was my friend. It supported me, lifted me up, carried me through the course. Before I knew it, I was half way to the second buoy and had found a rhythm that I really hadn't known before.


Did I not mention that Dee Dee is an awesome photographer? This picture is the crowd swimming around the buoys. In the background is the dam that we will run across on our 10K. Awesome!!

The third buoy seemed like an eternity. I had no idea how long this thing was going to take. As I finally reached the third buoy and made my right turn, I knew that I would be OK. I was passing people. Sure, I was swimming on the outside, away from the pack, but I didn't care. If it made my swim longer, so be it. I was safe, comfortable, and on my way to the finish.

As I got further and further along in my swim, I tried to pick up the pace. In retrospect, I never truly got out of breath in my swim. I went from red buoy to red buoy, focusing on the next interval until the landing came within sight. As I passed the final buoy, something reached up from the bottom of the lake and struck me in the neck. I couldn't believe it! It felt like a cable, but I think it was a tree limb. Most of the lakes in Georgia are man made, and this is just one of the hazards we have to deal with. It didn't really hurt. It was more of a surprise. I shook it off and swam the final hundred or meters or so to the landing, kicking my legs to redistribute the blood flow.

As I climbed out of the lake, I saw (and heard) Dee Dee shouting encouragement. It really meant so much for her to be there. I especially liked the way the race organizers had laid out the carpet on the landing area. It was a smooth walk/run up into the transition area.


I'm still having trouble controlling my muscles in T1 :-) The good news is that everything was carefully laid out. The bad news is I forgot to get my towel out of the bag. No biggee! I had no expectation that I could get the towel out of the bag and dry myself off in any respectable time frame. No, not me! I did what any good triathlete would do. I put my socks on wet and stuffed them into my bike shoes. Before I knew it, I was out of transition and on my way.

As I sloshed my way out on the bike, I saw Dee Dee there taking pictures.


Ya know, it's really hard to describe the difference between how I felt now and how I felt when I got on the bike in Hiawassee. On this swim, I only poked my head out of the water like four times. Do you have any idea how much energy it takes to keep your body a float when your head is sticking up out of the water? Let me tell you, it is considerable. Keep yourself flat and swim. You will be rewarded. With that in mind, my legs felt good. I spun past Dee Dee and out of the park, determined to have a good ride.

The elevation chart for this race was about half of what it was for Hiawassee. I was passed quite a few times in the first couple of miles. These guys were burning themselves out though. We leap frogged each other for the first eight miles. Eventually, I passed them and left them behind for good. It was a nice ride. I eventually ended up on a stretch of the road by myself. "Great!", I thought to myself, another solo ride during the race. Around the half way point, I caught up to a group of riders that I had been chasing. The turn around was in another beautiful park by the lake, and I enjoyed it immensely. As I made the turn around, a group of young, fit, riders blew past me. I wasn't discouraged, however! I was grateful, thankful even, that I had held them off for so long!

I did experience cramps on this ride as well. After the turn around, I tried to take my second electrolyte tablet and it got caught in my throat. I guess my body over reacted. My left leg decided to cramp, something that had never happened before. I immediately sent my leg soothingly relaxing thoughts and grabbed my bottle of Accelerade out of the rack. Once I had successfully dislodged the pill, I was able to resume pedaling. The pill kicked in and the cramps disappeared. I would be in remiss if I didn't discuss my nutrition. I had drank half a bottle of Accelerade in T1. I had a Power Gel at mile 4 of the bike, and I took my last Power Gel at mile 22 of the bike. I still don't think I drank enough. I had two full bottles of Accelerade on the bike, but I only drank a half a bottle. I'll do better! I promise.


As I approached the entrance to the park, I saw Dee Dee waiting there for me to take pictures. She had walked the half mile from transition to the park entrance to catch me on the way back in. That was so.very.cool... I was just wondering how she was going to make it back in time to catch me leaving for the run.

Well, it turns out she didn't make it! LOL. My T2 time was very respectable at 1:30. I'm liking this tri outfit! I went ahead and took the the half bottle of Accelerade I had drank after the swim with me on the run. The run route was gorgeous! We left out around the lake and headed for the dam. It was slightly, ever so slightly up hill on the way out, which of course meant downhill on the way back! I found my running legs after about a mile, and I stuck to my run 4 minutes walk 1 minute schedule. I even joked with a young man (30 years old) about my sticking to the plan. When I reached the turn around, I joked with the race official about taking some time off for my age, but he wasn't going for it. About a quarter of a mile pass the turn around, I heard Andy call out my name, "Go Wes!". I laughed and yelled at him that he had better lap me!

The second half of the run proved tough. I was slowing down, but I was determined to keep my pace up. As I ran back across the dam, a flight of Canada geese came in for a landing on the lake, making much noise. It was a spectacular sight to see. I also noticed, near the end of the dam, a school of fish feeding off the minnows. I laughed. I guess you had to be there. They were in the protected area of the dam. They were either real smart or real lucky as no fishermen were allowed to be there.

After passing the dam, we were diverted to the left along the lake. There was one rather steep hill there, and being the intrepid soul that I am, I walked it. Screw the plan! LOL. It was all about ME at that point. When I saw the five mile marker in the distance, I had the biggest sh*t eating grin on my face EVA!!!! It was short lived though. After passing the aide station, both of my quads cramped up at the same time. I had NEVER had this happen before, and it hurt. I had to actually walk for a minute to calm them down. After getting them to relax, I found that running actually helped, so I started to smile again, and I picked up my pace. I could not believe that I was getting ready to finish my first Olympic triathlon in such fine style. The last 1.2 miles seemed to take forever, but I stuck to the R4/W1 plan, and I even took a little extra right before the finish because I wanted to "finish strong".


When I saw the finishing chute about a tenth of the mile away, I took off. I had to be running at like a 7 minute pace. I wasn't trying to show the guy up ahead of me. I wanted to finish strong feeling strong, and thats what I did. I crossed the finish line with a feeling of euphoria, even though it didn't show on my face :-)

I took a minute or two to collect myself. I was tired. I grabbed a bottle of water and hit the water shower to cool off, then I headed down the run route to wait for Andy. Not more than five minutes later, he came running down the course. I was excited for him!! I told him the finish was around the corner and Dee Dee was there to take his picture. He finished strong!! Unfortunately, Dee Dee was distracted by some girl, so she missed Andy's finish. Bummer! So sorry, Andy!!

After the race, we hung out for a bit, then went to collect our stuff and head home. The shirt we got was really cool. I liked it a lot. Dee Dee told me that Jimmy had won his game that morning, and Matthew had tied, so neither was going to to the finals of their tournament.

In sitting here, thinking about this race, I think that I can sum it up in one short phrase...

A dream come true.

Let's evaluate. I wanted to come off my swim feeling good. Check!! I was not happy with my time, but that was not my goal. My goal was to feel good, and I accomplished that magnificently!!! I wanted to feel strong on the bike. My first 10 miles were strong. I did the 25 mile course with an average speed of 19.3 mph. My ride was indeed strong. Finally, I wanted to come in on the run under 1 hour. I came in 59:41, a 9:38 pace after the swim and bike!! What is there to say? If you accomplish all three of your goals in one race, you are either setting the bar too low, or you are having a great race. I had a great race :-)

As is the usual amongst my blogger brethren, the question is what's next? LOL. My beautiful Spousal Unit has convinced me to do the Two Bridges Triathlon at the end of September. I kinda wanted to do a sprint for the end of the season, so it was an easy sell. And, as promised, I will soon determine what my half Iron distance will be. I'll let ya know! Truth be told, my mind has already turned to the little race in Rocket City on December 8th. My friends are meeting me there, and it will be a race to remember. In between, there's a 5K I need to do, a half mary, and oh so many other things...

I think you'll understand!

Feel the love,

Wes