1st Race of the Season! Webster Triathlon - Webster, MA

Sunday Morning, 4:44AM alarm clock goes off. Looked outside and it's still raining - Had a banana, water, and a peanut butter and jelly bagel. Got the bike set on the car rack and ready to go. Jamie and PJ were great to get up at that hour to come along for the trip! Joanne Murphy, our good friend from Bates also made the trek down to Webster to catch the race - thank you! On the ride down it looked as though it was going to be a wet day and fortunately we got a break in the rain for the entire race and the course dried out in time for the bike. After scoping out the swim course a little (which looked a heck of a lot longer than a 1/2 mile) I got ready for the first of three triathlons this year. The water temperature was actually not that bad and the water was crystal clear. I was in the second wave of swimmers and entered the water trying to stay relaxed and not freak out with all the swimmers thrashing around me. By the time I got to the first buoy there were people hanging on it to rest and they still had about 4/10 of a mile to go! Kept swimming and felt pretty good throughout the entire swim leg. Emerged from the water happy to hit the bike (if I only knew how hilly the first part of the bike course was going to be). There was a long run on pavement from the swim exit to the transition area, which actually helped me catch my breath a little before I grabbed the bike.

Ripped off my wetsuit and squirted water on my feet to rinse them off and threw on the helmet, sunglasses, and bike shoes (no socks) and hit the road. Legs felt pretty good and started to pass some people. Then a couple of women passed me that looked like machines! We hit a couple hills, then a couple more, and then two more big ones, and then a final really big hill!! It felt like the first 6 miles were all up hill! Fortunately what goes up must come down and the second half of the race was mostly downhill with a couple of curves thrown in. I hit 42 mph at one point coming down the hill - that's probably the fastest I've gone so far on the bike. Biked into the transition and quickly tied the running shoes - said a quick hello to Jamie, PJ and Joanne and then hit the road for the run.

About a mile into the run my right quad started to cramp up a little, but I was able to run through it. Finished the race strong and was exhausted after. All in all a great first race of the season and a great tune up for the next one.

Here are the results:

Eric Trickett M-30-34 age group
Swim .5 miles - 15:56 22nd/45 in age group, 205th/500 overall
Bike 12 miles - 38:42 16th/45 in age group, 133th/500 overall
Run 3 miles - 21:58 25th/45 in age group, 170th/500 overall

Overall Time - 1:22:07 18th/45 in age group, 138th/500 overall

Here are some pics from the day: