Memphis Olympic Distance Triathlon

Okay... so i'm an idiot! I decided to go wakeboarding Friday evening and Saturday morning. Not very smart. I haven't boarded since this time last year so I woke up saturday morning with a sore back. Not exactly how I wanted to go into my race on Sunday. The drive to memphis was full of anticipation. This was my first open water distance swim. When we arrived at the race site, I was greeted by howling winds and not so inviting waters. 1500 yards in a pool is 60 laps. Not so bad when you break it up into 25 yard increments. However, 1500 yards in open water looks like miles upon miles. The magnitude of this swim was also amplified by the white caps that formed from strong winds. I went to bed that night with only one thing on my mind... Don't drown!! With my alarm set for 4:30am, I was ready to get this thing over with. Sunday morning was colder than I expected it to be. With wind gusts up to 15mph and 52 degrees, it was chilly. I got a really got spot in my transition area because I arrived at 5:30 when the transition area opened. After warming up and thinking about all the technical things I needed to remember, it was time to line up for the swim. I was in the first age group and had an excellent spot in line. The anticipation that builds up for a race like this is incredible. I was just waiting my turn in line, like ants marching in a row, waiting to be released into the water. Once I crossed the timing mat and dove into the water, this was not a race against other competitors. It was me versus mother nature and physical and mental pain. Almost the entire swim was faced with a cross current, fogged glasses and a glare from the sun on my fogged glasses which made sighting near impossible. I was relieved to get out of the water and change out of my wetsuit for the bike. I thought that my bike would be the strongest portion of my race. Eh.... not so much! I've never biked in really strong winds before and I had a wake up call after mile 10. The first half of the 24 mile bike was really fast. The course was flat and I had a good wind at my back that allowed me to average almost 23 mph. The second half of the course was met with a cross wind that nearly knocked me over and a vicious head wind that proved to cripple my average speed. It was depressing to see my average dip below 20 mph, and sadly I couldn't do anything to stop it. Not to mention my lower back was all in knots. It was painful during the entire race. My run wasn't any better. I averaged a 7:30 pace for the 10K (6.2miles). This was awful considering I can run a 6:15 pace. My quads cramped up really bad within the first mile and I had to run through the pain for the entire run. It sucked! The old adage, "pain is temporary" definitely describes the feeling as I crossed the finish line. The feeling of accomplishment trumps the beating I just gave my entire body for 2 1/2 hours. Not bad for my first olympic distance race. I could definitely take some positives and negatives from it. It's given me a whole new perspective for the half Ironman in July. The swim would only be a few hundred yards longer but I would double my distance in the bike and run to 56 miles and 13.1 miles for the bike an run. All that said, it's just a motivator for my next race... STAY FOCUSED!!!