Kure Beach Race Report

Results as recorded by my watch....

Swim1: T1: Run1: T2: Bike: T3: Run2: T4: Swim2: Total
6:30 3:08 11:47 1:30 34:13 1:29 13:30 2:39 7:27 1:21:47
The official times will not include Transitions and mine were slow since it was the only time I had to catch my breath :-).

Official Times:
Swim1: Run1: bike: Run2: Swim2: Total:
7:54 14:39 35:39 13:31 10:04 1:21:45


so the day before the race I'm a little nervous/anxious for some unknown reason. I usually don't feel that way until the morning or just before bed, but I guess I was putting some pressure on myself to do well in this race and redeem myself from the last time I did this one and did so poorly. Of course last time I ended up having Lyme disease from some tick, but still logic doesn't always work when trying to convince oneself of things. To make matter worse my easy brick Saturday morning to wake my legs up didn't go so well. My legs were just not in the mood, so that added to the nerves.

Prerace: Things went fairly smoothly, got my bike transition setup and started warming up. fortunately my legs felt better today on my warmup jog and bike but it was humid and warm for 6:45 AM in the morning. at least there was a breeze. I had my normal breakfast, but forgot to eat my powerbar and didn't realize it until I got to the swim/run setup area and it was too late to go back. So I setup my shoes on the sand and went to go for a swim. The water was not too rough, and the current was real strong so I knew it was going to be a fast swim and not much chance for separation with the sand bar going over half way out to the buoy there would be a lot of walking to start. This did not bode well.

Swim1: As predicted, there was a lot of bunching and not much separation leading to the first buoy and once we started swimming it was rough. After rounding the buoy and heading with the current it started getting easier and I was able to get some good drafting. It only seemed like a minute before it was time to turn into shore and then there was the stupid sand bar again.

T1: Got out of the water and ran up to my shoes, dropped my cap and goggles and headed to the street. jumped in the kiddie pool to clean off the sand and put on my Vaseline coated shoes and started the run.

Run1: the beginning was tough, but after a few minutes I got into a good groove. Near the beach there was a breeze so I felt good and was able to push a descent pace and even passed a few people.

T2: not much going on here except I didn't run out with I bike, I walked to catch my breath. and I put on my socks so I wouldn't get blisters running back like years past.

Bike: the bike course is an out and back done twice. So it's like 4 x 3 miles with about 15 seconds recovery when making the turn arounds. The first part the wind was at our backs and it was easy going. Was doing around 24 mph most of the way and was passed by the first MC I had seen so far. He was cruising at 26, stayed with him for a few seconds, but knew I couldn't keep that pace so I had to let him go. The way back was into the wind and much harder. But I still managed 20 mph most of the way. Was still feeling good on the next out section, but when I made the turn around and started into the wind on the way back I got a huge cramp in my left calf. I quickly finished off the rest of my gatorade in hopes of warding off any more cramps, but every time I started pushing it would come back so I had to resolve myself to just doing what I could do and keep moving. I wanted to break 34 on the bike and would have if it weren't for the cramps, but was still fairly close.

T3: more walking on this one and drinking. I was sweating up a storm but had to keep going so I drank two cups of water and dumped a couple on my head. unfortunately the water was warm. I don't think the know what ice is in Kure beach as I didn't see any the whole time I was there until the refreshment area that you had to walk a half mile to get to after the finish.

Run2: this one was really tough. A couple residents were out with sprinklers and that definitely helped. I managed to make it to the water stop without walking, but when i got there and grabbed two cups I walked to drink and it was really hard to get running again, but I did. Finally the run finish was there with more warm water to drink and dump.

T4: dropped the shoes and socks, grabbed the cap and goggles and started the beach run to get to the swim start. Luckily the tide was out and it was nice to run on the hard packed sand.

Swim2: Getting out to the buoy was about the same as last time, a lot of walking through the water, but it was harder this time with tired legs, once I got going it was ok, except this time I kept getting run over by people who couldn't swim straight. about half way through my arms started to really feel tired. I was about done, but then the buoy was there and it was time to head in. Rode a couple waves, got run over again, then the sand bar was there and I stood up and attempted to run in, but I just couldn't get my legs out of the water. Finally the beach and the finish was only about 20 yards up the beach. I heard people saying finish strong run to the finish, so I started to run buy my legs were dead, some how I managed to make it over the finish line and did not die.

I can honestly say I gave all I had for this race. I think with the heat I probably should have had some more of my own cold drinks at the bike transition for before and after the bike, but live and learn...