Brett's second Tri (and first at Salem)
Deni's fourth Tri (and third at Salem)
We arrived at to Salem Pond around 8am. The race was supposed to start at 9am. Getting there 1 hour before the race starts is not enough time, especially if you want an ideal spot for your bike. This year there were about 800 registered participants and it appeared that 85% or more were already there and had picked their spot for their bike.
Deni and I looked around for a bit to find spots for our bikes, fairly close together. Right after we got our bike spots we headed for the line for the bathrooms. We stood in line for about 10 minutes to get our turn in the lovely port-a-potties.
As we got back to our bikes, we saw my parents, along with Ben Williams. (an old college roommate). Ben and Emily Williams were also participating in the race.
The race started later than expected. I started about 9:30am. My heat was Male 30 to 34 year olds and there were about 70 of us starting at the same time. I tried to get closer to the front of the pack as I thought I had improved my swimming and didn't want to have to fight through those infront of me. My swim wasn't that great. I had to get on my back a few times as I was breathing too fast. Rounding the last bouy, I thought I was going to lose the timechip I had around my ankle. My overall swim was 13 minutes 44 seconds, for my age group that put me in 26th place and about 3 minutes and 25 seconds behind the leader for my age group.
My transition from Swim to Bike wasn't that great. I had a hard time getting my shirt on. I thought I could cut sometime off my transition by not drying off, however that didn't help me.
Once on the bike, I was feeling better about the race. On my second lap, my right leg began cramping. I could ride about 3 to 4 spins and I my leg would cramp up. I stretched my leg and drank hoping that one of those 2 would remedy my leg cramping. Overall, I felt pretty good on the bike and I completed the bike in 38 minutes 7 seconds. At the end of the bike, I was in 47th place in my age division and 6 minutes 29 seconds behind the leader.
Finally, my least favorite part of the race. The run. I had run twice before the race. I had a hard time wanting to run after I had spent so much time swimming and biking. It is very hard to fit all 3 of the disciplines into a schedule with work, family and church. That, and the fact that I hate running, I didn't train for the run like I should. However with that said, I was able to run 99% of the run. I stopped and walked a block while I drank some water at the halfway point. Our numbers and age group were marked on the backs of our legs. As I ran and when people would pass me, I would look for the age group, if it wasn't the age group I was in, I would let them run past me. However if we were in the same age group, I'd speed up a little bit and keep up with them. The last push to the finish line was uphill. I pushed as hard as I could at the end.
My overall time was 1 hr 25 minutes and 35 seconds.
Deni and I had a great time training and competing together.
Overall times:
Brett BERGER
swim - 00:13:44.050
Transition (swim to bike) - 00:04:38.040
bike - 00:38:07.080
Transition (bike to run) - 00:01:44.230
run - 00:27:22.080
Total time - 01:25:35.48
Deni BERGER
swim - 00:18:41.150
Transition (swim to bike) - 00:02:59.760
bike - 00:40:33.980
Transition (bike to run) -00:01:27.710
run - 00:28:38.830
Total time - 01:32:21.43
