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Race Result

Racer: Keith Bohnenberger
Race: Jones Beach Triathlon
Date: Saturday, October 4, 2003
Location: Jones Beach Long Island, NY
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 35 - 39
Time: 1:36:57
Overall Place: 186
Age Group Place: 32
Comment: 2nd triathlon



Race Report:




Thoughts about the race:
Hard to get info and directions. They dont really seem
to cater to out of towners. Beautifull beach, nice
ride and great run on the boardwalk. Great volunteers.
I didnt stick around afterwards so I cant comment on
the food. This race depends on the weather. If it was
a nice day this race would have been great.
Unfortunately it felt like Isabel was back.

I would like to get exact wind conditions and water
temp for future reference. Does anyone know where I
can get that data for last saturday in Jones Beach?


Long (very painful) Story:
My first triathlon was Riverwatch which was .75 mile
swim; 16 mile bike; 3 mile run. My goal for
Riverwatch was to have fun and finish. My goal for
Jones Beach was to try to go faster (and beat two
friends that were doing the race with me). The second
goal was a family weekend visiting some friends in
NYC. We drove up Friday afternoon and got to Brooklyn
around dinner. Went to Two Boots for dinner and got to
sleep around 11:00. I woke up at 5:30 ate a pb&j
sandwitch and drank some OJ and water. My friend Tom
and I met another friend Wayne at the race around 7:30
for the 8:00 am start. That was later than I wanted
which meant we were scrambling for rack spots and body
marking. The weather was really windy and about 55
degrees or so. Because of the wind they moved the swim
from the ocean to the bay side. We all put on our wet
suits and walked over to the bay side and waited for
our heat. Tom, who has done several sprints before
rented a wet suit. I helped him put it on and zipped
it up for him. I noticed a long flap hanging out on
the back and asked Wayne to velcro the top for Tom
which he did. On the bay side Wayne noticed that the
symbol on the front of Toms wet suit was backwards. 2
minutes before our heat an older guy walks up to wayne
and asks him if our friend new his wetsuit was
inside-out. At that point the three stooges laughed
hard as we tried to get Tom out of the wet suit and
back in it right side out in time for our heat. We
just finished that up in time for us to get in the
water. As soon as I dove in, the cold water hit me
hard. I couldn't catch my breath and was panic
swimming. I got kicked and got some water in my
goggles and was sucking in lots of nasty bay salt
water. I made it out to the first marker and was just
starting to get comfortable when we turned left
towards the next marker directly into a lot of chop.
I can only breath to my right so I was sucking in a
lot more salt water. I had to stop a couple of times
to catch my breath and cough up salt water. I dont
know any other stroke except free style so I was
basically bobbing out there until I got started again.
I finally finished the swim and ran across the cement
walkway 1/4 mile to T1. I was totally spent and
rattled from the swim. I sat down, took off my wetsuit
and got one sneaker on and laced up before I realized
I should be putting on my bike shoes. I finally got
my bike shoes on and got out of T1 and on the bike. I
was hacking up lots of salt water and couldnt get the
taste out of my mouth. I sipped accelerade hoping
that would help. The bike ride out was directly into
a wicked wind. I was working hard just to do 12mph. It
was a tough 3.5 miles out before we looped around with
the wind at our back. Then the pace picked up to
about 26mph for 3.5 miles. Only to hit the wind again
for the second loop. I could not get rid of the salt
water taste and finally around mile 9 without missing
a stoke I yacked up all the water I drank pre-race,
the salt water and the accelerade. Fortunately there
was nobody right behind me. I finished the bike, got
into T2 and put my sneakers on (for the second time)
and hit the boardwalk for the run. Once again this was
directly into the wind and it felt like I was going
backwards. I made it to the half way mark and blasted
back with the wind. It was over. I had a really
tough swim, put on the wrong shoes in T1 and yacked on
my bike but I finished! I was bummed about the swim
and the bike. I was hoping for closer to 17 minutes on
the swim and closer to 20mph on the bike but the
weather conditions were tough. I only ran a total of
3 miles since riverwatch because of achilles
tendonitis and lower back pain so I was pretty happy
with an 8:04 pace on the run but I suspect it might
have been a little short.

Look out Reston Tri 2004 here I come ... just dont
ride behind me!