Sebagoman Race Report

I spent Friday counting down the minutes till I left for the race.  At 4pm I wrapped up my last appointment, ran home for my bag/bike which were packed and I got on the road.  I made a quick stop at Action Bikes and Outdoor in Matamoras, PA for some Hammer Gels and arrived at the hotel in Chester, NY at about 7pm.  My first dinner was a disappointment so I ventured out and found an awesome Shop Rite.  I took a chance and bought some Sushi-Salmon Avocado Rolls which were awesome.  I also bought my breakfast for the next day.  My cheering section (My sister Emily and her boyfriend Brendan) was not going to arrive till 11:30 so I decided to hit the sack.  I was exhausted but I laid in bed wide awake.  No matter what I tried to do I could not fall asleep.  Emily and B rolled in at about 12:00 and I am pretty sure they were both asleep before I was.  I decided to work through my race plan to try and put my mind at ease.  It must have worked because the next thing that happened was the alarm going off at 4:15am.  I ate my breakfast of a Wheat bagel with Almond butter and fresh strawberrys and blueberries and got on the road.


Spent the 30 minutes drive spending time praying and reflecting a lot the awesomeness of God.  He gifted the word with an incredible sunrise that morning, rich red just brned through the early morning sky.
I arrived at the check-in and heard the Race Director talking to somebody else.  I knew that the cap on the race was 400 but I heard them briefly chatting about how there was only 120 people signed up for the race.  At this I suddenly felt a little hope.

The Sebagoman Olympic Triathlon is a .9 mile swim to a 21 mile bike to a 6.2 mile run.  To be honest I did not have many expectations going into this race.  My biggest goal was just to finish-and beat that big 3 mile ascent at mile 6.  But other than that I had no hopes of placing or anything like that.  I had originally signed up as a Clydesdale (it's the Division for guys over 200 lbs) because at the time I thought I might be able to place.  But at the months have passed I have not had the time to train as much as I would have liked.  But with the word of the smaller field I got my hopes up of possible top 3 in the division.  I found myself sizing up every guy setting up the transition area to see who my competition would be.  You can never really tell though.  I went back to just getting focused and ready for the race ahead.

It was decided because of the small amount of people there that we would all go off in one big wave-"like on big happy family."  I took and Espresso Hammer Gel and headed down to the beach.  I lined myself up on the outside of the pack.  The plan was to let the group thin out a little then I would move in closer to the buoys.  I donned my cap and goggles, said one last prayer and waited for the horn.  When the blast went off I was very surprised at how relaxed I was.  I just started chugging along like I usually do.  I did not even try to site the buoys because they were white...and so was everyone's swim cap.  So I watched where everyone else was going.  Unfortunately I got caught up in a group that decided to swim away from the buoys.  When I went to site a buoy I found I was way off course and quickly started moving back toward the main pack (or pod) of swimmers.  I got pushed and bumped a few times, even tried to draft one guy for a little while until I realized that he was going too slow.  This swim also wins the award for most scenic.  Usually water is murky from being churned up by swimmers.  But you could see all the underwater landscape because it was only 7 feet deep at it's deepest point.  By the second lap around the triangle I found I was not at the back, nor was I in the front.  It was nice to know that even though i have not spent much time in the water my swim was turning out really great.

I made it out and ran into Transition 1 feeling really good.  I put on my shoes (I still use toe straps) took a Hammer Endurolyte, through my gel flask in my back trisuit pocket and started the ride.

One thing I knew I had to watch out for was cramping.  In my first tri (Got the Nerve-Sprint) my calves cramped up in a wicked way after I got off my bike.  So I had been training with Hammer HEED (see a trend here?)  I packed two bottles full of Melon Flavor and had added a little extra to keep my muscles from getting over fatigued.  The big hill I had fretted about so much was pretty big, but the time was passed when I started riding with this guy who was going about the same speed.  We chatted for a good way up the hill.  My plan for this hill was to take it easy because it was still early in the race and there was still a long way to go.  The roads on the first half of the ride were absolutely abysmal.  I felt like was going to blow a tire from all the potholes.  The second half was brand new backtop so that made up for it.  The scenery was gorgeous and passed a few hardcore runners who cheered me on as I went.  at about mile 19 there was this large group of people lining both sides of the road.  They were all cheering as if I were some kind of elite.  I think they were waiting for a bus or something.  Either way it was just the boost I needed to get through the last miles of the bike.

I jumped into Transition 2 grabbed my hand held water bottle also filled with HEED (lent to me by UltraRunner Chris Freet) took my second Enduralyte and got going.

I was definitely fatigued but felt good.  The run was a moderately challenging course that was rolling hills.  It was okay because it was nothing I had not trained on in the past couple of months.  a half mile into the run the lead guys came flying around the corner and gave me a big high-five and an encouraging word.  One thing that I experienced in this race was how much all the athletes encouraged each other during the race.  As we all passed each other on the 6.2 mile out and back there was almost always a high-five or an encouraging word.  At 2.5 miles I heard someone come up behind me, a small little woman, I politely asked if she would be willing to carry me up the next hill.  This emitted a bit of a laugh and a little more encouragement.  By mile 3 I was out of HEED and felt my body starting to get dehydrated.  Not only was I parched but my muscles were starting to cramp up, especially my quads.  There were also hotspots forming on the arches of both my feet.  I had opted not to wear socks because I felt I would be able to bear it during such a 'short' race.  Plus I did not want to waste the time in the transitions.  As I came down the final stretch I heard my sister yell "Go Ken, you are going to make it in under 3 hours!!"  I dug deep into everything I had and crossed the finish line.  I grabbed a water, vitamin water and a handful of ice which I proceeded to drop into my trisuit.  I was exhausted but stoked it was accomplished.

I enjoyed 4 fig newtons, 1 banana, 1 Vitamin water, and a slice of Sausage Pizza to wrap up the race.  I did not even think to check my time or standing until I went back for some more water and saw people standing around the preliminary printout results.  As I followed the column down I saw that I was the #2 Clydesdale.   I guarded my heart in case it was some kind of mistake.  As they got to the last of the awards they called my name for second place.  I was blown away!  I have never won anything in the way of an athletic trophy (barring the 'Most Improved' Cross Country trophy in 8th grade)  It was like all the training had been validated!

My official splits are a follows:
Swim 33:19  (2:06/100yd pace)
T1 1:06
Bike 1:23:09 (15.2 mph pace)
T2  0:29 (4th fastest T2 time)
Run 59:13 (9:33 pace)
Final 2:57:16
Placed 61 out of 100 overall

One thing about this race is I just had a lot of fun with it.  I found myself just enjoying what I was doing despite the great amount of pain-especially at the end.  I am looking forward to recovering from this race and getting busy with the business of the next race-the Baltimore Marathon on October 16.  Keep me in your prayers!!