Norway (Maine) Tri race report, 7/11/15
Well, I finished...that's about the best I can say when I came in 66th of 77 individual athletes (there were relay teams as well)! Total time was 1:59:27, swim (1k) was 26:16, bike (11.6 miles) was 52:29 and run (about 5k) was 36:59. We had great weather for the race, sunny and probably low 80s by the end (got hot later). The water temp was probably in the mid 70s; I know it was less than 78 because wetsuits were allowed (only a few people wore them, and I don't know how they didn't overheat). I was kind of disappointed with my swim because I ended up doing breaststroke for about 2/3 of it due to the buoys being hard to see when doing freestyle (I also, admittedly, didn't spend much time on swim training and should have done more). On the last leg when we were heading back to the small sandy beach (which was much easier to sight than those buoys were) I did do freestyle and actually passed a couple of people so I know my swim performance would have been a lot better had I been comfortable doing that the whole way. The bike was by far my worst part of the event (the swim was my best, despite the breaststroke) in terms of how I stacked up to everyone else...the course was an out-and-back that was mostly uphill going out, with a fairly big climb to the halfway point, and I climb slowly. I got passed by so many people, especially on the way out, that I got really tired of hearing the phrase "on your left"! I suppose that is what I get for showing up to a race like that on a Surly (with racks and fenders left on to boot)...my bike did look pretty comical in the transition area next to all the tri bikes and light road bikes! I had hoped to see some people show up on mountain bikes etc. but I saw maybe a couple of flat-bar road bikes/fast hybrids (I saw one fatbike, but it turned out to belong to one of the volunteers and not a competitor...a fatbike in a tri would have been funny!). I also managed to drop my water bottle while trying to take a drink on a slight uphill, so had to turn around and retrieve that. The second half of the bike course was much easier since it was mostly downhill, which made the transition to running a little easier (though there was still that wet-noodle-legs feeling for the first mile or so). The run had some really steep uphill sections in the beginning, where I was able to catch a couple of people who were walking up the hills which I refused to do. By the time I got to the run it was starting to get hot out and I was glad most of it was on shaded trails (besides, trail running is just nice anyway). All in all, I had a good time despite my poor showing and would recommend the Norway Tri to others as their first triathlon...it is a fun, fairly low-key event and is well organized. Hopefully I can do it again next year and improve my time!
