Diesel Awards (Sportsplex Super Sprint)

The Sportsplex Supersprint was a great race. I finished 3rd Overall. It was a hilly bike and I had a strong ride. My run pace was 6:23 for 2 miles, for me that's flying. For more details see the Overall Mens Results.

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The best part of the race was that 5 of my neighbors and friends did the race with me. In the honor I bestowed some "special awards" on them based on their participation.

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(NOTE: after the awards were given and the results posted, Tim Giresi was stripped of the "Gary Zuckerman award for Deliberate Transitions" and it was re-award to Gary who spent 7:40 in transitions which was more then anyone else. It was longer then his swim segment! For everyone else a triathlon is Swim Bike Run. For Gary, it is Dress & Groom, Bike, Run. Rumor is that he hid a towel in the pool so he could towel off before going outside and that he bought clogs so he would not have to be barefoot on the cold pavement).

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“Diesel Awards – Sportsplex Super Sprint 2007”

Outstanding Performance by a First Timer – Paul Barth
Despite renting a bike yesterday, he was the top place among Chatsworth newbies beating Tim by 4 seconds. Tim, the slight burning sensation in your left buttock is from the spanking that Paul gave you. Note to Tim: get in the pool or Paul will own your right cheek at Riverwood.

Outstanding Effort – Tim Giresi (pool swim)
There will be no debate on this, I was there. I witnessed it. Tim put out more effort in the 250M of pool swim than most Ironmen do in 140.6 miles. He really sucked it up, gutted it out and then rode himself back into the race.

Exceeded Expectations – Gary Zuckerman
We were all a little worried about Gary and the cold. I thought he might get hypothermia in the parking lot. By race time, more then a “Ground Swell” of people thought Gary had bailed and was hiding the car. He came out and kicked ass. After the race he declared “this was the greatest thing that I ever experienced that did not involve my penis.” His closing sprint was inspired. (Note: I reserve the right to revoke this award if it turns out Gary beat me in the run).

Gary Zuckerman Award for Most Deliberate (slow) Transition – Tim Giresi
You might think it would be fairer to wait for the transition times to be published before giving this award but I had to actually watch Tim’s swim to bike transition and it was painful for me so I am giving him the award (and what fun would it really be to give Gary an award named in his honor). Gary is the runner up for running the wrong way and falling off his bike.

Biggest Cheerleader – Dave “The Diesel” Babson
I cheered myself silly for all of you. I thought of creative, obnoxious and insulting ways to motivate you. Kudos to me.

My First Race (MAP Sprint)

I was one of the lucky ones. I was online at 11:30pm and was able to get into the MAP race. I cannot believe how popular these races are. This race filled up, 500+ spots, in a few hours.

It was my first race after months of training and dieting. I was anxietious to see how I would rank; to see how much I improved over last year when I did a few races for fun.

I drove down to the race the night before with my pal, "Big Mac". I was very organized and brought every piece of triathlon equipment that I owned. I have a triathlon crate that I load my gear into (this is a pretty good idea). When we got to the hotel, I heard a few, ohs and ahs, from the other triathletes when I rolled the brand new Cervelo P3C (My Bike) through the lobby. Although, it made me I little nervous that I might not be bike worthy.

After a big pasta dinner and a decent night sleep, Big mac and I got to the race site set up our transition site and drove the course. "DIESEL TIP" - I highly recommend to all triathletes - "Drive or Bike the course ahead of time". In the transition area, I got a few more comments on the Bike. Particularly snide were the comments "Hey that bike looks new, have your ridden it?". It was OK, I made a mental note of their numbers.

Big Mac went off on the swim 9:30 minutes ahead of me and because he is a better swim he had a at least a 10 minute jump on me on the Bike.... would it last? could I catch him? I love the challenge...

My swim seemed long. I was patient but I must say I was please to get out of the water. I paced myself well on the Bike and slowly brought up the intensity. I think it is important not to ramp up to quickly after a transition, you need to shake of the last segment and build up. If you go anerobic to soon, you will pay all the way home. I had the P3C cranking and was holding to around 23 mph.... not too bad. I passed the guy that commented on the "newest" of my Bike and gave him some encouragement :-) . He acknowledge my effort with a "nice ride"... and I was gone. On mile 11, on the horizon, I spotted "Big Mac" cranking away at 60 rpms in the upright position. As I passed him I tried to offer him motivation by exclaiming "You just got spanked by The Diesel" but by then I think his quads hurts worse then the spanking so he did not step up to the challenge of chasing me home.

I did not preview the run course and it cost me 6th place. It was a weird path along the side of the highway and then a strange short dirt road uphill that was slippery. After that you spiraled into the finish area which was cool because people were cheering for . If I had known the course I would have pushed harder and I would not have lost 6th place by a rounding error. My friend and fellow triathlete, "Margo", was there to greet me. First thing asked was "How did you do?" but before I could answer she asked the real question "Did you beat me?". I love triathletes. It is a place where people with OCD (Over Competitive Disorder) can go and feel at home.

Here are the highlights of the results:

I was 70th out of 332 in Overall Men

I was 7th 40-44 Men (a rounding error out of 6th)

I was 27 fastest overall Bike 2:47 out of first.

Here is a link to overall results:

http://www.setupevents.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=event_results&id=541

Here is a link to age group results

http://www.setupevents.com/files/MAPMRes.htm

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