Stickers and bad luck

2009 Couples triathlon is more of a beginners event which put a majority of its focus on 2 person teams and the respective combined time for the two. I didn't have a team mate so i entered the individual male category (no AG glory here). I've had been feeling decent the week leading up to the race and the softer recovery based schedule has been making me feel a little guilty in my training. I ended up going to visit family for a short camping trip fri/sat which took a good bit out of me with the long drive and time spent in the heat/sun. Since this wasn't and A race i wasn't that concerned about being rigorous with my pre-race prep.

Race day morn, up bright and early to make my 1 cup of raisin bran + almond milk + crushed walnuts, banana, wheat pancake + honey + almond butter. This (or something like it) has evolved into my standard pre-race meal and works very well providing I get this down 2+ hours before race start. Loaded up and picked up a McDonalds latte on the way to the race site.

I was the next to last wave to go off so I had plenty of time to visit, warm-up and cheer on the first racers. I did Light stretching and 10 min of easy jogging to break a sweat just before race start.

In the water I lined up front-middle of the pack and went off like normal and planned to punch it for 200m, settle in and get on some feet. Right off the bat I was hit in the face by something which unsealed and flooded both goggles. I was able to somehow clear one side and get the other halfway decent and keep swimming to the turn around bouy. At that point I had to roll onto my back and reseal the goggles as they were leaky as heck. This didn't really help and they continued to leak and required clearing every couple min. The water was pretty warm and overall I never got my breathing under control after the hectic start. I need to get into the water, simple.

Swim: 15:21 (poor poor poor)

In the bike transition went well aside from getting one of the abundant stickers on my tender feetsies. Got onto the bike and started pushing it hard. Never really felt good, but the watt numbers were decent and I was hoping once warmed up I could come unglued and really smack it. Halfway or so I heard the sizzling/whooshing sound of a blown tube. This turned out to kill my entire race... I stopped and ripped the wheel off the bike and went to work jimmying the tire off in order to extricate the punctured tube. Couldn't do it and I must have messed with it for 3-4 min. Lucky for me course support came by and stopped to assist. This guy even had a hard time but we got the tube changed and the bike back together. Damage 8m20s. My "race" was over. I biked a little angry to the bike finish. Bike power was a little low, but my time would have been very competitive with no flat.

Bike: 37:37
Pre Flat watts - 251 (23.9mph) @ 16m20s
Flat time: 8m20s
Post Flat Watts - 261 (22.9mph) @ 12m53s

After that flat BS I decided to run steady-hard as i really didn't have the will or desire to destroy myself for 1-2minutes which wasn't going to get me on the podium. On checking the result the run time was very good considering I didn't push it and that I stopped to remove a sticker and fully walk one aid station.

3.1m Run: 20:49 (6:43 pace)

Total Time: 1:16:57

On investigation of my tire problem I found out that the latex tube developed a pin size hole at one of the spoke holes of the rim. The tube looked to be chaffed from the rim strip, but examining the rim strip everything appeared to be just dandy. BSS will be put on this case to figure out what the issue was/is. I refuse to race on something I can't rely on.

I also found out that changing the tube of my rear wheel is a holy mother-&*%#( with the wheel cover bolted on. Not sure how I am going to fix this.

Hopefully this can be my race of firsts and lasts and the rest of the season will get ripped up.