BeaverDam Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


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Wake Forest, North Carolina
United States
FSSeries
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 24m 10s
Overall Rank = 157/205
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 6/6
Pre-race routine:

Gender: 39 of 65 (Not yet posted, but best I can figure from list)
AG: not yet posted.

Up at 4:30 a.m. Had and energy bar from Harvest Grain and coffee. Pretty much had no appetite becuse of eating so much the day before, so I did not even want my banana or protein powder which I normally have.
Event warmup:

Stretches.
Swim
  • 36m 57s
  • 1760 yards
  • 02m 06s / 100 yards
Comments:

First Olympic distance! I'm new to open water swimming as well as new to wearing a wetsuit. I decided to do this swim slow and easy so as not to end up hyperventilating out in the middle of the lake. Breathing was good and I felt calm and relaxed the whole way. I pulled right and rounded the buoys too wide adding some distance to my swim. Also, on the way back we were headed directly into the sun and I could not see the buoy at all (but the sunrise was beautiful!). I just followed other people and then all of a sudden there was the buoy! I swam front stroke the whole way other than a couple of times I breast stroked just to get better sight of the buoy.

At one point I was swimming straight for a buoy and a guy crossed horizontally in front of me. I tapped him and said, "Wrong way!" He said, "What?" I said, "the buoy is that way!" and pointed to the buoy. He just said, "My bad!" I also saw a guy swim head on into a buoy (that was kind of funny.)

I felt like Dory on Finding Nemo singing, "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim!"

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What would you do differently?:

Practice sighting and keeping straight; and of course work on speed.
Transition 1
  • 03m 46s
Comments:

HUGE smile on my face coming out of that water and a few people commented on it. I pulled off my cap and goggles and remembered to let go of them inside my sleeve and I was pulling arms out. Was a little hard to run but I did run/shuffle/hobble or whatever it was into transition. Not too bad getting out of wetsuit, but I did have to sit down. I had planned on wearing my jacket, but now that I was warmed up I had second thoughts. So I dug into my transition bag for my long-sleeved shirt and tried to put in on over wet skin. Or course it stuck. But in the end I was glad I went with the shirt instead of the jacket. I fumbled around a lot more than usual, mainly because my fingers were so cold I could not get them to work.
What would you do differently?:

Just be more organized and not fumble around so much.
Bike
  • 1h 39m 36s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 15.78 mile/hr
Comments:

This was a limiter for me and I know I'm capable of better. I tried to stay in the aero bars but the course was hilly, curvey, and had a lot of bad pavement to dodge, so I was out of them a lot. I had water bottle issues, so I didn't drink as much as I had planned.

I had one GU towards the beginning of the bike and anotehr towards the end. I also had Nuun in both of my water bottles. I drank plain water on the run route.

When I came back in on the bike, my son was there with a cow bell! He goes to school at NC State, so he's not far from the race sight. He could not get up in time for race start but showed up before I finished the bike route.

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What would you do differently?:

Train alone more so that I'm relying on myself rather than pacing with someone else; push harder.
Transition 2
  • 01m 27s
Comments:

I fumbled in this transition too and actually sat down again after fighting with my shoes. Removed helmet, changed shoes (sitting down), took off the long-sleeved shirt, grabbed run belt and ran.
What would you do differently?:

Same as above. I certainly should not be sitting down in T2. I had the wetsuit as an excuse in T1; but no excuse in T2 other than I was clumsy.
Run
  • 1h 02m 24s
  • 6.2 miles
  • 10m 04s  min/mile
Comments:

Legs felt like shin splints. At one point I stopped and rubbed my legs but I could not think of any stretches for that shin splint feeling so I started running again. It was very uncomfortable and difficult to run with this feeling and I wondered if it would go away. After about 3 miles, it did go away and I felt much better. I was at a comfort pace and really should have pushed harder. I found myself chattering a lot with other people and too myself. I needed to just shut up and run!

My hair fell out of the twisted up bun I had it pinned in. At one point a lady coming from the other direction held out a band and asked me if I need a hairband! How cute... only another woman would think to do that. But I didn't have time to grab it so I went without.

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What would you do differently?:

Wear garmin and push harder. I did not put my garmin on and I really wish I had. I would have paced better with it.
Post race
Warm down:

I normally have to walk immediately after finish; I cannot stop short and just stop. But today I did. I felt pretty relaxed at finish and realized I simply did not race hard enough.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The main thing that limited my performance was being too relaxed with the race. I've never gone this distance before, and wasn't sure how to pace it out. But I definitely had room to push more and will next time. It was a great learning experience.

Event comments:

This was a great race and I had FUN. I would definitely do it again as a season opener.

Not very many participants or supporters for this race which was likely a good thing since there were no port-a-pots! We had to stand in line at the changing room building. Also, I did not see many kayaks out in the water and certainly not around the buoys. I noticed people rounding the buoys to the wrong side which would have cut some distance for them.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2009-12-01 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:36:57 | 1760 yards | 02m 06s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/6
Overall: 0/205
Performance: Good
Suit: Xterra Full
Course: Counterclockwise rectangle.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 65F / 18C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 03:46
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Below average
Biking
01:39:36 | 26.2 miles | 15.78 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/6
Overall: 0/205
Performance: Below average
Wind: Some
Course: Hilly, and one section was BADLY in need of repair with terrible crumbled pavement and potholes. Cue sheet had 11 turns.
Road: Potholes Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Below average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 01:27
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
01:02:24 | 06.2 miles | 10m 04s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/6
Overall: 0/205
Performance: Below average
Course: Out and back twice with some rollers.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? No
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3