Big George Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Lake George, New York
United States
Adirondack Race Management
72F / 22C
Sunny
Total Time = 6h 15m 48s
Overall Rank = 152/227
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 4AM and didn't feel like eating my breakfast then so I just had my coffee while I showered and got ready. Finally ate my usual bagel w/peanut butter and banana around 4:45AM. Still wasn't super hungry but ate it all anyway. This breakfast turned out to sit like lead in my stomach by 7AM.

1 hour before the race I had an emergen-C drink with my Sportslegs and vitamins.
Event warmup:

I did my dynamic stretching and then a 1 mile run down the bike path. Came back and the T-zone was closing so I had to hurry and get my swim gear. Made it to the beach with plenty of time and went for 7 minute swim

I would like to add here that I dressed my bike up with a cheetah tail and ears on the helmet - with a tail and ears for the run portion as well. The cheetah has long been a metaphor for speed used by triathletes and runners. Their numbers once were in the hundreds of thousands but today are only 10,000. They are the most endangered of all the big cats. While I didn't raise money this race for them, I raced to bring an awareness to this great animal, whose speeds reach 70 mph with such grace and agility!
Swim
  • 38m 56s
  • 2112 yards
  • 01m 50s / 100 yards
Comments:

Went out a little too fast but soon settled into my pace. At 1/4 done...I started burping up the peanut butter I had for breakfast. God I hope I dont puke......Just keep going! Found some ankles to draft of off at some point, but I need practice with this coz I soon lost em! BURP! I was soon passing pink caps and found some white caps too. But those damn pink caps looked like orange buoys in the distance and it wasn't til I got up close did I see it was actually a swimmer off course....UGH! BURP! I started to sight more often...probably like I SHOULD be doing. Swam until my hands hit the bottom and stood up.....WHOA...I'm dizzy and nauseaous! WHere am I? WHat do I do next? Oh yeah...follow the green carpet to the T-zone. Michael could see something wasn't quite right.
What would you do differently?:

Practice sighting!!!!! Lighter breakfast! Practice drafting
Transition 1
  • 03m 39s
Comments:

Still dizzy from the swim, the wetsuit took a bit of time to get off. Then I wanted to make sure I had everything. As it was I missed reapplying the sunscreen and forgot my bike gloves.

Took endurolytes, sportslegs and caffeine in the T-Zone.
What would you do differently?:

Not get dizzy from the swim by eating lighter!
Bike
  • 3h 10m 19s
  • 56 miles
  • 17.65 mile/hr
Comments:

AHHHHHH! The bike....my favorite! My stategy is to usually only drink water for the 1st 20-30 minutes as I settle into my race pace. Today was no different. The course started out with a nice gradual climb out of town on nice new pavement. However before I even got out of town, as I was shifting into an easier gear, I dropped the chain.....DANG! Stopped and quickly put it back on. GO GO GO!... Another couple of miles and I reached into my 2nd bento box for chap stick and my heart sank when I heard it hit the pavement. Do I just keep going and suffer thru with chap lips or do I stop? I opted to stop. After all this wasn't even 10 miles into a 56 mile ride. After these intial problems, the rest of the ride was smooooth sailing! Oh yeah....except for the food issues. Tried to eat banana and orange slices - no go! Tried to eat FRS chews, no go! SO I just settled into the fact that all the nutrition I was gonna have was in my bottles that had UR DRIVEN in it - Short, medium and long chain carbs with protein and electrolytes mixed with pineapple juice. And it was all I needed. At times my energy would wane and someone would pass me, but I used that as a motivator. I hung back to 3 bike lengths that were required for a bit, then I surged and passed them and never saw them again. I was actually feeling strong up until the last 8 miles where #195 passed me and I just couldn't keep up! But that initial hill outta town turned into a nice downhill back home to the T-zone! Whoooooosh!

What would you do differently?:

Same as before.....eat a lighter breakfast. Maybe ride hills more - they make one faster on the flats!
Transition 2
  • 04m 54s
Comments:

Feeling the wasting energy of not eating real food on the bike
What would you do differently?:

BE MORE ORGANIZED and practice, practice, practice transitions.
Run
  • 2h 18m
  • 13.1 miles
  • 10m 32s  min/mile
Comments:

My legs felt like 2 wooden stumps. Had to do walk/run intervals for the 1st 3 miles then settled into a good pace and only needed to do a walk interval every 3 miles or so. By now, the peanut butter had been digested. OH THANK GOD! But I only had 3 FRS chews on me and my UR DRIVEN in the water bottles with one bottle of pure water. Those FRS chews though....what a pick me up on the 2nd loop! It petered out after 5 miles and I wish I had more. I took water at every aid station and dumped it over my head. It wasn't as hot as Portland was but it was still VERY warm.
What would you do differently?:

I came into this race with very stiff and sore achille tendon so I wasn't able to do speed intervals. In fact my longest run before the race was only 5 miles.
Post race
Warm down:

walking around and drinking water

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Right from the start.....breakfast and the fact that my nutrition plan went out the window!

Event comments:

The race itself was AWESOME! Great location, great views, fairly flat course. Plenty of GREAT volunteers, plenty of aid stations. My only
criticism is there wasn't a lot set up for the spectators. No water, no food. For people to be out there for 4-7 hours cheering for their athlete, I would have thought something would be set up...even to sell stuff. The surrounding food places weren't open until lunch. The ONLY place open was McDonalds......need I say more?


Profile Album


Last updated: 2011-10-22 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:38:56 | 2112 yards | 01m 50s / 100yards
Age Group: 3/
Overall: 94/227
Performance: Average
Suit: Blue Seventy Reaction Wetsuit
Course: Kind of a rectangle out and back.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 72F / 22C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 03:39
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Below average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Below average
Biking
03:10:19 | 56 miles | 17.65 mile/hr
Age Group: 4/
Overall: 143/227
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: A nice out and back from Lake George to Brant Lake with a loop around Brant Lake.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 04:54
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Average
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
02:18:00 | 13.1 miles | 10m 32s  min/mile
Age Group: 6/
Overall: 176/227
Performance: Average
Course: 2 loops down the bike path. Popped up on the road for a bit then back down onto the bike path. Mostly shady
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4