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 Swim
Comments: My plan for the swim was to swim strong, but focus on keeping good form and not push too hard. I finally joined the Y in January and was able to get some good wintertime practice in along with some 300m time trials. Based on that, I decided to shoot for about a 4:45 pure swim time and leaving gas for the bike, rather than maxing myself out and shooting for 4:30 but with significantly more effort. Also, I made a concerted effort not to go out too fast and get winded halfway through. I pushed off and stuck to my plan of not starting too fast. By the second lap the guy behind me had closed part of the gap, so I pushed a little harder and was able to widen it after that. At about halfway through I spotted a breast stroker from the previous heat that would require passing, but no other passing issues. I was gaining on the lady in front of me slowly, but figured I wouldn’t catch her until the water exit. Luckily I caught the breast stroker right at the wall, and was able to pass without issues. Coming out of the water, I took it easy and essentially walked the stairs and through transition until my land legs came back. My split coming out of the water was around 4:50, so I was on target for my pace and felt like I had used the right amount of effort in the pool. What would you do differently?: Not much - I felt like I seeded myself right as did the people around me. I had a good feel for my pace and didn’t let the adrenaline make me push too hard. It was nice to swim on an empty stomach for a change. A lot of my swims are after putting kids down at night with a full stomach from dinner (and occasionally a beer), so it felt great to have eaten lightly a few hours before hand!  Transition 1
Comments: Pretty much just kept it easy on T1. I played it conservatively and put my shoes on prior to leaving T1 rather than trying a flying bike mount. I had practiced it a few times, but with mixed success. What would you do differently?: Eventually I need to learn to mount my bike with shoes pre-clipped. This should shave 10 seconds or so off my T1, which in this case would have made a difference.  Bike
Comments: Weather can really make the bike course a lot more challenging if the wind is blowing, so I was happy to see on the wind forecast we’d be in for a relatively calm day on the bike. Being tall and lacking any type of aero gadgetry, there is nothing worse than pushing hard into a stiff wind, usually on the uphill (out to 130) section. I’d ridden the course a few times before, so was pretty familiar with the hills and turns. I’ve been having issues with my highest (12t) gear skipping, so my plan was to push a little hard on the way out, and stay in my second highest gear to spin more and recover downhill prior to the run. I’ve got “old school” downtube shifting, so I planned on staying in my small ring up the hills around the railroad, then switch over to the big ring for the rest of the ride until the final three climbs. I didn’t anticipate the temperature being above 65 when I was riding, so I decided to ditch my waterbottle and cages to make some small aero gains where I could. Instead, I rigged a duct tape “holster” for gel flask with water on the top tube and figured 6 oz or so would hold me over for the 45 min +/- I anticipated being on the bike. I felt pretty good on the bike, so just focused on the road and maintaining a good cadence to limit the legs blowing up. I came to the turnaround about 21 min in and a 21.5+/- avg speed, so felt good about where I was with regards to my pacing and how I felt. On the way back I saw some true tri-guys decked out in aero gear and bikes, so it motivated me to keep a good speed to keep from getting caught. There were a few areas where dogs were running around off leash, but luckily the sheer volume of bikers seemed to confuse them enough that they couldn’t single one out and chase them! Coming up to the bridge climb I dropped into my lowest gear and mashed my way up. I’ve been too cheap to buy a 39t chain ring in the front, so knew the last three hills I was just going to have to suck it up and get up with a low cadence and some standing in my 42t. The last two hills were similar short hammer fests and I was on my way to T2 on Main St! I checked my watch on the way in and was around a 21.5 mph average which is what I was shooting for. What would you do differently?: I think I raced the race I wanted to, given my equipment and a wicked sinus infection the last three weeks which hurt my training. If I want to shave off a minute or so, I suppose I could get geared up, but I’m pretty happy with where I am with the budget I’m on. I’m really proud that I was able to stay on my bike throughout winter, even through all the snow and cold weather we’ve had the past month. Transition 2
Comments: Missed my rack at first, then went the wrong way to exit. Probably 10 seconds lost between those two. Oops! What would you do differently?: make sure I know where I'm going!  Run
Comments: I came off the run with my legs feeling a little heavier than I would have liked, and I’m sure the last three hills with my gearing didn’t help. Oh well - looking at my watch I knew I was going to have to book in order to make my 1:10 goal. I did some quick math and figured I had spent a little more time in transition than planned rather than any real errors on the swim or bike. I switched my GPS over from mph to min/mi and was pushing to maintain 7 min/mi through town, but hoped the legs would cooperate after bombing down 9th Street. I took 9th St. fast which I usually do on down hills during races, letting my long legs stretch out and have gravity do the work. Once on the bike path I tried to keep my pace in the 6:30 range, but I found every time I looked I had let it slip into the 6:45 to 7:00 range. The tunnel felt good and cool, as it was starting to warm up now that it was close to 10:00. I was now on the slight downhill and had shaken most the lead out and found I was able to make up some time and keep my pace in the 6:20 range. Coming up to the Rivermont Bridge I dialed back a little to save some breath for the ramp and 9ths St. hills. I hit the ramp, and immediately knew 9th St. was going to be a struggle. And it was. I slowly ground my way up, and ended up slowing down to the 10:00/mi pace which was about a minute slower than I had hoped, following the heels of an older age grouper (41 maybe?). Never the less, I came up the hill with a little left in the tank wand was able to push it hard to the finish. I passed the guy I was following up the hill and just focused on keeping his footsteps behind me. He started pushing close to the finish, so I let it all go to beat him in, even though it really didn’t matter standings wise – it was just fun to finish a race with an actual race! What would you do differently?: I might have been able to push a little harder up 9th street, but I won't dwell on that. I was able to push through my brick legs and still come in under 21:00 which makes me happy. I'm glad I caught the guy at the end to have him help push me in. Post race
Warm down: My DW, toddler, and 1 month old showed up shortly after I finished, so I hung out at the Y playground and help feed littlest man a bottle while we watched folks come through T2 until about noon. From there we moseyed down to the market for pizza and awards. They had hula hoops, tricycles, and chalk for the kids which was a nice surprise and kept our toddler entrained. The awards ceremony was a bit of a bust, as the awards got forgotten, but I can see how something can get left behind while you’re putting the race on and have so much on your plate. It was actually kind of nice to fly through what seems like 100 age groups and get home rather than wait for everyone to walk up and get their medals. What limited your ability to perform faster: Overall, I’m very happy with the race and my performance. I didn’t have lightning quick transitions, and looking at the results now I missed a few places overall because of that, but I’m happy with that I was able to formulate a plan a stuck to it pretty well during the actual race. My goal coming in was 1:10, even though I knew I would have to push hard to make it, and I ended up not too far off at 1:10:42. I loved the venue, and it will definitely be one I come back to next year. Event comments: Will be back next year! I was really happy to see a spread of ages and abilities here. This is a small market triathlon and feels that way (which is good). You'll see some of top end bikes and serious athletes, but many more folks who just want to spend a morning swimming, biking, and running on whatever they can. I also really like that the course has so many different attributes to it - downtown areas, rolling hills, tunnels, etc rather than a loop around the suburban neigborhood. All the volunteers were great and the race felt well run. Thanks to the staff and volunteers for making it happen! Profile Album Last updated: 2013-04-12 12:00 AM
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55F / 13C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 7/
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 1/25
I went to packet pickup Saturday early afternoon – missed the race briefing at 4 since I was working around a toddler nap schedule – but was able to run 2, 0.75 mile repeats (Amazement square to the tunnel) at race pace to get my legs ready for Sunday. Most the rest of the afternoon was spent corralling my gear into separate bags and loading my bike while trying to entertain our toddler and help with a fussy infant. By the time dinner rolled around I probably had an extra mile on my legs carrying the little one in the Bjorn!
Dinner was fried salmon with rice and broccoli – nothing special or planned before all races, just what we happened to be eating that night. I finished it off with a touch of wine to calm the nerves and relax. Before bed, I decided to pre-load the coffee pot with grounds and water so I could just hit “go” in the morning. I also made some refrigerator oatmeal: oatmeal, water, raisins, peanut butter, honey, and some ground flax seed. I put in the refrigerator to gel overnight with the idea being that I could save time on the front end and sleep in an extra 15 minutes to avoid the early morning panic.
As usual my nerves got the best of me Saturday night and I was only really able to sleep for a few hours. As such, I was already awake well before my 5:45 alarm at 5:00 and was able to take it easy and not feel too rushed. I heated up my oatmeal, got the coffee running, and got dressed. The coffee went into a thermos for later – no use getting too caffeinated hours before race start.
It was still early, but decided to drive to the race venue and get transition ready before the rush. Got there at about 6:15 and pretty much had the place to myself so I was able to rack my bike and lay everything out without much difficulty. I had decided to go sockless during the race, so I sprinkled some baby powder in both sets of shoes in case it helped with moisture.
I was all done setting up by about 6:45 when more people finally were rolling in. My start time wasn’t until 8:45, so there wasn’t much point in warming up yet. Instead, I figured I’d ride out to Main St. and try and find where the turns were. I ended up running into one of my neighbors doing the race a short ways up Main St, so ended up talking with him and walking back to transition to re-rack my bike, pick up my chip, and get body marked.
At about 7 I grabbed my coffee and sipped on it and ate a banana until the race meeting at 7:45. After the race meeting I grabbed my swim cap, goggles, and ear plugs and went into the pool area to hang out for a while. It’s nice having the start inside the Y – plenty of lockers, restrooms, and a hot tub to relax in for a true “warm up”! Finally about 8:30 I put my gear on to swim a few laps in the 20m pool and loosen up.