Tawas Triathlon Festival - HIM - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Tawas, Michigan
United States
3Disciplines
74F / 23C
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 57m 20s
Overall Rank = 80/157
Age Group = Clydesdales
Age Group Rank = 4/7
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 5am, mixed my drinks (felt like a junkie;-)
Had my usual breakfast, no more changes there...
I left Au Gres around 5.45 and drove the 20 miles to Tawas.
Parking was no problem at all, drove there, no traffic jam, immediately got a great spot in short distance to TA

Event warmup:

Temps were probably low 60s, if that, so WU meant putting on the wet suit early and finding a spot with sun light
Swim
  • 35m 36s
  • 1931 meters
  • 01m 50s / 100 meters
Comments:

The start was the toughest tri start ever!
There were 120 men doing the half iron distance, we all were headed for the buoy maybe 50 m from the beach, switching between running and swimming
This was the real washing machine experience, hitting, kicking, swimming over
Settled in after 200m or so
By that time I had lost many places but quickly started to pass people

This was also the first time that I drafted, it was great, obviously saved a lot of energy, but I realized that the guy was zig-zagging so I decided to go on my own
AFter about 500m, there was a group quite a distance ahead, and I was in front of a chase group. For the rest of the swim, it was either drafting or swimming side by side (read: hitting). Was pretty carzy given the distance!
After about three quarter, I felt tachycardia, had to slow down a little and had to decide whether I continue or stop to get my HR normalized again. Decided to go on and then normalize either in TA or on the bike
What would you do differently?:

Probably be further in the front at the start. I was caught in the middle and that cost me time...
Transition 1
  • 03m 35s
Comments:

Included 300m from water to TA
I was mostly walking this because of the tachycardia
The actual transition was pretty quick, had a Hammer gel and some HEED
What would you do differently?:

For the next season, I really need to start having the shoes on the bike, without that you can't really jump on or off the bike
Bike
  • 2h 52m 15s
  • 56 miles
  • 19.51 mile/hr
Comments:

Could not bring down HR even though I was barely moving in the beginning, so I decided to stop after around 2 miles. After about 2 min, I was good to go again. By that time, around 30 people had passed me.

Just when I got onto my bike, Steve (rottieguy) was going by and we rode shortly together. He wanted to pace himself and take it easy though so I took off.

There was not a lot happening, some usual passing back and forth. No obvious drafting;-)

Was trying to keep cadence at 80 and HR around 160, that worked great

On the hills I tried the tips from BT to try to keep power constant, or pressure on foot, makes you slow at the beginning of the hill, but you have to power on top of the hill to push harder. Definitely worked for me!

Around mile 35 my soft parts were yelling at me, was shifting back and forth from there on, but was okay

Did not really push the last 10 miles, but it was fortunately down hill
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really
Transition 2
  • 01m 45s
Comments:

Short transition
Had my Garmin quick release arm band in transition, so I put it on while starting to run, that worked fine

As usual, had one Hammer gel plus a little bit of HEED
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really
Run
  • 2h 24m 12s
  • 13.85 miles
  • 10m 25s  min/mile
Comments:

Here is where my race fell apart...
I felt awesome coming off the bike!
Rather than sticking to my target pace of 9:30 in the beginning, I ran more like 8:45
It felt like going slower would actually cost more energy...
That continued for the first 6 miles and then more or less out of the blue I started walking right after 6 miles
From there on it became a terrible walk-run deal. Sometimes I would be able to motivate me for half a mile to run, other times I would walk-run 0.1 miles...
At least I managed to go through the turnaround, that was difficult as the finish line was in sight... At that point, I just wanted to finish!
What was also difficlt is that it became obvious that the course was quite a bit longer than a half marathon! (one other runner also had 13.9miles on his Garmin...) It sucked already having to walk, but then even having to go nearly an extra mile felt like being cheated

What would you do differently?:

I am not sure if I had pushed too hard on the bike already, but judging from how great I felt coming off the bike, I am pretty sure that it was the pace on the first 6 run miles that "brought me down"
Post race
Warm down:

Hang around at the finish line, had lots of HEED, some melon

It was a weird finish line feeling, with all sprint and oly participants long gone and everybody else leaving soon also. The post race party did not happen until 6pm that night. That made the finish line pretty deserted

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Overpacing on the run

Event comments:

Great race especially if you spend a whole weekend in town
Extremely flat run, fairly flat bike




Last updated: 2009-07-09 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:35:36 | 1931 meters | 01m 50s / 100meters
Age Group: 2/7
Overall: 20/157
Performance: Average
Did not take lap data, but I think the splits were fairly even
Suit: Zoot Longsleeve
Course: Long rectangle Very clear setup with clear start and ending conditions (buoys to round) Only problem was that on the way back we were going half the distance straight into the sun
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 71F / 22C Current: Low
200M Perf. Bad Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 03:35
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
02:52:15 | 56 miles | 19.51 mile/hr
Age Group: 4/7
Overall: 59/157
Performance: Good
Avg cadence 76.5 AHR 162 5 mile splits: 14.9, 165, 73 (here is where I lost at least 4 min) 19.4, 160, 80 20.3, 161, 79 21, 162, 79 22.5, 160, 81 18.4, 165, 78 19.9, 163, 76 20.3, 164, 73 19.8, 165, 74 20, 164, 74 21.1, 162, 74
Wind: Little
Course: Great course, essentially an out and back, with one little detour Road surfaces were awesome, and very little traffic, felt very safe Just a little boring going through pine forests all the time
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 76
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 01:45
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
02:24:12 | 13.85 miles | 10m 25s  min/mile
Age Group: 4/7
Overall: 105/157
Performance: Bad
Heartrates 157, 176 Mile splits 8:57, 161 8:48, 164 8:57, 165 8:49, 167 8:55, 169 9:02, 171 10:19, 162 10:14, 162 11:23, 156 12:03, 153 12:36, 148 12:21, 146 12:17, 144 11:00, 152
Course: Two loops winding mostly through neighborhoods Short stretch of gravel road
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 1
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? Ok
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