Atlantic City Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon


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Atlantic City, New Jersey
United States
DelMoSports
45F / 7C
Sunny
Total Time = 55m 40s
Overall Rank = 6/554
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 3/34
Pre-race routine:

Up at 3:30am, ate some cold Italian Sub, stretched, relaxed visualized. Mentally preparing myself to deal with the cold air temps and figure out how the bike and swim would go with the cold. Got to the staging area about an hour and a half before the race to prep everything.
Event warmup:

Went for a mile run on the boardwalk in AC -- interesting group of people out at that time . Lots of stretching and wind sprints to warm up. IT WAS 45 degrees!
Swim
  • 06m 17s
  • 440 yards
  • 01m 26s / 100 yards
Comments:

So 45 degrees is cool anyways. It is COLD when you are just wearing a tri suit bottom. They had Paratriathlete Regional Championships which was so inspiring. I forgot about the cold and realized if they could do it, I have no reason to complain. This was my first time trial race and I ended up getting into the 2nd wave. I wanted to get into the first wave, but I was the 2nd person that missed out on it. Got into the 2nd wave and was so surprised when they said we could start at any time.

Jumped in great and the water felt like a warm bath. Took off into calm waters. Started passing back end of the 1st wave about half way down before the turnaround. A little zig zagging to get to the buoys.
What would you do differently?:

I need to work on the whole "swimming straight in the OWS". I tend to find myself going slightly off course. Next TT start, I will try to get into the first wave and just mentally prep before jumping in.
Transition 1
  • 01m 52s
Comments:

Took off from the swim and ripped towards the bike. I was sure to triple check where my bike was -- a lot different finding your bike when there is 1300 bikes there. Used baby powder in the socks and shoes for the first time and it worked great. Took some extra time to try to dry off my upper body to get my top on and try to minimize being soaked in the cold temps. Took off running with the bike -- I'm a little awkward while pushing it so I just picked it up and ran.
What would you do differently?:

I need a tri top that is easier to get on or get one that I can wear in the water. Wouldn't change much else. Just need to work on the steps.
Bike
  • 26m 2s
  • 10 miles
  • 23.05 mile/hr
Comments:

The biking had a slower caution area to start and finish that crossed some soft gravel and sand on a curve. Started biking and BURRR, it was chilly. But focused on getting down and just pushing as hard as I could. Within about 10 minutes I got used to it so my hands and nose were pretty numb, but it was fine. Had a rider that I caught up to and raced near for nearly the entire way. we have no flat riding where we are, so it felt so good to push it on some open flat road and I was amazed how fast it was.

coming into the caution area, I took the sand turn too quickly and nearly slid out. Thankfully I was able to get my foot out of the clip to save the fall and my pride.
What would you do differently?:

Keep practicing on my bike. Huge improvements over the season.
Transition 2
  • 01m 42s
Comments:

Ran to rack my bike and was able to get my shoes off relatively easy. Putting on my running shoes proved to be more difficult because I could not fell my hands nor my feet. First race with my new tri-belt. What a wonderful accessory!
What would you do differently?:

Not much. I want to work on getting out of my shoes while on the bike for next year. I imagine this is made easier with velcro straps.
Run
  • 19m 46s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 06m 23s  min/mile
Comments:

Felt good on the run. It was a little weird running and not being able to feel my feet. The brick workouts I have been doing really paid off. Took it out strong in about 5:50. The boardwalk was an awesome place to do the run because you could see the people ahead of you and use them as inspiration. I saw the guys ahead of me on the return and saw that there was a shot at catching them, so I kept cranking it. Caught the one guy and started to go after the guy ahead of him. With about a a third of a mile to go, he was about 15 seconds ahead of me.

The runners just heading out were encouraging me telling me I could catch him so I figured might as well go for it and just put the hammer down. We came down the shoot flying and he had enough of a kick to keep me at bay. Awesome finish though.
What would you do differently?:

Not much, I just have to work on pushing the run a little more in the middle.
Post race
Warm down:

Drank a beer! I figured it was 8:30 and I had been up for 5 hours, it was pretty much the equivalent of noon! Walking around and some stretching. Ate and relaxed.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not much really -- I really felt like I gave it my all (or close to it). Super excited about the improvement in just 2.5 months since I started biking, running, and swimming.

I need to discover what my ceiling is and how hard I can go because I'm not sure I've discovered that. I'm hoping next year to make the jump to Olympic and still remain competitive. Looking forward to putting some time in through the winter focusing on technique on all events and trying to "master" the bike.

One day I'll get a TT bike, but I plan on sticking with the road bike for another year.

Super thrilled with this year's progress.

FYI -- I'm hooked!

Event comments:

Delmo Sports puts on an amazing event. So organized, super helpful staff, nice spread. Tons of support in the water, tons of support on the course. Race director constantly kept updates coming before the race and getting everyone excited.

I can't say enough about the group -- absolutely AMAZING!




Last updated: 2013-07-15 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:06:17 | 440 yards | 01m 26s / 100yards
Age Group: 2/34
Overall: 9/554
Performance: Good
Suit: Tri Suit Bottom
Course: Rectangle
Start type: Dive Plus: Time Trial
Water temp: 75F / 24C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:52
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:26:02 | 10 miles | 23.05 mile/hr
Age Group: 6/34
Overall: 18/554
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: Flat with 2 small climbs. FAST
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks:
T2
Time: 01:42
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
00:19:46 | 03.1 miles | 06m 23s  min/mile
Age Group: 2/34
Overall: 4/554
Performance: Good
Course: Flat -- half mile out on roads, 2 total miles on the boardwalk and a half mile finish on the roads.
Keeping cool Good Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5