Midwest Meltdown Triathlon - Short Course - Triathlon


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Paola, Kansas
United States
Midwest Meltdown Triathlon
73F / 23C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 00m 58s
Overall Rank = 2/100
Age Group = M4044
Age Group Rank = 1/10
Pre-race routine:

Normal routine, there always seems to be a neighborhood party of some sort the night before a race, in this case it was a birthday party: too much BBQ, beer, & yard games, not enough sleep. Slept in and got up at 5am when I should have been leaving the house, had a quick breakfast and hit the john a couple of time before leaving at 5:30, got to race about 6am and grabbed a reasonable transition spot.

Rode 55 miles the day before, not quite as easy as last week but still reasonable, we rode down to lake Miola, Brent flatted half way around the lake and we got it partially re-inflated but the Pitstop was plugging the valve so couldn't get more CO2 or Pitstop into it, Brent then pushed the pace on the way back as he was racing a leaking tire.
Event warmup:

Ran a little and swam twice, about an hour before race time and about 30 minutes before race time.
Swim
  • 13m 45s
  • 750 meters
  • 01m 50s / 100 meters
Comments:

A good swim, no wetsuits so I knew I'd be slow. Started on the outside this week to avoid any long course 2nd lap traffic. As it was our heat was small so it wouldn't have been a problem but it was kinda nice swimming by myself. Occasionally swapped breathing sides to check out traffic on my left and had to navigate around the occasional slower traffic also ran into some traffic at each turn which slowed them down a bit.
What would you do differently?:

Implant air bags in my calves so my legs float, something like the old Nike pump shoes...
Transition 1
  • 00m 42s
Comments:

5OA/1Ag, Could probably hustle things up a bit when I'm at my bike but not much.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Bike
  • 26m 13s
  • 10.42 miles
  • 23.65 mile/hr
Comments:

Rode fairly well, power was down by a negligible amount relative to last year and the wind was up so it was a couple tenths slower, didn't crack 24 mph this time;-(. Pretty much an individual time trial, most of the guys I was chasing in the race were in the heat before me so it was lonely and difficult to maintain a consistently high intensity.

I ran my wide ratio rear cassette that I've been racing with all season, 11-26, it works well on hilly courses where speed is constantly changing, in this race my maximum speed was less than 30 mph and the gaps between gears were annoying, I frequently had my choice between upper 90's or mid 80's when I prefer right at 90 rpm, should have gone with a 12-25 or 12-23, think those will be the right cassette for HyVee as well. This might have been magnified by legs being a little tired from riding yesterday.
What would you do differently?:

Maintain better motivation/intensity and match equipment to the course better when I have the option. But realistically I thought last year was a breakthrough biking performance at this race and I managed to basically match it this year while treating the race as a training race so no complaints as my bike fitness is continuing to improve.
Transition 2
  • 00m 33s
Comments:

7AO/1AG, after dismounting shoes (still clipped in to pedals) were hitting the ground and spinning the crank while I ran, this has happened in the past and not a problem today but shoes have unclipped from this before, risky but don't have a good solution.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Run
  • 19m 45s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 06m 14s  min/mile
Comments:

I had recognized Mike, the eventual overall winner running (his heat was 5 minutes ahead) as I rounded the last turn before transition on my bike, my initial assessment was, dang that looks like a lot more than 5 minutes. As I approached the turn while running my Garmin beeped and notified me that I had reached a recovery heart rate of 159 BPM, huh?, and it was stopped at 3 seconds, so i still had no idea where I was in the overall standings. Re-started Garmin and tried to keep running at a decent clip but similar to the bike I was all alone. Noticed the pace drop to slower than 7 min/mile on a couple inclines, but kept up a respectable average. Shortly after the 1 mile aid station I saw Mike and another guy I though might be near the front from the first heat, this put the gap at around 1 mile, not that it mattered, i just kept the needle slightly right of comfortably uncomfortable. At the end the gap was less than 30s each way with me in the middle.
What would you do differently?:

run faster? I was hot and tired and had next weeks HyVee race in the back of my mind so there was no replication of last weeks banzai finish
Post race
Warm down:

none, just food, drink, and talk.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Almost 3 minutes slower than last year but most of that was the swim (2:32), bike and run were each within 15s. Considering that last year was wetsuit legal and a different swim course (possibly shorter), I peaked for the race last year, it was cooler cooler, no wind, and the way the heats played out I had a real strong rabbit to chase on the bike leg, I'm pretty content with this years performance.

Edit: Reflecting on this, note that 1st and 3rd overall had the 2 fastest swim times, I was ~2 minutes back with the 9th fastest swim and concluded that I should run & bike faster, hmmm...What's missing here Captain Obvious?

Event comments:

Good race, nice venue, well run.




Last updated: 2013-07-31 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:13:45 | 750 meters | 01m 50s / 100meters
Age Group: 2/10
Overall: 9/100
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course: CCW Rectangle, change from past years at the Meltdown, same a last weeks Jackson County race except distance was dead on. A friend of mine measured the course at 0.47 miles with the tried and true 'Garmin under swim cap method', that is 756 meters.
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 79F / 26C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Below average
T1
Time: 00:42
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:26:13 | 10.42 miles | 23.65 mile/hr
Age Group: 1/10
Overall: 1/100
Performance: Good
Wind:
Course: 2 laps around lake Miola, I used to call this a flat course but I think I'll change that designation to a course with very small hills as the only truly flat area is going across the dam.
Road:   Cadence: 91
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 00:33
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:19:45 | 03.1 miles | 06m 14s  min/mile
Age Group: 1/10
Overall: 2/100
Performance: Good
Course: Out and back over the 'biggest' hill around the lake
Keeping cool Average Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]