ICE Breaker Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Granite Bay, California
United States
Total Body Fitness
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 37m 42s
Overall Rank = 86/352
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 16/60
Pre-race routine:

5:15 wake-up. 5:30 eating my egg-sandwich breakfast(1 egg, 1 egg white, Canadian bacon, cheese, wheat-bread). Drove from Stockton to Folsom (about an hour) Got to the event about 2 hours before start. Checked-in and grabbed a nice spot (i.e. easy to find) in the transition area. Relaxed a little and got organized.
Event warmup:

1-mile warm-up jog. 6-mile bike ride (also to check out the lay of the course to see if there were any surprises). 15 minutes prior to swim start, got in the water to get used to it (a cold 60-degrees) and swam 100 yards or so.
Swim
  • 16m 16s
  • 880 yards
  • 01m 51s / 100 yards
Comments:

During my one and only OW swim training the week before, I learned a very valuable lesson for the swim - start off easy and get into your pace. The water was very cold but I was able to get my body acclimated. I told myself to ease into the water and head towards the outside. After the start, I felt good heading out the first buoy, finding a nice 4-stroke breathing pattern and breathing fairly well and under control. Unlike the previous week, the water wasn't choppy at all - at least not until we hit the first buoy. For some reason, it got really choppy all of a sudden. I felt so good after the first leg, that I just kept going. Starting to tire a bit as I headed around the last buoy heading for shore. Started breathing way too often on this last leg and thought the shoreline would never get close. Then, after finally pushing for 100 yards, I was able to stand up and creep out of the water - I was tired, but ok. There was a long jog up the sandy beach to the transition area and I was happy to be moving on. Overall, this was 100 times better than my practice swim the previous week.
What would you do differently?:

Work harder in the pool. Due to the lack of time/access to the open water, I'll need to go even harder in the pool to make up for the effort differential between the two environments.
Transition 1
  • 00m
Comments:

Took about 50 yards up the beach to finally wiggle free of the top of my wet suite and remove my goggles and cap. Once I had finished the long run up to the TA, I felt a bit off balance while getting out of my wet suit. Once I had helmet and shirt on, I quickly slipped on my bike shoes. (Note: this was only day 3 of me owning my first pair of clipless pedals and shoes). My only thoughts were to get clicked in properly and push off enough to get the other one in - click and click - no problem. We were allowed to ride out of the transition, so that helped get going before a small climb out of the parking lot and onto the bike leg.
I was a little more spent than I wanted to be at T1 but, fortunately, it passed as I got rolling on the bike.
What would you do differently?:

Move faster and probably start practicing with shoes already attached to bike. The shoes are easy to get into so I might as well try it.
Bike
  • 47m 11s
  • 13 miles
  • 16.53 mile/hr
Comments:

I felt good overall, but I definitely need to work on my hills. In Stockton, there are virtually no hills to practice on. For this course, it didn't hurt me too much. However, I probably lost a couple minutes of time by losing too much speed on a few of the hills (especially on 2nd lap).
What would you do differently?:

Practice hills and more speed intervals.
Transition 2
  • 00m
Comments:

What helped was we were able to ride into the TA - so I cruised right to my spot - shoes were already clicked out and gloves were off as I came to a halt. Threw off the helmet and kicked off my shoes and then took a quick seat to throw on running socks and shoes (used elastic laces). Grabbed my hat and took off. I forgot to take a drink of water but just wanted to get moving. Seemed like I was moving in slow motion but saw a video later and it looked ok. Two decent transitions for first time and not much practice.
What would you do differently?:

Leave shoes on bike and jump off bike. Take a quick drink before heading out.
Run
  • 34m 15s
  • 4 miles
  • 08m 34s  min/mile
Comments:

Since I forgot to take a drink before leaving T2, I grabbed a water at the first aid station, which was about 50 yards from the exit of T2. A couple quick sips and I was good. My legs, of course, felt like jello (as expected), but I was still able to continue at a decent pace. After about 3/4 mile, the legs started to feel better and I started to feel good about picking up the pace. However, once I got into the 2nd mile and hit the first hill, I quickly realized that this was going to be a lot worse than I thought. We started climbing steep hills and then descending the same grade over and over. I expected some hills but nothing like this. Since I didn't train for big hills, I knew I was going to have to suck it up for a couple of miles to finish this without stopping. In the middle of the 3rd mile, we hit the biggest climb yet and that one got me. I had to take a 5-second walking break in the middle of the hill. Then I told myself to get moving and was able to make it up to the top and head for the crazy trek down the hill (I wasn't running down, I was trying not to crash all the way to the bottom). After climbing out of the hill and seeing the an aid station, I had to ask "Is this mile 3?" and when they said "Only 1 more mile to go!", I knew I was going to be alright. Mile 4 was pretty flat winding through the trees and heading back to the parking lot. I kept a good pace and wanted to finish strong. When I hit the final spot coming out of the trees (about 1/2 mile out, I could see my father-in-law waiting for me up ahead. What a sight. Of course when I ran past him, he started running with me. As we're running, he tells me to calm down and pass 2 people (one was about 15 feet in front, the other about 50). Somehow, I went into "sprint" mode and was able to pass both during the final 1/4 mile. Crossed the finish line and was overjoyed to have finished.
What would you do differently?:

Do more interval/hill/stair training. For this Tri, I was mainly building endurance and had to halt my interval training due to a calf injury 1/2 way through training. That made it hard to get to my interval training.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around and drank water and gatorade. Was having some trouble getting my breath about 10 minutes afterwards. Knees were a bit sore but went over to the massage tent and the masseuse got some big knots out of my thighs and I felt much better. (While I was getting the massage, the canopy over the top blew away from the wind - that was the end of the canopy)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of speed/interval/hill training. Just about all of my training was to build endurance since I basically started from scratch (let's call it the 2nd kid and holidays eating package) Also ran into a bad calf and a stomach virus that slowed down my training. Now that I know where I'm at, it will be asier to start focusing on my weaknesses.

Event comments:

It was my first race so I have nothing to compare it to. Overall, I was very pleased with the event. Only started a few minutes late but had no problems with sign-up, transition, aid stations, etc. Volunteers and organizers were great. My family had a great time and all the folks (racers, organizers, volunteers) were really friendly. All routes and directions were clearly marked.





Last updated: 2007-03-06 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:16:16 | 880 yards | 01m 51s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/60
Overall: 36/352
Performance: Average
Suit: Zoot Suite
Course: .5 mile swim - triangle setup - keeping two buoys on left
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 60F / 16C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Bad
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 00:00
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:47:11 | 13 miles | 16.53 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/60
Overall: 116/352
Performance: Average
Wind: Some with gusts
Course:
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Below average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:00
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:34:15 | 04 miles | 08m 34s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/60
Overall: 103/352
Performance: Average
Course: Miles 1 and 4 - fairly flat Miles 2 and 3 - very hilly
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
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