Hansgrohe Acworth Women's Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Acworth, Georgia
United States
Georgia Multisports Productions, LLC
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 15m 53s
Overall Rank = 40/530
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 9/108
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 4:10am because I forgot that that my phone alarm starts reminding prior to the actual event time, showered, finished packing my bag, breakfast of 1/2 bowl cereal with soy milk, coffee. Sipped water on the way to the race. Nat and I had planned to leave at 5:00 but actually left at about 5:30am. We got to the site in plenty of time to get marked, receive our chips and use the porto-potties (twice).
Event warmup:

Set up transition area, determined the entry and exit zones and practiced transitions. Walked down to the beach and swam a couple of hundred yards. This was my first open water swim ever, so I was nervous. I ate three cliff shot bloks prior to the swim and sipped more water. There was no bullhorn for the pre-race meeting so I missed anything that the director said at that time.
Swim
  • 06m 54s
  • 400 yards
  • 01m 43s / 100 yards
Comments:

Whew! The triathlon swim is hard. I'm a pretty good swimmer so I thought this part would be easier for me. Instead, we ran the first 100 yards or so in the water to the first bouy. There was no way to swim in the sea of legs so we just kept running. Based on my time, I think I should have seeded myself towards the front of our wave (behind the really speedy folks), but was concerned because it was my first tri so I went in the middle. There was no room to move without kicking or hitting anyone or running into the other racers. The water was the color of milky tea so I couldn't see anyone until my arms were already running into them. I just kept trying to make forward progress and look up every 5-10 strokes. Mostly I stopped or did breaststroke to get my bearings. The buoys were huge and orange, so they were easy to see, so that was nice. I never got into any rhythm at all, and as soon as I rounded the last buoy, my goggles started leaking so I was just trying to get done as fast as possible before my contacts floated off. Ran up the beach and down the sidewalk to the transition area. There was a wading pool of clean water to wash your feet and I stomped right through there with everyone else - what a great idea!
What would you do differently?:

Seed myself more towards the front and an edge. Try to get into some kind of rhythm. Relax more during the swim.
Transition 1
  • 02m 30s
Comments:

I thought I had rocked this transition, but clearly I did not. The practice was good because I felt comfortable, but I have no idea what I did for 2 mins, 30 secs.
What would you do differently?:

Roll my socks into donuts for easier application. Lose the shirt and wear a tri-top with pockets instead OR affix the gu flask to my bike.
Bike
  • 41m 55s
  • 13 miles
  • 18.61 mile/hr
Comments:

Biking is my weakness so I tried to hammer it as hard as possible. My average training speed (with stoplights, etc) is under 15 mph, so this ride was awesome for me. I had hammer gel at miles 3 and 10 and alternated water and cliff electrolyte drink from my bottles as I rode. This could have been too much nutrition for a sprint, but my husband and I discussed how I might perform better if I had more fuel so I ate/drank a lot. My bike didn't want to shift into the big ring so once I got it up there, I tried to keep it in the big ring so that I wouldn't have to risk it not going back there later. This helped me go faster but I had to pedal harder to maintain this ring. This was my first bike race too, so I tried hard not to draft and to pass politely. The course was narrow in places and we were all bunched together, so it was really hard to get away from the other racers. It was really fun to speed down Hwy 41 without stopping for anything. I really enjoyed the bike portion of the race.
What would you do differently?:

Learn to bike better, have my gears working correctly for the race, maintain a constant cadence, go faster.
Transition 2
  • 00m 47s
Comments:

All I had to do here was remove my helmet, glasses and gu flask and pick up my visor and race belt. I had a few seconds on indecision on whether to bring my phone, which was dumb.
What would you do differently?:

Not bring the phone. I wasted time on the run trying to affix the phone to my person because it flapped against my back if I left it in my shirt. I don't know why I thought I needed it anyway. Switch my garmin to the run function for this part of the race or figure out how to make it do multi-sport.
Run
  • 23m 49s
  • 3.11 miles
  • 07m 40s  min/mile
Comments:

This run was really hard from the beginning. I messed with the phone until I got out of the beach area. Then, my calves complained for about the first half mile as I got my run legs back. I kept waiting to settle into a comfortable run pace, but it just never happened. My friend Nat was ahead of me and my first goal was to keep her in sight, because I knew that I couldn't catch her. After mile one, when I got gatorade instead of water by mistake (ick!), I just concentrated on keeping moving. At points, I ran with my eyes closed. People started walking during mile three, which was tough, but the course was that challenging. Thank goodness it wasn't sunny or we would have all been slower. I finished at under an 8 min/mile pace, which is pretty good for me, so I'm very happy with this run.
What would you do differently?:

Overall it was a good run, despite the struggling, so I think better conditioning is the only thing I could have done differenly.
Post race
Warm down:

Water and banana with my family and Nat and her family in the finish area. WOW, did that water spray at the finish line ever feel good!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Inexperience at triathlon and ineptitude on the bike.

Event comments:

This race was really fun. I don't have any basis for comparison since this was my first tri, but I think the race itself was well run and organized but the post-race stuff could have been better. It was weird to finish so far from the transition area and there was not a good area to gather for post-race socialization.




Last updated: 2007-08-10 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:06:54 | 400 yards | 01m 43s / 100yards
Age Group: 17/108
Overall: 0/530
Performance: Average
Suit: tri-top and shorts
Course:
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Below average Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 02:30
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:41:55 | 13 miles | 18.61 mile/hr
Age Group: 16/108
Overall: 0/530
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: The course was mostly rolling hills and flats as advertised. There were two or three bigger hills which required me to get up out of the saddle but very few of these, so that was nice. The course was well-marked with mileage every few miles and volunteers at every turn. Road hazards were painted red and the volunteers alerted us to any rough areas or sharp turns.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Below average Hills:
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:47
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:23:49 | 03.11 miles | 07m 40s  min/mile
Age Group: 6/108
Overall: 0/530
Performance: Good
I didn't wear my heart rate monitor, but at points I could tell that I was redlining.
Course: The run was also rolling hills, but instead of an out an back course (which has ups but also the same amount of downs) you run up into the town of Acworth which is necessarily higher in elevation than the lake. So, it is a net uphill run. It was a HARD run. The course was pretty and there were volunteers and spectators at nearly every turn, so part was nice.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4