General Smallwood Triathlon-International - TriathlonOlympic


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Indianhead, Maryland
United States
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 29m 43s
Overall Rank = 39/161
Age Group = M20-24
Age Group Rank = 2/6
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 445. Ate breakfast (cereal and clif bar). Got ready, and got on the road by 6am for an 8:00 start. Easy 45 Minute drive. Lines to check in and get chip were long, so transition set up was hurried, but I got everything done in time.
Event warmup:

No warm up.
Swim
  • 28m 41s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 45s / 100 yards
Comments:

I've done very little swimming since the school year ended (may 10), so I was happy just to finish it without being too tired. I've lost a lot of speed since then, but I didn't care. It was my first race and I just wanted a baseline. Was not a PR but I felt better about it than the swim in my last (and only) olympic tri. I did 28:00 in that, but that was with a wetsuit unlike this one, and that tired me out much more. Anyway onto today...

Start went well, not as rough as I expected. Had some poor navigation after the first turn, which cost me some time but wasn't terrible. Started to get into a groove here, and felt good. Third leg (of the first lap), I was getting hit a considerable amount (shockingly more than at the start), and the algae was all over me. I could feel my timing chip come off my leg (I'm not sure if the algae or another swimmer took it). The water was foggy and I knew I had no chance of getting it back so I pushed on knowing that I was wearing my watch, so I could get times anyway (all of the times in this report come off my watch and not the official results since my chip disappeared).

Second lap was uneventful, but had better navigation all around. Finished strong, and felt relaxed when I left the water. Though I looked a little like a sea monster with all the algae on me..
What would you do differently?:

Keep my chip on and navigate better the first time around. Other than that it was as good as it could be considering the lack of swimming I've done lately.
Transition 1
  • 03m 28s
Comments:

Long run into T1. I had a good transition by my standards (i'm usually terrible). Buying a race number belt helped a lot! I was 72/161 overall and 4/6 in my AG for T1. It's improvement, but still a lot of work to do.
What would you do differently?:

Faster run to T1.

Run and jump onto bike, get into shoes on bike.
Bike
  • 1h 10m 32s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 21.14 mile/hr
Comments:

Set a significant PR. Very happy with this time. I only brought two water bottles, but definitely should have used 3. I had none for the last 15 mins or so. I stayed in my comfort zone the whole time wanting to save it for the run. Another leg that went as well as it could considering my training. I've just been slacking since I left school, so considering that I'm happy. This definitely is giving me motivation to train more, considering the gains I've had while being less than consistent.
What would you do differently?:

Brought a 3rd bottle of water, but that's it. It went great!
Transition 2
  • 01m 12s
Comments:

I need to leave my shoes on my bike for T2. But overall it went pretty well. 63/161 overall and 5/6 AG.
What would you do differently?:

Leave shoes on bike, and jump off while moving.
Run
  • 45m 48s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 07m 23s  min/mile
Comments:

After bonking hard in my last 3 races (Lancaster Oly Tri - Sept 07, Phily Half Marathon - Nov 07, Lawyers Have Heart 10K - June 08), I made sure to take it out easy. I went too easy, but I made up for it on the last two miles. Went from about a 7:40 to a 6:40 for the last two miles. I definitely could have started out faster (730 ish) and picked it up at 5K mark, but overall I think it was very positive. I took water at every aid station, and poured a lot of it on myself to deal with the heat.

About 2 miles in a guy passed me going at about a 6:45 clip, and I wanted to go with him so badly. I had to fight it because I knew I would run the risk of doing another death march to the finish. For once, I resisted the impulse to go, and I'm happy I did.

It rained for a few minutes about half way through, which felt amazing and definitely helped me finish strong.
What would you do differently?:

Start out a little faster.
Post race
Warm down:

Short jog.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of training since I started my full-time job.

Event comments:

I broke 2:30, which had been my goal, so I'm very happy. Set an oly-tri PR for bike, run and overall, so I guess I have to call it a good day all in all. Can't wait for NYC Tri next month to see just how much further I can drop those times!




Last updated: 2008-03-18 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:28:41 | 1640 yards | 01m 45s / 100yards
Age Group: 3/6
Overall: 50/161
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course: Two laps of a 750 m triangle. The third leg of each lap had algae growing up to literally within six inches of the surface, which made swimming through it very tough and slow.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 85F / 29C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 03:28
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
01:10:32 | 24.85 miles | 21.14 mile/hr
Age Group: 3/6
Overall: 53/161
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: Rolling hills, but never much vertical gain. Fast'ish course.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 01:12
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:45:48 | 06.21 miles | 07m 23s  min/mile
Age Group: 2/6
Overall: 30/161
Performance: Average
Course: Slight uphill for most of the 5K out (but with some rollers). Slight downhill back.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 3