Buffalo Triathlon - Olympic Distance - TriathlonOlympic


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Buffalo, Minnesota
United States
Buffalo Triathlon
49F / 9C
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 28m 1s
Overall Rank = 84/
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 15/45
Pre-race routine:

Oatmeal, yogurt with bananas, and coffee for breakfast. Loaded up the car and drove to Buffalo. Felt pretty nervous the whole way as training has been nearly non-existent this past month. Got the transition area set up and went to pick up the race packet and get marked. Ran into Benihana and said hello. Had some time to kill, so I wandered around a bit until the pre-race meeting. Afterward, I went to put on the wetsuit and tenderfooted my way to the lake. Cold wimpy feet!
Event warmup:

Got in the water to acclimate to the water a bit. The water was a decent temperature despite the air temperature. I still saw one woman shivering pretty strongly out there. Saw Brian in the water, but didn't have time to really say more than a quick hello. Lucky guy is done for the school year, he says. I've still got three days. *grumble* Swam a total of about 20 yards. Ambled over to the staging area and got ready to go.
Swim
  • 22m 55s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 24s / 100 yards
Comments:

This swim went so well. My performance in the swim was the highlight of my race. Not being so confident, I thought about starting off to the side or in the back, but found myself in the front of the group when the horn sounded. The ows clinic I went to for the Minnetonka Tri on Thursday was a help. Being shown how and practicing dolphin dives was a big help. I even did a couple past the first pontoon. When I started swimming I found myself in the front of the pack. As I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard, I kept up the pace and by the time I caught up to the last people in the previous wave, I didn't see any more light blue swim caps.

I was really hoping to have somebody to draft off of, but with my wave behind me and catching up to the previous wave, I didn't really have the opportunity until somebody blew by me about 2/3 into the swim. I hung onto his (her?) toes for about 10 seconds, but couldn't keep up that pace. Must have been from the wave behind me.

I found that I was drifting a bit off course, but nothing serious. There were always people on either side of me and at times I had to do a little zig zagging to get through a pack of people, particularly once I got to where the sprint course rejoined the oly course.

As I approached shore, I kept swimming until my hand touched the sand below. I'm glad I did that 'cause I passed several people who were wading through the water at that point. Did a few dolphin dives and came out of the water. It was an excellent swim, over two minutes better than my goal time.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, really.
Transition 1
  • 02m 38s
Comments:

Though I felt like I could have pushed a little harder in the swim, I was still a bit tired and struggled to even jog for a bit on the path to the transition area. Forgot that I needed to start taking off the wetsuit until about half way through the sprint transition area. Oops. Suit came off pretty easily, but I was still tired and had to sit to put my socks on. Elected not to put on gloves or my jacket and then took off with the bike.

Had a pretty easy time getting on the bike, up to speed, and putting feet in the shoes. That is much easier with some bodyglide on the inside of the heels of the shoes.
What would you do differently?:

Practice T1 with a wetsuit a few times.
Bike
  • 1h 12m 40s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 20.52 mile/hr
Comments:

Found myself passing quite a few people early on in the bike and was puzzled by this until I realized that some of them were doing the sprint course or were part of a team. Had a gel about two miles into the ride and it seemed way too sweet. It was almost hard to eat.

Kept pushing, but not pushing really hard. I think I was still the first person in my wave until about 1/3 the way through the bike course before I got passed by somebody with a 30-something on their leg. That happened four or five more times on the bike course. The bike course was difficult with the east wind and the rollers. I don't think I could have ridden much better (aside from my lack of training this last month). Actually, I think I rode pretty smart.

Meeting back up with the sprint course was a little unwelcomed. I went from riding completely on my own to riding with bikes all over the place. Choked down one more gel with about five miles to the finish. For the most part I was able to keep to the left and passed people with east. There were a few times (particularly as we were coming back into town) when I had to dart through a pack, though, and that was uncomfortable. A couple times, I even had to cross the yellow line to pass people. Didn't like that at all.

Bettered my goal average speed by a half mile per hour, so I was pleased with that. Could have been better with more riding in May, I'm sure.
What would you do differently?:

Train. Not have to deal with a constantly sore back.
Transition 2
  • 01m 44s
Comments:

The mechanics of T2 were good. My hamstrings were painful. After I got my running shoes on, I was barely able to hobble out of the transition area.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, really.
Run
  • 48m 6s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 07m 45s  min/mile
Comments:

The tops of my hamstrings really hurt and it was all I could do to take short pathetic running strides for the first quarter mile. I slowly loosened up, but they were painful for probably the next mile. At that point I knew I was tired so I made it my goal not to do any walking at all. I slowly picked up the pace a little bit and was able to pass a fair number of sprint course runners. After I passed their turn-around, though, I didn't pass anybody else except one guy I went back and forth with. While I was no longer plodding, I certainly wasn't blazing a trail to the running hall of fame either.

At the turn-around by the cemetery, I was feeling better and was able to pick up the pace going down the hill and keep a faster pace in general. With a little more than two miles to go, I looked at my watch and saw that if I kept a good pace I could still finish in 2 hours 30 minutes, my race goal. That was a little hard to do as I was coming back into town. That little rise before town wasn't very nice at all. Seemed worse than the big hill. Slowly picked up the pace over the last mile until I was running a decent pace.

As I came to the finish line, the announcer said that I was in the lead for the tall man's division. HA! I felt pretty good, really... until I crossed the finish line. I've collapsed after races in the past from being really tired. This time I collapsed because my body couldn't hold me up when I tried to stop running. On top of that, I was having a hard time breathing. It was a little scary. A couple volunteers helped me to my feet as I struggled to breathe, and one of them kept me upright and slowly walking. I was really grateful for him. I was so overwhelmed with my exhaustion that I cried a bit as I propped myself against a tree. After a couple minutes with the volunteer nervously watching over me, and with my wife at my side I was able to breathe normally and I staggered off to get some water.

I beat my goal time for this leg of the race by almost four minutes, so despite my hammy pain, I am very pleased with my run.
What would you do differently?:

Can't think of anything aside from training.
Post race
Warm down:

Stagger about. Attempt to put clothes on without toppling over. Sarah suggested I get a massage. Best suggestion ever.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Back pain in May. That absolutely sucked.

Event comments:

Aside from the gobs of bikers and runners along the sprint course, this is a great race, one that I am really looking forward to doing in the future.




Last updated: 2009-02-27 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:22:55 | 1640 yards | 01m 24s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/45
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Suit: Xterra Vortex 2 sleeveless
Course: Counter-clockwise rectangle
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:38
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:12:40 | 24.85 miles | 20.52 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/45
Overall: 0/
Performance: Average
Wind: Some
Course: Winding loop through country roads with some small rollers and one out and back section
Road: Rough Wet Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:44
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:48:06 | 06.21 miles | 07m 45s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/45
Overall: 0/
Performance: Average
Course: Out and back along the lake with a long steady hill about mile three. Pretty little side spur through a wooded residential neighborhood.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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] 5