St. Louis Tri | Octomax (Sprint)
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Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller | Reply |
2014-06-29 4:08 PM |
Member 161 Shawnee, KS | Subject: St. Louis Tri | Octomax (Sprint) First Congrats to Ryan Harwell (MTC) for taking the WIN in the Halfmax (4:18:16)- second place came in almost 30-mins later (4:46:03). We had a great weekend in St. Louis. Drove in Friday and dropped kids off at my parents and hung out with them for awhile and had some dinner. After that Caroline and I headed back to Warrenton to check into the hotel. Set the alarm for 4:30 and was out the door by 5:18. It's a fairly short drive to Innsbrook Resort - maybe 15-mins. When we arrived it was overcast and the humidity was near 100% although once the cloud cover cleared, right at race start, the humidity dropped back to around 70%. I was really looking forward to doing the race again since this was my first ever race last year and the venue is awesome. Unfortunately they completely changed the course so I can't really compare my performance to last year. Also last years weather was about perfect with low humidity and much cooler temps. I want to say right up front, Ultramax yet again put together a great experience, which included everyone's favorite - Ironband. Decent food at the end for racers and good beer from Rock Bridge Brewery. Ok back to the race. This was my "A" Race this year and I would say training leading up to it was pretty good. I dropped 14lbs over the 12-weeks, however in the early part of the Peak Phase my right knee and left achilles flared up a bit which required a few days off followed by less than maximum efforts the following week - nothing that really concerned me. I was feeling really good going into this race and personally thought I might see some PR's. In the end I would have to say I am a bit conflicted in how I feel about my effort. After my results in the KC Tri, I told myself I would improve my transition times and increase my LPE on the bike. I followed thru on both of those of those items. Where I'm conflicted is my poor results within my age group, not that I expect Top 3 but closer to MOP is what I was looking for. Based on the stats, I really need to pick up major bike fitness (hills really take a hit on me) as well as continue to work on the run. Hopefully the improvements in my run will occur as I begin training for my first Half Marathon this fall. As for the bike, I'm going to build in longer rides throughout the summer and more hills (short & long). OK here is the race by the numbers: SWIM | 500m Time:.....10:14 (2:03) PR Age Pl:.....6/12 Male Pl:.....38/89 T1 Time:.....3:15 Age Pl:.....3/12 Male Pl:.....25/89 BIKE | 19-mi Time:.....1:12 (15.7 mph) Age Pl:.....11/12 Male Pl:.....67/85 T2 Time:.....1:45 Age Pl:.....7/12 Male Pl:.....55/89 RUN | 3.4 mi Time:.....37:12 (10:57) Age Pl:.....10/12 Male Pl:.....59/89 TOTAL TIME:.....2:04:56 Age Group (M45-49):.....10/12 Male:...64/89 Overall:.....90/165 Additional thoughts: Going into this race I was most concerned by the ALL MALE Wave Start. With 89 guys starting at once this was going to be a new experience for sure. In my past two races the groups were much smaller and it didn't take long to find some clear water to swim and settle into a rhythm. I really didn't know how I would handle this. I decided to HTFU and positioned myself toward the front instead of hanging back and get some experience swimming in close quarters - and boy did I! I quickly tucked in behind the first feet I saw - thankfully this person swam at my pace :-) I had racers on either shoulder and hands hitting my feet for the entire 500m. Honestly I really like the long distance on the bike for a Sprint (even though it exposes my weakness) Bottomline: 3-years ago I didn't swim or run and only occasionally rode my MTB. Yesterday, I competed for 2-hours and lived to tell about it ;-) I would highly recommend this race for those in KC as a nice alternative to those hosted at Clinton and Longview. Great venue, scenic course, clean lake and hills, hills and more hills :-) Now I need to pick a late season race to do just for fun... |
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2014-06-30 8:46 AM in reply to: Ranski |
Extreme Veteran 815 Shawnee, KS | Subject: RE: St. Louis Tri | Octomax (Sprint) Harwell is a beast. Sounds like a well run race. I think based on your experiences, I will make the trip out there next year. I really like Ultramax and think they do a great job. Congrats on your improvement. It is hard to see time improvements from course to course, but it sounds like you are feeling the improvement. A bunch of us are doing Cedar Creek and Silverback in September. |
2014-06-30 11:37 AM in reply to: joncolby |
Member 161 Shawnee, KS | Subject: RE: St. Louis Tri | Octomax (Sprint) Originally posted by joncolby Harwell is a beast. I would be real curious to hear what he thought of the course - especially the run portion. Originally posted by joncolby A bunch of us are doing Cedar Creek and Silverback in September. I didn't know about Cedar Creek - I will definitely sign up for that. So close to the house and I ride out to the Monsanto Loop all the time to do my intervals. Is this the first year for the race? |
2014-06-30 11:39 AM in reply to: Ranski |
25 Kansas City, Missouri | Subject: RE: St. Louis Tri | Octomax (Sprint) I don't know about you, but I thought that run course was brutal. Felt like at times I was hiking more than running... |
2014-06-30 11:45 AM in reply to: Danmartinids |
Member 161 Shawnee, KS | Subject: RE: St. Louis Tri | Octomax (Sprint) Originally posted by Danmartinids I don't know about you, but I thought that run course was brutal. Felt like at times I was hiking more than running... While my garmin profiles don't prove this to be the case - the run course sure felt hillier than the year before. My heart rate alarm (Z5) kept going off the entire run. So much so that Training Peaks notified me that I now have a new "higher" LT :-) Thankfully we had plenty of shade. |
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