5150 Kansas City Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


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Kansas City, Missouri
United States
5150 Triathlon Series
70F / 21C
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 20m 8s
Overall Rank = 58/461
Age Group = M3539
Age Group Rank = 10/90
Pre-race routine:

up at 4:30
ran about 1/2 mile
grapenuts and a pear for breakfast
left for race at 5:15 (rode with Brent) arrived 5:40
1/2 mile warmup run
long swam warmup about 70 minutes prior to start
walked around some more to find family and hit the cans again
ate half banana
Tropical Hammer gel 15 minutes before race start
Event warmup:

1/2 mile pre-breakfast run at home
1/2 mile run at race site
long swim warmup ~1 hr prior to swim start
Swim
  • 27m
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 39s / 100 yards
Comments:

started at far left of corral, the right side appeared closer to first bouy so most congregated there, stayed to inside left of pack the whole way, sighted more frequently than last week and had good visual cues from the mass of 89 yellow caps to my right. Swim had lots of physical contact but everyone was fairly polite about it as we all searched for our own little piece of water to swim in. The kink in the back stretch due to floating turn bouy is clearly visible on my Garmin trace.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/180318923

Occasionally switched side breathing to give shoulders/neck a break, experimented with 2/3 and 3/5 breathing in the last third, this is a little more effective when my stroke cadence slows down toward the end of a long swim, it is probably a little slow but very effective for recovery efforts after getting a mouthful of water or whatnot.

All in all felt really good swimming, I'm no speedster but I was comfortable and maintained an effective stroke the whole way. Got a massive cramp in my right hamstring when I stood up to exit the water.
What would you do differently?:

nothing, just a couple minutes slower than I was expecting/hoping for, perhaps partially explained by the floating buoy.
Transition 1
  • 02m 3s
Comments:

5th AG, 47 OA
hamsting cramp had me hobbling up the hill stiff legged and took a few seconds in transition to stretch it as I pulled my wetsuit off. Figured if I could just get on the bike I could stretch at 20 mph instead of stationary in transition.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Bike
  • 1h 08m 23s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 21.80 mile/hr
Comments:

Took first lap real conservatively due to cramped hamstring, 2nd lap was still on the conservative side of normal. I expected the bike to bring some hamstring relief though, and it did.

Crowded pretty well describes the course and wide describes the width of the handlebars on mountain bikes and hybrids. Lap one was okay, only passed a few packs that were 3 or 4 wide but once the sprint traffic mixed in they were everywhere. The speed differentials and closeness of some passess was scary. Got my front wheel clipped once, fortunately while climbing so it was in slow motion and an easy save. I about went horse on the south leg of Raytown road where it was single lane yelling stay right, 2 simple rules: stay right and always leave room for bikes on your left, oh, and transition closes at 7:00.

I checked average power at end of 1st lap and it showed 209 W, I knew I was taking it easy but thats more than 10% down from training ride a week earlier and it sure didn't feel like I was taking it that easy, after race I found there was some warmup time figured into the average I forgot to clear from memory, doh!

Drank 1 bottle of Heed (2 scoops), unhappy tummy, especially on the first lap, maybe a bit queesy from the swim or just trying to get too many calories?
What would you do differently?:

push more on the bike but that wasn't an option with the hamstring cramp
Transition 2
  • 01m 14s
Comments:

11 AG, 74 OA
crowded coming into transition but not too bad
shoes and socks, didn't want gravel and blisters
glanced at my watch and saw 1:38, no seconds shown once I'm past an hour, than meant I had less than 42 minutes to run the 10k, this is going to hurt
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Run
  • 41m 30s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 06m 41s  min/mile
Comments:

Started out with focus on standing up, opening up hips, and keeping strides quick and short. First mile was 6:52 I had a side stitch but managed to get it to go away, the next 2 were around 6:40 and I felt pretty good so I knew it was going to be close at the finish. First mile of lap 2 was 7:01, the wind was blowing pretty good down the park road and I kept losing focus and easing up. Finished up with a 6:45 and 6:34. Stomach was unsettled the entire time.
What would you do differently?:

Not much, Not knowing the exact race time when it was going to be so close was tough mentally. But an arbitray round number isn't a real big deal, in the grand scheme of things.
Post race
Warm down:

walking around and talking

What limited your ability to perform faster:

-Not real structured or focused on the training, although total volume has been sufficient, most sessions were under an hour, including warmup.
-Maybe if I'm going to be hard on myself about missing goals I should start eating to race rather than racing to eat.
-Hamstring cramp, not sure what set that off but it stuck with me, thinking back over the past year or so I've had some close hamstring calls so I guess I'll have to add them to the ever growing list of failing body parts that need focused stretching/conditioning as I get older.
-was starting to get burned out with training, I was tired and grumpy after many workouts the last month or so, not a good thing when this is supposed to help with sanity.

Got some vacation coming up next week with cold lakes, endless gravel roads and fire trails, and grampa and grandma to entertian the kids, priceless.

Event comments:

It's become a KC Triathlon tradition: communication prior to race, poor; execution on race day, excellent. As I was walking around barefoot in the grass pre-race, eyes on the ground looking for things I didn't want to step on, I noticed that even the grass was freshly raked/vacuumed/something I don't know how you get grass that clean, there was NOTHING in the grass except clean dirt and blades of grass, talk about attention to detail.

I've bought the VIP every year I've raced, in the past it was a good value, shoes, sunglasses, personal masseusse and bike mechanic, but now it is little more than a parking pass, still worth getting for me so the family will come out and watch and not have to trek 2 miles for a diaper change or the 3rd set of dry clothes, good food in a nice shady tent goes a long way. All in all a well organized and growing race, I'll be back next year.




Last updated: 2012-05-14 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:27:00 | 1640 yards | 01m 39s / 100yards
Age Group: 18/90
Overall: 107/461
Performance: Good
Suit: Fit2Race Sockeye Full
Course: triangular CCW, last turn bouy was apparently floating away from the course and added some distance
Start type: Run Plus:
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Good Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:03
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:08:23 | 24.85 miles | 21.80 mile/hr
Age Group: 13/90
Overall: 95/461
Performance: Below average
avg speed by bike computer 22.0 mph, 227W lap 1: 21.7 mph, 226W lap 2: 22.4 mph, 232W
Wind:
Course: 2x3 legged out and back, total of 6 180's, measured distance at 25.1 miles on the bike computer and 25.0 on the GPS. Like the new bike course.
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 01:14
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:41:30 | 06.21 miles | 06m 41s  min/mile
Age Group: 5/90
Overall: 61/461
Performance: Good
Course: 2 laps: ~1 mile on park road and ~2 miles on gravel trail
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 4