Bass Lake Classic Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic


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Bass Lake, California
United States
Tucson Racing
90F / 32C
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 21m 13s
Overall Rank = 83/186
Age Group = F30-34
Age Group Rank = 4/12
Pre-race routine:

At a club OWS on Memorial Day, a few of my CCTC peeps suggested that I accompany them to Bass Lake to do either the tri or a trail run, and enjoy a weekend at the lake. That sounded way more fun than another long ride, so I signed up for the tri and took Friday off of work. We headed up in the morning, stopped at REI (my favorite place!) and enjoyed an evening of relaxing and hanging out with our lovely hosts at their awesome house by the lake. Kimberly and I also picked up our packets and decided that our 2-digit bib numbers meant that we were elite!
Event warmup:

After having some coffee and a little breakfast (I had oatmeal cookies) we walked our bikes down to the start since it was so close. We wedged ourselves into the transition area (it was tight!), got our timing chips, and headed down to the beach, which was down several flights of stairs and at least a quarter mile from transition. We watched all of the sprint waves start and finish, and then they started the olympic waves. For some reason I was still messing with my goggles when the horn sounded, so I started off in the back of my wave.
Swim
  • 40m 21s
  • 1640 yards
  • 02m 28s / 100 yards
Comments:

I feel the need to immediately state that the swim was long (Kimberly's Garmin said 1 mile) and the split time includes the super-long uphill run back to transition.

Anyway, after starting in the back I had to fight my way through the crowd. I started off sighting pretty badly because I was focused on trying to get around people. Eventually I settled into a rhythm, and started running into guys from the previous 2 waves. There was a lot of contact during the first loop, but I figure that was just good practice for my upcoming IM. The second loop was a lot more spread out. I focused on practicing good form and sighting, and I was actually enjoying the swim, especially since the water temperature was really nice.
What would you do differently?:

Seed myself properly in my wave, and it would help if I had my goggles actually on my face when the horn sounds.
Transition 1
  • 00m 44s
Comments:

The combination of the long transition run being included in the swim split, having plenty of time to pull down my suit during the run, and the small transition area resulted in this blistering fast T1 split. I just pulled my wetsuit the rest of the way off, shoved a gel and salt pills in my pocket, put on my shoes, helmet and glasses and got the heck out of there.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing
Bike
  • 1h 37m 21s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 15.32 mile/hr
Comments:

After I climbed the initial hill out of transition and got on the highway, I immediately heard a once-around noise coming from one of my wheels. I got off the bike twice in the first couple miles to investigate, but I never found anything. It was frustrating but I only wasted about a minute. After that I decided to stop worrying about it, and I spent the first several miles cruising along in aero as much as possible, since the course was not super hilly at that point.

Once we got past North Fork (I think, I don't know the area well at all) the course became rather hilly. There were several descents and climbs, followed by several winding miles along the lakeshore. That was my favorite part of the ride, it was beautiful and fun. I kept the pace pretty easy for most of the ride, but got impatient and hammered the last 5 miles or so. Eventually we ended up back on the highway we started on, and then descended back into transition.
What would you do differently?:

Ride my bike a little the night before or morning of the race to make sure there are no issues. I did the usual brake and tire check, but never actually took the bike for a ride after taking it off the rack.
Transition 2
  • 02m 18s
Comments:

Fastest T2 in my AG! I did take time to put on socks, which I usually don't bother with for an Oly, but my IM is in 3 weeks, my shoes are still pretty new, and I could do without blisters. This time I remembered to put my visor and race belt on while running out of transition.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing
Run
  • 1h 00m 25s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 09m 44s  min/mile
Comments:

Although I didn't realize it at the time, for a brief moment I was in 2nd place in my AG. I started the run feeling ok, though not quite as fresh as I would have liked to be, but that's what I get for pushing it during the last several minutes of the bike. Very quickly I was passed by 2 people in my AG. They were running very fast and I had no hope of sticking with them. Nearing the first turnaround I saw a woman with 30 on her calf. She was tall and slender and running at a very comfortable-looking pace. After the turnaround, I passed her, but a little while later she passed me back and we leapfrogged each other for the rest of the run.

I started off trying to hold a 9-ish pace, but after about 2 miles I was really hurting and had to back off a little. I focused on downing as much liquid as I could force myself to drink, because it was hot and I had only taken one salt pill on the bike. I had a gel about a mile in and drank a bunch of water, but then I started to cramp so I switched to gatorade.

Coming back into the finish area after the first loop I saw Kimberly, and eventually I caught up to her again. During the 2nd loop I focused on maintaining a barely-tolerable pace, which was still challenging even though my side cramp was subsiding. I took it really easy up the hill on the dogleg, and I remember that even though I felt like total crap, I sounded ok when I exchanged comments about the hill with other runners. However a few minutes later, I was suffering to the point where I could barely eek out a "thanks" to people cheering us on.

Coming out of the dogleg I passed the 30-year-old again. Later she introduced herself to me (her name is Terra). I stayed ahead of her as I pushed hard up the last long hill, but right before the top I heard a voice behind me, and sure enough it was Terra cheering on other members of her club. She sounded like she wasn't suffering at all and she cruised right past me. She seemed like a really nice person and it was clear I couldn't keep up, so I just told her that she was doing great as she passed me by.

I saw Kimberly one more time, she was pushing hard as she neared the end of her first loop. I gasped out some words of encouragement and then made my way down the chute, happy to be done.
What would you do differently?:

I probably should have just taken some more salt pills instead of shoving so much fluid down my gullet, but I didn't feel like messing with the plastic bag. I need to find a better way to carry them before IM.

Other than that, I'm ok with how I did. I pushed hard and finished feeling totally spent.
Post race
Warm down:

Found Dave who had been taking pics, ate a little food, guzzled a ton of fluid, probably about 70 oz. It was above 90 at that point, and I was not feeling great. Since I knew I had a half hour to kill before Kimberly finished, I contemplated taking a quick dip in the lake, but opted not to since I would have to go all the way down and back up the stairs.

After Kimberly finished we sat around for a bit while Dave got the truck and then came back to pick us up, which was really nice. Later we met back up with the trail-running peeps and chowed down on Mexican food and margaritas!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I had a recovery week this past week but I'm nearing the end of IM training and feeling rather tired. Also, it was hot, and while I'm getting better at dealing with heat, it still is challenging for me. Overall I'm pretty happy with how things went, even though I got edged off the podium yet again!

Event comments:

I would come back for this one, it was well-run, beautiful and fun. After my Wildflower meltdown I'm really glad I got another race in before IMCdA in 3 weeks.

Once again I had a great time with my CCTC crew!!




Last updated: 2012-05-30 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:40:21 | 1640 yards | 02m 28s / 100yards
Age Group: 3/12
Overall: 0/186
Performance: Average
Suit: XTerra Vortex 3 full
Course: Out and back course in Bass Lake, 2 loops with a short beach run & timing mat in between.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 68F / 20C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Average
Waves: Good Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 00:44
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
01:37:21 | 24.85 miles | 15.32 mile/hr
Age Group: 2/12
Overall: 0/186
Performance: Average
Wind: None
Course: Clockwise loop around Bass lake. The first several miles were on a nicely paved highway and not very technical. The rest of the ride included plenty of hills and switchbacks (and potholes) until the final few miles. Uphill out of transition, but a nice fast descent to the dismount line.
Road: Rough Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 02:18
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
01:00:25 | 06.21 miles | 09m 44s  min/mile
Age Group: 4/12
Overall: 0/186
Performance: Average
Course: Out and back with a weird dogleg through a neighborhood, rolling hills the whole way, 2 loops.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
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] 3