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 Swim
Comments: Surprised myself on this one. I purposefully took a wide line to the turn, didn't get right into the mix, breathed such that I didn't get winded - just swam smoothly. And, my pace was much better than I expected. Had I pushed, I could have taken a bit more time off - but didn't want to mess up my first race of the season (and third since coming back from a looooong time away) by overcooking the swim. Felt great getting out of the water! What would you do differently?: Probably will try getting out with faster folks, getting on their feet and try to hang on next time. Not sure I have the fish ability to do that, but worth a try - hey, it's all about having fun...  Transition 1
Comments: First time I've ever tried elastic banding the shoes on the bike. Worked really well - although I still don't have the b@11$ to try jumping on (precisely because I want to keep mine where they are and NOT pick gravel out of my teeth when I fall over). Could save a few seconds there, but I thought this was a good fit for me. Ran with the bike, paused only briefly to get my leg over and on top of the shoe, and was off. What would you do differently?: Not much - I was pretty happy with this one!  Bike
Comments: Could've gone a bit harder on this one, but then not sure if I'd have blown up on the run. As it was, I was about 10 sec/mile slower than I wanted on the run, so probably about right(?). I'm DEFINITELY still getting the hang of pacing for a tri, which was a big part of why I did this race. Also, took a GU with caffeine at the end of the first lap (mile 5.5ish) What would you do differently?: Might try pushing a bit harder. Would like a bottle with a straw (even with the 3W I'd lose!) so it's easier to drink. Need a bit more time on the tri bike, as I'm not as confident on corners as on the roadie. Otherwise, I was very happy with the bike leg (actually, very very!). Transition 2
Comments: Helmet was fine, but I didn't put yankz on the shoes and just pulled them on. Problem was that my feet were soaked from the bike and it took an extra… probably 20 seconds to work my left shoe on. ARGH! Didn't make any difference to my place, but it's frustrating to miss a little thing like that. I did think about talcum powder, but the kids are now old enough that we didn't have any at home! Overall, still pretty happy with it. What would you do differently?: Yankz. Light powder in the shoes. Might also come into the dismount just a BIT hotter for the dismount…  Run
Comments: I think I need to work a lot more on my bike fitness - as I am normally comfortably sub 7m/m at 5 miles and thought I could hit about 7m/m even after the bike. It was a bit hilly and QUITE hot and humid, so that is also certainly a factor. I felt my legs loosen up at between 2 and 3 miles, and the back half of the course felt much more comfortable. The 5k I ran the day prior also probably took a little starch out of my legs (but it's a local race that we do as a family, so I wasn't missing that one! 15 OA, 3AG, so it was a good one, too). What would you do differently?: Maybe not race the day before. LOL - actually, that's not true - I'll totally do the same thing next year! Work on my bike, and perhaps longer anaerobic threshold intervals on the run. Post race
Warm down: Grabbed a bottle of water and went back to the finish to cheer others on. Should have done more stretching and a cool down jog, but it's just too cool to cheer folks across the line! What limited your ability to perform faster: My three legs were all about the same place in my AG and OA, so that's better than last year, where my run was definitely my worse. Working on it over the winter helped. So, I think I need to work on all three areas. My swim technique needs to hold for the whole distance at a faster pace, my bike speed and fitness both need to come up so I can hit the run, and my run needs to improve. So, good news is I'm in balance, bad news is I'm uniformly slower than I'd like!!! Event comments: Beautiful swim. Nice course. Great volunteers. Speedy old dudes (my AG was insane!), so, there was good competition. A nice course to test fitness for upcoming Oly's, as it's a bit longer than a standard sprint. Nice people at the race. Overall, I had a great morning and will likely do this one again. Quite happy with my performance (if boggled about how many really speedy guys there are from 45-49… I have WORK to do)! Great day, great people, good race. Last updated: 2013-06-04 12:00 AM
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United States
Firm Racing
80sF / 0C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 15/104
Age Group = M45-49
Age Group Rank = 7/12
Ran a 5k the day prior (15 OA/3AG - so a good one). I think that helped me freak out way less than normal. I also think because I only signed up on Wednesday for it, as this was a "rest and test" week and this was close by, there was just less pressure. So, much less time to work myself up into race-day frenzy. Got up a few hours before race, three slices of whole grain toast with almond/maple nut butter (Jason's rocks) and some honey spread. Coupla cups of coffee and the morning ritual. Then sip some power-liquid stuff on way to race. One gatorade liwuid pre-race thing (100 cal) 10' before. Soak in the beautiful setting and GO.
Not a ton of time, so set up transition and only got a quick ~100yds swim in. Enough to be ready for the swim, but no time on bike or running (except to portajohn and back right before…). Said hello to Scott Brown (friend introduced me or I'd have never known), wished my buddy who agreed last minute to race with me good luck, national anthem (Mr. Brown's daughter - nice voice), then off we went.