The Great Six Flags Triathlon - Olympic Course - Triathlon


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Jackson, New Jersey
United States
Split Second Racing
63F / 17C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 54m 34s
Overall Rank = 97/221
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 3/13
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 5, ate a bowl of oatmeal and a peach (my parents were out of bananas and I was still hungry after the oatmeal), and drank OJ, soy milk, and coffee. Out the door at 5:40 for the whopping 15 minute drive to Great Adventure. Quickly set up transition and made the .4/mile walk through the park to the lake and put on my wetsuit.
Event warmup:

Swam about 25 yards out and back.
Swim
  • 29m 33s
  • 1500 meters
  • 01m 58s / 100 meters
Comments:

This was a self-seeded time trial start, with 3-4 people diving in at a time. I seeded myself approximately in the top third; as a result, I was mostly surrounded by men for most of the race. I knew that might meant I'd get jostled around a bit, but it was worth it to me to get an earlier start and not get stuck behind slower/less confident swimmers.

As I figured, this did wind up being the roughest swim I've had, contact-wise, but it was manageable. The roughest parts were at the turn buoys, which often result in a lot of carnage anyway. I just kicked harder when I felt people trying to swim over me and surged forward to get to clear water. My goal for the second half of the first lap was to get my breathing and HR under control so I could stop breathing every stroke and instead breathe bilaterally like I normally do while training. Finally was able to do that in the last 200M or so of the first lap, which made the second lap a lot more comfortable.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. I'm happy with this swim given my lack of good hard swim training.
Transition 1
  • 06m 41s
Comments:

5/13 AG, 63/221 OA

Ok, so this included the crazy run back through the park to transition, which they said was .38/mile but probably was actually a bit longer. The RD had suggested bringing a pair of shoes of some kind to run in, so I brought a pair of Crocs I found lingering in my parents' basement. Glad I did. Before the start of the race, I had heard someone say they were planning to take their wetsuit off right after getting out of the water rather than do that whole run in it. Made sense to me, so I did that as well. Struggled a bit briefly to get the darn thing off my heels (out of practice! Haven't worn it since April of last year) but then I was off and running. Once in transition, I gave my feet a quick wipe with a towel, put on socks, bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses, and jammed a pack of Honey Stinger chews in my back pocket, grabbed my bike and was off.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, probably. The only downside to taking the wetsuit off before the long run to transition was that it got heavy carrying it.
Bike
  • 1h 24m 19s
  • 40 kms
  • 28.46 km/hr
Comments:

So the bike course turned out to be a LOT more difficult than I anticipated. Almost nonstop rolling hills with some challenging climbs. Road surface was smooth in some spots, rough in others, and really treacherous in others (luckily there were signs warning of the really rough patches). Some spots were still wet from the rain that had stopped an hour before the race, but other areas were in the sun and had dried. Lots of wind - very rarely did it ever seem to be BEHIND me. Almost always seemed to be a head or crosswind. Just kept cranking away; tried to blast down all the downhills when safe to do so (hit a max speed of 31.6mph at some point) and spin up the climbs without totally trashing my legs. Passed numerous people, including 3 or 4 women, and only had 3 really fast looking women pass me. Ate the pack of Honey Stinger chews about 20 minutes in and drank 24 oz of water.
What would you do differently?:

The bike is usually my weakest link (not helped by my minimal bike training) and this was a tougher course than I was expecting, so I'm satisfied with this.
Transition 2
  • 01m 3s
Comments:

2/13 AG, 25/221 OA

My best performance of the day, rank-wise. haha I always try to spend as little time in T2 as possible, and today was no exception. Quickly switched shoes and removed my helmet, then grabbed my race number belt, another pack of Honey Stinger chews, and my visor and ran.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing.
Run
  • 52m 57s
  • 10 kms
  • 05m 18s  min/km
Comments:

Pushed hard for most of the run, trying to steadily pick people off. At this point there were sprint and oly runners on the course, so I didn't know who was in which race (or which lap they were on, for the oly), so I just focused on passing everyone I could. I also had no idea where I was at on the course since there were no mile markers and I wasn't wearing my Garmin. I would've been curious to see later what my mile splits were, but at the time I was glad I had no idea how much further I had left (on the first lap, anyway). Took water or Gatorade at each of the water stops and ate the pack of Honey Stinger chews about 10 minutes into the run. My feet were hurting a bit and I felt like I was running out of gas towards the end of the first lap, but felt a bit rejuvenated once the second lap was underway.

When I had hit the split button on my watch going into T2, I thought my watch had said 2:07 and my heart had sunk a little thinking my goal of going sub-3 would be REALLY close since I figured my run would probably be in the 52-53 minute range. I refused to look at my watch at all during the run - just kept pushing as hard as I could without blowing up - but later thought, "Wait...maybe it said 2:00:07." So as I approached the finish line and saw the clock time was 2:55:xx (knowing I had started about a minute or so back), I was absolutely thrilled.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. After the windy and hilly bike course, this was all my legs had left in them to give, and overall the run felt MUCH better than at the NJ State Tri (which had a much flatter bike course but was WAY warmer and very humid) so I was happy about that too. Was fun to run through the amusement park I spent so much time in as a teenager. Doesn't look or smell much different!
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around, downed a bunch of water, and ate a banana and these rice cake-style things made of corn. My dad is the fire chief of a local volunteer fire dept, so naturally most of the Great Adventure firefighters and EMTs know him, so we spent some time talking to them (and another FF from his dept who did the sprint). I'm sure glad I didn't know beforehand that the lake we swam in has a lot of snapping turtles in it! Including one that is apparently strong enough to have bit through a metal cable!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of structured, hard training, as usual

Event comments:

This was a good, lower-key race. Started a few minutes late and could use a bit more in the post-race food and activity department, but otherwise a fun race in a unique venue. Great way to end my season!




Last updated: 2013-08-18 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:29:33 | 1500 meters | 01m 58s / 100meters
Age Group: 4/13
Overall: 84/221
Performance: Good
Suit: Xterra Vortex3 sleeveless
Course: 2 oval-shaped loops
Start type: Dive Plus: Time Trial
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 06:41
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
01:24:19 | 40 kms | 28.46 km/hr
Age Group: 3/13
Overall: 93/221
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: A big loop through country roads in Jackson and Cream Ridge
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:03
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:52:57 | 10 kms | 05m 18s  min/km
Age Group: 4/13
Overall: 95/221
Performance: Good
Course: Through the Boardwalk area of the park, back to the lake and a loop on some dirt roads behind the park, then back through the park, past the Log Flume and outdoor arena, along the outer fence of part of the Safari (2 loops of this)
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? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4