Buck Creek Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint


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Springfield, Ohio
United States
HFPRacing
80F / 27C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 28m 47s
Overall Rank = 76/201
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 8/11
Pre-race routine:

Got to bed about midnight -- had a backyard party with the neighbors, complete with band. So I was a bit bushed, but still game, at 4AM when I got up for this nearly 2 hour drive. I think that 2 hours is going to be the limit for driving on day-of-race. I don't really mind the drive, but still, it's a bit far to go for a man whose daily commute is .75 of a mile.

Got out the door at 4:30 after eating whole wheat bagel, small bowl of Kashi and two cups coffee. Had a naner and water bottle for the car (foreshadowing: perhaps this was too much food? Still, I was eating at 4AM and the race wasn't staring until 8 -- more than enough time! OR WAS IT?!?!?!?!)

Columbus was experienced torrential downpour of biblical proportions as I drove through. Saw Noah. Did you know Noah didn't do much fishing on the Ark? He only had the two worms, so . . .

I was starting to think that the race would be washed away, but the rain was lifting as I got to the reservoir.
Event warmup:

Got to the site in plenty of time -- I could have left home a half hour later. Had a leisurely stroll around, set up in a good spot, obsessed and dithered a bit, looked for wsm but didn't find him, obsessed some more, got in the (warmish) water and stretched and swam around a bit.
Swim
  • 17h 06m 25s
  • 750 meters
  • 2h 16m 52s / 100 meters
Comments:

Well, let's see. Not all that bad of a swim. I swallowed some water after getting kicked in the side rounding the first buoy, and the subsequent coughing spell resulted in a stitch in my side that took a while to ease out of. Isn't this sport great?

Still, just swam and swam and swam. Had the stupid backup goggles on, but they were fine; I never even thought about them.

Swim time included the 250 meter run up the steep hill from the reservoir to T1. That would make me feel better about my time, except for the fact that the top finisher in my AG finished the swim AND THAT RUN in 11:53.

Damn.
What would you do differently?:

Learn to draft; do some more OWS to try and stick to a line. I guess, on reflection, the OWS I was doing in Lake Superior wasn't really helping my navigation -- we were just swimming along shorelines or beaches, we weren't swimming to a bouy, so sticking to a straight line wasn't crucial, or even noticeable.

On the positive side, note that I'm getting the basic mechanics of swimming down -- the stroke, the breathing, not freaking out. I'm moving on to the more advanced parts of tri-specific swimming: OWS, drafting, navigation.

Transition 1
  • 01m 46s
Comments:

Once over the timing mat into the TA, I had to run the length of the TA to my bike rack, over some damn painful gravel on the asphalt. Hurt like hell, made bad time.

T1 itself was too slow. I decided, at the last minute, to change from the sunglasses to the clear glasses, since the sun hadn't comeout in the time I had gone in the water. Should have anticipated that. Killed some time finding the clear glasses.

I should go ahead and start practicing the shoes on bike thing. That would help my time.
What would you do differently?:

Go faster. Develop leather soles for feet. Obsess more. Obsess about my relative level of obsession: Is it enough? Too much? Not enough? Just right? Obsessive? Excessive?
Bike
  • 39m 57s
  • 14 miles
  • 21.03 mile/hr
Comments:

I figured I'd go out hard on this one, and I did. I like the bike, I'm comfortable on the bike, I'm getting better on the bike, get the hell out of my way, I'm on my bike!

Felt good to just bomb it. I don't think I got passed by anyone in my AG, and I evidently passed a few of mine -- fell in with a group of sprint duathletes who were swapping back and forth (no drafting) and talking it up. Had a Sheriff's deputy tell me "Go get 'em, tiger!" -- must be the Javelin trisuit. Saw the guy on the Felt S32 with the hed 3 spke/disc that I had passed at Buckeye Lake and told him that I recognized his bike. Had fun!

Oh yeah, the road was wet but not soaking; I was never too nervous about traction, but that's because I'm stupid.

Had a hammer Gel and a full big bottle of water over the course of the bike.

My Cateye says Average 20.6 mph over 13.97 miles in 40:45, though the chip times are quite different -- I'm sure the Cateye counted all the running-with-the-bike minutes at the end, as I had to run ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE TA yet again. Max 32.2 on the Cateye which is okay; chip says average 21, which is nice.
What would you do differently?:

Save a bit for the run? (Oooooooh, foreshadowing!)
Transition 2
  • 01m 24s
Comments:

Faster! I stopped to fish out my visor -- why? I don't know?!?! It was still overcast, I didn't need a visor! And yet Istopped to get it. I'm a dork.
What would you do differently?:

Not be a dork.
Run
  • 28m 32s
  • 3.11 miles
  • 09m 10s  min/mile
Comments:

Well, something weird happened here. I didn't bonk, exactly -- I don't know what this was. But I ran much slower than I had anticipater, and much slower than I wanted to, and I'm lucky that I got through the run in the time that I did.

I got off the bike and felt pretty good -- marked out a tall runner in my AG 50 meters ahead and said I was going to run his pace. I was doing good for the first 500 meters, but then started to feel bad -- queasy stomach. Kept going, hoping it was a crazy legs transition thing, run through it. Got to mile 1 in 7:30, that's okay, but then I started to fall apart. Blah, gack, burping, sotmach feels full and queasy. Had to walk a bit, run a bit. Got to the turnaround and started to feel better -- marked out an AG guy who passed me, and we traded spots a bit. I was feeling better and thought I'd save up some energy to catch him in the last 500 meters, but when we got to the spot that I thought he was going to slow down in (the last hill ) the SOB started sprinting! I tried to follow him in but didn't do so hot.

Had a glass of Infini-T halfway through, blast of water in T2.
What would you do differently?:

Not have as much for breakfast? I don't know . . . I've done like three major bricks since my last tri, I thought I was doing pretty good in this transition-to-run thing. What the hell was this? Too much food? Not enough food? Not enough water?
Post race
Warm down:

wandered, ate PBJ, brooded about doing poorly

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I just don't know -- not much experience riding on a wet road, and I had a weird issue with my stomach on the run. Not well rested enough?

Event comments:

HFP rocks, I like them a bunch. They had lots and lots of volunteers at this race, in contrast with the woefully understaffed Buckeye Lake Tri/Du. One suggestion: instead of telling us that our wave will go off at 8:06AM, which it never does, just tell us that we're in wave 1 and the waves will start shortly after 8. Coming nowhere close to these meticulously scheduled start times just makes the organiazers look unnecessarily unorganized.




Last updated: 2006-08-07 12:00 AM
Swimming
17:06:25 | 750 meters | 2h 16m 52s / 100meters
Age Group: 7/11
Overall: 89/201
Performance: Average
Suit: trisuit
Course: skinny rectangle along the beach
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current:
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Bad
Waves: Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 01:46
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:39:57 | 14 miles | 21.03 mile/hr
Age Group: 6/11
Overall: 43/201
Performance: Good
Wind:
Course: big squarish rectangle, a few hills but mostly rolling cornfields and some nice straightaways.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Below average
Race pace: Hard Drinks:
T2
Time: 01:24
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:28:32 | 03.11 miles | 09m 10s  min/mile
Age Group: 10/11
Overall: 0/201
Performance: Below average
Course: nice, paved asphalt running path. Lots of shade in the middle bit.
Keeping cool Good Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 4