IronGear Sports Rio Salado Triathlon - Olympic Course

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IronGear Sports Rio Salado Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

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Tempe, Arizona
United States
Red Rock Company
75F / 24C
Sunny

Total Time = 2h 04m 14s
Overall Rank = 1/285
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 1/46

Pre-race routine:

Woke up around 4:00am after a pretty decent nights sleep. Jamie was going MTB riding and was sleeping in and I made some coffee and had a Cliff Bar while I surfed the morning net. I had all my gear packed and didn't have too much to do. I went outside to check the weather and it was calm and warm. And a funny thing happened. I felt utterly at peace.

It had been over 6 months since my last triathlon. Kona didn't go as well as I had hoped and ended what was my best season of racing ever on a bit of a down note. I had a great run winter racing season, winning a few OA 15K trail races and setting a PR of 1:19 in the half. But I am a triathlete at heart and felt I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to perfrom well at my first race especially since I DNS'ed the Marquis race due to illness. I suffer from the same pre-race fears and anxiety that effect all AG'ers. Be it to podium an AG, set a PR, or for some just to finish the race, it's all the same and we all need to manage our expectations, those we put on ourseleves and those we feel others put upon us. In that quiet moment out in the pre dawn dark, I was able to let that go. I was going to have a great day, I decided, regardless of the outcome. I was going to race in a triathlon.

Event warmup:

I arrived in Tempe around 5:30am. Transition was the usual bussle of nervous energy which I realy enjoy. It makes me calm to see other people anxious for some reason. I had a chance to catch up with pro's Lewis Elliot and Kevin Taddonio and all my firends from DURAPULSE, ONE Multisport, and Tri-Scottsdale. It was a really fun pre-race environment and by 6:15, I was with my friends Matt and Joan squeezing into our wet suits. Whne I pulled my amazingly awesome ZOOT Pophet suit out of my bag, a little piece of paper fell to the ground. It was a not from jamie she his in there the night before with some wonderful words of encouragement. It just made my day complete and it was only dawn.

Just a quick note, for my palcings OA, I am not including Lewis and Kevin from the Pro wave, but just assume they were faster then me, except for the bike where I actually beat Kevin's split. :)

Swim

24m 24s
1640 yards
01m 29s / 100 yards

Comments:

I jumped into the warm embrace of Temepe Town Lake ;) and swam easy to the start line. The Pro and 39 and under wave started 3 min ahead of M40+. All the Sprint athletes were already started, so we were pretty much at the back. I lined up to the left and noticed peter Ney, a top swimmer near by, so I knew I was in the right spot. The horn sounded and I went hard for the first 100 yards until I got under the Mill Ave. Bridge and then settled into what felt like a good tunrover. I have really been trying to make improvements in my stoke and focused on the things I have been working on adopting. Shallow left hand entry, fingers down earlier in the catch, better reach. All felt very smooth and comfortable and I really love the new ZOOT wet suit.

As always, the sun was directly ahead and made sighting a challenge as did the speed inwhich I ran into the back ot the wave ahead. I made the turn bouys and continued to feel great. I made a sighting error early after the second buoy and found myself too far out to the right of the markers. I quickly came back in but lost a bit of time. I tried to pick up the tempo as I neared the final turn into the stairs and for the most part swam in clear water. I hit the starirs with a 23:xx on my watch which was about what I had been hoping for.

What would you do differently?:

This was one of my best Olympic swims. I have gone 23 before but I have been skeptical of the distance, This course felt spot on I was within 3min of Lewis Elliots split. What was remarkable was there was one guy in my AG who went 20:53 and 4 guys went in the 22's! All in M40-44! That's where I need to be and will continue to focus on that this year.

Transition 1

00m 52s

Comments:

Strippers! It's been a while since a local Tempe race had strippers but I always enfoy the convenience so I took the time to stop and have my wet suit peeled. You then have to run the length of Transition to the timimg mat and enter at the back. As I ran towards my rack, I saw my firend Trevor Sher just beginning to leave. He's gunning for my bike course record at DueceMan this year and is going to be very competitive in general. I was happy to have put 3 min into him on the swim, I would likely need it.

I had my shoe's clipped into the pedals and ran fast to the mount line. I was able to get my right foot into my shoe as I mounted and took off with my left foot on top of the other shoe. Afetr negotiating the "S" curve on Rio Salado, I went to slip my foot in and the strap came free of the metal holder. That's the second time that's happened, I need to get different shoes. So I had to dick around with it to put it back through and two guys went by. Stupid mistake which cost a bit of time. I had the 4th fastest T1 regardless.

What would you do differently?:

I need new shoe's anyway, mine are getting nasty, and will look for a btter starp system to compliment how I do my Transitions.

Bike

59m 1s
24.85 miles
25.26 mile/hr

Comments:

Once I had myself sorted out, I settled into a good cadence. I was going to target a HR of 157-160 and hoped that my training would support that effort for 40K. The first lap was pretty uneventful, I felt great, and began to work on my hydration/nutrition which consisted of a single bottle of water with 4 Cherry GU Roctanes mixed in. Calories and water all in one. Trevor had gotten away from me leaving T1 and besides him, there were a few other guys in the wave ahead I needed to put time into on the bike if I was going to win. The course provided a few out and backs where i could catch sight of my quarry, but somehow i kept missing them. I passed the enterance to Transition to start my seconfd lap in 29min, so iknew I was riding great and could be a bit more conservative towards the end of the ride and still be sub 1 hour.

About half way throught he second loop, I saw Trevor ahead of me. I was suprised to see him, he should have been off the front. As I caught him I could see why. He had crashed at one of the corners and had some decent road rash on his rigt leg. I asked if he was OK and could tell he was but obvioulsy had backed off the pace a bit. He and I rode within 30 feet for the remainder of the race, switching back and forth and having some trouble with traffic. At one point a few Tri-Scottsdale guys were really cloging the road and I yelled up to Trevor to get around them ASAP and we both dropped the little pack.

As we came down Mill towards the end, I finally saw Erik Svans and Brian Folts. Everyone was here! The three guys I needed to be most concerned about and me with a 3 min cushion heading into T2. We were all laughing and trash talking as we entered the parking lot. I was so preoccupied teasing Brian I wasn't paying attention to my dismount and managed to drop a shoe as I came off the bike! What was with me and shoes today?! I had to stop and wait as a nice volunteer picked it up and brough it to me. By now, the boys were gone and I ran in alone.

What would you do differently?:

Pay attention to my dismount more, I have never screwed that up before.

Transition 2

01m 6s

Comments:

T2 was a disaster. I had a hell of a time getting my right shoe on. Again with the shoes!!! Then I realized I had meant to unhook my Garmin from the bike quick release before T2 and put it in my pocket but forgot as I caught the gang, so now I had to take that off and put it on my wrist strap. When i fially got out to the run course I had given up anywhere from 15-30 seconds on Brian, Trevor, and Erik.

What would you do differently?:

Everything. I let myself get so distracted and failed to stick to my plan. It almost cost me the race.

Run

38m 50s
6.21 miles
06m 15s min/mile

Comments:

I headed out the south side rec path and fell into what felt like a good early pace. I needed to try and keep the group ahead from opening up too much time but they were spaced out and it was impossible for me to keep track of the splits ahead. So I decided to run my race and letr the results be what they would be. I cam around the north side and up ahead saw a Brian Stover, a coach from Tuscon and DesertDude on ST. He had a 40 on his calf! I had no idea he was there or that he had aged up into my AG. I ran up alongside him and said;"Hey B!" He looked at me and said he was done and I was now in the AG lead. I told him I though I already was!

Passing Brian gave me some additional motrivation to try and push the pace and in front of me was another sub 40 year old guy who turned out to be Russ Brandt, a friend of a friend and a guy I had beaten at a few of the winter run races. I didn't realize it was him and as we began the second loop, I found myself closing down on him. As we came across the Sctossdale Rd. bridge, I passed him. Although he relaized I was from the wave behind, he decided it was a point of pride and he hung with me and overtook me on the north shore rec path. I should have gone with him and had i known it was Russ, i would have ben very motivated but I didn't. That was a mistake, I was running too easy by just a bit and can't allow myself to fall into that zone. My HR was low 160's where it should have been high 160's. As I came across the Mill Ave. bridge I could hear the MC announcing the first 5 male olympic men were in. Not so fast there, buddy! I picked up the pace on the downhill and came into the finsihing chute.

What would you do differently?:

Run harder. I shouldn't have been 30 seconds slower then Erik, Trevor, and Russ. Honestly I have the run firness to be 37:XX but I just sit in too much on the run and I need to change that.

Post race

Warm down:

As soon as I crossed, Brian Folts came over and said I got him by 8 seconds. So many little things going one way or another could have impacted that result. Lesson learned, if you are racing it has to be start to finish, every little thing and decision matters. Considering my time off from racing, I suppose some of my missteps can be expected, but I need to use next weeks Tempe International to make some adjustments. But I won't lie, it was a very good feeling to win my season opener and i hope it portends well for things to come. :)

Event comments:

This was the first year for this race and it was well run, as are all Red Rock events. the psot race food from Boa Cafe was very good!

Last updated: 2011-04-18 12:00 AM

Swimming
00:24:24 \| 1640 yards \| 01m 29s / 100yards
Age Group:	6/46
Overall:	13/285
Performance:	Good
Suit:	ZOOT Prophet
Course:	The usual Tempe Town Lake rectangle and for once properly measured.
Start type:	Wade	Plus:	Waves
Water temp:	72F / 22C	Current:	Low
200M Perf.	Good	Remainder:	Good
Breathing:	Good	Drafting:	Good
Waves:	Good	Navigation:	Good
Rounding:	Good

T1
Time:	00:52
Performance:	Good
Cap removal:	Good	Helmet on/ Suit off:	No
Wetsuit stuck?	No	Run with bike:	Yes
Jump on bike:	Yes
Getting up to speed:	Below average

Biking
00:59:01 \| 24.85 miles \| 25.26 mile/hr
Age Group:	1/46
Overall:	1/285
Performance:	Good
Wind:	Some
Course:	This was almost as good a course as you can make having the race in Tempe. There were 3 full on 180 dgeree turns, two of which were super tight, but in general the course allowed for some good steady work and wasn't excessively crowded.
Road:	Smooth Dry	Cadence:
Turns:	Good	Cornering:	Good
Gear changes:	Good	Hills:	Good
Race pace:	Hard	Drinks:	Just right

T2
Time:	01:06
Overall:	Bad
Riding w/ feet on shoes		Good
Jumping off bike		Bad
Running with bike		Good
Racking bike		Average
Shoe and helmet removal		Bad

Running
00:38:50 \| 06.21 miles \| 06m 15s min/mile
Age Group:	1/46
Overall:	5/285
Performance:	Average
Course:	The traditional 2 loops around the lake.
Keeping cool	Good	Drinking	Just right

Post race
Weight change:	%
Overall:	Good
Mental exertion [1-5]	3
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:	Good
Race evaluation [1-5]	4