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Cleburne's Ironhorse Sprint Tri
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Cleburne's Ironhorse Sprint Tri - TriathlonSprint
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 Swim
Comments: After swimming the first couple of lengths, I came up on the guy in front of me who was hung up behind someone in front of him. We had trouble passing them for about 50 yards. I used the opportunity to relax a bit but others started stacking up behind us. I finally urged the guy in front of me to go for it and followed quickly behind. I ended up passing him and one other person, I think. My number was 110 and the guy in front of me out of the pool was 106. The swim flew by for me. In training, it seems longer probably because I'm keeping track of the distance. In the race, I was completely distracted by everything else going on. I think we may have picked up some speed by having deep water at one end of the pool. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I expected and despite the slowdowns, I finished 30 seconds faster than I expected. What would you do differently?: Wear my HR monitor strap during the swim. Seed myself higher so there's less chance of getting backed up behind someone. I know my 300 yard time more accurately now. Swim a little harder. Get a swim cap even though I keep my hair pretty short. Practice a feet first start every now and then to get the hang of it and work on capitalizing on jumping.  Transition 1
Comments: My time compared to others was slow. People who exited the pool after me were out of T1 before me. The path from the pool to the transition was longer than I expected and I wasn't thinking about hurrying at that point. What would you do differently?: Wear my HR monitor strap during the swim. Run faster to the transition area. Don't bother with bike gloves on any distance less than a half-Iron. Place my towel on top of or next to my stuff rather than underneath. Hydrate on the bike. Practice jumping on my bike on the run and then clipping in.  Bike
Comments: The bike was good and fun. I want aero bars and a water bottle with a straw between them. That is a much more efficient way to hydrate during the bike. At the very least, I will use the rear bottle cage rather than the front because my bike number interfered with removing and replacing the bottle. I watched my HR monitor and backed off on the hills and even downhills whenever my HR got into the upper 160's. At the sprint distance, I could probably fudge a little more. Even though the course contained different pavement types, it felt smooth overall. What would you do differently?: Use the rear water bottle cage. Push a little harder at the sprint distance. Cap HR @ 170. Look into aero bars and a front water bottle. Train without gloves on shorter distances. Transition 2
Comments: Had trouble unclipping my right foot to get off the bike. I should practice unclipping both shoes on the way in and maybe even dismounting into a run. The "U" shape of the transition area had me at a disadvantage since my rack was in the middle of the side opposite the entrance. I had to go around the bottom of the "U" to get there. Bike shoes with a unified strap would make it easier to strap on and remove them. My new speed laces worked like a charm. I should have grabbed Gatorade from the water station at the T2 exit rather than pausing to hydrate from my own bottle. What would you do differently?: Unclip both shoes before stopping. Dismount to a run. Hydrate on the go from the water station.  Run
Comments: Negative splits worked well once again. I think I should start pushing myself a little more after the first half mile and push progressively more throughout the run. No issues with the run after the bike and my time was less than a minute off my last 5K time. I could probably go to a 3/4 pace breath at the half mile point and then push to a 3/2 pace breath at 1.5 miles. Basically add transitions at the half mile points rather than just 4 pace for the first mile, 3 pace for the second, and 2 pace for the third. Concentrate on lengthening my stride in the last half mile before going all out in the final 0.11 What would you do differently?: Speed up a bit. Push a little harder earlier. Add half-mile speed transitions. Post race
Warm down: None. Bad. What limited your ability to perform faster: Lack of experience. Event comments: A great, well organized sprint triathlon. I learned a lot and feel more prepared for the next one. I will come back next year. Last updated: 2009-05-26 12:00 AM
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 2009-05-26 12:50 PM |
New user  0 |  Subject: Cleburne's Ironhorse Sprint Tri |
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United States
Ironhead Race Productions
Sunny
Overall Rank = 117/246
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 24/29
Woke up at 4:45. Cleared the pipes. Ate a mini bagel with peanut butter and a banana. Wasn't hungry for more than that. Filled my water cooler with ice and water from the ice machine and then loaded three water bottles with ice and water, as well. I mixed up some Gatorade powder in the two 24 oz. bottles.
This was an out-of-town event, so I had to pack up everything and load the car before the race. I ended up asking for a late checkout and then didn't need because I was able to leave the hotel before noon.
I got my bike down to the car and aired up the tires before loading on the rack. Got to the race site around 6:00. I changed into my running shoes and then grabbed my gear and bike and headed to the transition area. I checked in and got my race number marked on my upper left arm and the outside of my left leg right around the knee. They also wrote my USAT age (37) on the back of my right calf. I got to my rack and...racked...my bike and then laid out my gear. A towel on the bottom; bike shoes with socks, gloves, shades, and helmet on top in the front; running shoes and cap in the back.
I wanted to grab my wallet and phone from my car, so I used that opportunity to do a little jogging warmup. I posted an update on Twitter before jogging back to the transition area and getting ready for swimming. I took off my tri top and laid it on the left handle of my bike. I had planned on wearing my HR monitor strap during the swim but decided against it at the last minute.
I headed over to the place where we were supposed to get our timing chips. The guy at the table found my chip and then strapped it around my leg. The chip straps were not as uncomfortable as I was led to believe. After that I went over to the pool to do a short warmup swim.
The pool was very nice. 8 lanes with a small platform at water level all the way around. I dove in with no goggle issues--very reassuring--and swam a couple of laps. The water felt great! Later during the pre-race meeting I found out that there would be no diving allowed for the swim start. We had to jump in feet first. I hadn't practiced that in training but it's a heck of a lot easier.
Before I left the transition area I made sure everything was set up, which was good because they had closed it off by the time I had finished my swim warmup. All that was left was to line up and wait to start the swim.
Quarter mile jog
100 yard easy swim