Belwood Sprint Triathlon
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Belwood Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint
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Swim
Comments: Talk about a horrible way to start off a race. I was curious to try swimming without a wetsuit anyway, and working with my fancy new one-piece tri suit. It wasn't so bad. It actually made me feel hardcore in a way, like when you pass someone all decked out on a fancy tri bike with a 999/808 or whatever combo and you're like "eff you buddy, I'm on a road bike with shit wheels!" It's a good feeling. I spent the first few minutes trying to catch anyone in my wave, but considering I didn't even have a chance to look at the course before jumping in the water, I totally went way way way off. In fact I was halfway to swimming to the post-turnaround people. I should have been disqualified. Actually. But I think they either didn't feel like it, didn't care, or sympathized with me that I didn't have a hope in hell and I could use any break I could get. I ended up not doing too badly. My GPS hadn't picked up a signal yet, and I didn't even start it right on time, but yeah. Gauging by Applebum (the girl who I crossed the timing mat with), my guesstimate of being a minute behind my wave stands. And yes, I'm using my actual in-the-water-swimming time to give myself my virtual placement. Actually, analyzing the raw data from the GPS it looks like I was more like 55 seconds behind Applebum, so I adjusted my time accordingly. It should be absolutely accurate now. I took Applebum's time and added 2:05 to it. This is where I lost my timing chip. Somewhere in the water. Somehow a kayaker managed to find it and it was recovered, so at least I didn't have to pay for it or anything. What would you do differently?: LOL. Transition 1
Comments: I took the time from Applebum for this and added five seconds. It should be accurate. We came in together, but she left a little bit before me. Wow, it's awesome to not have to take your suit off. That must have saved at least 30 seconds. What would you do differently?: Nothing at all. Maybe figure out how to buckle my helmet and number belt quicker. There's got to be a better way. Bike
Comments: FASTEST BIKE SPLIT EVER!!!! Yeah, I don't know how that happened. I haven't done any training this year. I'm going to have to attribute it to a few things though, and I'm not sure what's the best one, so I'll list them all. 1) caffeine - a large black coffee, plus during the ride I was sipping on caffeinated Perpetuem 2) better nutrition - I didn't eat any solid food before the race 3) being rested - I took a lot of time off from riding, but still managed to get a few good key workouts in. Relatively. 4) bike changes: aero - My new suit is pretty freaking skin-tight, that's gotta count for something. Compression socks too (so I hear) Plus now I can actually put myself into an aero position for decent amounts of time, even though I have nothing to rest my forearms on (other than my foamy bar tape), which is resulting from... 5) bike changes: fitment - I got fitted, and then screwed it up by... 6) bike changes: injury avoidance - I moved my cleats to the centre of the shoe, which moves me forward and also allows me to... 7) bike changes: power application - I can stomp hard. And somehow I'm feeling better in this position where I can actually spin well. Although that might also have something to do with... 8) caffeine. Oh yeah, I already said that. All in all it was a pretty awesome bike. I can't believe it really. Funny though, my iPhone GPS was reading my speed as MUCH higher than it actually was. I was led to believe that I was averaging 40km/h for the first 12k. It was actually 10.5k, although I was still at a very respectable 35km/h. I'm really happy about how the bike was. I felt fast. I played cat and mouse with Applebum a few times, and there was another few others too. Right at the end I put it on a bit (now this was because I knew I was going to be retiring and I didn't need the energy anymore), and I passed them all and caught Applebum too. Very happy. Although back to the clusterfuck, I managed to dismount fairly well, but my shoes flew off the bike. I left them because I wanted to cross the line first (I still though I had my timing chip on), and I racked my bike. When I came back out to get my shoes, an official told me that the toy in my hand was illegal. She wasn't going to do anything about it, but just to let me know. I asked her "a GPS?" and she said that it was. That was the first time I had heard this. Then I went to the timing van and told them I was retiring (second week in a row). Lame. But still. It's okay. What would you do differently?: Really? Not a whole lot. This was effing gold. I'd probably want to train a bit more, maybe to take advantage of the changes I've done to my bike and to see how far I can take things. Transition 2
Run
Post race
Last updated: 2011-07-24 12:00 AM
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2011-07-24 6:26 PM |
General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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Canada
Trisport Canada Inc.
Sunny
Overall Rank = 367/367
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 27/27
Drove to the event, drinking a large black coffee and three scoops of Sustained Energy. The night before I was up late drinking beers (only like two pints and a bottle, but still maybe not ideal for race day). I was still feeling bloated from the mushroom and garlic pizza I had on Friday night. Not a good idea at all. But by the time I got to the event I was finally feeling mostly better.
It seems like it's now the new usual to NOT show up fifteen minutes before registration opens, and instead I was in a mad dash and panic to get everything set up. I dumped my bike in the overflow, ran to registration (at least I was in shoes), and did whatever I could to get ready.
Forgot: to turn on GPS (I actually brought it this time), my wetsuit (!?!), and to securely secure my timing chip to my ankle. Yeah, awesome, eh?
All times and placements are completely unofficial, and extrapolated from the GPS data on my phone and Garmin. This race was officially a clusterfuck.
Running to the start line, then missing the first minute or so of the race. Awesome!!!