General Discussion Race Reports! » Memorial Hermann Bridgeland Triathlon Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply

Memorial Hermann Bridgeland Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Cypress, Texas
United States
Onurleft Event Management, LLC
Total Time = 00m
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = F25-29
Age Group Rank = 0/67
Pre-race routine:

Preface to this race: I was out for a training ride (training for the Olympic scheduled for 9/30) on the 4th of July when I got hit by a truck. I was thrown off the bike and landed on my left knee first -- while I was lucky in that I came away with a banged up knee, lots of rash, and some gnarly bruises, I'm still not able to walk like normal, and have range of motion only to about 90 degrees. I had assumed I would not be able to make this race, and I was pretty much correct. However, since Stephen still planned to race, I thought, "Maybe I can do the swim portion..." I went to the pool on Thursday, and while my fitness definitely felt like it had taken a hit and my swimming was slower, I figured I'd try to do the swim portion of the race. I wanted to be conservative, have fun, and treat it as a training OWS....and I did.


The alarm went off at 3:30am -- we got up and were out of the house by 3:45am. Ran to Stephen's office to make smoothies (a scoop of protein, some frozen strawberries and frozen blueberries, and some flaxseed). Then we were on the road to Cypress by about 4:15am. We were both tired, but we rallied when we got there. Pulled Stephen's bike and gear out of the truck, and I grabbed my bag before heading to transition.

Setting up transition for only the swim leg of a triathlon was a cinch, so I had time to kill before transition closed.
Event warmup:

Didn't really do too much of a warm-up....not a lot can be done with a bum leg! Not a lot needs to be done for a 550m swim in bathtub warm water! The walk from transition to the swim entry took probably 10-15 minutes (it's estimated to take a little over five, but I'm slow!). Once we were there, we watched the other waves go until Stephen's wave was almost up. I told him to have fun and that I'd see him at the finish line.

My wave was absolutely last to go, which is part of the reason that I was okay with doing the swim portion even though I was injured. My plan was to position myself at the back and off to the side. My plan worked pretty flawlessly until the end when we were catching up to other waves.
Swim
  • 12m 24s
  • 547 yards
  • 02m 16s / 100 yards
Comments:

I'm normally not anywhere near this conservative for the swim leg of a race, but given that I didn't want to have any issues with other people hitting my knee or me injuring it further, I started at the back (even waited a good 15 seconds or so after the wave started) and off to the right side (I breathe to my left most comfortably, so being far to the right let me watch for other people more easily).

I really didn't treat this like a race at all....when people were right next to me, I dropped back a bit. A couple times, I could have practiced my drafting, but I really wanted to play it safe, so I moved off to the side.

This was my first non-wetsuit legal swim. It was in a lake with absolutely no wind chop or anything....while it was brown and had limited/no visibility, it was still a pretty decent swim. That said, I do prefer slightly colder water when actually swimming (for fitness)!
What would you do differently?:

Not get hit by a truck on the 4th of July :P

Really, not a lot I'd have done differently given the injury. If I had been treating it as a real race, I would have started closer to the front, gone out hard in the first 200m, and attempted to draft....and had more than two swims in the past month! But given the condition I was in, I was pretty happy with how it went.
Transition 1
  • 00m
Bike
  • 00m
  • 14 miles
  • 0.00 mile/hr
Transition 2
  • 00m
Run
  • 00m
  • 3.5 miles
  •  min/mile
Post race
Warm down:

After hobbling from the swim exit back to transition, I toweled off and changed into street clothes. I headed over to the finish line to return my timing chip and then waited so I could cheer Stephen on as he finished. I was actually a little worried that I might have missed him with how much earlier his wave started than mine did and how much time it takes me to walk! But after standing there for a few minutes, he came around the corner and I got to cheer for him :)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Getting hit by a truck on the 4th of July ;)




Last updated: 2012-05-22 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:12:24 | 547 yards | 02m 16s / 100yards
Age Group: 25/67
Overall: 0/
Performance:
Suit: 2XU Comp Trisuit
Course: Point to point swim, keeping a handful of large buoys on our right
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 00:00
Performance:
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:00:00 | 14 miles | 0.00 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/67
Overall: 0/
Performance:
Wind:
Course:
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 00:00
Overall:
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:00:00 | 03.5 miles |  min/mile
Age Group: 0/67
Overall: 0/
Performance:
Course:
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]

{postbutton}
2012-08-08 12:05 PM

User image

Veteran
1677
1000500100252525
Houston, Texas
Subject: Memorial Hermann Bridgeland Triathlon
General Discussion-> Race Reports!
{postbutton}
General Discussion Race Reports! » Memorial Hermann Bridgeland Triathlon Rss Feed