Tri-Historic McKinney - TriathlonSprint

This was the first true tri pool swim for me (not counting the reverse tri fiasco). Pretty good swim! Caught the guy in front of me with about a half length to go, so I just hung back until the ladder. No need wasting energy to pass the guy only to get passed while running to transition. The guy behind me was over a length behind, so no concern.

I posted my seed time as 4:30, missed it by 20 seconds, but still finished in the same position overall that I was seeded so it worked out anyway.

I might would have eeked out another couple seconds per hundred if I didn't have on my tri jersey. That thing was like a parachute. Probably need to get a new tri jersey anyway.

Used up about 30 seconds (more on that 30 secs. later) drying off my feet and putting on socks. I would have gone without socks, but the last time I did that I was almost arrested for carrying around a chemical weapon. Man, those shoes were funked up!

If I can find a good shoe deodorizer I won't wear socks.

This was the first race with the new tri bike, so I expected a lot from myself and it. My plan for this race was to go hard on the swim and the bike, so I prepared myself for a sufferfest.

Ran out of transition with my shoes on. I should practice the running bike mount thing with the shoes rubber banded on the cranks. Tore out of transition and onto the first hill of the day. Passed a couple people on the way up, but there were a couple just behind me. Just after the hill, those guys behind passed me, but stayed in front for only a short while.

About 2 miles into the course DavidB caught me! Considering he was about a minute or so behind me in the swim start, he must have been hauling arse! I decided to pace David to see how long he could carry me, so I took the opportunity to pass the guys who had just passed me. They didn't pass me again until about a mile into the run, of course. Pacing David only lasted a couple miles and he was out of sight, so I settled in to my planned hard effort on the bike. It was kind of weird after about 5 miles into the bike course, I was pretty much by myself. That had more to do with my swim start position than my cycling ability, but it was strange nonetheless. There were only about 6 or 7 people that passed me the whole bike leg, so I was pleased.

The lenses of the glasses I wear when cycling don't go up far enough for me to get an unobstructed view of the road, so I have to wear them down on my nose like an old lady librarian. About 10 miles into the course when I got to a longer flat stretch I took them off and tried to stick them in my jersey pocket. Shouldn't have done that because I probably wasted a good 15-20 seconds, and since I couldn't get them into my pocket just put them back on. At the time I wasn't worried about a measley little half minute, but more on that later....

With about a half mile left the course started the last downhill, so I took the opportunity to get my feet out of my shoes before I got to T2.

I'm very pleased with this bike, especially considering the hills, tight corners, and road conditions.

Master the running bike mount.
Not jack with the stupid shades. Or find some that fit better.

This is the first time I've used Yanks laces. I'm definitely a big fan. This has to be, by far, my best transition ever.

Nothing.

As I mentioned before, my intentions for thie race were to go hard on the swim and the bike. I figured that whatever run I could manage would be fine with me.

Like most all my other races, it took about 2 miles for me to get my legs under me. For the first couple miles I just went at a steady pace, keeping my breathing under control, and trying to minimize any knee problems. Walked both aid stations and drank about a half cup of water at each. They didn't provide gatorade at this race because it was a short race and it wasn't very hot. It really didn't matter to me, since I had already drank a half bottle of Endurance formula on the bike.

After about the 2 mile mark, sure enough my legs started feeling better so I kicked it up a notch. I didn't hit the lap button on my watch coming out of transition, and I really wasn't worried about the run time, but I knew I was close to breaking 1:20. I ran a little harder until I could see the finish line about a quarter mile away. Having only about a minute before passing the 1:20 mark, I blew it off and cruised on in.

I didn't find out until after the race when Jeff (tri4funjeff) called me and said something like "Dude! Sub-9:00 miles? What got into you?" I thought he was yanking my chain, so I got online and saw that I had done sub-9:00 miles for the first time ever on a 5k - stand-alone race or tri - so it was a new 5k PR!

Looking back on this run, I really didn't go that hard at all until the last mile. And I still could have gone harder than I did. I haven't done that much run training, and have done no bricks for at least a couple months. It really makes me wonder how much the tri bike geometry fit into the equation.

Considering I ran better than my original goal, and since this was a "C" race that I signed up for at the last minute, I wouldn't have change anything. But to better prepare myself in future races, I'll definitely do more bricks.

Got a banana and some water then stretched out really well. I've discovered that if I taking stretching more seriously after a run, I don't have as much knee pain.


Training in general. It's still early in the season.


Now. About the time lost in T1, and on the bike fiddling with my shades: I was 1:02 from placing 9th in my age group, and 2:13 from placing 7th. Had I not lost that time I would have finished in the top ten of my age group, and maybe an outside chance of pacing 7th! Lessoned learned!!

This was the first race in McKinney put on by Ironhead. It was everything you could expect from an Ironhead race: well organized, with a lot of shouting.

The bike and run course was probably more challenging than any other race I've done in DFW, so it was fun. The only complaint that I have is with the safety of the bike course. There were way too many blind driveways and curves. There were a couple downhills that I hit 30mph, and if a car were to have come to the end of their drive there was no way they could have seen me coming in time to stop. The blind driveways were mainly due to people not cleaning up their property. But remember, this is the country!