Summer Open Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I swam harder than usual in order to draft off three fast guys. The wave was M35+ so there more fast swimmers in the wave than usual which made it easier to find a good draft. There were only two waves ahead of me one of which was pro/elite so no traffic from previous waves until the last ~300y. My split from start to shore was 10:53, which if the distance was correct is a 1:19.6 per 100y pace, which is good for me. The day after the race my chest and lats are sore so I definitely pushed harder than in any workout.

Nothing.

Disaster. Felt fine running up to my bike but as soon as I started putting my socks/shoes on I got so dizzy I could bare stand up. I caught myself from falling at least three times before I got my bike shoes on. The winner's T1 was 0:48 and mine was 2:04 so I lost 1:16 to the winner in T1. This is totally unacceptable. Above me in the standings, 1:16 meant ten places 8-17, and nine places 18-25.

Everything. First I'm switching to my Dura Ace pedals for my TTX (main reason in T2 description). I'm buying another pair of the bike shoes I normally wear and I'm using them on my TTX only. I'm going to ride my TTX once a week all summer w/Zipps so my can tweak the fit and my body adapts to the more aggressive position. I'm going to drive the TTX down the hill and start from the rec center. Every time I ride it I'm going to mount it five times with the shoes already on the pedals so I can do it in my sleep on race day. I'm not dizzy getting out of the pool so I think cold water in my ears is the cause. I'm going to start swimming with earplugs. In my T1's of the future, I won't even have to look down. Just shades on, helmet on and go. So hopefully I won't be dizzy ever again in T1 because it's no fun.

Even though I've only ridden my TTX once and I've only ridden 8x outdoors total in 2009, I wanted to post a fast bike split so I pushed this harder than I have yet in a tri as an old person. It was pretty much a disaster. I was so dizzy trying to get on the bike that I rode off the road into some sand and had to lock up my brakes and unclip both feet to keep from riding into a road side ditch with water flowing in it. Once I finally got going I started my watch split. My first lap was slow. I had a lot of muscle burn in my upper glutes just below my hips which I've never had before. I felt way out of breath and weak. I think the muscle burn was due to pushing hard in the new position. There were also a bunch of 90 degree turns and I had no idea how fast to enter them.

The 2nd and 3rd lap were much better. The burn went away and I got my breathing under control and I felt strong and fast. I handled the turns much faster.

Preparing to dismount I got out of both shoes. Stopped my split and got off the bike perfectly. I ran up to transition but was turned away because one of my shoes had fallen off the pedals. So I turned the bike around and ran back about 25 yards to get my shoe. Turned the bike again, ran back to transition, but was turned away again because my other shoe had now fallen off. So I ran back again and got that one. It was a circus. I told KiloDave that he better not pass me on the bike and sure enough right as I picked up my second shoe there he was running his bike in and passing me.

My watch split was 29:19 (25.38 mph) for a differce of 0:33 from the official time. I figure 0:23 of that was due to my three mistakes (FU in T2 description below).

This race is right next to Boulder so there were some fast riders there. Interestingly, before the race the lack of high-end TT bike/wheels made me think that the competition was going to be weak but I guess these are younger guys with good engines and less $$ to buy the high dollar stuff. I think I'm at a big disadvantage this early because I've just been riding the stationary bike in the rec center while those guys have been out riding for months. They probably also pre-rode the course a few times. With all the curves that would have been an advantage also.

ETA:
After reading KiloDave's log that his 26.0 mph was the highest wattage he's ever maintained I'm much happier with my 25.38 (to be fair I'm not counting my disasterous mount/dismount and Dave is counting his). Anyway, I should be happy with ~1 mph slower than Dave any day. Even as a member of the elderly, I just hate getting beaten on a bike. Cycling ability here in the mountains is looked upon like owning a mansion and a Ferrari in business. Nobody here cares what you drive or how much $$ you have.

I'll never use speedplay pedals in a race again. My clown feet are so long when I dismount and run with the bike my shoes hit the ground and pop off the pedals. I'll be riding the TTX once a week hard all summer and every time I get off it will be a racing dismount using my Dura Ace pedals. Hopefully that glute/hip burn will resolve as I better adapt to the position.

Race winner had a 0:44 T2 so mine wasn't too bad. If you add up my T1+T2+FU, I was 2:00 slower than the winner's transitions. That dropped me down two places in the race but could have dropped me 10+ places if my S/B/R times had been a little faster. In these tight races, the transitions are really important. Just counting S/B/R the 7th place OA got 13th due to slow transitions. The 18th OA was 24th in S/B/R total and therefore finished six places higher due to fast transitions.

I'm also going to buy some shoes that don't require socks.

Felt perfect off the bike even though I pushed harder on the bike than any tri's last year. Went out a little too easy in 11:04. Wanted to PR the run so I pushed harder back and did 10:36 (6:50/mile). I PR'ed my sprint tri 5K by a minute and could have gone out faster.

Push faster early.

None


Early season. New Bike. Dizzy. Shoes falling off pedals. Too easy on the 5k run out.


Love this race. The closed bike course is really fun. I like the high level of competition. Award was weak (bottle opener that wasn't dated or anything). I wish RDs would just do a hat, visor, or t-shirt with "3rd place M45-49" on it. That would be better than any award I've received yet. It would be the shirt I'd keep and wear most often giving them extra PR for the race. I'll definitely return next year.