Troika 1/2 Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Spokane, Washington
United States
88F / 31C
Sunny
Total Time = 6h 12m 10s
Overall Rank = 149/222
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 8/13
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 4:20AM. Had a bowl of shredded wheat, a banana and a cup of coffee. Loaded bike and gear into truck then drove down to the shuttle bus. Bus left host hotel at 5:30AM. Everyone who takes the bus also has to get their bike plus all the gear in the bus. It makes for some interesting seating arrangements. It always seems to work out though. The bus arrived at Medical Lake start area about 6:10AM or so. Got my bike, gear and myself unloaded and noticed there was a very short line for the porta potties outside the transition area so decided to take care of that first. I'm really glad I did as there were no porta potties inside the transition area and those 4 were it. I'm sure the lines got really long after everyone got body marked and there bike racked, etc. I dropped my run bag off at the truck so they could haul it to T2. Then I got body marked and found a spot for my bike. Loaded all my stuff onto the bike, arranged my towel, shirt, helmet, shoes, gloves and sunglasses. I wore tri shorts and a sports bra under my wetsuit. Put on wetsuit, cap & goggles and headed to swim start.
Event warmup:

No warm up.
Swim
  • 46m 31s
  • 2187 yards
  • 02m 08s / 100 yards
Comments:

I don't really like this swim. I started in the second wave (5 min. after first wave) and there were only about 50 or so of us. I didn't draft much because there was nobody to draft off. Coming back is all upwind too so it takes forever to finish. I did finish the swim 20 min. faster than last year which is a huge improvement.
What would you do differently?:

I really felt like a swam straight and followed the bouy line well. I'm going to try to start swimming faster over the winter.
Transition 1
  • 04m 49s
Comments:

This transition take awhile because you have to put your wetsuit, etc. in a bag so they can haul it back to town. I had to open the bag after I'd tied it up a couple of times because I forgot to put my towel and something else (can't remember what) inside the bag. You get in trouble if everything is not in the bag. Anyway got everything together and ran to the mount spot, got on the bike and rode about 20 yards before I had to get off the bike to use the porta potty.
What would you do differently?:

Tie up bag after I made sure everything was in it the first time around.
Bike
  • 2h 57m 42s
  • 56 miles
  • 18.91 mile/hr
Comments:

I had a really good ride. I did it a little faster ride time anyway than the results say because of my potty stop and I dropped my e-cap container and one point and had to go back to get it. I went pretty hard on the bike. I didn't wear my HR monitor. I felt like riding fast, so I did.
What would you do differently?:

I probably won't hammer the bike quite as much next time and save some for the run. I did that at the IM in June and felt a lot better at the end of the day. I just really wanted to try to go under 6 hours.
Transition 2
  • 01m 15s
Comments:

They had bike catchers there and people to take my shoes and helmet then I had to run a few yards to get my bag with running shoes, hat and race belt in it. Sat down and put shoes on. Got belt and hat on as I was heading out.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing.
Run
  • 2h 21m 27s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 10m 48s  min/mile
Comments:

I had a lot of trouble getting my race belt situated for some reason. I used the same racebelt set up at Ironman and it worked fine so I don't know what the problem was. I put 4 packets of gel on the belt with safety pins and then had my number on the D-rings and my e-caps, etc. in the little pouch thing. For some reason it kept sliding around and those packets would start bouncing all over, then my number would get all messed up. I was about ready to chuck the whole thing beside the trail and I would have except for I didn't know what else to do with my race number.
I ended up hitting the wall pretty hard between miles 6 and 7. I had to walk quite a bit each mile for the next few miles. I started eating icechips and for some reason that cooled me off more than anything else. It's also a little bit downhill on the return so I think that helped. The last half of this run was pretty much a mental battle though. I certainly didn't enjoy it as much as the IM marathon. There was nothing left in the tank when I got finished.
What would you do differently?:

Try out the racebelt the night before to make sure everything is sitting right. I'm really going to get serious and train for this race next year. I haven't done any real training since before IM taper the middle of June. I may not have been fully recovered yet either. Next year I'd really like to do this race in under 5:50.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked over to get my bike and gear. It's actually quite a ways from the finish line. They make you get your bike before you can get a meal ticket.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of training.

Event comments:

I like this race. It'e very well organized and I like the smaller size. It's usually really warm which I think keeps the number of entrants down.




Last updated: 2005-08-12 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:46:31 | 2187 yards | 02m 08s / 100yards
Age Group: 11/13
Overall: 206/222
Performance: Average
Suit: Ironman full body
Course: Rectangle, 1000 out, 100 across, 1000 back
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 74F / 23C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Below average
Waves: Good Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 04:49
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
02:57:42 | 56 miles | 18.91 mile/hr
Age Group: 4/13
Overall: 140/222
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: Rolling hills and downhill. Had a pretty nice tail wind for most of ride. Had one small stretch that had been recently chip sealed.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:15
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Below average
Jumping off bike Below average
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
02:21:27 | 13.1 miles | 10m 48s  min/mile
Age Group: 9/13
Overall: 152/222
Performance: Below average
Course: Paved trail with very little shade.Out and back.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4