Music City Triathlon Short Course - TriathlonSprint


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Nashville, Tennessee
United States
Team-Magic
75F / 24C
Precipitation
Total Time = 00m
Overall Rank = 114/264
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 11/19
Pre-race routine:

Umm, see my log entries for the two days prior - a lot of anti-tapering going on.

As for the morning of the race, well, I woke up at a friend's house an hour south of Nashville to light rain. On the way, the light rain turned to heavy thunderstorms. I was dead certain the race would be canceled, but decided to keep driving so I could pick up the all-important t-shirt.

Ate a granola bar, but held off on any caffeine. I didn't need anything to aid in raising my heart rate should the race not be canceled.

As I pulled off the interstate, towards LP Field, the clouds parted slightly and the rain turned to a drizzle.

Poop - looks like we ARE going to race.
Event warmup:

Ha, if you call rushing to get your bike in the transition area before it closed warming up . . . then yeah, that's what I did.

That said, any real warm up would have been in vain. They had decided on a time trial start, and with a number in the 700's, that meant I would be starting ~40 minutes after the first swimmer. It got worse - they delayed the start of the race for over 20 minutes because of a drifting bouy (seems to be a trend in Team-Magic races). So I basically sat around for 30 minutes, occasionaly swinging my arms and unintentionally hitting the folks nearby.
Swim
  • 09m 1s
  • 366 meters
  • 02m 28s / 100 meters
Comments:

Wow!!! My best swim performance ever!!

I've been fighting nerves prior to the swim, as it's been my weakest and most panic-provoking leg, but this morning they weren't as bad as they had typically been. This was partly due to experience, and partly to the long wait prior to starting. Regardless, I was more comfortable starting out.

To start, they had you jump (not dive, thankfully, because I can't) off the dock. Wow . . . the view underwater surprised the hell out of me. It was a solidy pea-green translucent medium. Kind of spooky. Made me happy I swim with my head out of the water (I know, I know, but I'm not going to focus on my bad form until after this season).

Said "Hi" to the can of soup I passed as it was bobbing along. Well, it was the Cumberland River after all.

What I did right: I had noticed, while waiting in line, that people weren't adjusting for the current. In fact, even just going upstream to the first bouy, it appeared as though the current (or poor sighting en masse) was causing most of the swimmers to veer well inside the tangent line, only have to severly correct to make it to the outside of the bouy. So I aimed well left . . . and that strategy worked.

Then, when crossing the river, I again angled well upstream of the target bouy, and that worked as well, as again there were people making a hard correction at the turn.

Swimming downstream was non-eventful, and I looked behind to realized I had separated quite a bit from the folks that were supposed to be in 3 second intervals behind me. I was starting to realize I was . . . perhaps . . . having a decent swim.

Rounded the final bouy and again angled well-upstream of the ladder. I was all to myself out there, as seemingly everyone else was drifting downstream.

Now, I'm still not a fast swimmer, but my relative placement in both my age group (top 5), and overall (top 35%) was leaps and bounds ahead of any results from prior races.
What would you do differently?:

Swim better and faster, of course.
Transition 1
  • 04m 40s
Comments:

Time is for both T1 and T2 . . .

There was a LONG run from the river uphill to the transition area (maybe .25 miles) I did run the whole way . . . barefoot. Time is estimated because results had bike and both transitions.
What would you do differently?:

Not chat with two different people in the transition area? What, was I out for a relaxing Sunday ride?
Bike
  • 40m 45s
  • 12.43 miles
  • 18.30 mile/hr
Comments:

Well, MOP in AG and slightly FOMOP for the race overall. Not too much to talk about here. Biggest excitement was the confusion about who I was passing and who was passing me, as the sprint and olympic races were on the course at the same time.

Took enormous pride :) in passing some gal from the olympic course in the last mile, after leap-frogging with her over the previous 10 miles. That'll show her!!


What would you do differently?:

More volume, stronger legs - not hiking 5 miles on 3 hours sleep the day before, etc.
Transition 2
  • 00m
Comments:

N/A - combined with T1 above
Run
  • 29m 50s
  • 3.11 miles
  • 09m 35s  min/mile
Comments:

Ha - following the bike we were greeted with a steep climb up and over the pedestrian bridge across the river, to downtown Nashville, which I now realize rivals Seattle or San Francisco in the average grade of its inner core.

Well, at least it felt that way anyway.

Oh, and the anti-tapering of the previous few days caught up to me here. I made it a mile before I felt my lungs and my legs combining in mutiny against the rest of my body.

I . . . yes it's hard to admit . . . alternated walk/run for the last two-thirds of the run.

Oh well, while the course was masochistic, running in downtown Nashville, avoiding the stares of the drunks and vagrants, had its "cultural" benefits.

I kid - Nashville's a great-looking town for the most part. It was (kinda) cool to run past the Charlie Daniels museum.

What would you do differently?:

Get more sleep and run on legs a bit less sore.
Post race
Warm down:

I was wasted at the end - I made an attempt to take advantage of the pulled pork sandwhiches and side items from an obviously local establishment, but I only took one bite and tossed the remainder.

I realized I was starting to get pretty cold, which is strange for me, so I grabbed a Powerade and walked over to the transition and put on a dry shirt from my bag. Felt much better.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Well, probably too much activity and too little sleep in the previous couple of days, but I wouldn't trade the fun we had for a better race by any means.

Event comments:

Well, I've attended two races by Team-Magic, and both started very late, but were otherwise very well organized. The environment for this race was terrific.




Last updated: 2009-07-06 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:09:01 | 366 meters | 02m 28s / 100meters
Age Group: 5/19
Overall: 94/264
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course: This was rectangular course in the Cumberland River, with a short leg upstream, followed by a crossing of the river, a leg downstream, and then another crossing to the dock, where you got out of the water by climbing a ladder.
Start type: Plus:
Water temp: 79F / 26C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Average Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 04:40
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:40:45 | 12.43 miles | 18.30 mile/hr
Age Group: 9/19
Overall: 107/264
Performance: Average
Wind:
Course: They closed 12 miles of the Ellington Parkway for our hill-climbing enjoyment. Rolling upwards on the way out, downwards on the way back.
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks:
T2
Time: 00:00
Overall:
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:29:50 | 03.11 miles | 09m 35s  min/mile
Age Group: 13/19
Overall: 147/264
Performance: Below average
Course: Up and over the pedestrian bridge, downhill, then uphill, then downhill, then uphill in downtown Nashville, then across another bridge to return to the stadium.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4