Swim
Comments: The goal for today's race was PACING, so I tried to swim a comfortable pace that would allow me to save some energy for the bike and run. Many of the other swimmers had wetsuits but I didn't feel as though I was at a disadvantage without one. The water was the perfect temperature - easy to get in, but not too hot for a good swim. My sighting was a little bit off and I think I did a little zig-zagging, but overall I felt like I kept up a nice pace without burning too much energy. What would you do differently?: I wouldn't change anything about this swim, although I need to remember to work on holding a straight line in open water. Transition 1
Comments: I didn't feel as though this transition was particularly fast, although at 50/287 it looks like this was where I ranked highest among the women. Likely because I didn't have a wetsuit to remove. I've always seen warnings in the forums here that it's hard to get a tech shirt on when you're wet and I've never had a problem with it, but today it was a bit tricky, which lost me some time. Forgot to open up the velcro on my bike shoes prior to the race as well, so there went another 15-20 seconds. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of the day but I could have gained some easy time here. What would you do differently?: I need to remember to open the velcro on my bike shoes to gain a little free speed, but otherwise it was a good transition. Bike
Comments: Once again, pacing was the name of the game today since I think my history of cramping calves on the run stems from pushing too hard on the bike. I tried to use the flats and downhills to my advantage so that I didn't have to cook my legs going uphill. What would you do differently?: Nothing. I could have likely gone faster on the bike but would have killed my run in the process so I'm happy with my pacing. Transition 2
Comments: This was a pretty quick transition for me. Helmet and bike shoes off, running shoes and visor on. Put on race belt as I ran out of transition. What would you do differently?: I could have saved a few seconds here or there if I hadn't put my race belt and visor on top of my shoes, since I had to move those before I could put my running shoes on. Next time I'll make sure they're the first thing I can reach so I can do both the visor and the race belt while running. Run
Comments: It's no surprise that I lost a lot of ground in the rankings during the run, but I'm happy with it nonetheless and I felt as though my pacing really paid off. I took it really slow out of transition so I could get my breathing under control. My left calf cramped up a little bit after the first mile or so, but it was nothing I couldn't run through and eventually it loosened up for the last half mile or so. I successfully ran the whole course and even picked it up a bit for the home stretch. Given the fact that I felt like I was plodding along at a snail's pace for most of the run, I was pleasantly surprised that my pace was a little faster than my training pace for that distance. What would you do differently?: I wouldn't change anything about this run. In the future I can try for a race pace that's a little farther off of my training pace, but this time around I only had a few training runs that were over the 5k mark so I'm pleased with my results. Post race
Warm down: Walked around for a few minutes and drank some water. After I had recovered a bit I ate some Brunswick stew! That was a really nice post-race meal. What limited your ability to perform faster: Given my level of training and fitness coming into the race, I performed as well as I could have hoped to. Increased fitness is the only thing that could have significantly improved my times. Event comments: In my experience, Set Up Events always puts on a well-run race and this was no exception. The race started right on time, the courses were well-marked, and the Brunswick stew was an excellent addition to the post-race food! Last updated: 2009-07-31 12:00 AM
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United States
Set-Up Inc.
65F / 18C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 150/287
Age Group = W 20-24
Age Group Rank = 10/14
Got up at 5:45, had an egg sandwich on an English muffin at the house. Drank some water and about 16 oz coffee on the drive down to Bumpass, arrived at 8 AM. Picked up my packet and chip, got body-marked, set up transition area and then spent some time walking around the venue. Continued to drink water and a few sips of Gatorade (mixed from powder) until the event started.
Walked the first stretch of the run course, shook out my arms and upper body and did some light stretching.
The swim was a deep water start, so we had a couple minutes of treading water before our wave went off.