Swim
Comments: I didn't get in a hurry to start, and I started from the right hand side, giving me a straight shot at the bend in the river. The sun bothered me much less this year. I wore new goggles, and knew from last year that stopping once to defog a bit is worth it. There is a bend in the river so navigating is important, as well as not wanting to swim into someone comming directly at you. Navagation was very good. I found that looking at the shoreline and estimating where in the river I wanted to be worked well. I actually caught a draft three or four times for a couple 100 yards. Being more aware of swimmers around me and catching someone who swam straight were a combination of luck, awareness, and experience. Several times I felt the draft from a swimmer in front of me. A quick glance confirmed it and I just swam by feel looking every 8th stroke or so. Remembered to slow down for the last 15 yards or so as to not be out of breath comming out of the water. What would you do differently?: do some swim training? Transition 1
Comments: Pretty quick T1 - no mistakes. What would you do differently?: I think the only way to be faster here would be to run to the bike and run faster out of transition. I still put my shoes on in Transition, but it only takes about 10 seconds. Bike
Comments: 19mph I'm pumped. Going out of T1 I went a little too hard, and was very short of breath, but managed to slack off just enough to be a good pace for me before I got out of the park. My goal was to take it a little easy on the way out, the hammer on the way back. I was hammering on the way out of the park but did back it off a bit. The at about 3 or 4 miles a girl passed me, but not very fast. Her breathing was very labored, and she was going just a bit faster than I was. After she got to the legal following distance in front of me I picked it up just enough to keep up. It was the perfect pace for me, just hard enough, but not so much that I couldn't sustain. Occasionaly I would get just a hint of draft, so I stayed there for the rest of the way out. after the turn I felt pretty good, and the riding was feeling pretty easy (tail wind helps too) Went from 17 to 18 mph to 23 - 25 mph. after a couple of minutes it was obvious that I was riding too easy, so I upped the pace a little and passed her. (turns out she then chased me all the way in - said so in T2) Jumped out of the saddle on the diversion channel overpass in both directions and that worked very well. UPshift two and stand up. Climbed much stronger than in any other race. I did end up passing several people at the end of the bike. I just felt strong. The last part of the ride - into the park- turns back south into the wind, and that part was kind of tough. Good ride. Flying dismount. One gel just after turn around. Took two gels out of bento bag for my pocket on the run, just before turning into park. What would you do differently?: Just a little easier out of T1 would enable me to do the first part a bit stronger I think. I was just a bit too out of breath and my legs started crying before two miles. It's just hard to not be excited coming out of transitions. Transition 2
Comments: pretty much smoked it. Running with bike shoes on down a concrete boat ramp is cause for some caution, so I ran a bit slow so as not to fall. I did take a second to grab a drink because at the last race the first stop had no cups. This one did. -- Only the pro was faster in my AG than me in Transitions. What would you do differently?: not take time for a drink. Bike shoes with better grip would help running in transition area. Run
Comments: Of course I wanted to start out easy, but after the rush of getting through T2 fast who wants to walk out of T2. Stopped to stretch after 2 minutes and did walk/ run warm up. I was careful to stretch each time I felt any pain/tightness in the achilies. Run 3.30 walk 30. First 3 miles right on an 11 minute pace. Really slow, I know, but I didn't want to reinjure the achilies, and that worked. Besides by the time the finish line rolled around I was pretty much toast in the legs anyway. What would you do differently?: Train to run a little? Overall good though for my current run fitness. - Post race
Warm down: drink, eat bananna, ice achilies right away. walk around, swim a bit in the river. What limited your ability to perform faster: lack of run training. going out too fast on the bicycle. Event comments: Great race on a great course. Run on time with pleanty of vollunteers. Last updated: 2009-08-07 12:00 AM
|
|
United States
Ironhead Race Productions
80F / 27C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 141/194
Age Group = 55-59
Age Group Rank = 2/5
Swam a couple 100 yards at 8:00 the night before. The water was really nice (although cloudy as usual)
Up at 4:30, eat an orange, frosted miniwheats, yogurt. My HB egg was still runny, so I chose not to eat it. Stretch and shower. Off to the venue at 5:40. Got a great paking place.
Get the bike out of the car. take it for a short spin - 1/2 mile more or less. This get's my legs going and helps me be sure that the bike is working fine. Walk over to get body marked and set up my transition area. Walk around and chat with folks. stretch just a little. Jog a little ~ 1/4 mile. Wait for the start.