Boilerman Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


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Lafayette, Indiana
United States
Purdue Tri Club
80F / 27C
Overcast
Total Time = 3h 20m 15s
Overall Rank = 129/209
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at an unusually reasonable hour for a tri (6:30) and had a bowl of oatmeal. Parking was a mile+ from the site so you had to bike to the site. Got to the site about an hour and a half early, and got signed in.
Event warmup:

Got set up, had my pre-race powerbar and did a few accelerations to get the blood flowing. Got the wetsuit on and went down to the swim start, and geez, that cloud looks kind of ominous. Think about getting in the water to avoid the initial shock during the race right about the same time the race director yells, "EVERYBODY OUT OF THE WATER, LIGHTNING SPOTTED." And then the skys opened up. So I ran the 1/4 mile back up to the trans area, grabbed my bike and biked the mile or so back to my car in a thunderstorm. Right as my wife gets off the shuttle with the keys the storm starts to let up. I debate with my buddy and a few other disenchanted participants about whether or not this is even going to happen. Finally my buddy decides to drive to the race site to see what's going on, I tell him to call me. Hang around for a while longer. He calls and says that most of the bikes are back and it looks like it might happen. So I load all my stuff up and we head over to the site (in the car this time). As I get out of the car my pal comes running up screaming at me "HURRY UP, 5 MINUTES!!!" So I grab as much as I can and race back to the transition and throw my stuff wherever. Get a nice 1/4 mile dash in back to the swim start. Get there just in time to roll around to get my wetsuit on and rush out to find my pal and start.
Swim
  • 32m
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 57s / 100 yards
Comments:

I was pretty winded from the shenanigans trying to get set back up and then hauling arse down to the start so I had some issues settling down. After about 300 - 400 M I composed my self, settled in behind someone a tad faster than me, and drafted like a champ for the last 20 minutes of the swim, came out feeling great.
What would you do differently?:

Train for the swim more (had 4 swim workouts in the last 2 months and no non-stop swims more than 1000M).
Transition 1
  • 03m
Comments:

I spend the last 10 minutes of the swim worrying that I hadn't got everything back into my transition bag (that I had thrown down next to my bike) but it turns out my AWESOME wife noticed my helmet and sunglasses sitting in the back of the car and brought them out and put them on my aerobars. Other than that everything was fine, just took a bit longer with the long haul up a hill and having to dig everything out of the bag.
What would you do differently?:

Have had my transition setup the way it was before the thunderstorm.
Bike
  • 1h 27m
  • 24.85 miles
  • 17.14 mile/hr
Comments:

First 7 miles was miserable rolling hills. I am not built to climb hills like that. I probably avgeraged barely 15 MPH through the first 1/3 of the race. After that things flattened out and I was able to take off. Except for one more spot, I want to know what sadistic bastard puts a hard left at the bottom of a hill where you have to climb out after slamming on your brakes It was towards the end of the bike that I started to worry about nutrition. I couldn't find my GU that I planned on taking during transition, and I dropped one of the two on the bike, and the bottle handup was water only. So through the bike course I was only going to have taken in 100 calories.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. Felt really good through most of it. Maybe a bit more hill training, but overall felt really solid.
Transition 2
  • 01m
Comments:

Through pretty quick, especially since I didn't have speed laces on the running shoes. Still can't find the GU and will ya look at this, no Gatorade (only water) at the transition water stop.
What would you do differently?:

Have speed laces on my shoes.
Run
  • 1h 17m
  • 6.21 miles
  • 12m 24s  min/mile
Comments:

After almost running the wroung way out of transition I find out that the run course has changed. I'll stick with the short version: it was a winding course, at least half off road, through several areas with significant mud. I bonked HARD. The first 10 minutes or so I thought maybe my legs just needed to adjust. Then after about a mile and a half I started to realize there just wasn't any gas left in the tank and it was too late to get anything in there to help. I struggled along making deals with myself like "Run 3 minutes then you can walk 1", towards the end it was more like, "Run 1 minute, then you can walk 1". Then finally it was "Jesus, just run a couple steps, the guy who just past you looked like he was 80."
What would you do differently?:

Uh, not bonk.
Post race
Warm down:

Fell over. Tried not to throw up. Ate stale chips.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Well my nutrition plan (which in hindsight probably wasn't enough to begin with) was: 2 powerbars within 45 minutes of race start, 3 GUs and gatorade on the bike, and whatever was on the run course. That turned into 1 powerbar 1:45 before the race start, 1 GU, and no gatorade until the run. That and I probably didn't run enough in training either.

Event comments:

Happy to be alive. My first olympic distance so it was good just to finish, there was a pretty high DNF rate. Lots of room for improvement so I have something to build towards next season.




Last updated: 2005-10-03 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:32:00 | 1640 yards | 01m 57s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/209
Performance:
Suit: QR Sleeveless
Course: The around the edges of this small lake/large pond.
Start type: Wade Plus: Shot
Water temp: 75F / 24C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Average Drafting: Good
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 03:00
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:27:00 | 24.85 miles | 17.14 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/209
Performance: Good
Wind: Some with gusts
Course: Winding around country roads.
Road: Rough Wet Cadence: 85
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:00
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Average
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
01:17:00 | 06.21 miles | 12m 24s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/209
Performance: Bad
Course: Winding, looping, random course through neighborhoods, construction sites & open fields.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Too much
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? No
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3