Giant Acorn International - TriathlonOlympic


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Bumpass, Virginia
United States
Set-Up Inc.
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 43m 44s
Overall Rank = 224/236
Age Group = Athena
Age Group Rank = 13/16
Pre-race routine:

Late! Very late! I registered for this to redeem myself after a shredded tire at Nation's a few weeks ago. Figured w/ the 10am start & smaller race I could go down the morning of. Well, I could have, but a friend decided to come w/ me & ran 30 min late getting to my house. Plus I forgot my ID, which took 30 min to double back for.
Event warmup:

When we finally arrived I just sprinted through packet pick up; racking first so I could get body marked, pick up my chip, and get dressed AFTER they closed transition. Does that count as a warm up? I had about 20 min to do all that & find the start line. I'm a disorganized spaz!! My own fault!!
Swim
  • 32m 37s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 59s / 100 yards
Comments:

I registered like 2 weeks ago, and being so late didn't have time to look around before the start. I missed the briefing and had to figure out the swim course as we went. Normally I consider just staying on course a victory. This time I was in a pack of swimmers the whole time. I feel like it took until the very end to catch the 2 waves ahead of us, Usually it's more like half way.
What would you do differently?:

Get there early so I have some idea of where to head in the water. The strategy of just staying w/ everyone else works at super short distances like this. But the longer the race the more everyone spreads out. I need to actually learn to navigate for myself. Oh yeah, and Join masters. HOURS of pure distance is great for endurance, but saps any speed. I only have one gear! I need to learn to sprint for the short distances in tris.
Transition 1
  • 05m 19s
Comments:

Still JUST learning to use the bike shoes. Heck, I'm still BORROWING bike shoes that don't actually fit. My feet get a bit number after about 12 miles on the bike. I feel like my first tri last year had better transition times than I've ever had since then. Then again, I did that on the bare minimum of equipment and have acquired more stuff to deal w/ during transitions since then.
Bike
  • 1h 26m 49s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 17.17 mile/hr
Comments:

I have a friend who's a pure cyclist, he keeps trying to convince me that it's a matter of skills & technique (to learn about shifting and hills) rather than fitness/endurance. Maybe he's right. He keeps saying to take the winter, borrow his trainer and learn that stuff. But I REALLY need to use the winter to work on my run, & build swim milage for my longer open water swims in the spring.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe spend more time of my bike training learning that technical stuff. But starting in the Spring when swimming winds down to just tris for the rest of the year.
Transition 2
  • 05m 10s
Comments:

I felt HORRIBLE coming off the bike. Not the jelly legs everyone needs to do bricks to get over, but my back. I felt all tight, cramped, & sort of stuck hunched over from the position on the bike. I'm planning a full, expensive bike fit, new saddle, my own shoes, & the pedals to go w/ them w/ my tax money at the beginning of next spring.
What would you do differently?:

Try all the equipment changes I just mentioned. If that doesn work, I need to SAVE for a new bike all together. I like mine, and wouldn't be looking for a super spiffy, expensive tri bike. Just whatever would fit perfectly, if after the fitting that turns out to be something other than I currently have.
Run
  • 1h 33m 52s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 15m 07s  min/mile
Comments:

What I do could BARELY be called running at the best of times. But I AM capable of doing a 10K in something less than 1:20 despite the run time on the 2 Oly's I did this season. But this course was harder than I was prepared for. I had to walk the hills, and the trial in the woods. Besides slow I'm also uncooordinated and was terrifeid of breaking an ankle on all the tree roots!!
What would you do differently?:

Work on it all winter. Like I said I would last winter, then completely quit after new Year's til about March. I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor, so I can't be sure; but I think was probably using the hills/tree roots as an excuse not to push as hard as I could have.
Post race
Warm down:

I jumped back in the Lake!! We also thre the one dog (of the 3 we had w/ us) off the dock. She swims, and had been VERY patient all day about staying out of the water during the race.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Hills on the run course. Not drinking enough water that morning or on the bike. Arriving late. All totally w/in my control and my own fault for screwing up. But I'm glad I got one more race in this season.

Event comments:

I DEFINITELY Like the smaller races better. Nations was overwhelming!! This was fun, I just wish I had been mroe prepared.




Last updated: 2010-09-16 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:32:37 | 1640 yards | 01m 59s / 100yards
Age Group: 4/16
Overall: 102/236
Performance: Good
In my rush to get dressed I left my Heart Rate Monitor in Transition while I was getting dressed in a port-o-potty. Transition was closed by the time I got back out.
Suit: speedo
Course: out around a jetty.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 78F / 26C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Average
Waves: Below average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 05:19
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Below average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
01:26:49 | 24.85 miles | 17.17 mile/hr
Age Group: 10/16
Overall: 184/236
Performance: Good
Wind: None
Course: Hillier than I expected! Again I hadn't really reviewed the course. Just looked for a an Oly, still available, w/in driving distance after Nation's. Nothing severe in terms of hills; just constant. Which meant shifting ALL the time. Which I HATE. The hills didn't make this hard or impossible, they weren't THAT big, just a pain in the butt.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Below average Hills: Below average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 05:10
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike Below average
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
01:33:52 | 06.21 miles | 15m 07s  min/mile
Age Group: 15/16
Overall: 230/236
Performance: Bad
Course: HILLS. This was I guess 2 laps of a 5k course. I feel like the whole thing was Down one Giant hill then back up to the first water station. Then down another hill and back up to the second water station just before the turn around. Plus a bit through the gravle parking lot, and on a train in the woods.
Keeping cool Below average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4