Sheriffs Spring Sprint - TriathlonSprint


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Ludlow, Massachusetts
United States
Firm Racing
60F / 16C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 14m 25s
Overall Rank = 80/97
Age Group = Athena
Age Group Rank = 3/3
Pre-race routine:

Woke up on my own, very excited for the day to come. Emily my 11 year old daughter (EmilyG) was doing the race to and this was to be here first full sprint tri. Ate breakfast scrambled egg, canadian bacon, sprout bread w/PB. Left about minutes later than we'd hoped. We had to reorganize driving as we had 4 of 5 kids going in different directions all before 1pm. I should have put all stuff in the car the night before ...had most of it in. We talked strategy on the ride up and I tried to prep.Emily as much as I could.
Event warmup:

About 35 minutes before my estimated start time...racer 47 start every 20 seconds put me at 8:15, I ran for 10 minutes with 2 30" race pace accels, came back to transtion got on my bike and rode for about 8 minutes with a couple race pace accels. Realized it was quite nippy to ride just with my tri top so decided to wear my wind jacket for bike portion as I'd be dripping wet.
Swim
  • 06m 12s
  • 300 yards
  • 02m 04s / 100 yards
Comments:

Goal time 5:50-6:20

One of my pacing goals for the race to start slowier and get faster thru each segment as well as through the race. I held back a bit and didn't swim to aggresively to hit and push off the wall. I was passed at 75 yds by the person behind me and I tried to draft off her...but letting her pass me wasted a bunch of time...I should have just pushed off and let her navigate around me. I waved to Emily on 3rd trip down the pool. I was a bit nervous about how she was and doing as I wouldn't be around.

As some one who came out of the water dead last twice last summer...I'm very very pleased with the progress here.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe swim a little harder to end end turn around faster...but it may make 15 seconds difference. I do swim this distance a tad faster normally...but truly this was my best swim ever mentally. I remember thinking this feels good and easy and that is such a change from last years swims.
Transition 1
  • 01m 15s
Comments:

Goal time 2-3 minutes
They don't time transtions at this race..so I estimated as my HRM wasn't working and I forgot to check it.

I passed two women in T1 and think relatively I was wicked fast.
What would you do differently?:

Nada
Bike
  • 31m 36s
  • 8.7 miles
  • 16.52 mile/hr
Comments:

Goal time 29-33

MOP...how cool is that....I was right in there and it includes men!!

It was a hard bike for me which given my lack of time on my bike I shouldn't be surprised. I was comfortable in areo and was faster second half of the route which was part of my plan to keep getting faster. The second half was easier for me as it was flater and I think my legs were more willing to push harder. I was having fun out on the bike course but had some thoughts of oh my Mooseman is much more difficult than this...I need more time on my bike.

Drank 14 oz of Gatorade on bike...goal was 14-20...really tried to push myself to drink because normally I'm not thirsty at the start of a bike.

Ended up 21st out of 42 of the women on the bike and of those that beat me all but 2 of them were younger than me.


What would you do differently?:

Keep losing weight, ride my road bike more than 3 times in last month ...we were in Greece riding touring bikes and then I was sick. I was most frustrated with my bike as it was tough and I expect more out of myself.
Transition 2
  • 02m 15s
Comments:

Goal time 1:30-2:30...should have estimated this time swaped with T1 as I put on socks here

Legs felt hard to move on after getting off the bike....struggled a bit with my socks, picked up my hat/sm water bottle/race number and off I went. All day I kept like my tri shorts were falling down ...again here off the bike, but they weren't...it was odd to feel like I had not shorts on my belly...but I checked they were always in right place...not sure why it felt that way. I saw some of my rack mates so I knew I was doing well timewise compareably. As I came into T2 I saw the IM women who passed me on the bike so she gained mabye 2 minutes on me...I thought wow I did well on this course. I was feeling good as I had made both my goal swim and bike times.
What would you do differently?:

More practice doing T2 after riding hard. Don't recall passing anyone here like in T1
Run
  • 32m 55s
  • 3.2 miles
  • 10m 17s  min/mile
Comments:

Goal time 28-34

I was curious a lot on how I'd do on the run as I've improved a lot in the last 6 months, but in a tri everything is different. Worked on thinking quick & light and keeping my leg turnover fast. I had hoped to keep the same pace or negative split...but that would be a challenge. Mile one was 10:19...happy with that. I felt like I was going almost as fast as I could. At about 15 minutes I tried to go faster...mile 2 I ran in 10:40...not the time direction I wanted. But I had a downhill now and knew I was just 10 minutes from the finish so I pushed as much as I could. I finally here felt in the grove and was at a pace I could continue and my legs felt good. My toe was hurting and I knew what had happened...my nail cuts my toe only when I run in races....and I had checked it the night before as well. The last .5 mile was a slight uphill to the finish which they made you run by and circle back. I improved a lot over last year where most of my tris were 11:52 m/m or slower. I kept good mental outlook as the slow swimmer/fast runners passed me in the first mile out there.
What would you do differently?:

Push more...but today I gave it all I could and was proud of my run. Last year I would be in the bottom 10 people in my run times often bottom 5...today I was about 25% from the bottom...progress for me!

Next day: Finally results came up and I'm confused as my run ranking dropped and I can't really tell how many people competed as there are a bunch of people with zeros. When they posted results at the end everyone was out of the pool and off the bike so my ranking stayed the same there, but some finished later and were not done with the run, which is why I dropped in both run and overall. If I was 60 seconds faster would move up 8 people so finished with a cluster. Reality check I'm older and a women compared to most folks..I was one of the oldest 5 women...so getting to the true MOP would be amazing.
Post race
Warm down:

Hugged Kevin, walked around and then waited for Emily to finish. Wow she came in about 8 minutes after I did...and sprinted hard to the finish.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I was sick for 10 days just prior to this Tri right after returning from a 10 day trip to Greece so I wasn't in my top form. I could still loose some weight and that would help.

Event comments:

Emily did great and when they posted our times...shocking but true, I was only 4 seconds faster than she was...and we placed next to each other...63 and 64. Emily placed 2nd in her AG and had so many positive comments as people ran and biked near her...wow you are 11...great job! My bike time was Emily's run time and I ran her bike time...it was weird how similar we did. I train 7-10 hours a week and she does like 1.5 hours....youth...gotta love it! I guess I may say now I'm in the back of the MOP and not the BOP anymore...but I need to double check my final rank as I forgot to write it down.

Funny thing is if I competed in my AG I would have placed 2nd so this Athena thing is weird. The two women who beat me where much thinner than I and some 10-15 years younger. Who cares, I did this to compete against myself and see how I did. Best thing is I had fun the whole day and didn't stress or feel negative thoughts for but a few seconds here and there...much improvement for me. PB times (speed wise) here in both the swim and run in tris. Plus on a hilly bike course this would be a PB as well..thanks to Will and all my winter training I'm getting faster!

I met and chatted with the women who won Athena last year, weighs 40 pounds less than me and beat me only by 2 minutes...she is no longer a Athena...so I was excited to see how I compared...if I continue to loose weight I think I'll continue to get faster.

It was a blast, I met my times, my mind was in a sweet place, Emily did awesome, we brought home hardware...it was a sweet day!


Profile Album


Last updated: 2006-03-10 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:06:12 | 300 yards | 02m 04s / 100yards
Age Group: 2/3
Overall: 64/97
Performance: Good
Just prior to start of swim realized my HRM's memory was full...just figured I could use it to keep time, but it wouldn't store. Improvement as I didn't get upset but stayed calm.
Suit:
Course: 6 lane swimming counterclock wise there and back in each.
Start type: Inside Pool Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current:
200M Perf. Average Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting: Good
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 01:15
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:31:36 | 08.7 miles | 16.52 mile/hr
Age Group: 3/3
Overall: 56/97
Performance:
?
Wind: Strong
Course: Out and around Ludlow...some rolling hills in the first half.
Road:  Dry Cadence: 88
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 02:15
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:32:55 | 03.2 miles | 10m 17s  min/mile
Age Group: 3/3
Overall: 84/97
Performance: Good
?
Course: Course change the morning of the race...from a off road 2.5+ mile to a somewhere between 3.1 and 3.3 mile run. I averaged the two numbers I heard. Around the neighborhood and only one uphill at the very end of mile 2. Later I heard that the run was really 3.35 by someone who worked at the race so I'm changing it to that..makes me come in sub 10. Whatever it was...much faster than last year. If it was 3.2 miles I ran 10:17 m/m
Keeping cool Good Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
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] 3