Tomato Man - TriathlonSprint


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Leamington Ontario, Ontario
Canada
72F / 22C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 38m 43s
Overall Rank = 123/139
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 16/16
Pre-race routine:

Spent the night tossing and turning stressed about the race and other things. Managed about 3 hours sleep. Got up at a toasted muffin and peanutbutter then drove over to pick up my friend Stef, Grab Coffee and on the road at 5am to get to transition for 6 am.
Event warmup:

Got everything in place and got in for a quick 100 meter swim out and back to make sure I was going to start out at a nice slow pace
Swim
  • 18m 57s
  • 750 meters
  • 02m 32s / 100 meters
Comments:

I started out with a comfortable pace taking a breath every 4 strokes first 50 meters felt good. Got bumped a few times. Then It got congested and I got kicked in the nose about 75-100 meters out and had a bit of a bloody nose and started to swim harder and started not being able to catch my breath. I was getting crawled on, pushed and shoved. I decided to stop and just bob in the water for 10-20 seconds and let everyone pass me. Then I started to swim again and could not seem to catch my breath and my swimming was a complete mess. I started to calm down again rounded the first bouy and had the sun right in our eyes I couldn't see more then 10 feet in front of me and tried following people. Hard strokes with right arm soft on the left and breathing every other stroke again I was off course and got corrected. Then went off course the other direction and started to get very frustrated. I would say about 550 meters into the swim I seen all the women passing me that started after me and I had some cleaner water and I finally settled down and was able to swim the last 200 meters taking a breath every 4 strokes and started making up some ground and swimming straight. About 5 times on the swim I just wanted to quit and stop because my performace was completely sub par for me. But this was my first Sprint distance race so I tried not to be hard on myself.
What would you do differently?:

Need to find a way to calm down and deal with being beat up on the swim. There were a lot of people and I am not sure there was clean water anywhere on this swim. That alone drove me to not swim properly and I think kept forcing me to pull harder with my right hand and not my left and I was only breathing to one side the whole time. I tried left side a few times and got nothing but water each time. I went out too hard and lost my breath... Need to control it so panic doesn't kick in.. I had a really hard time settling down on the swim. I also need to not beat myself up half way through when I know it isn't going as well as I would like.
Transition 1
  • 00m
Comments:

Not bad. I got to T1 and seen my garmin and a high heart rate so I decided to take my time in transition and settle down a bit. Put my socks on then bike shoes, then glasses, garmin and helmet. Fought with my garmin a bit because I left done up instead of having the wrist strap undone... DUH
What would you do differently?:

Make sure my Garmin Wrist strap is undone
Bike
  • 42m 5s
  • 20 kms
  • 28.51 km/hr
Comments:

I decided I wanted to just settle in and enjoy my bike ride.. I know I can go hard on the bike but running is not my strength so I wanted to get my heart rate down to 150 and hold it there and ensure I could complete the run. I truely did enjoy the bike ride and seeing everyone and cheering on other people as I passed them and as they passed me. I got caught up a few times in groups and had to hang back until I could pass. But I truely just settled into the bike. Delt with the winds and tried to enjoy my time on the bike. I didn't drink enough I thought I emptied my 500ml bottle of infinit and drank it all. Turns out end of the day I had almost half of it left.
What would you do differently?:

Drink More on the bike. I needed more fluids or so I think. I also wouldn't take a hammer gel at the end. I did it and felt I should do it to make sure I had energy for the run. It may or may not have caused my issue on the run.
Transition 2
  • 00m
Comments:

see comments above
Run
  • 37m 42s
  • 5 kms
  • 07m 32s  min/km
Comments:

About 1 km into the run I got the worst side stitch I have ever had. I have only ever had one on a run before in my life. I started off running a 6:30 min/km my goal was to just take the first lap easy see how I felt and then pick it up to 5:50/km for the second lap or faster if I could. At about 1 km I had to slow down to a 7:30 pace and I had my fist pushed into my diaphram trying to get my side stitch to go away. I looked at my HRM and it was about 151 BPM and I wasn't breathing too hard.. Slowing down didn't really make the pain let up. I ran 7:30 for about 2 km then couldn't take the pain anymore and had to walk for a bit. After the pain reduced I started to run again very slow at first and finally it started to go away with about 750 meters left in the run and I was able to keep picking up my pace and get back down to about 6 min/km. Helen then passed me and I wanted to try and keep up with her but I was afriad the pain would come back. It was not just about finishing my first sprint and finishing strong over the line
What would you do differently?:

Not sure. I am going to have to do some bricks. One of two things happened. I was not hydrated enough or the hammer gel didn't sit well with my gut and cause some issue. My side stitch hurt so bad that today the day after I am still really sore in that area. Maybe I should have stopped sooner instead of pushing through the pain. I am going to have to experiment a bit and see what really happen. Based on how much fluid intake I had after the race before I finally went to the washroom. That might have been the key. I did hydrate the night before. But maybe not enough.
Post race
Warm down:

Crossed the line with friends cheering... Hugged Tina and my mom and a few others.. and went straight to the tent to grab pizza and diet coke.

Then realized I was eating pizza at 9:30 in the morning. It didn't sit well in my gut but hey... I wanted it.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Inexperiance. This was my first sprint and I learned a hell of a lot from it. I beat myself up a lot mid swim and should have just stopped and got my head on my shoulders instead of getting upset with myself.

For my first Sprint Triathlon I am very pleased that I pushed through both mental and physical barriers to get the job done.

I think the fact that both my butt cheeks cramped on the run and made me laugh lightened my mood.. I was completely giggling about it on my run when I started out on my run.

Event comments:

They do a great job of putting this event on. It all started in my wife's Boss's back yard years ago and grew into an event that became a qualifier for the world Sprint distance this year.

And to be on this course and get a High Five from Richard who ran it himself and put on an impressive performace for a 62 year old man. The rest of his family did a great job in the race as well taking tops spots in age groups and overall female. It is impressive to see how it is such a family event for them and where it has grown. His Encouragement to others is amazing.

Overall I had a great time and I am going to do another sprint. I put a lot of hard work into loosing 60+ lbs in a year and getting here. Many hours away from family and hours training. I owe a lot to Tina for putting up with me through it. My good friend and training partner Stef for helping me along the way, encouraging me all the time and for setting great examples in the sport. She is always cheering everyone on even during her own race she takes the time to cheer everyone on. She has become a great training partner, mentor, challanger and a GREAT FRIEND....




Last updated: 2011-01-26 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:18:57 | 750 meters | 02m 32s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/16
Overall: 108/139
Performance: Bad
Suit: Xterra 4
Course: Triangle pattern
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 61F / 16C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Bad
Breathing: Bad Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation: Bad
Rounding: Below average
T1
Time: 00:00
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:42:05 | 20 kms | 28.51 km/hr
Age Group: 0/16
Overall: 81/139
Performance: Good
Includes time for T1 and T 2 Estimate 2:30 for T1 and 1:30 for T2 Which lines up more with my Garmin. Garmin bike was average speed of 30.7km/hr Heart rate was 160 when I started on the bike. I decided to go easy at the start and get my heart rate back down to about the 150 mark..
Wind: Strong with gusts
Course: Course was zig zag shape. Out of Transition turn right at lights. Strong head winds heading out. Then Right on next road with cross winds then Left onto next road back to strong head winds. Then a turn around at the end where you come to almost a complete stop. ON the way back had tail wind and cross winds and really picked up the speed coming back.
Road: Rough Dry Cadence: 95
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 00:00
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Average
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:37:42 | 05 kms | 07m 32s  min/km
Age Group: 0/16
Overall: 129/139
Performance: Bad
HR was in the 155 range
Course: Two loops of an out and back Course. Great for spectators. I did get just over 5.3 km total on my garmin and same for when I did it on the map.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5