Timberman - Sprint - TriathlonSprint


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Gilford, New Hampshire
United States
Ironman
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 24m 10s
Overall Rank = 111/1464
Age Group = M45-49
Age Group Rank = 10/82
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 4 and ate bread with almond butter, jelly, and honey. Had my normal reliv concoction sans the fiber. Prepared the bottle for the pre-race and woke up my trusty Sherpa.
Event warmup:

Did some dynamic stretching with special attention to the Achilles. It felt pretty good so I didn’t want to push it too hard. Jogged for 5-10 minutes, decided not to do any hard running.
Swim
  • 10m 23s
  • 580 yards
  • 01m 47s / 100 yards
Comments:

The plan for the swim was to be smooth and easy and not push too hard. I’ve done zero swim training partially due to time/life constraints partially as an experiment. I now am certain there is a pretty big genetic component to these things as I finished 136 (top 10% overall) on zero training, despite learning how to swim only 2 years ago and really only swimming last summer in prep for HIM. I started on the extreme left outside front row - this is a clockwise swim basically along shore and then a right turn into the beach. I think there were about 150 in my wave. I went hard enough at the start to stay in front of the chaos, found some feet around the first buoy, lost them eventually because I didn’t want to push too hard, and really just cruised the entire swim. After the last buoy and the turn for home, I picked it up a little but started pulling to the right quite a bit, so I corrected direction and just long stroked my way in. There is a long run back to transition, and the timing mats this year were at the entry to transition. I felt pretty nice and relaxed the entire swim. My breathing and heart rate were in great shape leaving the water so I figured I hit the sweet spot for my plan.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. I will try to push the swim little harder eventually, but for now my goal is to be relaxed and not tax myself too much.
Transition 1
  • 02m 55s
Comments:

Wetsuit strippers are awesome! I actually dropped my goggles and had to go back and get them, but that time was really part of the swim. The timing was at the entry to T1 this year. My T1 should have been shorter given the placement of the timing mats, but I still need a lot of work on this part of tris.
What would you do differently?:

I need to start working on speeding these transitions up.
Bike
  • 45m 55s
  • 15 miles
  • 19.60 mile/hr
Comments:

My plan for the bike was to hammer and see what I could do. The bike has a pretty long ride out after mount through the no pass zone and when you get out to the road it’s a short uphill to start. Nothing like a hill to get your legs going and get the HR under control! After that hill the course is pretty flat for a few miles; then hits a pretty long gradual uphill, then a short fast downhill to the turnaround. I hit the first hill as hard as I could manage and passed a ton of people. I then got on the bars and pushed through the rest of the flat knowing the hill was laying ahead. My glasses were severely fogged so I wanted to get them clean but the humidity and my sweat prevented that so I put them on my helmet. Unfortunately, on the first big bump they jettisoned off and I never saw them again. Another reason to have cheap sunglasses I guess. I hit the entire hill pretty hard, and at the crest I kept the pedal to the metal to get up to speed for the downhill. I knew I’d be able to be up to 37 ish and get some recovery, so I played that card to give my legs a little break. I did get passed by a few sweet rides during the climb. A few years more riding and some dieting and I’ll keep up with those guys! At the turnaround I passed a guy with a 42 on his calf who would be my catalyst for the rest of the ride. He passed me on the steep uphill following the turnaround but I re-passed just after the crest. We played leapfrog the remaining 6 miles. I took him for the last time right before the final no pass zone and checked his number, but I can’t remember it or I’d send him a shout out. I think it really help both of us to have someone to push and chase. I know this course well from riding it so many times during training and I think that really played a big part in hammering it correctly. My time from mount to dismount was 44:42 to compare to last year’s equivalent time of 46:05. I think I hit this one pretty well and didn’t leave a ton of time on the course. Even though I was planning to ride this as a TT, my body knew I had to run afterward so I wasn’t redlining the whole way. I’m happy with this bike leg without question.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. I pushed about to my bike fitness limit given I needed to run afterward.
Transition 2
  • 02m 7s
Comments:

I need to work on the flying dismount since running in bike shoes is slow and tough.
What would you do differently?:

Train to get out of shoe on the bike course and run in bare feet through the transition area.
Run
  • 22m 50s
  • 3 miles
  • 07m 37s  min/mile
Comments:

I really didn’t know what to expect on the run since I’d been doing basically no running for about 4 weeks due to Achilles issues. I had run a pretty aggressive pace a few days before just to test it out and it went fine. So I started this run with high hopes and just figured I’d give it what I had. The course is a gradual uphill all the way out and then turnaround and come back down the same hill. I got to the halfway point in pretty good shape, not really going too hard but harder than I thought I would be able to run. I forgot to hit my watch at the start so I had no idea what my total time was, but I was maintain about a 7:50-8:00 pace for most of the out. The Achilles was not a problem, so I figured the home downhill would be nice. Unfortunately, right before the timing mat at the 1.5 mile point (which is after the turnaround as the run is short), my Achilles got a funny twinge. I wouldn’t even say it hurt, it just felt like it went off track if that makes sense. I couldn’t even move my ankle, so I stopped and started massaging and moving it around until it seemed ok. I don’t have any idea how long I was stopped, but I don’t think all that long actually. Certainly no more than 45 seconds. I continued on and started to push pretty hard, but the legs were tired and I really couldn’t get into a fast run. I think I need more work on the mental side of pushing through pain on the run as I think my body had some more speed in there but my mind couldn’t coax it out. Oh well, HTFU and one more thing to figure out in the off season. When I made the last corner with about 200 yards to go the lead female passed me and there was no way I could keep up. Oh well, last year she chicked me with about a half mile to go so I figured I was getting better! Overall I was happy with the run and despite the lack of running and the stop I was only 11 seconds off last year’s time. I guess despite whatever I might think my running fitness is slowly getting better.
What would you do differently?:

Run more in training. I need to push harder during races and deal with the pain. Someone with a similar injury mentioned the taping has helped the Achilles during runs, and I realized I'd been using tape for the few runs I had done recently (including the fast test run Thursday) but I didn't tape it for the race! That alone may have been the issue.
Post race
Warm down:

Cheered on the rest of the Gnomies running and had a nice post race snack.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of run training and mental toughness on the run.

Event comments:

I like this race and this venue. Expensive since it's an Ironman sprint, I don't even know if they do any others. Huge field for a sprint so the course is pretty crowded but it works out.




Last updated: 2011-02-06 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:10:23 | 580 yards | 01m 47s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/82
Overall: 136/1464
Performance: Average
Suit: Full
Course:
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 72F / 22C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding:
T1
Time: 02:55
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Below average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:45:55 | 15 miles | 19.60 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/82
Overall: 56/1464
Performance: Good
Wind: None
Course: Out and back with one long uphill on the out and other hills throughout. I love this course and get to ride it a lot. It's definitely a bit longer than 15, more like 15.3.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering:
Gear changes: Below average Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 02:07
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:22:50 | 03 miles | 07m 37s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/82
Overall: 310/1464
Performance: Average
Course: Gradual uphill out, same downhill back. This course is definitely less than 3 miles, probably about 2.8. They had me at a 6:33 pace the last 1.5 miles. Ummm, no.
Keeping cool Good Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4