Ashland Lions Metro West Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


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Ashland, Massachusetts
United States
FIRM
55F / 13C
Precipitation
Total Time = 3h 05m 43s
Overall Rank = 89/127
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 19/30
Pre-race routine:

We arrived at 6AM two hours before the race. It was cold and pouring out. We hung out in the truck. Firm racing had nothing set up and the port-a-potties were locked.

I did a good job of eating and hydrating. I had a yogurt, almond and cranberry bar and a Banana. I had a 24 oz bottle of water and a 24 oz bottle of endurance drink.


Event warmup:

Because of the rain I didn't get in nearly enough of a stretch as I'm used to. I also failed to have a good transition plan for the rain and just loaded everything into trash bags to keep it dry. Putting on the wetsuit in a downpour sucked.
Swim
  • 28m
  • 1760 yards
  • 01m 35s / 100 yards
What would you do differently?:

Nothing.
Transition 1
  • 07m 15s
Comments:

As I said walking up the hill took a bit but the second part of that was when I exited the water I was quite warm but by the time I got to my bike I was freezing especially my hands. My stuff was all in the plastic bags and it took me forever to get ready. Buckling the Velcro took effort. I also screwed up my Garmin by being unprepared and wasn't in multi-sport. I did bring a pack of Cliff Blocks to the water with me and downed those on the way up to the transition space.
What would you do differently?:

Better plan
Bike
  • 1h 28m 35s
  • 26 miles
  • 17.61 mile/hr
Comments:

I was warned how hilly it was. According to my Garmin I ascended 4500 ft. According to Map my ride it was 2100 ft. I do some very hilly courses at home that come up half of both these values. It was insane. There were two different hills that went to 21% grade making it four due to the double loops. My Garmin never hit that high before. There's one hill, again that you hit twice, where you got from 150ft elevation to 600ft in the course of a mile. The hills just kept coming.

Compounding this was the fact that I wasn't pushing the downhills as much before the roads were soaked and I was very fearful of dumping after my Saab incident. On a dryer day I believe I could have done at least another MPH easily. Given the conditions I was happy with the effort. My Garmin screen was so wet I couldn't read it most of the time on the bike. I was surprised to see my average heart rate was 158 and I peaked at 177. I was very cognizant of not over doing it but I guess on a course this hilly that's easier said than done. Not having the downhill speed I would have liked didn't help either. I finished my entire 24 ounce endurance drink on the bike.
What would you do differently?:

Wear gloves.
Transition 2
  • 02m 45s
Comments:

I got off the bike and I knew my legs were pretty sore but even worse I had zero feeling in my feet and hands. My hands were so frozen I couldn't take off my cycling shoes and getting on the running shoes was worse. I couldn't tie my sneakers. I'd love to complain about the 2:45 by really I don't know that I could have done it faster everything considered.
What would you do differently?:

Wear gloves
Run
  • 59m 6s
  • 6.5 miles
  • 09m 05s  min/mile
Comments:

The first mile and the last mile of this run are pretty flat and I flew. The middle 4.5 were unbelievably hilly. There were two different hills that were over 50% grade according to the Garmin, another over 40%, two more over 30% and two more over 20%. I have no idea if that's accurate but my Garmin has never given me readings that high and my legs tell me it was that awful. Even if those values are half of what the Garmin said you get the idea.

The hills killed me. My quads were just screaming after all that elevation on the bike.I finished my 22 ounce endurance drink while running.
What would you do differently?:

Train more big hills.
Post race
Warm down:

I had a Mix1 drink and a banana. We stopped for Starbucks and went to the Y and did a 20 minute whirlpool and 15 minute steam. I was finally warm. I did a lot of stretching while in both the WP and steam.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Rain on the bike. Being too cold in the transitions.

Event comments:

The staff was nice but they have a reputation for not having all the stats and missing the swim angered me. Additionally the post race food was awful.




Last updated: 2011-02-24 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:28:00 | 1760 yards | 01m 35s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/30
Overall: 0/127
Performance: Good
The walk from the transition area to the swim is down very wooded path and it was slick to say the least. I knew this and wore slide on hiking shoes. Even then you had to use caution. We got to the water and the steam coming off of it was insane. We could barely see the buoys. The water however was the highlight of the event. It was 71 and toasty warm. I got in and had a nice relaxed warmup. As much of a pain in the butt as the Charles River swim was it made this swim for me. I was so much better having had that first competition OWS out of the way for the season. I got in and got behind a pack and did a great job of drafting and actually thought about my form and did a superior job drafting.The traffic rounding the buoys was quite crowded. On the return backup up the pond the wind picked up and the chop was very significant and several of us talked about this after the race. When sighting the waves were slamming our heads but I adjusted and was fine. Unfortunately I don't know my exact time because Firm sucks and our T1 and Swim were merged. Because of the wet conditions I walked the entire way to T1. The average transition last year was about 7 minutes as it's a half mile walk. I used 7:15 as a conservative T1 time to come up with my 28 minutes. Really I wouldn't be shocked is it was a ten minute transition.
Suit: 2XU westsuit
Course:
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 71F / 22C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Good Navigation: Good
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 07:15
Performance: Below 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
01:28:35 | 26 miles | 17.61 mile/hr
Age Group: 22/30
Overall: 72/127
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: Majorly hilly. 4500 ft of ascent according to Garmin and 2100 according to map my ride.
Road: Smooth Wet Cadence: 82
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 02:45
Overall: Bad
Riding w/ feet on shoes Average
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:59:06 | 06.5 miles | 09m 05s  min/mile
Age Group: 23/30
Overall: 82/127
Performance: Below average
Insane hills in the middle.
Course: The first mile and the last mile of this run are pretty flat and I flew. The middle 4.5 were unbelievably hilly. There were two different hills that were over 50% grade according to the Garmin, another over 40%, two more over 30% and two more over 20%. I have no idea if that's accurate but my Garmin has never given me readings that high and my legs tell me it was that awful. Even if those values are half of what the Garmin said you get the idea. The hills killed me. My quads were just screaming after all that elevation on the bike.I finished my 22 ounce endurance drink while running.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %1
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Bad
Race evaluation [1-5] 2