Minato Sakata Oshin Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


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Sakata, Yamagata
Japan
JTU
75F / 24C
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 21m 45s
Overall Rank = 249/263
Age Group = Women 16-29
Age Group Rank = 6/8
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 6am, after a short but surprisingly restful sleep. (This is my first triathlon ever so I was worried that I would stay up all night with race day jitters, or at least toss and turn in some weird half sleep. But, while it took me over an hour to fall asleep, once I was out I was out cold.)

I had a quick shower to help me wake up, lathered in waterproof spf 50 and had small breakfast of a banana and peanut butter. Loaded up the van with BF and my friend who was also doing the race with me and left for the race around 6:30am.

We got to the race around 7:15 and headed straight for T2 where we dropped off our running gear, then we biked down to T1 to set up there and get ready for the swim. BF was supremely helpful in all the scurrying around and setting up.
Event warmup:

Does the bike ride from T2 to T1 count? It was made slightly longer by the fact that I had to do it twice because I had to track down BF with the keys to the van so that I could move it since he'd left it parked in the middle of the race course. (Which was allowed for set up, but not exactly ok, afterwards.)

Aside from the less than 3km of biking, I also did a hundred meters during the swim check. The water was cold, but the wetsuit did it's job and it didn't take long to warm up. Other than that.. I spat in my goggles and rinsed them a bit and was pretty well good to go.
Swim
  • 40m 31s
  • 1500 meters
  • 02m 42s / 100 meters
Comments:

First things first, that swim time above includes T1. Not sure why, but the race times don't separate out the transitions and I didn't bother with a watch, so I have no idea where my swim time ends and T1 begins, but I would guess that the swim was closer to 38min and T1 was maybe two minutes or more.

Oh, the swim... Even though this was my first tri, I felt prepared for the open water swim, since I had watched my friend do the same race last year, am used to open water (I used to body surf a lot) and I'd done a couple open water practice swims in training. So, I was prepared for it mentally. I wasn't even that shocked when the first person swam ON TOP of me to continue in his straight line to... wherever he was headed. I was mentally ready for all of it, but that didn't help with the fact that I'd physically never had to deal with it before. You can swim in open water all you want, unless you can do it with 300 other people and ask them to knock into you, crawl over you and kick at you, you can't really practice enough for an actual race to be zen.

For the first lap I tried to stay far to the outside of group so as to avoid all the body tackling, but in doing so, I found myself going way off course and zigzagging like a drunken butterfly. I found sighting much harder than I expected it to be, and I found finding a rhythm for my breathing really difficult when I kept having to lift my head to sight and then correct my course. I think in the first 750m lap I probably gave myself close to an extra 200 yards of swimming. It certainly felt like it.

The second lap was much better. I was so slow on the first lap that I there were far fewer people where I was for the second. This enabled me to stay close to the buoys without having to fight anyone and sighting became much easier, consequently, breathing and staying in a straight line became much easier. I think (but as I wasn't wearing a watch I have no way to confirm it) that this was a much faster lap than the first.

I came out of the water much more tired that I would have liked. To be honest, I felt like I was fighting for a lot of the swim and it was much more of a struggle than I expected. I definitely need to log more open water hours before the next race, although, without all the crowds, I don't know how helpful that will be.
What would you do differently?:

Definitely log more OWSs, although, it wasn't really the open water that put me off so much as the three hundred other people I had to swim with, and I'm not sure how to simulate that.

I wasn't expecting competitive times this time around. This was my first ever tri and I was just hoping to finish within the time limits of the race. I will train more for any subsequent races and work on getting my times down.
Transition 1
  • 02m
Comments:

I won't lie, I was tired from the swim and I was taking it easy through T1, trying to make sure I didn't forget anything and focusing on hydrating and getting the salt water out of my mouth. I was in no rush, I was just happy to be out of the water.
What would you do differently?:

Next time I might actually have a bike with bike shoes and clipless pedals etc.
Bike
  • 1h 36m 52s
  • 40 kms
  • 24.78 km/hr
Comments:

Again, this time includes T2, so I don't know how much time is bike and how much is transition, but again, I would guess that I was about 1:30 in transition. So, bike time is actually 1:35:22. Maybe.

I really enjoyed the bike. Probably more than I should have. Especially considering the fact that one of my front brakes was rubbing against the tire the ENTIRE ride. But I still had fun. It's entirely possible I didn't push myself quite hard enough on the bike, but even when I was pushing I was having a great time. Mainly because I knew that if I had made the time cut off for the swim then I was that much more likely to make the time cut off for the bike, and so I was happy because it was seeming more and more likely that I would actually finish this race.

I could be seen smiling quite a lot on the bike. Also, if anyone had been close enough to listen, I could probably be heard singing to myself.

A group of our friends had come out to support us for the race, had made signs, and were screaming their heads off every time we biked past, so that made for some serious warm fuzzies. It even made people who didn't know them at all smile and pedal harder. Yay for friends!
What would you do differently?:

Oh, probably buy a nicer bike (I borrowed my friends old road bike while she rented one for the race) and it might be nice not to have had the break rubbing the whole ride.

I would probably get a nicer bike, AND more importantly, I would log more hours on said bike before the race. I think I slacked a bit on the bike portion of my training and I paid for it in my time. (Although I destroyed my training times by a LOT for this race, probably because I trained on hills and with a big heavy, POS, MTN bike.)
Transition 2
  • 01m 30s
Comments:

This transition was fast. I'm guessing at 1:30 but it might well have been less. I already had my running shoes on and all I had to do was take off my helmet and sunglasses and put on my visor. Plus, I drank some water and decided to change my top because my bike jersey was black and it was getting hot out as the day went on. So, I decided to rock a light colored (and hence sun reflecting) tank-top for the run.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. I think this transition went pretty well. Eventually I may decide to bike in a tri top to avoid the change of shirts, but as I was wearing a race belt it really wasn't a big deal.

Run
  • 1h 04m 19s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 10m 22s  min/mile
Comments:

I intentionally ran the whole run at a slow but consistent pace. I wanted to be 100% sure that I finished and that I didn't have to walk, so I stuck with a conversational running pace the whole time. I was actually surprised to find that I was close to a ten minute mile after the fact because I really thought I was pushing 11.

The pace worked for me and I had the energy to keep it up all the way to the end (though I think I would have caved if I'd had to do another 1 or 2 km) I even had enough juice left to pick up speed for the final 1/2km and while I didn't sprint, I picked up to a fast run for the final 50 meters.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. This was the only way I was going to finish without walking. In the future I will train to get my base run up to a better speed so that I can keep the relaxed pace going with something under a 10 minute mile. But I think the strategy was sound.

I did a 10k last weekend and finished in 57:11. So I know I can do faster, but I pushed myself the whole way for that one and there was nothing I had to do before or after the race.
Post race
Warm down:

After hugging all the people who came out to support (perhaps to their dismay as I was a sweaty mess)and almost crying at the joy of having completed my first tri I drank a lot of water and walked around the finish grounds for a long time trying to keep my legs from tightening up. The race offered free bananas, watermelon and bowls of curry to competitors and supporters. When my stomach finally calmed down I enjoyed a nice bowl of curry.


What limited your ability to perform faster:

I need to raise my base fitness some more. I trained for four months for this event and raised myself up from over 12 minute miles and horrible cardio, barely able to swim for more than a couple hundred meters at a time, to being able to complete an olympic tri in 3:21:45. I'm pretty happy with that. I'll work towards being more competitive as I race more.


Event comments:

Ok, I give this a five because it's my first race and will always have a special place in my heart. I have no idea what other triathlons are like, so I can't really rate this one objectively. But the volunteers involved were amazing and went way out of their way to help. The supporters and other racers were awesome and encouraging. I had a fabulous time and am looking forward to my next race!



Profile Album


Last updated: 2011-02-28 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:40:31 | 1500 meters | 02m 42s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/8
Overall: 240/263
Performance: Below average
Suit: Xterra Volt
Course: Two laps around a giant triangle in an enclosed harbor on the Japan sea coast. The water is nice and calm because of the walls, so there is very little chop to deal with. This makes breathing easy. The water temp was cold(ish) but wetsuits are required for this race so that helps.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 21C / 70F Current:
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Below average Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Bad
Rounding: Bad
T1
Time: 02:00
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
01:36:52 | 40 kms | 24.78 km/hr
Age Group: 0/8
Overall: 246/263
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: This course is blissfully flat. There is a very slight gradient in a few places, but it's barely noticeable. The scenery isn't great, but you can see the ocean from parts of the course and Mt. Chokai from other parts and all in all it's a nice place to bike.
Road: Rough Dry Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:30
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
01:04:19 | 06.21 miles | 10m 22s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/8
Overall: 237/263
Performance: Average
Course: The run is the same as the bike portion between T2 and T1. In other words it's pretty darned flat. (Although the slight gradient that seemed like nothing on the bike was more noticeable on the run.) No shade was really the only thing that was bad on the run, but frequent water stations with sponges and cups made up for a lot of that.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5