Take on the Heat Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
The Colony, Texas
United States
Playtri
84F / 29C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 01m 35s
Overall Rank = 20/256
Age Group = M 40-44
Age Group Rank = 4/24
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 4:50 so got about 5 hrs of sleep. I really need to sleep earlier the night prior to a race. Left the house at 5:21 nice to pull up to the parking at 545am! Had a small cliff bar on the drive. Set up transition, hit the head and grabbed my swim cap and goggles.
Event warmup:

The transition area surface was very rough with lots of gravel so it was painful to run. Tried to practice running and made a note to rehearse running from swim out to t1 so I can find my bike rack easily. A friend gave me one of the neon green transition mats and it was very easy to spot. Swam a bit to make sure I can sight in. I actually had a decent rack closer to bike out probably because the surface was so bad that the first wave had option to wear shoes running out on the bike.
Swim
  • 06m 18s
  • 350 meters
  • 01m 48s / 100 meters
Comments:

The swim portion was shorter than advertised. However, I felt good on the swim and was able to stay around the middle of the pack but I think I got lulled into thinking I was doing good when others got over 2 min on me on that short swim. I felt like I swam pretty straight and sighted well. I still need to get my stroke rate around 60 spm but I think that stroking faster and using less effort works better. I lost too much time here and I'll have to try harder on my next sprint.
What would you do differently?:

Swim harder. I need to treat sprint swims like a sprint and not a half-iron distance.
Need more swim practice and still need to work on bilateral breathing
Transition 1
  • 01m 29s
Comments:

That surface hurt! This was worse than Joe pool lake which is an indication of how bad it was. They need to provide a little more carpeting not just for first rack. Looking at results, I lost a podium on my transitions. Gave up over 30 seconds to a lot of people so I need to focus and get moving. 38th/286
What would you do differently?:

Might have been worth putting a spare pair of shoes near the swim exit so I could run faster
Bike
  • 32m 9s
  • 12 miles
  • 22.40 mile/hr
Comments:

My race plan included turning down the effort on the bike in the hopes of running a bit better. I went as hard as I can at Cooper and I felt horrible in the run so instead of keeping my HR at around 164bpm, I went for 158-160 bpm, constantly reminding myself to back off. I also had a rider go down about 15 ft in front of me. It looked like he was still braking when he tried to turn in a gravel section and the front just slipped away. Raised my heart rate!
What would you do differently?:

Go harder and since I didn't really gain in the run, I should've kept the throttle pinned. I feel like I lost the podium holding back too much on the bike. I also pulled off the strap on my shoe costing me time trying to thread it through. I am going to rubber band the edge. Cadence was also on the low side.
Transition 2
  • 00m 56s
Comments:

gave 10-15 sec here so need to clean this up also. 45th/286 overall
What would you do differently?:

Run faster and get shoes on quicker
Run
  • 20m 45s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 06m 41s  min/mile
Comments:

I was 2nd in my age group so it wasn't too bad. Faded a bit midway but definitely put in the effort .
What would you do differently?:

Train more. My run volume has been pretty low and I think I need to get it back to at least 25 miles a week.
Post race
Warm down:

not much - just caught my breath and walked to massage area

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Swim training needs to be more emphasized over next 6 weeks. Lost 2 1/2 minutes to the fastest swimmers. My transition times were also pretty slow compared to overall.

This was my last sprint race for the year and 2nd to last tri that I have scheduled. I'm going to be doing my 2nd Oly distance (Toyota US Open) and looking forward to seeing how I've improved on that same course (hopefully, it will also be wetsuit-legal so I can compare apple-to-apple). As for Sprints, I did 5 this year - 2 podiums, 2 Top 20's, a near-miss of another podium and improvement in all of the 3 sports. Most notable improvement has been my running and I'm happy with also continuing to have an improvement on the bike. My swimming has also come a long way - from bottom 15% to right around 40th percentile now. Still a lot of room to go though and Ineed to really focus this off-season and get myself closer to 60th percentile next year. I think that if I can do that, I'll be in podium contention for every sprint race. I will be focusing on continuing to improve the run. I broke the 21 minute mark for the first time on a tri 5k on this event, so next goal is to break 20 minutes next year...and all this while keeping my cycling at the same level.

For the next 6 weeks, I have to focus on the Oly distances - 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run. I know I can handle the bike portion so I'll have to focus on optimizing my running for that distance and improving as much as I can on the swim between now and then. I'm just hoping to beat last year's Oly time by at least 10 minutes.

Event comments:

Kayak people didn't show - they allowed refunds for people that don't want to swim without kayaks (there was a rescue boat). Bike course was bad with lots of cracks and gravel. Worst part though has to be the parking lot - it is chip seal and full of gravel. Very hard and painful to run on. Finally, I don't think the course was measured correctly. Swim/Bike/Run courses were all short.




Last updated: 2011-03-21 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:06:18 | 350 meters | 01m 48s / 100meters
Age Group: 15/24
Overall: 155/256
Performance: Average
Suit: TTT Tri Top and Bottom
Course: 1 loop - much shorter than advertised.
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 85F / 29C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 01:29
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Below average
Biking
00:32:09 | 12 miles | 22.40 mile/hr
Age Group: 2/24
Overall: 14/256
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: Course was closer to 12 miles not 13. 2 loops
Road: Potholes Dry Cadence: 83
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:56
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Below average
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:20:45 | 03.1 miles | 06m 41s  min/mile
Age Group: 2/24
Overall: 22/256
Performance: Good
Course: 3-loop course; was short at least 0.1 miles
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
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: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3