Racing for Recovery Triathlon - Sprint - TriathlonSprint


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Monroe, Michigan
United States
Racing for Recovery
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 07m 15s
Overall Rank = 5/106
Age Group = M 25-29
Age Group Rank = 1/4
Pre-race routine:

Yea!!! First race of the season! I was excited and spent the week going about my normal training, just a little less. It has finally warmed up in Michigan....

The day before the race, I got all my crap ready to go so that in my 4:30 am wakeup fog I wouldn't forget anything. Good decision. Pre-race dinner, my traditional favorite, spagetti and meatballs. Went to bed around 9:30 or 10. And just laid there. The house was unbearably hot. All in all, I slept like crap. Not unusual for a race for me, but it is usually because I am excited for the next day. I had no butterflys or nervousness this time, I just was frying.

Woke up, piled the stuff in the car and drove the hour to race site. Road work.... Got through that (at 5 am on a Sunday? really?) I tend to get excited when driving to race sites, especially when I start seeing other cars with bikes and stuff in them.... :)

Parked the car right by transition, pretty nice setup. This race had separate transitions for both the sprint and the half, I thought it worked out very well. Got my timing chip and body marked, and proceded to set up the transition area.

Event warmup:

Took the bike out for a quick 1 mile spin to make sure everything was shifting and to make sure that it was in the gear that I wanted to start in. Re-racked the bike and went for a jog. Stretched out (I know I will get tight before the race starts, but mentally it helps me prepare). Unfortunatly, transition closed at 7:15 am, because there was a pre-race meeting, and once again, I was in the last wave scheduled to start at 8am.

So I made my way toward the beach with my wetsuit in hand and swim stuff. I felt really confident about my transition setup (I also tend to worry about this normally.... for some reason. I have never had a problem) Got to the meeting and, man did I have to pee. haha. So i did what any self respecting triathlete would do. go for a swim... :) Swam to the first turn bouy and back and felt a ton better! I was actually calm and relaxed prior to the swim start for the first time ever! Waited around as the half iron people went off. The sprint had to wait until the half iron people were around the turning bouy, which unfortunatly took a bit longer than anticipated.
Swim
  • 08m 52s
  • 547 yards
  • 01m 37s / 100 yards
Comments:

This was a "water" start. We made our way to the starting area around 8:10 or so. I was really happy I had been in the water a bit before the start. It was fairly cold, but I loved it in my first race with my wetsuit!

Here is the swim course:


I decided to start in the front. I knew it would be rough, but I have been doing a bit of swimming recently and I didn't want to bleed time. In all there were about 80 people in my wave. The gun went off and the sprint began to get the turning bouy. FULL CONTACT SWIM!!! oh my. There were many remarks on how tough it was. The waves (though not that big...) were enough to make breathing for right sided breathers tough. Like I said, the sprint to the bouy was brutal, but all in all, I was happy I was hanging with a good group of people.

At the first turn it was very very crowded. I had caught the inside of the turn and wound up going right up against the turning mark. After this though it really thinned out. I got into a decent pace and was making pretty good time to the first of 2 sighting marks. I reached the first one with no major issues. Actually, my navigation for say the first half was perfect. The second half I was all over the place:) Wound up going maybe 1/3 in back towards shore for some reason, but I managed to correct it in time. I made the final turn back towards shore and rode some waves back in. The swim was shallow enough to stand the whole time, so people would stand up and walk almost as soon as they turned back towards shore. I swam until I felt ground, and stood up and ran in. The timing mats were quite a way up the shore though. Pretty good exit of the water, wetsuit unzipped, googles, cap, and ear plugs off and into the sleeve of the wetsuit, and wetsuit pulled down to my waist. All before the timing mat.
What would you do differently?:

Sight better on second half. I need some better top end speed. This was my best swim to date, but could have been even faster.
Transition 1
  • 01m 43s
Comments:

6/105 Overall Fastest transition

Pretty fast, passed a bunch of people on the run up, and no problems with the wetsuit coming off. Body Glide those ankles people! Helmet on, socks on, sunglasses. Ran with bike and off I went.

I didn't do the flying mount. I broke all of the rubber bands (dry-rotted) before the race started, so just a normal mount with the shoes already clipped in. I am a big subscriber in don't do anything standing still if it can be done while moving.
What would you do differently?:

Bring better rubber bands.
Bike
  • 32m 20s
  • 12.49 miles
  • 23.18 mile/hr
Comments:

First, the course:


Got to work right away. I was up to 24-25 mph and began passing people. The road from miles 1-2 and 10.5-11.5 was very rough so people were everywhere trying to avoid potholes. The speed dropped to around 21 mph at this point as I was trying to get around people. As the amount of people thinned out, I wound up riding with one other person going about the same speed as me. I went by him originally and didn't think twice about it, but around 6 miles in he passed me again. Ok, no big deal. I would pass him, he would pass me. Every turn (there was a few) I would catch and pass him beacuse I was more confident in my handling skills. I made sure I was well out of the draft zone or offset from him to avoid any penalties. At the first u-turn it was just the two of us, and I only saw 1 person ahead of us, and she has started 7 minutes before us. We caught her on the way back. At this point it was kind of a neat experience that I have never had before. I took back the "lead" from the guy was going around my speed and just watched all the other people going the other way. It was really neat seeing that with no one infront of me. (or so I thought). I thought I was in the lead of the entire race! I backed off a little bit to save some for the run here, and that was a mistake. We had the wind, so I was still going 24 mph and cruised into transition. Had a bit of a moment when I looked back and saw one guy FLYING!!!! towards us from the rear. Ok, we were going 24 mph, he was doing at least 26-27... I got a little worried and prepared to respond to the move (ok so a sprint tri isn't exactly climbing the Alp de Huez in the tour de france, but I was ready to defend my position!) When he caught and passed me, I saw a nice big Sprint Relay on his leg and just let him go. whew. When we were re-entering the state park, the traffic picked up again and the 3 lane entry fee place only had 2 open, and one lane closed. So we (all 3 of us, relay guy and other guy) took the left most closed lane. A little crazy though. With about 1 mile to go, I picked up my cadence to get my legs ready to run, and with about .25 miles left, I took my feet out of my shoes and rode with them on top. Got to the dismount line and executed a perfect flying dismount.
What would you do differently?:

Push a little harder, yea, there were 3 guys I just completely missed ahead of me.
Transition 2
  • 00m 31s
Comments:

2/105 Overall

I entered transition with the other guy right with me, and left with him 20 seconds behind! Can't complain, fast and simple.

It could have been a little quicker, I stupidly took off my sunglasses and had to put them back on again, so maybe another 5 seconds, which would have been a 26 second transition. I don't know if it gets better than that.
What would you do differently?:

see above.
Run
  • 23m 51s
  • 3.69 miles
  • 06m 28s  min/mile
Comments:

Sprint course (Nothing like the course map they had online!)



Remember the sprint relay guy who went flying by? I caught them about 15 feet outside transition... I also caught one guy infront of me and could see him maybe 100 yards ahead. My goal was to just get up to pace and slowly close on him.... This was a longer than 5k course, so 5k pace would be a little quick. I knew I was on the podium for sure if I could catch him. Ran the first mile, felt pretty good, and a solid effort at 6:20. I wasn't making up any ground though. Same for the next mile, I just couldn't close the gap. I tried everything I know in running, but mentally, I couldnt do it. Right at mile 2 the guy I had been riding with caught me. I tried to go with him, but had no luck. I was hoping he could pull me with him to catch the other guy but he slowly closed the gap.

As we ran along towards mile 3, the pace quickened again, sensing the end. The guy I was riding with caught the other guy, and promptly died. He closed the gap but couldnt pass. I knew I was locked in where I was, so my pace for the last .69 miles really slowed down. Mentally I had lost the fight. As it turns out, places 2-5 (me in 5th) finished within 1 minute of each other, so it was a great race.
What would you do differently?:

Not give up on the last .7 miles. I had nothing more to fight, I was still bleeding distance away to the two guys ahead of me and there was no one close behind, so the pace really slacked off.
Post race
Warm down:

Water! walked around a bunch and the 5 of us talked about how awesome of a race we had just had. It was a lot of fun trying to think strategy during a race, I had not done that in a tri before.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

not much, I am really happy with how this went for the first one of the season! I need to get my swim faster (still) and my run could use some work also. For sprint 5k's I can run sub 19 minutes....

Event comments:

Wow... Overall, one of the most fun RACES I have ever had. (Not talking about the race setup, more the actual racing part).

The only complaint that I have was the guy I was riding with, a bunch of people said that it turned into a two person paceline when I was leading. I don't appreciate that, especially since he went by me on the run. I know run your own race, but man, if I had drafted, I could have run faster.... just annoying. I made sure I wasn't drafting everytime I was behind him, and to hear that he didn't do the same, well, oh well.

I am really happy with how it turned out though. I met and talked to some awesome people after the race and had a great time.




Last updated: 2011-03-31 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:08:52 | 547 yards | 01m 37s / 100yards
Age Group: 1/4
Overall: 13/106
Performance: Average
Includes about 45 seconds of running towards T2
Suit: Xterra Vortex 3 fullsuit
Course:
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 67F / 19C Current: High
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Below average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Average Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:43
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:32:20 | 12.49 miles | 23.18 mile/hr
Age Group: 1/4
Overall: 3/106
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: Lots and Lots of turns. As soon as you got going, it was time to turn again...
Road: Rough Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills:
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:31
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:23:51 | 03.69 miles | 06m 28s  min/mile
Age Group: 1/4
Overall: 4/106
Performance: Average
Mile 1: 6:20 Mile 2: 6:30 Mile 3: 6:29 Remaining 0.6: 4:31 5K Split : 19:40
Course:
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4