Lake Mills Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Lake Mills, Wisconsin
United States
Wisconsin Triathlon Series, LLC
65F / 18C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 27m 3s
Overall Rank = 207/434
Age Group = M-NOV
Age Group Rank = 12/33
Pre-race routine:

Up at 5am - Wheaties, banana, protein in skim milk, EFS, vitamin for breakfast - yum! Camped nearby the night before - quick 10 minute drive, park, pack, notice after I cleaned my bike on Saturday I left the brake dragging the rear wheel - easy fix of course yet wasn't sure what the heck I'd done at first!? About 6:40am had 1 1/2 of 200mg no-doze for caffeine, some EFS liquid shot, and washed it down with 1/2 EFS drink... was thinking I may have taken too much EFS - yet it seems the race went well, so maybe it was all good!?
Event warmup:

Ran out the bike exit and up the hill to the Glacial Drumlin trail - a few hundred yards down that and back. Then on my bike for a quick spin. Put my wetsuit half on (yet backwards - only the 2nd time trying it on?! doh!) and went to the beach. Got my suit on all the way (and with the front in, well, the front!). Donned my bright green NOVICE swim cap and took a quick swim. Only ran into one nice lady in the water so not too bad! :-)
Swim
  • 07m 11s
  • 440 yards
  • 01m 38s / 100 yards
Comments:

I knew the swim was my strong suit... and even though I did well - I really didn't push myself - just an even pace all the way through. Clearly could have swam much farther or somewhat faster. Did more walking instead of jogging on the way to the timing mat/T1 - could have sped up on that bit I'm sure. Felt good to catch a couple swimmers in the wave ahead of me (the elite and tag-team folks) before I got out of the water!
What would you do differently?:

Put foggle on the goggles. Wait - I did that on Saturday. Not sure - maybe work on less sweaty eyes or something? heh. Really - in hindsight I could have pushed quite a bit harder on the swim... HR felt pretty low/OK at the end and had no effect on my bike ride at all.
Transition 1
  • 02m 27s
Comments:

Hadn't planned to do my first tri until July... so until this event I hadn't practiced putting on/taking off my wetsuit or any transition stuff. Felt I went pretty slow through T1. Got a nice compliment from the dude next to me on my swim though. Struggled a bit pulling on/zipping my bike-shirt which had my race-number pinned to it. Never even tried on that shirt before - definitely not with a wet body... nice shirt, yet the sleeves were tighter than I expected. Entered T1 in second place in my mens novice "AG"... left in 3rd (the guy that was a faster swimmer than me left after me - so got lapped in T1 by 2 guys!?).
What would you do differently?:

You know - maybe practice transitions? heh. And use a shirt that I don't have to fumble with the zipper.
Bike
  • 47m 38s
  • 16 miles
  • 20.15 mile/hr
Comments:

Nice pretty flat course. If I'd taken a ride on it before there are a couple corners I likely would have pushed a bit faster. Got my shoes clicked in pretty fast - might consider starting with the shoes on the pedals - practice, practice! A bit confused as the guy in front of me stopped and looked like he was turning around - turns out he had a bit of a bike problem yet he kept moving. Took some water out of the shoot, found a nice cadence around 90 and kept it going. Passed a few folks (I was in wave 2 - and quickly caught up and passed the two guys in my wave in front of me, and a few of the elite wave/tag team bikers as well). Had a swig of EFS liquid shot maybe 10 minutes in with more water... did pretty good with the water through the whole thing. Right at the end had another small swallow of liquid shot, finished off my 2nd bottle of water, and coasted down hill into T2. The ride felt like a training run - after I'd passed the first few folks, I was riding by myself most of the time... one guy in my wave passed me about 2/3 of the way through. Ended up with the 4th fastest bike time in my wave/group... that plus my strong swim was good enough to get me to T2 in second place in my mens novice "AG"... and even with my slow T2 I started my run in 2nd place in my group. Cool.
What would you do differently?:

No steep hills on the course - yet on one of them I dropped down to 12mph as I came out of my bars and downshifted... wow - that wind is nasty when sitting upright. Pretty happy with my ride - yet with more training I have no doubt I can improve quite a bit.
Transition 2
  • 01m 26s
Comments:

Coasted down hill to the gate - unclicked my shoes on the way - stopped the bike and dismounted, started running and almost threw a shoe. Not all so graceful. Got to my spot (which was close for us novice folks - nice!). Bike on the rack quickly, shoes off pretty OK, helmet off quickly. Sat down to pull on my running shoes and felt the edge of a cramp in my calf. Stood up and put my shoes on, and walked 2/3 of the way to the exit & jogged the rest... no sign of the cramp so chugged a glass of water and started jogging.
What would you do differently?:

Yea - just like T1... practice, practice, and maybe just try it ONCE before the event. :-)
Run
  • 28m 23s
  • 3.11 miles
  • 09m 08s  min/mile
Comments:

Made it past the crowd, up the hill and a couple hundred yards more... just after the first guy passed me felt like I needed a breather. Took maybe 2-3 more walk breaks in the first 1 or so miles. Then kept a decent pace to the mid point, stopped, grabbed another glass of agua and kept the feet moving to the 2 mile point. From there I think I only took one more walk break. Got near the end and almost took another yet heard the crowd cheering on others down the hill... no more walking - actually kicked up my pace pretty well down the hill and especially the rest of the way to the finish as random people in the crowd were cheering and I didn't want that person I could hear behind me to pass me at the very end. Completed my first ever triathlon! Sweet!
What would you do differently?:

Learn how to run. And work on my perseverance - in hindsight (like in the 5K I ran a few weeks back) my legs felt ok, my lungs didn't seem to like me so much, yet I'm not exactly sure why that need to slow down and take walk breaks was so compelling and alluring. Two or three times runners coming the other way provided encouragement - which was great!
Post race
Warm down:

Chugged the bottle of water that some very nice person (and I fully mean that!) shoved in my face as the other nice dude took the chip off my ankle. Walked around through the crowd of strangers looking for anyone I knew... I think that was 2 people out of the hundreds of people there... didn't find them - surprise. Had the couple orange wedges and 3/4 of the breakfast burrito... and the 1/2 a banana. Another bottle or 2 of water. Then did a few yoga poses/stretches - man did THAT feel good!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

T1, T2, Run. Was good to practice the transitions - probably should have done that before race day though. Although since my first race was "supposed" to be a month away, I really looked at this as a practice event... and very happy with how I performed. I guess more practice and training on the run... yet maybe that's an area where a personal trainer or coach might help me improve more rapidly!?!!!

Event comments:

Great location, nice people, plenty of volunteers, decent food. Few waves on the lake, pretty flat bike ride, and very flat and beautiful running path. And a nice warm sunny June day in Wisconsin... sweet!

My goal was to complete a sprint tri (namely the Pewaukee event in July) in less that 1 1/2 hours. Didn't guess I'd beat that goal at this event! Although maybe the fact that the course was very flat and my swim wave was only 33 folks (so no jostling around to speak of) helped... hopefully I can hit 1 hour 30 minutes again in a month at Pewaukee. At any rate - I honestly just wanted to finish this one.

After reviewing my results in the novice group (which in my opinion weren't all so novice - one guy I spoke with from my wave had completed over 20 sprints and an oly - and will run a HIM in 2 weeks) I find that until the run I was consistently in the top 4 (even with my slow transitions) - after T2 and as I began my run I was actually in 2nd place in the mens novice group! Sweet!!!




Last updated: 2011-06-01 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:07:11 | 440 yards | 01m 38s / 100yards
Age Group: 2/33
Overall: 0/434
Performance: Good
Suit: Aquaman Profile Design gold
Course: Good pace all through the swim... started front right side and went pretty straight with only a couple minor bumps on fellow swimmers, out to a big buoy, hang a left, again pretty straight as I went across to the next buoy, took another left, got disconcerted when I couldn't find the last yellow buoy up on shore - darn fogged up goggles - and had to make 2 more adjustments on the way to the shore - on the last leg I tended to swim right for some reason.
Start type: Wade Plus: Shot
Water temp: 62F / 17C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Good Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 02:27
Performance: Bad
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Below average
Biking
00:47:38 | 16 miles | 20.15 mile/hr
Age Group: 4/33
Overall: 0/434
Performance: Good
Didn't check my average cadence - yet I stayed between 86-95 for most of the race... a few of the downhills I was near 110 in top gear and I think on one or two of the uphills I saw a number in the 70s (reminding me to downshift!?!)
Wind: Some
Course: For some reason I thought we'd be taking a loop to the right... so kept being confused by all the left turns. Didn't slow me down yet I don't like being confused. Pay attention to the plan more next event!
Road: Rough Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Below average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:26
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Bad
Jumping off bike Bad
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:28:23 | 03.11 miles | 09m 08s  min/mile
Age Group: 19/33
Overall: 0/434
Performance: Bad
Course: Flat 150-200 yards to a short hill to the Glacial Drumlin. I think it was completely flat (didn't bring my level to check?!) nice shaded gravel trail - an old railway. Water station at the 1/2 way turnaround point - and then back on the other side of the just wide enough trail. Part of the run was over a small wooden bridge and on the edge of a lake. Very nice area!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
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