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 Swim
Comments: Started in the first wave. A first for me. Very violent start. Similar if not worse than my IM swims. Had folks in front of me doing breast stroke (How they got in front of me?). Pinned in and struggled to get around. In meantime folks behind me trying to swim over me. Lots of grabbing my legs, pushing me down, smacking my back, head. Got kicked. Didn't really settle down until 2/3 way to the first turn buoy. Settled in at that point however 1/2 way along the cross section I had two other competitors swimming similar pace but crisscrossing in front of me or into me. I was doing well swimming straight but these guys were all over the place. Finally had enough, darted right and swam well right ducking just outside the buoys when necessary and to turn. Good strong swim in. Run up the beach in sand to transition is just rough. HR was ok during swim but increased pretty quickly during run What would you do differently?: Perhaps I need to seed myself more to the front and go out a little harder in these sprints so that people need to go around me versus my having to try to get around people. Had what I thought was a strong swim but time was very slow (been swimming 1:35/100 pace during recent workouts). Didn't think much of a current so perhaps course was long. A lot of folks I know who race after race I swim near time wise also seemed to have slow swims. Who knows.  Transition 1
Comments: Too much of this time was spent getting wetsuit over my heels. Had taken goggles and cap off on run up to T1, pulled wetsuit top off and bundled everything into a ball. Had bibjohn straps down but the thing just fought me to come off my legs and over my heels. Glasses, helmet and shoes on quickly. Boardwalk wet and slippery from rain so unable to run quickly. Perhaps a day when having shoes already on pedals and putting feet in when up to speed would've been quicker. What would you do differently?: Before next race I am cutting about an inch off the length of legs of my wetsuit. Perhaps will give me the little extra play to get off heels easier/quicker as this is just a recurrent issue that I have every race. Will it save much time, probably not. Will it cause less stress/anxiety, absolutely.  Bike
Comments: Came into race planning to shoot to maintain power at IF of 0.87-0.9 and let speed /pace fall out where it would. Race almost ended at start of bike. Took off and rapidly got up to speed. First left hand turn I must've entered too fast or hit some paint and the rear wheel slide out and the front wheel hopped a few times. Have not clue how I kept the bike from going down. Composed self but now would take every turn very cautious. Slowed dramatically every time I came to a turn (off too much so) and then had to work to get back up to speed after. Just had no confidence carrying any speed through turns. At times could feel some rubbing of rear tire against frame as I would pick up dirt/sand from wet roads. Wasn't about to stop to adjust wheel as the rubbing was intermittent and I hoped as roads dried the issue would go away. Having started in the first wave there was very little passing and being passed. I think I may have passed 4-5 people and was passed by maybe 1 person. Took 1 gel about 15' into the bike, sufficient amount of water/sports drink over course of ride. Final IF of 0.875. What would you do differently?: In hindsight, wondering if my tire pressure was a little too high for the wet roads we ended up having after the brief storm. Were at 120 psi which is what I typically ride on dry roads. On the wet roads they felt very slippery. Adjust wheel in dropout to yield a little more space between frame and tire. Otherwise, happy with my execution, effort. Transition 2
Comments: Coming through parking lot quickly pulled my feet out of shoes and rode with feet on top. Flying dismount at line and ran to rack. Put on socks which is where all the time was from. Shoes on quickly and was out. What would you do differently?: Nothing. Unless I can get to a point where I can run without socks there was really nothing I could do to get through this transition quicker.  Run
Comments: Had picked up my Garmin in T1, put it on and turned it on while on bike so it would acquire signal and be ready for run. Unfortunately I forgot that it would turn off after period of inactivity. Came out of transition feeling great. However realized Garmin had turned off so had to rely on my watch for paces (yes I was a geek wearing my watch which was on from the start of race and my Garmin which I picked up in T1). Had hoped to be able to use the real time feedback from the Garmin to guide my effort like in training but not today. Was running fast and comfortable but had concern that it was too quick. Passed someone in my AG fairly early. Hit Mile 1 @ 7:10. Too quick given how my training has been going. Just no business running that fast right now. Backed off a little and ran 2nd mile @ 7:53. Shortly after 2nd mile mark stomach started to have a little cramping. Tried to hold pace but ended up backing off a little. Mile 3 in 8:01. Struggled to hold it together the last mile. Nutrition / fluids: None. Figured short enough run that by the time anything I ingested was absorbed I would be done. that and I should've had enough in the tank from what I took in on bike. What would you do differently?: Make sure Garmin on before end of bike so ready at start of run. Go out a little easier and build pace to negative split. Went out too hard and just wasn't able to hold on. Post race
Warm down: None. Grabbed an orange and chowed down after chugging bottle of ice cold water. Walked around a little until results available. What limited your ability to perform faster: Nothing. 5' improvement over last years time despite much slower swim so I'm very happy. Event comments: Really starting to enjoy the local sprints. Something to be said for waking up, driving 10-15 minutes to the venue and being home by 10am. Last updated: 2011-07-20 12:00 AM
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United States
Hartford Marathon Foundation
70'sF / 0C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 47/355
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 5/28
Up at 4:30 am to begin pre-race routine. 2 cups coffee, 2 slices toast with peanut butter, banana. Loaded up car, woke wife and tried to wake kids. Both kids decided they wanted to stay in bed. First race I've done that they weren't at. Different but ok. They've been troupers over the years. Arrived at Ocean Beach right at 6am. Rack on car doesn't accommodate my wheel w/ wheelcover so had to put a different wheel on for travel and put wheelcover wheel on at venue. Had been shifting perfectly in week leading up to race but now when I put wheel back on it was shifting wonky. Took 10' to adjust barrel adjusters to try to smooth things out. Managed to fix it but some race morning stress I would've preferred to not have.. When put wheel on had it pulled in pretty tight to the frame's cutout. Normally ok position for dry conditions but when wet and tire is picking up road grime it's a little too close an causes some rubbing (which would end up being a small issue). Pumped tires to dry road tire pressure.
Got transition set up fairly quickly but then a thunderstorm cell rolled through. Broke down stuff to try to keep some of the stuff dry. Storm blew threw and quickly grabbed my wetsuit and re-set up transition as Race Director wanting us down to beach to start race on time.
Mentally went into this race with the intent to race it. Usually I go in not thinking about competitors but rather just executing my own race. Today, I wanted to pay attention to my other 40-44 year olds and see what I could do if I raced against them.
Stretching upper body/shoulders. About 100 yards of swimming.