Troika Half Iron Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Spokane, Washington
United States
Troika
90+F / 32C
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 36m 12s
Overall Rank = 58/180
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 10/17
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 3:50. Ate toast and jam, and banana. Filled bottles. caught bus down to race.
Event warmup:

Got to race 1hr. before start. Milled around like chicken w/head cut off because I didn't know what to do. So much more to tri's than run's. finally pulled head out and set up bike transition, got changed, marked, then got wettie on as late as possible and stretched and stood on shoreline 5 min. prior to start.
Swim
  • 46m 7s
  • 2112 yards
  • 02m 11s / 100 yards
Comments:

Sighting was a huge issue since my goggles fogged up 9 min. into swim. I literally could not see the bouy's, only the mass of bodies splashing around. I made a huge banana shape getting away from the feild and foun myself at least 50 yards off course at one point. On the way back, my goggles de fogged, and I had sight on the way in. This helped, but I could not figure out how to swim near the feild or the bouy's, and was still way outside the course. However, my best ows in training was 52 min, so I was pleasantly surprised with the 46 minute finish.
What would you do differently?:

brave the mass of people next time, try to draft, and stay on course. I probably added 200 yards swimming off course. Also, wear goggles that do not fog over. Relax more mentaly and have fun.
Transition 1
  • 02m 56s
Comments:

Suit Come Off Left Heel! I could see what needed to happen, but it just took longer than needed to. Pretty friggin happy to be done swimming at this point.
What would you do differently?:

Have an automatic routine to fall back on in the excitement of the moment. I did pretty good considering, but more experience racing will help.
Bike
  • 2h 56m 50s
  • 56 miles
  • 19.00 mile/hr
Comments:

I was so excited to get out of the water that I inadvertanly threw the plan out when I got on the bike. I went out hard and kept it up pretty much the hole way. I trained longer runs of the course at 16-17 mph training rides, but had a 19 mph avg. pretty much the whole way. I threw my chain on one small hill trying to get cute with my gear changes, but had it back on in about a minute. Glad that it had happened in training before. I loved this course, and it was good this is a local tri for me. I live about 3 miles from one part of this course, so I trained a lot on this course for this race and new it well.

What would you do differently?:

Choose different solid for bike other than home made "fish chomps". They kind of got stuck in the back of throat in the nasal cavity, and I made embarrasing hacking coughs several times trying to hack them up. EWWWW.
Transition 2
  • 01m 10s
Comments:

You hand bike to volunteer at this event, and they hand you your transition bag.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing for this event
Run
  • 1h 49m 9s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 20s  min/mile
Comments:

This is where it got interesting. I tried to keep an 8:00 mile from the get go. The first mile, a guy passed me right out going fast. I caught up with him at the mile 2 aid station, and we ran together for the next 3 miles. I stopped at each aid station and put ice in cap and tri suit to keep cool. It get's quit humid along the river. This is the same course as the marathon I have run for 3 years, so I was very familiar with it.
at avout mile 7, I started to slow and get fatigued. I tried hard to keep pace up, but the ice baths at the aid stations started taking a little longer. I was struggling with pace at miles 10 and 11 and then picked it up going into the finish.
What would you do differently?:

Train more on the run going into event. I trained for a marathon in May of this year, and then spent most of June and July focussed on bike training. Next time around, no marathon, so I can have a much better HIM training plan.
Post race
Warm down:

Hung out with family, and caught up with other competitors. Good times. Ate food and drank Gatoraid.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

First triathlon. I learned a lot that will help me improve on my next HIM. Also, I feel like with the next training program just being about HIM and not a marathon, I will be much better at the swim and run, and improved on the bike too.

Event comments:

The event is smaller, 100 participants, so 3 port o potty's may not be a huge issue, but the lack of them at the start was frustrating.
This event was well supported, plenty of aid stations, and ice, water, heed, gels.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2011-09-17 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:46:07 | 2112 yards | 02m 11s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/17
Overall: 0/180
Performance: Average
Suit: QR farmer john
Course: clockwise loop marked with 8 big red bouy's.
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 71F / 22C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Bad
Waves: Navigation: Bad
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 02:56
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
02:56:50 | 56 miles | 19.00 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/17
Overall: 0/180
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: flat with rolling up's and downs. 1 huge canyon going down, then up. 1 stretch of 10 miles with huge down and mostly downhill flats. finishes with a up hill into the city.
Road: Rough Dry Cadence: 80
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:10
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Bad
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
01:49:09 | 13.1 miles | 08m 20s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/17
Overall: 0/180
Performance: Average
Course: Out and back. Flat course on the centenial trail out the spokane river.
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4