SheROX Naperville Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Naperville, Illinois
United States
SheROX Triathlon Series
85F / 29C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 26m 11s
Overall Rank = 81/1494
Age Group = F30-34
Age Group Rank = 9/197
Pre-race routine:

Started drinking nuun water on Friday. Packed up early Saturday morning and my dad came into the city to pick me and the dog up. I made it to packet pickup around 1ish and got body marked. Continued to drink nuun on Saturday. Ate dinner around 6:30ish (spaghetti and veggies). Crawled into my childhood bed around 9ish and watched TV for an hour. Didn't sleep that great - woke up around midnight bc my dad decided to do the dishes (?!?) and was clanking around, which made the dog get all crazy. But I slept really well the night before so I wasn't too worried about it.

Woke up on Sunday at 4:30. Got dressed and put in contacts and HR monitor. Ate an egg on toast w/jelly and grabbed a banana and my water bottles and an 8 oz gatorade. Packed up the car and drove to the site.

Made it to transition around 5:30. I was able to get a spot second from the end. It was very close to the swim in and run out, but far away from the bike in and out. I set up, walked through transition so I wouldn't get lost during the race and went to the bathroom.
Event warmup:

Put on my wetsuit at 6:15 and did a 250m warmup (or one of the down and backs from the course). I counted how many strokes it took to reach the turn buoys. Went back to transition and took off my wetsuit. Put on sunscreen and double checked everything. It looked good! Race started at 7a, but my wave didn't go off until 8:32. I watched the elites swim and do their transition and then sat in the shade until about 8a. I drank nuun water while I was sitting in the shade, but stopped drinking at 8a. Went to the bathroom, found my sister and gave her my water bottle. Put on the wetsuit around 8:15 and then lined up.
Swim
  • 13m 29s
  • 750 meters
  • 01m 48s / 100 meters
Comments:

I had met up with Mighty Mom on Friday and she said to seed yourself better than what you think in the swim. So with that advice I put myself in the second row on the outside. I had gotten some swim lessons the winter before and had spent the winter working with a Masters group so I was really hoping that I would see a solid improvement from when I did this course last time (in 2010).

We are lined up and I realized, oh crap, I hadn't even turned on my Garmin yet! Oops! Powered it up and set it to what I thought was multisport mode.

The horn went off and it was a good swim. Some contact and I was able to draft for maybe half of it. My sighting was OK - I had this bad habit of constantly swimming to the right throughout the swim. Since it's serpentine style, I didn't get off course, but I was running into the ropes quite a bit.

I wait until I my fingers touch the bottom and then stand up. I check out my watch - so excited because it was just over 13 minutes, and last time in 2010 it took me 17 minutes! Awesome!
What would you do differently?:

I think it was a good swim. I still need to get faster, but I was happy with it. For once I was actually passing previous waves, instead of later waves passing me.
Transition 1
  • 03m 1s
Comments:

This seems super slow, but I don't know what I could do differently. All people in my AG took more than 2 minutes, so it also could be just where our racks were. I probably should get out of the wetsuit faster. And pre-clip in my shoes.
Bike
  • 43m 6s
  • 14.17 miles
  • 19.73 mile/hr
Comments:

So I'm hitting the lap button on my Garmin and I realized in my rush I didn't have it set to multisport at all, but instead it's recording as one long swim course. I couldn't look at the data for speed or pace, but at least I had overall time. Oops!

For the bike I just decided to go out hard and try to hold on for as long as I could. A note: There were five swim waves for my AG. I was in the last one, but I shared a wave with people who were 29 and 28. I played leapfrong this whole course with two girls who were from my wave, but I don't know if they were in my AG or not. Either way, it kept me pushing the pace, bc I didn't want people from my wave to pass me up!

The bike was pretty uneventful - a little crowded and some racers not used to the "stay to the right, pass on the left" custom, but I think that happens in most races, especially sprints. Smooth roads. I had a 32 oz of nuun on my bike and drank maybe half of it. Had a Gu about 15 minutes in. Some windy sections, but really not bad as far as wind goes. This was my first race using the clip-on aero bars and no problems with those.
What would you do differently?:

I think this was a good effort by what my speed is like now.
Transition 2
  • 01m 31s
Comments:

Made up some time here. Finished 2nd in AG. Ditched the two girls I played leapfrog with. I unclipped on the bike and ran back to transition. Took off helmet and shoes and put on running shoes. Put on visor and race belt while on the run.
Run
  • 25m 6s
  • 3.11 miles
  • 08m 04s  min/mile
Comments:

Sprinted out of T2 and settled into what I thought was a good effort. About 5 minutes in, I started to get this cramp just to the upper right of my belly button. I have gotten these before, but normally it's a dehydration issue. I just decided to continue on and hope it doesn't get too bad. WRONG. It spread all the way across my abdomen, from the left side to the right side. I had to walk 2x for about 20 seconds each and when I ran it hurt so dang bad to be upright so I had to run slowly hunched over. I don't think I lost too much time on this - maybe a minute bc of the cramping. I started to feel like I could run properly w/about a half mile left so I really picked up the pace then.
What would you do differently?:

I don't know! I have no idea why I was cramping like that. I have never had a cramp that spread all the way across before. I really dont think it was a dehydration/electrolytes thing. I'm wondering if I started the run too fast and so was taking shallow breaths?
Post race
Warm down:

I crossed the finishing line feeling kinda dejected bc the run was just not what it could have been. I also messed up my time calculations and had thought I did the run in 26:30ish. While hanging out at the post-race expo I hit up the results tent and when I got my run time I felt way better bc I realized that the cramping didn't affect me as bad as I thought it did. Maybe a minute lost. I was still pretty happy though bc when I did this course in 2010 I ran it in 1:33:XX so I knew I had PR'd regardless and the AG placing was pretty exciting.

I met up with my family (mom, 2 sisters, a BIL, 4 nieces and nephews). My BIL is a 2:40 marathoner and coach and so we talked about the run alot. He said he thought I was booking it out of T2 pretty fast for my ability so maybe the cramps were just a shallow breaths thing.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Run cramps, but it was a lesson learned.

Event comments:

This race is really fun. It's female only and the support from other racers is great! People are constantly saying encouraging things.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2012-03-30 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:13:29 | 750 meters | 01m 48s / 100meters
Age Group: 27/197
Overall: 188/1494
Performance:
Suit: Xterra Vortex 3
Course: It's in an old quarry, a serpentine-style swim. Out and back x3. Lanes were very wide.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 73F / 23C Current:
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 03:01
Performance:
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:43:06 | 14.17 miles | 19.73 mile/hr
Age Group: 20/197
Overall: 151/1494
Performance:
Wind:
Course: Mostly flat. Two loops. One small hill on 75th street. A few tight turns.
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 01:31
Overall:
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:25:06 | 03.11 miles | 08m 04s  min/mile
Age Group: 18/197
Overall: 121/1494
Performance:
Course: On the road and on the riverwalk. The road was in the sun, but the riverwalk is in the shade. The riverwalk was pretty narrow and had some bottleneck/passing issues a few times.
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]