Shawnee Mission Triathlon - Short Course - TriathlonShort Course


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Shawnee, Kansas
United States
Johnson County Parks and Recreation Department
80F / 27C
Overcast
Total Time = 52m
Overall Rank = 5/176
Age Group = M3539
Age Group Rank = 2/29
Pre-race routine:

Packed up the night before, the girls weren't coming to watch so commandeered the van in the morning. Grapenut w/ banana for breakfast, can of V8 fusion in the car, shot of Hammer gel 15minutes before start of race.
Event warmup:

Looked at the lines to the portapotties, rode bike up dam hill to restroom, did my business, rode back to transition. Watched first 2 heats of long course swim, took another dump, grabbed my goggles and swam over to the beach with about 2 minutes to go before the gun. I was aware from when I went to bed Saturday night that I wasn't feeling quite pre-race normal, I felt great but with no pre-race anxiety, just like I was ready for a good solid training session.
Swim
  • 08m 54s
  • 547 yards
  • 01m 38s / 100 yards
Comments:

lined up on outside and aiming to get to bouy line by the dock, started with solid effort but with intentional restraint, swam fairly straight with occasional contact, no drafting. One brief cramp in right foot near finish, flexed foot a few times and it went away.
What would you do differently?:

Continue to improve as a swimmer and focus training on longer sets, I fatigue after ~300m, shoulders start to burn, form and stroke rate drops off. This was better than 1 minute improvement over last year
Transition 1
  • 01m 26s
Comments:

These runs from the lake through parking lot seem to take forever, I remember thinking before I got to my bike "there's no way this is only going to take a minute and a half". Rode with feet on shoes out of parking lot, up to speed and the first little hill before putting feet in shoes on a downhill segment.
What would you do differently?:

change my age group so I get a better transition spot
Bike
  • 24m 22s
  • 9 miles
  • 22.16 mile/hr
Comments:

1st lap traffic was very sparse until near the top of the dam hill, 2nd lap was fairly crowded. Looking at PM data 2nd lap was faster on less average power but similar normalized power, why? 2nd lap was of course a flying start, I coasted a long time into transition due to traffic in the chute, & hit the hills harder with easier downhills on the 2nd lap.

Towards the end I caught MarkF (doing the long course) at the end of the downhill right before the last uphill before transition, as I was coming up behind to pass we caught another rider and Mark moved to pass including hitting the power, I then had to jump on the pedals hard to get my pass of Mark done in a reasonable amount of time, this set Mark up well to pass me back up the next incline and get into the transition chute first, but I got him back with the old flying dismount.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Transition 2
  • 00m 47s
Comments:

uneventful except right after crossing the timing mat and entering transition my bike totally endoed, I was holding it by the stem as usual, not sure what happened, I think one of my shoes caught the heel on the ground just right and vaulted it up into the air as it rolled the crank around, both shoes stayed on the bike and I caught it and straightened it out in stride so no ill effect.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Run
  • 16m 33s
  • 2.4 miles
  • 06m 54s  min/mile
Comments:

Came out of transition and realized Mark was ahead of me again (why won't he just let me pass him?) and settled into a smooth, fast cadence. Finally passed Mark for good before the dam, we were both just running our own races and just happened to cross paths a few times around transition. Nothing too memorable except for the herd of geese that I ran through after the short course turned for home.

Near the bottom of the dam I looked around a couple times to see if there was anybody in front or behind, even timed how far ahead I could see up the trail, nobody within the 30 second distance I could see around, which I was fine with, no need to sprint and risk an injury. At the aid station before the dam I finally saw a couple guys half way up the hill, this hill takes 60 seconds doing speed intervals so I judged them to be 45 seconds ahead at race pace. There was now slightly less than half mile to go, I thought about stepping up the pace to see if I could close the gap enough for a sprint finish but decided that I was happy running my own race, didn't feel like crawling into the pain cave, the risk of re-pulling my hamstring was real, and I'm racing again next weekend, a short recovery from this race would be ideal. Plus I was pretty solid on my time gap estimate at 45 seconds and that seemed like a lot of time to make up with .4 miles to go, so I took the carrots out of my mind and continued on at my pace. On the flat after the dam I thought they looked to be getting closer but I still didn't bite. High fived a couple kids at the start of the next short climb. Then at the bottom of the last climb I saw how close I was getting to them, decided again to just run my race and put in a solid strong effort up the last hill, no mad dash or anything, finished with the gap of 2 seconds and 10 seconds. This was a first for me, I've never before turned down what would have been a good foot race to the finish. On the plus side my legs feel great today, no tweeks, pulls, or strains.
What would you do differently?:

Its a freaking race, maybe I should race to the finish, but I was in a good happy zen like state all morning (and the night before), just felt like going out and doing my thing, not anybody elses. This run was within 3 seconds of a standalone run field test on the course a week or so earlier so a very solid effort after a good strong bike, just not used to the feeling of not pulling the trigger when there's a target in my sight.
Post race
Warm down:

Stood around a BS'd, drank a Coke, ate a banana, and got my award for 2nd in age group, the announcer even commented, "wow 2 seconds, that was a close race"

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Nothing stood out, this was almost a 3 minute improvement over last year: 1 minute on the swim, 1.5 on the bike, and 30s on the run. Although last year was on the return from vacation, which I've discovered leads to personal worsts. Certainly didn't leave much time on the course, definitely didn't race for position though, only seemed interested in racing myself, maybe that's a sign of maturity or old age.

Event comments:

Shawnee Mission has always been a very good race, well run and well attended, they seemed to have stepped up the professionalism a notch this year with a more secure transition area and some nice weather.




Last updated: 2012-06-27 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:08:54 | 547 yards | 01m 38s / 100yards
Age Group: 5/29
Overall: 20/176
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course: out and back, bouys on right
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 85F / 29C Current: Low
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 01:26
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:24:22 | 09 miles | 22.16 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/29
Overall: 8/176
Performance: Good
Lap 1: 12:11, Pavg=238W, Pnorm=261W, VI=1.098 Lap 2: 12:00, Pavg=227W, Pnorm=258W, VI=1.133 Drank about 20oz water
Wind:
Course: 2 laps, hilly
Road:   Cadence: 88
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 00:47
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:16:33 | 02.4 miles | 06m 54s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/29
Overall: 5/176
Performance: Good
Course: hills
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized? Yes
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4