Frantic Frog Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I felt like I swam well, but I do really need to get faster. I'm not competitive in the swim and it hurts my placing.

I was race #21 based on swim seed. We lined up on the dock and they had us form 2 lines so they could launch us 2 at a time to speed things up. I probably got in the water 30-45 seconds after the first racers did. They didn't allow a dive from the dock so we had to jump in feet first. I really want to be allowed to dive sometime.
I felt pretty relaxed and had a good rhythm going. I was swimming straight. I wasn't immediately overrun by faster swimmers from behind which I usually am. After about 50m a swimmer came by on my left and moved a little to the right so I drafted for a while, but he was veering hard to the right and I didn't want to go off course. A few strokes later I looked up and it was me who had been veering left! I didn't get far off course, just moved 5 feet or so off the line. It was the last time I veered off course fortunately. About then I go to take a breath and get a wave in my face which takes the water down too deep to catch it in my mouth. Next stop, wind-pipe! Fortunately I was able to swallow it and send it down to my stomach. No problem though, I just missed a breath and was well within my ability to miss one comfortably. The same thing happened one more time a minute later but I caught it in my mouth and was fine.
When I approached the turnaround buoy I did a corkscrew stroke to assist making the sharp turn. I am not good enough at these turns yet to do it relaxed (to use no extra air) and to keep my feet at the surface of the water (to keep my speed) but it worked at least as well as struggling to turn a freestyle stroke.
The swim was good in that I never broke apart my form, never slowed, never got in to oxygen debt. At about 250M I ran in to a slower swimmer that was moving very slow....an obvious error in seed time. Hope I didn't mess her up too much by running in to her legs like I did. She came out of nowhere in terms of my poor water perception. I had just looked up to sight a few strokes before and didn't notice anyone there.

During the last 50m we entered an area of water that was full of seaweed that must have been blown in by wind. It was thick. It was getting hung up on my arms and getting caught between my fingers. Pretty cool really.

Once in water up to my solar plexis I began to stand up and dolphin dive.
This is faster than freestyle. I did this 3 times before standing up to 'jog' out of the water.


I think I need more open water experience. I'm not as relaxed as I am in the pool and I think I slow up a lot when I sight.

This transition has a relatively long run. I ran fast. They had put down carpeting from the water exit all the way in to transition. They also had the bike racks on carpet so I ran on the edge of that all the way down my row once in transition. It makes for a much faster barefoot run and I took advantage of it.
I also got my feet in my shoes with less slowing down than I ever have.

Nothing.

After coming out of T1 and going 50 feet down a 'driveway' we turned left on to the main road leading to the race area. This road goes a couple of miles to the main loop of the course, so this part is used both directions on the way out and the way back. That is the only part of the course with hills. After out on the main loop there is gradual up and down, but barely requiring shifts of the gears. The pavement is very fast everywhere except one side of the main loop's rectangle. Even that pavement is 'good'.

So out from the driveway I go to the main road still in my small chainring. I get spinning up to speed, get on the aerobars and shift to the big ring. I bring it up to 24 mph and think about putting my feet in...not yet, I'm passing a few people as I cross the 200 or 300 yard land bridge. At the end of the 'bridge' there is a gradual up hill, so not here. I shift up to 53x22 (the easiest gear I use all day), make it over the crest and on the way down with my speed regained, I begin to get my feet in. To facilitate this I've found the technique that works well for me..
First off, tri bikes are twitchy and very susceptible to steering input with small changes in the weight you place on the handlebars (when one-handed). To minimize this, I have learned it's best to keep my 1 arm in the aerobars because it's closer to the stem and induces less steering input. I also slide back on the saddle all the way which lightens the front end and makes the bike more stable. Then I reach my hand down, hold the heel of my shoe and pick up my foot to slide the toes in the opening.

Once in, I regain my race speed if necessary...in this case I was going up the next roller so I kept my other foot on top of my shoe. Upon going down that next roller I repeated the procedure for my right foot. I then spin back up to speed and reach down to tighten the strap and repeat.

The process took a while in terms of distance but probably didn't slow me down.

This first section of road with the rollers and curves is fun. Most of my passing is done here.
We reach the main highway and take a right turn at good speed then immediately move to the left lane of the two lanes traveling in our direction...this is because 1 mile up the road is a left hand turn. So our 'lane of travel' is the left lane...yet the rules of triathlon require us to be on the right side of our 'lane of travel'. I came up on a rider who was on the far left of our lane near the double yellow line in the center of the highway. Knowing that it's illegal to pass on the right, I came up behind him and yelled for him to move over. He did and as I passed on his left I complimented him on his nice bike (same model as mine).

Up the road at the left turn, volunteers were directing traffic. Making this left turn has us turning in front of the return route for the bike ride. Racers further back will actually encounter returning racers and must yield to them when they make their left turns...potentially dangerous, but in all their years of running this race I don't believe they've had any issues.

This turn is happening at 30mph, so I'm glad it's a wider left turn rather than a tight right turn...I begin to turn in and ride over something large and unseen...felt like a 1" diameter rock. My rear wheel skips sideways and there's a loud snap as it gets shot out from under my bike. That's always a tense second or so after that sound because it's often followed by the 'hiss' of escaping air and a flat tire. Fortunately that 2nd part didn't happen. It startled me but didn't mess up my turn. Halfway through I notice I'm on a line to go off the road so I need to tighten up my turn radius. There's no meandering arc here; I need to make the tires bite and do their thing...Kind of glad for my bike racing days right now...
Alright on the other highway now and I have a few miles to just chill and meditate as I ride. This is the 'rough' section of pavement--relatively speaking-- so I busy myself with looking for the smooth spot. Sometimes it's where the car's right tires track and sometimes its along the white line that marks the beginning of the shoulder. I make a few more passes along here too. I make sure my speed is looking good. I keep evaluating my effort level but I know I have given myself permission to hurt on the bike so I only back down when I get 'hurt' enough to feel I can't keep it up to the end of the bike leg.
My thoughts here are looking for the smoothest pavement, monitoring my effort and reminding myself to 'shrug'...that is to drop my torso and let the shoulder blades pop up on the back. It's called 'turtling'. The torso goes a bit lower along with the head. I also try to keep my head down and stay more aero. The other thing I do is focus on pushing through my glutes. I kept finding myself feeling some strain in the lower quads above the knee...a sign that I'm not pedaling efficiently...must use glutes! So I relax my ankle/calf, that relaxes the quads, and leaves the glutes doing the work. I pass a couple more people before the right hand turn comes up.
I come in to the turn pretty hot, but there's a bit of a turn lane which makes the arc of the curve gradual. Speed is high though so still needed to really lean in and let the tires bite. I did this with my left hand on the bull horn near the brake lever but my right arm still in the aerobars. It's more stable than being full aero but not like sitting all the way up and catching the wind. I proceed to put down good power here because this is a gradual up hill. Might be gaining 50 feet over a mile. I'm still thinking about being aero about pushing through my glutes and about riding right up around threshold...I come up on a guy obviously in a relay. He's got an awesome TT bike, a skinsuit with sponsors names all over it, and even those cool little aero shoe covers. And I blow past him like he's sitting still (at least I'd like to think so). I'm moving pretty well and have passed a bunch of riders now. Starting to wonder how far back I am from the leader. I think it's not out of the question to be the first in to T2.

Up the road a few miles I am still feeling great. As the pavement has done the gradual incline I don't think I've dipped below 24mph. But besides current speed and ride time I'm not willing to look at any other data; Just the data I'm getting from perceived exertion. At the end of this straight highway, we take an on-ramp on to another highway. That section of road is rather short and we have a right hand turn down the last stretch of highway. This direction there is a little altitude loss so speeds are usually 27+mph here. I don't remember passing anyone here...this portion of the highway has businesses such as McDonalds and whatnot...so I'm watching for vehicles pulling out of these parking lots.

I don't see any riders in front of me, but don't really feel that I'm in the lead because I expect that there would be a lead motorcycle. Hmm.
I again have the conversation with myself about whether the pace is too fast, whether I should back off...I remind myself I have permission to blow up if necessary and feel pretty good about that freedom. I just redouble my efforts to push through the glutes.

Soon I come up on that intersection with outgoing cyclists turning left in front of me. The race workers are all over that. They are watching for people on intersect courses and talking to the outgoing riders if they need to yield.
The only bad thing is one of their control vehicles is parked right in the center of the intersection and is blocking my view of oncoming cyclists. I see one make the turn in front of me with at least 100 feet to go and wonder who might be on their way, but blocked from my view. Anyway, I judge the expressions on the faces of the workers and they seem calm. I take that as a good sign and go through without letting up. About 30mph right there. At this point I can see up the road at least 1/2 a mile to the left turn back on to that road leading back to the race area. I don't see anybody. Could there be a rider that's over 1/2 mile ahead of me at the rate I've been riding? I don't think so...but then again I am not getting the feedback from workers and spectators that I think the race leader would be getting...hmmm.

As I come up on that last intersection where I make a left turn back in, 30mph cornering requires a lot of hard lean! I'm blowing my way in wondering where everyone is. I see lots of outgoing riders and can imagine what they are thinking..."I've got so much race left and that guy's almost done!?!?" Well, after taking the rolling hills and the curves and avoiding all of the bad pavement the RD had marked off with painted warnings, I come to the land bridge.
Here I am riding by the outgoing run course and I'm hoping I don't see anyone. But there goes a guy almost at the end of the land bridge, so he's got at least a quarter mile on me. :( And he's running fast and looks elite. Uh, oh there's another. About now I'm getting my feet out of the shoes while maintaining at least 25mph. As I ride by the T2 exit area around to the bike-in location I see another runner just exiting T2. And there's no telling how many are inside transition.

I have my feet on top of my shoes now still making sure not to slow prematurely. I come up on the right hand turn in to the 'driveway' to the parking lot that is transition. The pavement's sketchy so I slow down and I'm on the bullhorns. I take the turn, regain some speed, and then swing my right leg over the bike and am standing on the left pedal as I approach the dismount line...just waiting til the last moment...Now! hit the front brake pretty hard until I'm down to about 8mph and step off running. Did that pretty well. I run on to rack the bike, slip on the shoes, grab my race belt and go.



Hmmmm...Thought it was a pretty perfectly executed bike segment.

A few seconds lost in T2 due to the shoe not getting quite perfectly on with the first pull...had to balance there and try to pull things out with my finger...part of the upper and part of the tongue had been pushed inside.

Not much really.

As I began to run out of transition, for the first time ever my legs felt like they do when there's no cycling first...meaning they didn't feel heavy or tight. Usually my stride is artificially shortened and my perception of pace is way off. But not this time. Also missing was the usual 30-60 seconds of difficulty breathing.
As I ran out of transition with my race belt in my hand I felt like I was flying. I didn't see any other runners immediately in front of me but I proceeded to set my pace and get to work.
As I began to cross the land bridge, there was a steady trickle of cyclists coming back in. I could see a runner up ahead of me. As I got to the end of the land bridge a runner came FLYING past me! But he was dressed in running clothes and from the results I analyzed later I know now that he was a relay team member.
I didn't know for sure how many people were on the course in front of me...But shortly after the land bridge ended and I made it on to the walking path I caught and passed a studly looking racer. He looked like a very good athlete, had cool tattoos, and most importantly had my age group written on his leg. As I went by he complimented my speed and I noticed his race number was 7 (I was 21...meaning I beat him just by catching him).
I ran in this position for what seemed like a long way, through the 1 mile mark...darn, that sign is way out here near the turnaround...do I really have over 2 miles left?
This section of the course had hills on it. These are hills that last 30 yards or so and many people complained about these hills later. I keep forgetting from year to year about these hills but they surely aren't bad. I only remember one of them where I actually slowed consciously to pace myself for it.
Once out in the open there is a big loop around a parking lot to route back on to the walking path. At this point I was able to see the first runner (recognized him from returning on the bike). From there I counted and could tell that I was now in 5th place on the course. I didn't notice anyone imminently chasing me down, but you know what? I don't think I ever looked or ever cared. I was moving pretty well and was focused on catching someone more than being caught.
My breathing was good, my effort was sustainable. I focused at times on my form. I could tell that I was using my hamstrings and realized I'd leaned back and was pulling myself forward with my hamstrings. That's not efficient (know this from spending time on the treadmill trying different nuances to my form). So I reminded myself to lean forward until I was balanced just on the edge of falling forward. I also made sure to emphasize my toe off and create extra distance with each stride.
These changes were most important on the land bridge and the few other flat sections. When running up hill it's a slightly different dynamic. When running downhill, I was fortunate in that these hills were just within my ability to relax and let gravity do the work. All I needed to do was relax my legs and keep them under me.

As I meandered through the woods on the trail I came to the last up hill and this is where I noticed my exertion getting just beyond sustainable. It's here that I allowed the hill to slow me and relaxed and within a moment I was good to go.
Another thing I noticed right around this point is how cool I felt. It was in the low 70s and although it was pretty humid that temperature allowed for a good cooling effect. I think this is the first race all season with the exception of my very first one on April 1 in which I wasn't being impacted to some extent by the heat.
When I came around the last portion of the paved trail, there is a wooden bridge to cross before a water station and then the land bridge to return to the finish. As I came across the wood bridge (5 ft wide), it was going slightly downward and was filled with outgoing runners coming up. One of them was on the left (my right) and in my way. I barked out a loud 'HEY!' which not only worked to get his attention, but served as a greeting because just as I vocalized I recognized it as my cycling club buddy Duane. He looked up from the ground, startled, and jumped right out of the way.
After passing that water station (I never drank in this race), I was back on the land bridge for the final push to the finish. I realized that I was making a face...a grimace. I guess I was suffering pretty darn good. But my body still had the motivation and strength to hold the pace. Might have been 2/5 mile left? I'm trying to stay right and hoping each of the outgoing runners will do the same and they seem to do this one by one as they see me approach. They are the ones that can see the incoming cyclists behind me and I know they can only move to their right if there's room...if they don't, I'm not moving left as I may be jumping in to a cyclist. And runners are passing other runners on the way out filling up the roadway...I could possibly go further right off the road maybe but not everywhere.
Here comes another guy, an older lanky gentleman in running clothes, probably a relay member...He is looking at the ground in front of him and I realize he's not going to notice me...but other runners and the fear of cyclists and the guardrail on my right mean I can't do anything other than make him move. So I yell out loudly: "HUP!" and scare the life out of him...
After crossing the land bridge we go off road for the last 300 meters and loop around the peninsula that holds the park/beach area that is the center of activities (and contains the finish line). This is a very cruel joke because at this point we run right by the transition exit and feel we should be done. But there's plenty of distance left during which to hurt... The route is flagged off the way that cross country meets are marked. I'm carefully watching the ground because it's uneven and there are tree roots and pine cones and whatnot. I didn't even think to look behind me, but it wouldn't have mattered because I'm fighting for every second I can get. It's a time trial start after all and you aren't really head to head with anyone.
There's a nice crowd of spectators gathered around the last 100 yards to cheer people on and it's hurting now, but I know I can hold it through to the end. Ever been sprinting a 50 or 100 in the pool and you are really suffering with 25 to go? You know how that hurts, but you need to endure that ever growing pain until you get to the wall? You can only do this because you know it's ending soon?
Yep, that's how it felt. Probably did a decent job of putting it all out on the course. In fact, short of collapsing, I was pretty useless when I crossed. I blew right past the volunteers collecting timing chips and got a bottle of water. A few seconds later I asked if I could lay down in the tub of ice with water bottles in it.. :) I got permission! But I joking!

Shortly, I was coherent enough to walk back to the volunteer. She reached for my timing chip's velcro strap and I realized this wasn't going to be quick...I had augmented the velcro with a safety pin. I now realized how much I was really hurting. I couldn't stand still...I had to put my hands on my knees and try not to fall down while she collected my chip.



It was a good race. I felt it on the course and even without feedback from any clocks I was happy.
Nothing different to do. It would be good to see GPS data of the run and to see what my splits were and see my speed charted versus elevation.

Walked around until the race pain had faded. Talked to the guy that had finished 2nd across the line (turned out to be 3rd)...I'd seen him on the run and noticed that he was somewhat muscular and carrying more bodyfat than most triathletes yet he was very fast...so that impressed me. We talked for a while about weight lifting, and apetite! (he wants to be lighter but does't seem to have the will power). I found out later looking over the results that his bike split was the top one and beat me by around a minute. If he hadn't been out of the water before me he would have passed me on the bike which would have deflated me!

I then was approached by the guy in my AG that I passed on the run. He was very complimentary about my speed as I came past him. I appreciated his encouragement. It's really cool to see people who I know are very competitive also be very happy to credit others who do even better. He described being passed on the bike by someone that was just flying. I know he was talking about the guy with the top bike split I had just spoken to. He explained to me how he tried to keep up for awhile but was seeing 400Watts registering on his power meter and "had to back it back down to 320".

I also had a discussion with an acquaintance named David who always stresses over his age group placing and is always stressed about who has entered and what kind of shape they are in...He was telling me about doing an FTP test and coming up with 320 Watts for his 20 minute test.

I know people throw out power numbers and really didn't figure my power numbers are that great...I think that something like 270watts is pretty decent and have never given thought to what I push. But if David has an FTP of 320 (and I TOAST him) and the other guy was maintaining 320 for the duration of this race (and I beat him quite handily on the bike)...I don't know, maybe I'm just that much more aero!? It's scary to me to think I may make respectible numbers. Sort of afraid to test my power output for the same reason some people don't want to have a physical...don't want to get bad news.
Got my socks and training shoes back on. Pulled off my tri top and put on a short sleeve T and walked around.
Went back to the car to get Evan and bring him down for pizza and soda...


I would say my swim....and the fact that I'm not a super star (yet).



The awards at this race are awesome! Trophies are Frogs looking Frantic! Shirt design is awesome enough it's one you'll want to keep. Had our choice of long or short sleeves. Overall winners got a framed print of a calico colored frog. Very nice art actually.
And in our swag bags was a RACE BELT! How many people need race belts??!? Pretty much everyone. What great swag!