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 Swim
Comments: At 8:25 Drew and I went and got into the water. The course was a double loop on a triangular course where you kept the buoys on your right. We swan clockwise – which for us breathers on the right was a dream come true. Before the race I was chatting with Heath Thurston, who is a local professional tri stud. He is going down to Lubbock next week to qualify for Kona, which is where he qualified last year. I asked him to help me with my swim stroke so that I could post a 1:30 m/100 m at my A race in August. I just haven’t been able to break that barrier and I really wanted sometime in the next couple of years to go sub 1:40 in a race. He agreed and we went our ways. The cool thing here is I did that today. I have a tough time with swim pacing in a race and just go off of perceived exertion levels. Wetsuits really work. Sighting was fine and breathing went well. I could tell I was swimming hard, but I never got to a point that I wanted to stop. My bother told me I was in the top ten when I left the water. I have never done that well and that is more a testament to the smaller size of this race. Still, it feels good to see that time now. The swim exit was over rocks and gravel, and the RD did his best to cover what he could with carpet. He just didn’t have enough to go all of the way to the asphalt. So, unless you brought shoes, you would have been crawling about 30 yards to the transition area. Luckily, I wore my Chacos this morning. What would you do differently?: Not much. I tried to draft a couple of people and just ended up passing most of them. The one thing I don't like about a wetsuit is you have no clue as to how fast or slow you are going in the water.  Transition 1
Comments: I did take my time today. This time does count the time from the water up to the transition area. I sat down to put on my bike shoes as I wasn’t that worried about time. The wetsuit came off alright, but I just took my time. I am not that worried about how it affected my placing because I finished four minutes behind the next guy up. What would you do differently?: Not give Heath Thirston the bird when he yelled at me for taking my time.  Bike
Comments: This was the area that I was concerned about. As I mentioned, I don’t have the same volume as I did last year, and my time shows it. I am actually happy with my time, but I know I can go about 15 minutes faster. There is no reason why I shouldn’t have today, except for the volume and speedwork issues. I guess those are good reasons. This is the slowest average speed I have ever clocked in a tri, including in my ½ IM last summer. Even there I was over 20 mph. The course is where I ride most of my training, and I know the course. It is made up of some rolling hills, but that is not an excuse. My plan was to take it easy the first 6 miles, really hit the next 16 hard, then spin the last couple. I was riding according to plan until about mile 17 and I just slowed down. Up to that point I was pedaling in circles as I have spent some significant time on my training rides and on the trainer practicing pedaling technique. At mile 17 I had to just hang on. On the entire ride I was passed by 5 people and I passed 2. There really weren’t that many people on the ride, which left a really wide open course. Nutrition also went to plan. I drank 2 bottles of water and 1 450 calorie bottle of Gu2O/Gatorade. I took 3 Enduralytes about 45 minutes into the ride. I did feel good coming into T2 and I felt like I had set myself up for a good run. My heart rate was a little higher than I like to keep it, but that was due to the hilly nature of the course. I really felt good the entire bike, except for the tired legs. But, this is a race… One thing I had forgotten to do when setting up my bike was tighten the brakes back down. I rode into the dismount area and really wasn’t stopping. That sucked. I made a left turn away from the dismount line and wound up stopping a little later. Glad nobody was there. Mental note to self, always tighten down those brakes. What would you do differently?: Go faster. Transition 2
Comments: Got in and due to the braking incident; I didn’t pull my feet out of my shoes on the bike. But, the time was low enough that I am alright with that. Racked my bike, switched shoes, and ran out. What would you do differently?: Um, stop and put on my cape so I could really fly?  Run
Comments: This is where my new technique on the bike hurt me. Out of T2 for about the first .75 miles of the run you go on a trail run that takes you up some hills to get to the road. The front of my legs were cramping because of the pedaling on a circle. This has never happened on a brick where I have done the same thing, so I did have to walk and stretch out those cramps a little. I am glad I did because man did they hurt. That was the weirdest thing that has happened to me during a race. During my regular runs, unless the run is over 10 miles, I will rarely drink or eat anything. I had set myself up on the bike nutritionally that I did not feel that I needed to get anything from the aid stations. I love blowing through the stations because you can make up a ton of time there on people who walk through them. This was one of my better runs during a race. I think if I had not had the cramping issue I could have run closer to 8:00 m/m, but this is what I got from the tri gods today. The course was an out and back on a very quiet country road. It was a great run course. If they are able to pull the ½ IM together on this course next year, I will definitely sign up. Running down these shaded roads with orchards on one side and the lake on the other was nice. It did keep you mentally engaged if you didn’t want to focus on your race. I never really hit a mental low on this run. This means that I could be getting tougher mentally, my run training is going well, I nailed my nutrition today, or that I didn’t go hard enough today. I think I could have gone a little harder on the bike and even on the run, but I will take this run as one of the more successful in a triathlon that I have done. The time wasn’t ideal, but as a whole, the run was. What would you do differently?: Run faster... Post race
Warm down: I stood around with Brett and Drew waiting for the age group awards. I came in just about where I thought I should. The 2:30 goal was shot off of the bike, so I pushed to hit the 2:45 goal and I did. This was the first tri of the year and it was nice to get the race cobwebs off. And oh yeah, even with that time I still placed third in my age group. This was my first placing in a triathlon. I am still excited about that. Everyone who was there from BeginnerTriathlete.com placed in their age group. Actually, everyone from the site placed 1st in their age group except for me. How is that for perspective? What limited your ability to perform faster: Lack of volume in my training this year. Event comments: Alright, here are my lessons learned: 1. You can swim fast. Last year my best times in training were 1:58 m/100 m and my best time in a race was 1:45 m/100 m. I have been making great leaps by just putting in time in the pool. 2. I need more miles on the bike. If I want to ride with the big guns, my average mph on the bike needs to get up to 24 mph in a race. I am going to execute a plan to accomplish that goal for my A race in August. For my B race I will set a goal of 22 mph average for the bike. 3. My race days are made by good nutrition strategies and execution of my plans. In all of my races to date, I have always nailed my nutrition because I practice, practice, and practice. 4. I need some more practice before trying to pedal in circles during a race again. 5. I love to run. 6. I love my brother for coming out to the race. It was cool to have him there – this was his first. When I asked him if he was going to start tris, he told me that he wants me to help him figure out how to tell his wife that he wants to compete in regional UFC tournaments. Man that will be a good conversation to be a part of. 7. Triathlons are fun. I had goals today, but I just went out and played. I didn’t look at my watch every 2 minutes like I normally do – perhaps I should have. But, I had a great time at this one. Last updated: 2006-06-12 12:00 AM
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United States
Telos
72F / 22C
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 3/
So hmm…As I try and write this race report, nothing witty is coming to mind for me to start it with. I decided on Monday that I would do this race after remembering why this race is put on. At a local residential behavioral treatment center they use triathlon to help exercise and provide structure to the boys. The use the proceeds from this race to fund the entry fees for the boys’ races throughout the year. This is one of the truly deserving causes.
Up to now, my volume in training has not been at the level I was able to maintain in 2005. We just sold our house and are trying to keep on the contractor building our new house as well. My company has taken on some new projects that have kept me fairly busy. Last June I biked over 800 miles; this June it will be closer to 500. I have not done any speedwork yet this year as I am still building a base so I can peak for my A race in late August.
Needless to say, I went into this race feeling like I wouldn’t be too fast. Signing up for it on the Monday before also did not let me hit my taper like I prefer. So by Friday my legs are usually feeling pumped and ready and for this race, they were still tired.
So I started setting goals, thinking a 2:45 was most probable and a 2:30 would be incredible. Proper pacing, which I have had problems with in the past, would be the key to hitting either of those goals. By Friday night, I knew it would an interesting experience.
The race venue was on Utah Lake, which if you have ever been on you know you can stand up in the middle of. I live about 15 minutes from the site and I use the surrounding area for my bike training grounds. I got up at 6:00 for an 8:30 race start and took my time getting ready. All of my race gear had been packed the night before, so all I needed was to eat, put on some clothes, and leave. I ate 2 Quaker Instant Oatmeal packets, drank an Ensure, had about a gallon of water, three Enduralytes, and headed out.
Got to the site, there was no wind, the lake was calm, and people were starting to arrive. The air was cool, so this should be a fast day. There was no chip timing, so the splits I have are direct from my HRM.
I met up with Drew (DrewWhite) and Brett (UTTriman) before the race. They are some cool guys and now that I will be moving closer to Brett this summer, he thinks he is going to pull me out of bed for early morning swim practice. Good luck with that one. Seriously, it would be hard to find a couple of nicer guys on the tri circuit.
My little brother, who I think is super cool, showed up to watch part of the race. I chatted with him for a while and milled about talking with my other friends who were there. The race was OK on organization, and from what the RD said, they will be adding a ½ IM distance to this race next year. I think he also said they were going to start advertising the race so that people would actually sign up. I think there were about 100 people there between the sprint and the olympic.
The only complaint I have about this race is their lack of published information. Everything else went well, but even now I don’t know how far some of the distances were supposed to be. I have my guesses, but I would like to know what we were signed up to do.