Tri the Swamp Rabbit at Furman - Triathlon


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Greenville, South Carolina
United States
Set Up Events
70F / 21C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 14m 29s
Overall Rank = 18/174
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 2/10
Pre-race routine:

Shaved legs, arms, and head the night before the race. I have been skeptical about the benefits but the recent wind tunnel testing by specialized made it seem worthwhile to me. We slept in Greenville, got up at 5:40 and had the normal steel cut oats, bannana, and coffee. Drove to race did packet pickup and setup transition.
Event warmup:

bike 3 miles around the furman campus and then swam 50m, felt slow wearing the pearl izumi octan suit so ran up to transition and got the speed suit, felt much quicker after that.
Swim
  • 04m 23s
  • 250 meters
  • 01m 45s / 100 meters
Comments:

I had seeded myself at 47 with a 1:25 swim submission. this worker out perfect because I was 39th out of men and 8 women were faster than me. setup events did a pretty good job of preventing lane congestion by delaying the starts but there was still some backup. on the 3rd lane (about 85 meters in) I got struck head on by a swimmer (who later claimed he got confused on which side of the lane to swim on). this game me 3 small cuts on my head, knocked my goggles from my eyes (filling them with water). I also was expecting my nose to start bleeding but it didn't thankfully. then on the next leg he came at me again, but I prevented collision by watching out for him. my time was 5 seconds slower than last year but considering the huge collision it is understandable.
What would you do differently?:

I would say watch out for oncoming traffic.
Transition 1
  • 00m 53s
Comments:

suit got stuck on my feet and almost fell over trying to get it off. I think I was still a bit dizzy from the collision at this point.
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Bike
  • 44m 53s
  • 16.5 miles
  • 22.06 mile/hr
Comments:

very happy with this bike. 4 major things happened since my last race, I go a bike fit from go tri sports in hilton head by alfred (amazing! best money you can spend!), I wore the pearl izumi octane suit which is fast, I shaved my arms and legs, and I ran hed trispoke front/hed jet disc rear combo. all of this caused me 22+ mph for the race with 0 hill training. also, katie malone of malone coaching is making my wife do a lot of riding in prep for augusta half ironman, so I have been riding as a safety rider with my wife. I took a gu at mile 3 and 16. my water bottle ran dry at mile 13-14. the race start was 0700 last year but for some reason was delayed until 0800, although I loved the hour of extra sleep this caused significant more traffic to be on the road and at the intersections it TR was a little sketchy.
What would you do differently?:

ride hills, but nothing really.
Transition 2
  • 00m 45s
Comments:

running shoe insole bunched up on the right foot making me have to pull it off and put it back on.
What would you do differently?:

running shoes continue to kick my butt.
Run
  • 23m 36s
  • 5 kms
  • 04m 43s  min/km
Comments:

the run course was marked poorly, a couple runners went the wrong way and a few short cut the course at the end of the pond. they redid the course this year but left murder hill in it (completely not necessary and could be corrected by running a few tenths on additional on the swamp rabbit trail). from furman you transition <100m up a rocky path to get onto the swamp rabbit trail. the swamp rabbit trail was the onyl real highlight of the run, but due to the 1 hour race delay start there was a ton of runners/bikers on the trail and they did not know how to handle race traffic, causing multiple near miss accidents. the run back onto campus was fine but the finish was super lame you ran up a zig zag next to the stadium. setup events stated "The new course will now finish next to the Football Stadium and will provide a bird's eye view for spectators of the finish line chute. We are very excited about this new change and course maps have been updated." but there were no great views. aid stations at 1 mile was good but an aid station at 2.5 miles was pretty much a waste being so close to the finish. the "new course" also got us a bonus .1 miles by GPS.
What would you do differently?:

nothing, pushed as hard as I could go. ran the exact same time 23:36 as last year
Post race
Warm down:

finished the race, stretched out a bit. ate some food and drank some gatorade, coke, and water. found good spot to cheer for my friends that were coming in

What limited your ability to perform faster:

the head on collision during the swim, lack of hill training, and bad run course.

Event comments:

The run could easily be made amazing by knocking murder hill out and adding the distance to the swamp rabbit trail especially since this is the swamp rabbit triathlon and then finishing the race on the football field inside the football stadium. post race was very disappointing, beverages and food ran out by the time 2/3rds of people had finished the race. awards started 75 minutes late and were not well announced, 85% of people took of rather than sticking around for an award that was a visor. bathrooms were not well advertised inside the football stadium and the aquatic center did not open up more than 30 minutes before the race start, there were no port-a-potties. proaxis did a great job post race teaching people to stretch and helped provide medical treatment when needed.




Last updated: 2014-07-13 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:04:23 | 250 meters | 01m 45s / 100meters
Age Group: 4/10
Overall: 39/174
Performance: Average
Suit: Nineteen frequency
Course: 1st and 6th laps are single traffic middle 4 are 2 way traffic. then a short run (about 30 seconds) from the pool deck up a small hill into transition.
Start type: Inside Pool Plus: Time Trial
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current:
200M Perf. Bad Remainder: Below average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Bad
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 00:53
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:44:53 | 16.5 miles | 22.06 mile/hr
Age Group: 1/10
Overall: 14/174
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: The 16.5 bike course through beautiful Travelers Rest will test your mid-season legs rolling over a host of gradual climbs and a handful of short steep bursts with nearly all the climbing in the first half of the course followed by a fast finish leading into Furman's back gate.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 90
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 00:45
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Bad
Running
00:23:36 | 05 kms | 04m 43s  min/km
Age Group: 0/10
Overall: 0/174
Performance: Average
Course: After the bike leg you'll find a new twist on a 5K venue familiar to local athletes thanks to the photo addition of a sweet stretch on the Swamp Rabbit trail, the race's namesake. After a scenic jaunt around Furman's beautiful Swan Lake you'll enjoy more than a mile on the well-shaded Swamp Rabbit Trail, after which you'll loop back through this gorgeous campus towards the finish just beyond the transition area.
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3