'Tri The Rock' Triathlon - TriathlonMini Sprint


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Rockwall, Texas
United States
Ironhead Race Productions
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 13m 22s
Overall Rank = 60/381
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 13/48
Pre-race routine:

Last year, this was my first tri ever. This time, I could measure my progress over that one year. My goal was to cut 10 minutes off of last year's 1:26:45 time.

The day before, I couldn't find my race belt for anything. I just about turned my house upsidedown and car looking for it. In a last ditch effort, I had made one from my Camelbak waist straps and some safety pins. Then, my son found his "Superman belt" which was really the freeby race belt from the Disco Tri earlier this year.

Woke up at 5am and loaded my vehicle making sure everything was there. Ate a peanut bar and a Cliff bar and drove the 15 minutes to the Y.
Event warmup:

Mainly talked with Comet tri_it_cajun_style, and jcagg90. It wouldn't have helped to do a warm up as I'd be waiting 30 min before getting in the pool due to the pool swim 1 every 10 secs start.
Swim
  • 05m 27s
  • 300 yards
  • 01m 49s / 100 yards
Comments:

Last year, I was way off with my swim prediction. This year, I did much better. I think I passed three people; 2 let me go at the wall and I passed one going "three wide" in the lane. My goal was to keep it real easy and keep aerobic, but I only halfway succeeded in this. But, it was only 300 yds, so I still felt real good after.

Last Year: 6:26
Improvement: 0:59
What would you do differently?:

Not much. This went real well.
Transition 1
  • 02m 9s
Comments:

My philosophy is to take my time in the transition area and it shows in my times. It also felt like everything took me forever (ie putting on socks, getting helmet, sunglasses, etc).
What would you do differently?:

I could probably better organize so that it flows better.
Bike
  • 41m 49s
  • 14 miles
  • 20.09 mile/hr
Comments:

This is where I was going to make up the most time from last year. I remembered this as a rolling hills course, but still thought I'd be able to be fast on it.

I started passing people immediately. Because of the swim start spacing one person every 10 seconds, the bike course is really lonely. You do see people, but there were times when I couldn't see another racer ahead of me. I stuck to my plan of resting on the downhills and then attacking the uphills. Most of my passing was done going up the hills.

In the first half, I noticed a house that looked familiar. I checked the distance and sure enough, that was where I sat off the side of the road to redo my shoe laces last year when they got caught up in my chain/cranks. I was going clipless today :)

For almost the first half, I was flying, although the hills were bigger and more often than I had remembered. There was also a crosswind which didn't really seem to affect much. I was thinking that I was going to have a killer bike split.

About 7 miles in, I made the turn to the road which would bring us back to the Y and was greeted with a wicked wind. I think from this point to the end, I didn't hit 20mph on anything other than a downhill. Again, the hills continued to be bigger and more often than I had remembered, but I knew I was still riding pretty strong.

Last Year: 48:54
Improvement: 7:05
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, this was a real good ride and I put in a good, hard effort. I possibly could have pushed a little more on the second half, but I'm really thrilled with my improvement on the bike.
Transition 2
  • 00m 50s
Comments:

Much better with this transition. My rack was the first off the bike. I still didn't rush and took a few seconds to just look around at everybody else.
What would you do differently?:

Leave my sunglasses in transition.
Run
  • 23m 4s
  • 2.9 miles
  • 07m 57s  min/mile
Comments:

Just like the last tri this year, at the start of the run, I had a stitch-like pain on the top of my shoulder. This held me initially at a bit of a slow pace. I did see Haley up ahead of me and as I was slowly getting rid of my shoulder pain, I was slowly catching up with Haley. I ran with her for a little bit and then went ahead just before the turn-around.

The run back was felt much better and I got into a good pace. One of my goals for this race was to try to find that pace that I could hold for the 10k in my next race - my first Oly. I'm pretty sure I found it right at a 8 min/mi pace.

Before I left the sidewalk, I picked up the pace a bit and finished strong. I was suprised at my pace as I figured the beginning of the run would have kept me in 8:15-8:30 pace range.

Last year: 26:52
Improvement: 3:48
What would you do differently?:

Find what is causing my shoulder pain. It's not any type of muscular pain and I don't think it's from bike position as I rode my tri bike for this race and it happened on my road bike (no aerobars) in my last race.

I did do some hard effort bricks at WRL between the races and only had the pain once.
Post race
Warm down:

Chatted with the BT jockstraps (jcagg90, Dogersmom, & Doughboy) and went to find my family. Well, my wife missed me on the bike return and was worried that I was flatted/wrecked on the course. So, she didn't see me finish.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I'm completely floored by my progress and performance over the past year.

Event comments:

I really like this race. It's well run, beginner friendly, and a nice race to test your all-out performance. It doesn't hurt that it's only 15 minutes from my house.




Last updated: 2006-08-02 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:05:27 | 300 yards | 01m 49s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/48
Overall: 94/381
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course:
Start type: Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current:
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 02:09
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:41:49 | 14 miles | 20.09 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/48
Overall: 41/381
Performance: Good
AveHR: 183, MaxHR: 189
Wind: Some
Course: Single loop, mainly on country 2 lane roads. Right half of lane on the stretch back was definately showing why we water our home foundations around here as it was a good 3" below the center of the lane.
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 00:50
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:23:04 | 02.9 miles | 07m 57s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/48
Overall: 99/381
Performance: Good
AveHR: 183, MaxHR: 187
Course: Out and back. 1/3 mi grassy segment to the cement sidewalk/trail. The run along the sidewalk was completely open with no relief from the sun.
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4