Challenge Williamsburg - Olympic Course - Triathlon


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Williamsburg, Virginia
United States
Challenge
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 28m 8s
Overall Rank = 134/193
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 12/16
Pre-race routine:

This was probably the best part of my race. I had a plan it was executed pretty much exactly as planned. Up early, bring my own food, eat early and have no GI or Hunger issues on the course.

This was a split transition course which was new to me. However, it seemed to work out pretty well. The best thing I did is to “chair fly” the event and then pack a small bag for each phase of the event. All of the stuff that was going into T-1 was in one bag, everything going to T-2 was in another bag. A small post-race bag was left with the wife. Other than taking a bit to find one of my bags from T1 after the race, it off without a hitch.
Event warmup:

Didn’t get in and swim at all before the race but did some dynamic stretching before the swim and seemed to workout ok.
Swim
  • 31m 54s
  • 1500 meters
  • 02m 08s / 100 meters
Comments:

I thought that the swim went fairly well all things considered. I started off in the front right of the wave and that served as a bit of a mixed blessing. Probably had one of the shortest lines for the start of the course… but I was in with a ton of people. I must have been right in the middle of everything because I was constantly running into people or people running into me. I expect that sort of thing at the start but it happened the whole way and it played on my head a little bit. I fought through it and tried to get to some open areas with fewer people at times. Never was huge deal but probably resulted in the highest anxiety levels I have ever had in an open water swim.
Sighting went pretty well despite the smaller course markers. My lines seemed to be fairly straight and I didn’t find myself drifting to one side or the other.

What would you do differently?:

Take a wider line at the start to avoid some of the congestion. I didn't need to at the front on the inside.
Transition 1
  • 05m 12s
Comments:

T 1 was slow as I expected in part due to the 400 meter run up the hill to get to our bikes. My bike had a little more space in transition than most so that helped with getting my gear on. I also had to take a little time to tidy up transition due to the logistics of the split transition areas. Otherwise it went fine.
Bike
  • 1h 29m 7s
  • 40 kms
  • 26.93 km/hr
Comments:

This is where things started to go horrible wrong. Things started ok. I had a plan. Maintain mid to high Zone 3 on the HR and a cadence of 90+. I figure if I did that I should have a ride that came in at under 1:20 and probably closer to 1:15. The course is fairly flat and it should have been able to support that kind of effort. Very quickly I knew I was going to have a bad day. Very quickly into the ride my right quad was on fire and my lower back was killing me. The lower back thing felt more like a tightness/pain than any kind of sharp pain. I know that I had a recent bike fit but I had experienced no pain on my 2 training rides before the race. I also had to stop once during the ride to pick up my saddle bag which fell off once. By about 8 miles in the race turned into from a race into a test of fortitude. I spent the rest of the race negotiating with myself and telling myself that I just had to stick it out for 12 more, 8 more or 5 more miles. That and I couldn’t let a dude that was wearing his helmet backwards beat me.
What would you do differently?:

Don't get a bike fit right before a race.
Transition 2
  • 03m 35s
Comments:

I was just thrilled to be done with the bike. I was so disgusted with the bike effort that I just wanted to throw the bike in a ditch and quit the race. Luckily, I came to me senses and decided to stick it out. Amazing what a large entry fee will do to your motivation. At this point my focus went from running the run to just crossing the finish line.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. I was pretty much in survival mode at this point and just happy to be off of the bike.
Run
  • 1h 18m 19s
  • 10 kms
  • 07m 50s  min/km
Comments:

The goal for this effort was to do cadence of 90 and an HR of about 170 until the last mile and then upping the effort based on what I had left in the tank. Unfortunately I had nothing left in the tank at the start and was pretty much out of the race mentally very quickly into the run. The heat and humidity was just oppressive and just didn’t have much will power to overcome that left in the tank. By the end of the race I was walking way more than I was running. I tried to pick up Gatorade, ice and water at every aide station. (I think there were 3 per 5k Loop). I even took some salt pills at one point. Who knows if it did any good at that point. I knew that if I kept moving forward I would eventually finish. Walk or run the only way to make the suffering stop was to keep moving forward and get across that finish line.
Other than the epically bad run, the only thing that concerned me was that physiologically I was concerned about what was going on with me. The Garmin said that my HR was never really all that high but it sure didn’t feel that way. The other thing that really worried me was that on the first loop my arms actually felt a little cool. That shouldn’t have been the case since there was no cool wind, 90+ degrees and high humidity. By the second lap I had a similar feeling on my legs. Not sure what that was but it did make me a little nervous. Getting a good result was not an option at this point and I decided it was not worth risking any serious harm.

Post race
Warm down:

Not much. Just tried to find some shade, drink cool fluids and make use of the cold soaked towl.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Bad bike performance and the heat and humidity just wrecked me.

Event comments:

Despite my miserable experience during the race it had nothing to do with the race organizers or the course. The weather on this this day just conspired against them and the participants to make the race a down right miserable affair. Their were plenty of aid stations, and volunteers, the course was well marked out and actually pretty nice if was any other day. The swag for the race was really nice as well. All things being equal I would be inclined to do the race again. However, knowing how the heat effects me during races I will have seriously consider finding someplace else to run during this time of year.




Last updated: 2015-03-16 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:31:54 | 1500 meters | 02m 08s / 100meters
Age Group: 9/16
Overall: 92/193
Performance: Good
Suit: No
Course: In water large wave start. Water close to shore was very shallow leading to folks doing a lot of walking and surface diving.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 80F / 27C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Good Navigation: Good
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 05:12
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
01:29:07 | 40 kms | 26.93 km/hr
Age Group: 11/16
Overall: 117/193
Performance: Bad
Wind: Little
Course: Mostly a 2 loop course enroute to T2
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Below average
Race pace: Too hard Drinks: Not enough
T2
Time: 03:35
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
01:18:19 | 10 kms | 07m 50s  min/km
Age Group: 12/16
Overall: 16/193
Performance: Bad
Course: 2 loop course with the first half of the course on packed dirt trail through the woods. The second half of the loop was on pavement and out under the sun.
Keeping cool Below average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5