Kerr Lake International Triathlon - Triathlon


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Henderson, North Carolina
United States
Set Up Events
75F / 24C
Sunny
Total Time = 8h 00m
Overall Rank = 31/89
Age Group = 45-49M
Age Group Rank = 4/
Pre-race routine:

Ten days before came down with excruciating hip pain, The kind you don't run on at all. Tried Monday for 4 miles and hobbled through the run. Tuesday comes and I go to to the doctor AND chiropractor. Cortisone shot from the first and acupuncture from the second. I was seriously considering a DNS at this point. Started to feel a little better by Friday but I knew I was racing not sure how it had potential to be ugly.

Saturday got up and well it was feeling better not great but better. The triathlon is in my wife's hometown so I left the house before noon and got there for packet pickup. Headed straight out to race site which is a ways out in the country side. I ran into a local guy from my gym (Matt Parry who is wicked fast and co-owner of a local studio). Discussed the race and gave him pointers. Rode the bike course to re-familiarize with the route . Good thing I did as there was a 25 yard stretch of pavement that now gravel. Setup did send us an email that night about it but they described where the section on the bike course was all wrong.

Headed to my father-in laws and then the movies. He was out of town and I knew sitting around by myself for 5 hours was a bad idea. I was really hungry (nervous energy? plus really anxious about the race). My diniing options were bad and worse. Rub Tuesday it was and saw what had to be racers there. This is a small, poor southern town so your options are truly limited.

Back to my father-in-laws. Finished prep for the morning, iced the hip, stretched and rolled it for like the 5th time that day.
Event warmup:

Up at 6am, usual breakfast of oatmeal and diet mt dew and out the door by 6:35. I was onsite by 7. It was a small race with a small transition area. Everything is very close together. I had plenty of time to warm up.

I went to run some and the hip felt very good UNTIL I did some high knee skips. That hurt. But I knew I was ok to run.

Wet-suit on and swam maybe 200 yards to warm up.
Swim
  • 21m 7s
  • 1500 meters
  • 01m 25s / 100 meters
Comments:

The course was short for sure; everyone was commenting on it after the fact. The fact of the matter is they measure the course from the start to the finish of the run which is considerable. I did the match after the race I think it comes out 160 meters shorter than last year. Still doing that math my swim time was well over a minute faster than last year.

I swam hard
What would you do differently?:

Navigation was a mess on this swim -
Transition 1
  • 01m 27s
Comments:

I could not find the string for my wet suit to say me; drove me nuts and slowed me down
What would you do differently?:

affix the wet suit pull
Bike
  • 1h 10m 16s
  • 40 kms
  • 34.16 km/hr
Comments:

One guy passed me on the bike; I passed him back and hit cut a corner (wisely I might add) and I never quite got him. He was the wave ahead of me. Other than that it was a good ride in tougher conditions than last year (4 seconds faster)
What would you do differently?:

I forgot to start my Garmin 500 before the race. I typically turn it on, it gets the satellite then shuts itself off while I am off swimming. It took a good while to get a signal which meant I was flying blind for a while.

I had a bonk breaker with me and a gel; the bonk breaker literally came out of the package after one bite. Best laid plans of mice and men
Transition 2
  • 00m 59s
Comments:

Got the left foot out of the shoe and the right popped out before I could the foot out. Oh well
Run
  • 51m 9s
  • 10 kms
  • 05m 07s  min/km
Comments:

The combined T2 into our run times - no clue why as that was not true last year. Run was over a minute faster than last year. With a hip I was not sure of and absolutely blowing up again. Got passed by the female overall winner.
What would you do differently?:

More nutrition and water on the bike? 10K is a weird distance -
Post race
Warm down:

I was hurting afterwards. I thought I was going to throw up at the finish. Grabbed some water and simply sat down. Ran into Matt Perry (4th overall and crushed the AG). Waited for results to be posted to verify my time. I was close on the AG podium - got passed on the run frankly.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

The hip - huge worry and was not certain what to expect. Nutrition was not great and felt pretty darn tired after the fact.

Event comments:

70 seconds - I wanted to be 70 seconds faster than last year to break 2:30. Well with the swim being short that was not a problem but I figure I was 3 minutes faster than last year. I was faster in every segment except T2. Given the 10 days prior, it was a huge success - would love to be on the AG podium (well there was no podium) but the time was the goal.


I have hard rating this race for a multitude of reasons; I have made this an A race on my calendar. I actually rested and did what for me is a true taper (planned and unplanned) . It fits well into our family calendar (end of school the next week so it frees me up some for the summer time with less training stress) plus it is one of the few Olys in the state. The venue itself is not bad to race - I counted less than 20 cars on the race route this year and that felt high! The swim is nice and tends to be wetsuit legal even in June.

The run is well not so fun but could be so much worse. The road in and out of the venue (which is 9 plus miles of the ride) could use a re-pavement job .The run is deceptively harder than it looks is the net of the equation. My elevation gain from my watch was pretty high - i think it was in error?

If this race was not the week after the Raleigh Half I know it would be bigger - it use to be a great deal bigger in prior years. It has some of the worse after race festivities - there is no on e for bike help pre-race, Zero vendors at all after the race. Being in the Lake Norman area I am so use to having these huge spreads and vendors galore. There was no referee on site (that is right at the women on the relay with the head phones !).

They do provide Jersey Mike subs. But after say Tri the Trump it is pretty stark.

I enjoy the challenge and it reminds me every year why this is my limit distance wise. I would have to really -re-learn how to race at longer distances

The swim course - who knows. Why the T2 times where lumped into run times - who knows. Glad I had my 910 on my wrist for sure.

Will likely do it next year




Last updated: 2015-04-15 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:21:07 | 1500 meters | 01m 25s / 100meters
Age Group: 3/
Overall: 24/89
Performance: Good
Suit: Yes
Course: Triangle
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 74F / 23C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:27
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Below average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
01:10:16 | 40 kms | 34.16 km/hr
Age Group: 4/
Overall: 25/89
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: rectangleish
Road: Rough Dry Cadence: 89
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:59
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Below average
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:51:09 | 10 kms | 05m 07s  min/km
Age Group: 5/
Overall: 43/89
Performance: Average
HR rate was 162 (super high) - out in 24 minutes for the first three miles then I died. Averaged a 8:52 the last three with a high of 9:20 mile 4 where I stopped for water an a gel.
Course: two loop course - hardest part is the heat on the black top.
Keeping cool Below average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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: Bad
Race evaluation [1-5] 3