login
 Swim
Comments: My swim wave started at 9:15am. Had a decent start--didn't get kicked or grabbed by anyone, but it took me a little while to get in a rhythm. I was sighting too much, and I had to force myself to swim my normal stroke/breathing pattern to really get my speed going. Was not too cold at all--felt really comfortable all the way. Did start feeling a chafe on the back of my neck...probably from sighting so much. I caught some swimmers from the 2 waves ahead of mine, so I knew I was swimming good. What would you do differently?: Don't cite so much in the first 3rd. Get more comfortable with stroke and breathing earlier in the swim. Draft more.  Transition 1
Comments: The run from the water to my bike was about 300 yards so it took some time just to get transition started. Struggled some to get wetsuit off (sure wish they had strippers at this race!). Otherwise, quickly got helmet & shoes on. Put my bike shorts on over my running compression shorts, which has worked well for me. I'm not well practiced at having my shoes on the bike and running out barefoot, so I ran out with my shoes on (many others were too). Got some good cheers from my family on the way out. What would you do differently?: Had a problem with my Garmin watch--pressed "stop" rather than "lap" in transition so I lost track of how much time I spent in there. Need more practice getting the wetsuit off quickly.  Bike
Comments: The bike has always been my weakest event, even though I really enjoy it. But jeez, that was a fast bike course! Absolutely flat with mostly good-to-great quality roads. No wind really, and temp was perfect in the low 60's by that time. I had about 500 calories packed on the bike between my aero bottle performance drink and 3 gels, which was just about right. The only problem I ran into was running out of liquid. The plan was to finish the aero bottle about half-way through then grab a water bottle at the one aid station. But I finished the aero bottle earlier than I thought I would, so was pretty thirsty by the time I hit the aid station. I only took one bottle--on the fly...it was a cool move! Dumped the water into the aero bottle, and added a tablet of Nuun. But I finished that and was still a good 15-20 min from the end. So I just grinded through it, knowing I had water back at transition. Otherwise, the bike was "uneventful" and fast. Average HR was 156 so I was definitely cranking it and felt good all along. What would you do differently?: On this course, maybe push even harder knowing now just how flat it is. Transition 2
Comments: Really ripped through the transition...maybe too fast...got (almost) all my bike stuff off (!), got on my shoes, race belt, and hat, quick drink, and ran on out. High fived my kids going out, which gave me a boost! What would you do differently?: Remember to take of ALL biking apparel (see next)  Run
Comments: Started out fine. Of course, I had heavy legs and I was having a hard time judging my pace but I didn't let that bother me--the Garmin said I was running fine. But about a mile into the run, something didn't feel quite right and that's when I realized I hadn't taken my BIKE shorts off in T2. Ack! So there's an aid station at mile 1--I step off to the side, get a drink, and stop to pull off my bike shorts. I probably got some strange looks. I wasn't going to just throw them to the side--they are my nicest bike shorts!--so I just rolled them up and carried them in my hand for the entire run. Otherwise, I was on a good pace for the run. At the halfway mark, I looked at my watch and saw I had about 30 minutes to do the last 5K to make it back before 3 hours. This is where I made a mental and technical error. I thought, certainly I can run a 5K in less than 30-35 minutes and come in under 3! And it was getting warm (maybe high 60's and direct sun), so I decided not to push too much harder. The problem was what happened back at T1 due to stopping my watch accidentally--I didn't have 30 min, I had maybe about 27 min. That would have been a hard 5K for me, but had I known, I might could have done it. But I felt like I did run that last half of the run reasonably strong, didn't walk at all, and came in for a strong, fast finish over the last 1/4 mile. Average HR was 161, so I was not slacking off. What would you do differently?: Would have been nice to run this a little faster, but I'm not sure if I could have run it that much faster if I had the inclination. Post race
Warm down: Met the family at the finish line. Well supported food/drink area, no complaints. They had a tent with a screen scrolling live results, so that was neat. Able to get stuff out of transition efficiently. What limited your ability to perform faster: A little slow swim start and lack of drafting. Lack of confidence and course knowledge to push a little harder on the bike. Wished I could have run a little faster. Event comments: The only disappointment in the end was that this race did not give finisher medals to those in the International distance. Half finishers got them as they finished with the International racers, so there was an odd disparity that I hadn't seen at a race before. Minor point, but kinda disappointing (only went home with my race bib as my momento). Last updated: 2015-05-07 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
Set Up Events
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 87/177
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 17/31
Arrived with family in White Lake Friday night for packet pick up, athlete's meeting and pasta dinner. Stayed at the Knights Inn (formerly, Days Inn) in Elizabethtown, only about 10 minutes from race site. Prepped bike and other equipment that night, got to sleep about 10:30-11pm. Slept overall poorly, but got enough. International race didn't start till 9am (Half started at 7am), so had plenty of time to get ready and get out of motel. Still, couldn't help waking up about 5am!
Ate bagel w/PB, banana, and coffee before leaving. Arrived at site about 7:30am. Racked bike--at this race, exact spots are marked with your number, not just an open bar where everyone is angling for a good spot; dropped equipment bucket, and went to pick up chip and for body marking. I also decided to wear my entire tri kit (shirt and shorts) under my wetsuit, which I hadn't done before but in my past races races, it was a real struggle to get my tri kit shirt on when I was still wet from the swim. This turned out to work perfectly, and saved me a good amount of time in transition. Did wear your HRM under all that and it worked great. Also made sure my race chip and watch were underneath the wetsuit so they wouldn't snag when trying to get out of it. The air temp was about 59 degrees or so at the start. The reported water temp was 66, so I decided to go for a warm up swim, which several others were doing. This was a good decision because it was pretty cold getting the exposed areas acclimated but once in, I just stayed in the water until the start because the swim warm up area was the same as the starting line.