League City International Triathlon - Triathlon


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League City, Texas
United States
Outloud! Productions
85F / 29C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 30m 8s
Overall Rank = 4/138
Age Group = M30-34
Age Group Rank = 1/12
Pre-race routine:

Just like any other morning for me, except a little longer drive. Up at 4, cereal w/banana. Coffee on the drive. Picked up packet morning of race, no biggie and glad they offered that as I didn't want to drive over an hour each way just to pick up my packet Thursday or Saturday.
Event warmup:

Jogged about half a mile then jumped in an swam for a few minutes.
Swim
  • 25m 2s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 32s / 100 yards
Comments:

There were some extremely fast swimmers in my wave. I didn't expect that. I hung onto some really fast feet for the first couple hundred then realized I needed to dial it back, this was a decently long swim.

Unfortunately we were the last wave, so I had to dodge a bunch of slower swimmers basically the whole time.

My average pace was OK (1:31/100y according to garmin), but I would have liked to swim closer to 1:25.
What would you do differently?:

I still don't have very much experience in racing long distance swims or triathlons in general so I'm not sure yet how hard it should feel. In retrospect I could have probably pushed quite a bit harder, maybe tried to stay on the fast feet longer.
Transition 1
  • 01m 1s
Comments:

textbook T1
What would you do differently?:

nothing
Bike
  • 1h 12m 41s
  • 28.58 miles
  • 23.59 mile/hr
Comments:

As usual, the bike was my favorite part. My strategy going into the race was to swim and bike hard and see what I had left for the run. Running continues to be my weakness, so I wanted to take advantage of the bike as much as possible.

Coming out of transition, once I got my feet in my shoes I just put the hammer down. I reeled in most of the few remaining folks in front of me pretty quickly. My garmin was acting really funny though, my speed was all over the place so I wasn't sure how fast I was going. And my power meter is still messed up (I have been lazy and haven't sent it in yet). So I was really just going on RPE with a check of the HR every once in a while.

About 6-7 miles into it I had a couple of older guys pass me, with one clearly drafting the other. I tucked in about 20 meters behind the second guy and followed them for a while. At first I thought they seemed to be working together taking turns at the front, but it became clear that they were just wearing themselves out when not drafting. We were coming up to the Kemah mountain and I got tired of being around these guys so I put in a strong effort to go around them and then powered over the bridge hard. Never saw them again.

The rest of the first loop was pretty lonely, which I enjoy. The second loop was a cluster as I was passing tons of folks on their first lap of the Int'l as well as all the sprint folks who went off after the int'l. I just tried to keep my effort strong the whole way around.

Ended up not getting passed by anybody on the bike. I wasn't sure if anyone from my age group swam faster than me, but I had a good feeling about getting on the podium if I could put in a solid run.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. Need to get my power meter fixed and would have liked it if my speed would have been more useful. It was a strong ride for my current fitness level.
Transition 2
  • 01m 30s
Comments:

Was moving a little slow getting the helmet off and shoes on. I could tell I pushed it hard on the bike.
What would you do differently?:

Not much.
Run
  • 49m 52s
  • 6.24 miles
  • 07m 59s  min/mile
Comments:

I had been scared of this run all week. I had planned all along to bike hard and see what I had left for the run, but still hoping to run well. As soon as I took off from transition I could tell that I wasn't going to come close to my hopeful pace. I was pretty fatigued and hot.

The first loop was actually the worst one for me. I don't know if it just took me a while to get into a groove, or if it was the thought of having the whole run in front of me. I was still running sub 8/mi, but I was walking 10 yards or so in transition to drink and dump water/ice on my head and down my suit. The ice in the suit seemed to really help cool me down.

Laps 2 & 3 were fairly uneventful. I wasn't happy with my pace and I still wasn't sure where I stood in the race, but no one had passed me up to this point on the run either. My HR was lower than it probably should have been, so I think I should have been pushing harder but it hurt pretty bad.

About a mile from the finish I had a guy come past me that could have been in my age group so I was happy when I saw an R on his calf. Picked up the pace the last half mile or so and crossed the finish line still not knowing my standing.
What would you do differently?:

I think I wimped out a bit on the run. My max HR was 172 and my avg should have probably been higher than that. I need to get better at pushing myself when fatigued.

I was pretty disappointed with my split, but after looking at the results, I think it was hotter out there than I gave it credit for. There weren't a lot of fast splits.
Post race
Warm down:

water, pizza, coke, coconut water, massage, PODIUM!



What limited your ability to perform faster:

Other than general fitness, I need to work on the mental side of dealing with the pain and pushing harder. On both the swim and the run this limited me. I think my plan to bike hard in a race of this distance was the right call.

I ended up winning my age group by 12 minutes and finished 4th overall.

Event comments:

Great race, good organization. I think I'm going to do their half iron distance race this fall rather than an IM branded one.




Last updated: 2015-07-14 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:25:02 | 1640 yards | 01m 32s / 100yards
Age Group: 2/12
Overall: 7/138
Performance: Average
Suit:
Course: In the South Shore Harbor. 250m one way, turn around and swim 500m back the other way, turn again and go back 500m then turn right and go 250m more. Climb out up a ladder.
Start type: Deep Water Plus:
Water temp: 86F / 30C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:01
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:12:41 | 28.58 miles | 23.59 mile/hr
Age Group: 1/12
Overall: 4/138
Performance: Good
Min: 149; Avg: 158; Max 177
Wind: None
Course: 2 loops around Clear Lake, and thus crossing the Kemah Mountain (bridge) twice.
Road: Smooth  Cadence: 83
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:30
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
00:49:52 | 06.24 miles | 07m 59s  min/mile
Age Group: 2/12
Overall: 14/138
Performance: Below average
Min: 154; Avg: 164; Max: 172
Course: 3 loops
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5