Cazenovia Triathlon - Sprint Distance - Triathlon


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Cazenovia, New York
United States
CNY Triathlon Club
63F / 17C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 46m 14s
Overall Rank = 33/84
Age Group = F65-69
Age Group Rank = 2/3
Pre-race routine:

Set alarm for 3:45, but woke at 3:15. Might as well get up. Ate oatmeal/plain yogurt/raisins, beet juice/V8 purple mix. Coffee. It's amazing how great coffee tastes when I only drink it on race days. Left shortly after 4:00 for an almost 2-hour drive
Parked, set up transition, nothing remarkable. Had 1/2 Hammer bar at 6:00 and the rest at 7:00.
Felt tired, but that went away when I finally got in the water.
Event warmup:

Took the bike out to check shifting & all my gizmos. Spent more time than planned because Garmin 510 was not picking up cadence sensor. Finally got it to do so by powering it down & back up. Grrr.
Had time before race meeting for just very abbreviated dynamic stretching & 10 min total running, with only two 30-second accelerations.
Went down to the water after the meeting, but it had closed for warm-ups
Swim
  • 22m
  • 875 yards
  • 02m 31s / 100 yards
Comments:

My focus for this leg was "find the bubbles" and I did. Tried drafting on a couple of different swimmers before finding one at the right pace. I stayed right on her feet and let her do all the work, until after the turn-around when she apparently tired & slowed down. I passed her & was on my own, but had a lot of strength left.
The rope & buoys were on my right so I just breathed to the right the whole time except when I was looking around for swimmers to follow. It made sighting easy, and the right's my stronger side.
The bottom of the lake at the entrance/exit is covered with grapefruit-sized rocks, very awkward to step on. When finishing I continued swimming until the water was knee deep, which avoided that problem.
My time was 42nd %ile of all women, a PR in that regard.
What would you do differently?:

Get faster; Scott is going to help me with that.
Transition 1
  • 01m 6s
Comments:

When setting up, I recognized the bike racks as the ones I had knocked over in a different race last year because the horizontal bar is lower than my saddle; so I hung my bike from the back of the seat instead of the nose. This worked perfectly; and now that I think of it, saves one motion in unracking/racking the bike. I think I'll try it that way in my future races.
Remembered to put helmet on before stripping wetsuit legs.
Time was 5th among all women (!!) which is 94th %ile. I'm fast in T1.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. All good.
Bike
  • 52m 51s
  • 14 miles
  • 15.89 mile/hr
Comments:

My focus word for this leg was "control," meaning to be mindlful of power and cadence. (And also control of the bike on the steep descent.)
Target power was 124-138 W (85-95%); target cadednce 85-95.
I doubt there were 200 continuous yards that weren't either uphill, downhill, or approaching one or the other. It was really a challenge keeping either power or cadence on target and I can't say I was successful, although when the going wasn't too extreme it gave me some numbers to try to go to, and generally kept me from pushing too hard.
I passed a lot of riders, all of them younger than me. I was imagining making them feel bad looking at my age written on my leg, and then sucking up their lost energy to add to my own. That's mean, I know.
The downhill wasn't as scary as my friends had made out; there was plenty of room at the bottom to brake before the turn. I hit my highest speed ever--46.7 mph--and learned that my helmet adjustment is direly out of whack. I had to keep clapping it down on my head.
The one thing I neglected to do before the race was scope out some roadmarks where I wanted to get my feet out of the shoes. It was hard to tell as I approached the end as there were a lot of volunteers & other people near the road. I didn't want to be caught short at the dismount line so I took them out way early. I must have ridden a half mile on top of the shoes, but I don't think it mattered any.
My time placed me in the 63rd percentile of all women.
What would you do differently?:

Get help adjusing my helmet.
Identify the point on the route where I want to get my feet out of my shoes. I usually do this, but with all the monkeying around with my gizmos during my warm-up, I forgot.
I'm going to put a climbing cassette on my bike & see how that affects my hill climbing.
Just get stronger.
Transition 2
  • 01m 4s
Comments:

All good. I was 16th among all women, or 81st percentile.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing.
Run
  • 29m 12s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 09m 25s  min/mile
Comments:

I didn't feel too bad off the bike and I was just hell bent to finish in less than 30 minutes. I ran more by RPE than HR, with the understanding I was going to run my little heart out the last 3/4 mile (accelerating 1/4 mile earlier than in previous races.)
My focus word was "courage," only with the French pronunciation (rhymes with "garage.") That's what the little children in Burundi, where my daughter lives, used to yell at her when she ran hills; so it's kind of our buzzword. When I was running downhill and across the road other runners were struggling up the hill, I wanted to yell "courage!" to them, but I thought that would be a little too weird; so I just yelled it silently at myself instead. I had a whole raft of mental tricks and tried them all.
My time put me in the 56th percentile of all women, the first time I have ever been in the top half for the run.
What would you do differently?:

Exactly nothing.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked quite a bit while I drank my Recoverite & ate half a Recovery bar. Then I wandered down to check my results & pick up lunch. I meant to stretch, but the awards were starting; so alas, I skipped it again. I should just do it while they're doing the Intermediate awards.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I'm looking forward to improving my swim skills and improving my ftp on the bike, as well as continuing to become a faster runner.

Event comments:

This is a really small race, only 72 Intermediate and 160 Sprint participants, plus relays & Aquabike. It has a small, local feeling. The scenery is beautiful.
There is one especially challenging long, steep hill, and all the way up, chalked on the pavement, are words of encouragement such as: "You're halfway there," "This is why your friends don't do Caz," and "Go, Go, Go" written about a hundred times. It's a very nice touch.
The sandwiches, salad, & fruit after the race were not fancy but good.
I enjoyed the race. I'd do it again.




Last updated: 2015-08-14 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:22:00 | 875 yards | 02m 31s / 100yards
Age Group: 2/3
Overall: 49/84
Performance: Good
Suit: full Blue Seventy
Course: Out & back in Cazenovia Lake.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 72F / 22C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:06
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:52:51 | 14 miles | 15.89 mile/hr
Age Group: 1/3
Overall: 31/84
Performance: Good
Wind: None
Course: Now I understand the "nasty little hill out of transition" that my friends had warned me about. It's just a very short, very steep little driveway going up from the T area to the road itself. I looked at it & thought I could just ride up it with my feet on top of my shoes, but then learned that the RD had moved the mount/dismount line up onto the road, so we'd have to run our bikes up it. What a huge advantage for those like me who run barefoot, because running up that in cleats would be awkward, and running down even worse. The course is country roads, continuous rolling hills with one long steep one. Going down the other side, there's a 90° turn at the bottom.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 83
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:04
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:29:12 | 03.1 miles | 09m 25s  min/mile
Age Group: 2/3
Overall: 37/84
Performance: Good
HR average Mile 1: 136 (high zone 3) Mile 2: 141 (zone 4) Mile 3: 146 (zone 5a) last fraction 150! (zone 5b). Pace at the finish was 5:33!!
Course: You have to run up that nasty little driveway out of transition again; then there's quite a bit more elevation gain in the first mile. Then a lot of little ups & downs and the last mile downhill, with a downhill finish
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4