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Comments: First OWS race in five years but for some reason I wasn't nervous at all. I remembered that breathing would be awful for the first 500 meters - it always is for me. First buoy was about 150 yards out and I felt great warming up to there and sighted really well. 2-2-4-sight stroke pattern worked great. Turned left and now we're right into the sun and it was impossible to see anything so the next 300 was awful and that's when my breathing went crazy. Total hyperventilating so I mixed in a little backstroke. Those "I need to quit now!" thought are really tough to push down but I know I'll feel better so just keep swimming. Turned left again and another 100 or so to the next buoy...did OK but my sighting was kind of crappy. The next 200 was awesome - 5 feet of water so you could stand! I walked a little bit here and there and swam it pretty hard. Turned left for the second loop and again had a good rhythm and sighing length. Turned again into the sun and all hell broke loose again but I just played a bunch of mind games to get through it and sighted a LOT. Once I got to that next turn I knew the end was in sight and I picked up the pace. One more turn then a hard 200 and out of the water about 29 flat. What would you do differently?: Maybe sight a little better but all-in-all really pleased with that PR of about 90 seconds.  Transition 1
Comments: I was treating the race as a swim and bike time trial separated by a short break, so I wasn't really cranking through transition What would you do differently?: Nothing - planned on being slow (and I was!)  Bike
Comments: First mile was getting out of the park and I treated it as a warm up. Plan was to go faster/harder each loop. I could tell during the warm up that my legs didn't have a lot of snap in them, probably from the too-short taper and walking about 10 miles the day before. Wanted to hold around 230-240 watts and 20 mph on the first loop. Good to go on the first but that only produced about 19 mph but I'm on a road bike with no aerobars. I passed a ton of people and was passed by the elite sprint racers like I wasn't moving (they started after us). Got through the first loop and my legs were feeling a little better so I started pushing the slight uphills a bit. Got through the second loop and my legs, left hip, and back were beginning to protest a bit so I told them to shut up and I pushed a little harder, hoping to hold 260 for the final loop. Couldn't quite get there - more like 245 or so. Never got my HR up anywhere near redline and didn't have it in me to do so. I pushed/kicked a little and there was no one near me so just coasted in. 1:09:30 moving time, so about 20 mph exactly. 239 average watts for 70 minutes, 245 average on the final loop so negative split. What would you do differently?: Taper better and not walk ten miles the day before Post race
Warm down: Seized up pretty good afterwards. Walked around a bunch and watched my daughter finish the sprint tri. We then took our time getting our crap out of transition, ate a little of the post-race spread and drank a bunch of water. I stretched about 100 times over that half-hour. Then we drove home and watched the Ravens CRUSH the Dolphins. Then I sat in a hot tub for an hour. :-) What limited your ability to perform faster: Limited taper and a crappy lead-up to the race, but college visiting trumps my race needs. :-) Event comments: Kinetic sports runs this race now, formerly run by Setup Events, then before that by Piranha Sports like forever. Still a great local race - about 300 racers all-in so a decent size but it's also not overwhelming to beginners. Will definitely do this race and this company again. Last updated: 2019-09-09 12:00 AM
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United States
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 4/6
Age Group = M overall
Age Group Rank = 4/4
First race in over four years. Spent the summer getting into pretty good overall shape with a general focus on cycling and swimming, but with lots of flexibility and strength/core training as well. Had a really good August training-wise and decided to enter an Oly aquabike. I've done this triathlon a couple of times in the past (the sprint version). It's a perfect course for me...pond wetsuit-legal swim and a pancake flat bike course.
Taper was too short - only about 7-8 days after the biggest training week I've had in years. We also walked probably 10 miles touring a college the day and flying home the day before...certainly not optimal.
Slept kind of meh the night before but work up naturally 5 minutes before the 4:15 AM alarm. Had an English muffin and an apple with coffee for breakfast and we packed up our gear for the 50 minute drive up to Lum's Pond.
I've noted in previous race reports that I grew up swimming in this "lake" so it's really a comfort spot for me. On of the RDs told us the day before was crazy windy and they had trouble getting kayaking out to set up the buoys. One good thing about that wind is that it brought in cooler weather which made the race wetsuit-legal.
My 17YO (!!!!) daughter was doing her first "big girl" tri today, doing the sprint distance after previously doing the kids' race here a couple of times.
Got to Lum's, picked up our packets and did the transition set up thing. It's a nice size race so there's no drama at all. Walked around and stretched a little bit but no real warm-up. Struggled into the wetsuit and did about a 100 or so to get used to the pond water and off we went. I was in a really small wave with about 8 people - the aquabikes, relays, and novices for the Oly.