Lake Havasu Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


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Lake Havasu City, Arizona
United States
Tuscon Racing Inc.
75F / 24C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 06m 4s
Overall Rank = 4/262
Age Group = M 35-39
Age Group Rank = 2/30
Pre-race routine:

I drove up to Lake Havasu on Friday morning with my coach. His company, Durapulse Perfromance, was one of the race sponsors and he was doing a Junior Triathlon clinic and I volunteered to help. I have to admit, I was not very excited to do this race. I was concerned that a poor perfromance or other mishap on the day would be a psychological downer with only 3 weeks till IMAZ. I didn't want to go through my taper thinking I sucked. :)

We had about 18 juniors at the one day camp. I demonstarted the transition portion of the class. It was great fun to work with these kids, age 8-18. They were so excited to be part of the sport and their enthusiasm was infectous! Good thing because the weather was terrible, cold and raining and some mis-informed person told me the Lake was 52 degrees!!?? It was 62 thankfully. Went to the race meeting and packet pick up and was in bed at the hotel by 8:30.

Woke up at 5:45 to get my gear together and met with my coach to head down to the start. If you were at the race, you may have seen his black Toyota FJ with Durapulse and a guy biking plastered one the side. That's me :). The skies were clear and blue and it was nice and warm, so I was feeling good about the day.Transition was a little crowded but I found a spot on the rack and set up my gear and waited for my start.
Event warmup:

Did a quick 5 min swim in the chilly lake. Water wasn't too bad, very clear, but I got out as I didn't want to get a chill.
Swim
  • 22m 43s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 23s / 100 yards
Comments:

Swim was very nice as the water was very clear. I swam allong side one guy for most of the channel portion. He kept stopping to site, so I just kept a nice steady pace and let him do all the looking. I kept an eye on him until the turn around and then dropped him on the way out. There was no one around to draft off of.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, it was an overall good effort and much quicker than my last Olympic swim by a few min.
Transition 1
  • 01m 27s
Comments:

Boy, it's been a while since I had to pull of my own suit and it showed! I had to plop down and get it off my ankles. I miss the strippers! Once off, everything else was fine, I had my shoes clipped in and ran out and up to the parking lot barefoot on a carpet. It was a looong run to the mount line!
What would you do differently?:

Practice wet suit removal tactics a bit more before a race without strippers! It's Lake Havasu, how can they not have strippers?!!! ;)
Bike
  • 1h 03m 16s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 23.57 mile/hr
Comments:

A basic out and back with 2 side trips into residential areas. VERY technical and hilly in those sections.
So the bike course was....interesting. You rode down along a beach front road for a few miles and then turned up and climbed into a residential area with a lot of long climbs, short down hills, more long climbs, and lots of 90 degree turns. It was fairly technical and required attention to gearing and pacing. You dropped back down onto the beach front road and continued out to the turnaround. This was a pretty fast section and I passed all the college team guys who started ahead of my wave as well as one or two AG'ers.
On the way back, they detoured us through another residentail area that was nothin but mutliple, extremely steep climbs, extremely steep descents, back to another steep climb! It was a roller coaster of doom! You would be going 40-45mph and then have to make sure you geared down enough to climb these absurdly steep grades, drop down at speed again and then bang a hard left or hit a fence! It was actually fun, but funky!
The ride back to transition was nice and fast althought there was a bit of a headwind. I was rding my new Zipp Disc and LG Rocket helmet and they both helped me go fast. I finsihed with the second fastest bike split for the race, only :42 seconds behind the great Gordo Byrn, who was in the lead and finished the bike in 1:02:34, so it was tough.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, it was my best effort to date in an Olympic.
Transition 2
  • 00m 54s
Comments:

When I ride really hard, my toes go numb. Like 10 little rocks with absolutley no feeling numb. When I went to put on my running shoes, my toes got all jammed up and I had to fuss around to get them on right.
What would you do differently?:

While running towards T2, realyy pound my feet and try and get circulation going again!
Run
  • 37m 45s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 06m 05s  min/mile
Comments:

As I headed out of transition, I passed this REALLY big guy. I mean big like giant, muscular big. I didn't know where he came from, but figured he must be part of a relay. Anyway, I past him at the exit and got into my grove. The stairs up to London Bridge come around the 1/2 mile mark and really make your legs burn! Once up on the bridge, it nice and flat on road and rec path. Around mile 2, I begin to hear the rythmic slap of racing flats coming up behind me. It can't be that big dude, I thought, so looks like I have some company. I glanced back and saw this guy coming up fast, tall, lanky, great form....I'm in trouble! I had passed him on those crazy hills back on the bike and had put a solid 1:30-2:00 on him during the bike. Looks like I needed a little more! He moved by me and eventually finished 40 seconds ahead of me. By the turnaround, I had a chance to see where everyone else. It took another few min until I passed the next athlete, so I knew I was safe for the rest of the race. I felt strong and consistant over the last 3 miles and crossed the line.
What would you do differently?:

Ride the bike faster so I wouldn't have to give up 3rd place overall on the run!
Post race
Warm down:

Had a nice chat with Gordo Byrn, the overall winner in 1:59:50, talking about living in New Zealand. Very cool guy!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Nothing, all my training is geared towards Ironman, so having not trained for an Olympic race, I was very happy with my perfromance.

Event comments:

Really fun race, well run and on time.




Last updated: 2007-03-26 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:22:43 | 1640 yards | 01m 23s / 100yards
Age Group: 4/30
Overall: 17/262
Performance: Good
Suit: Orca PFLEX
Course: Swim out to the first bouy, turn left paralel to the shore to a second, turn left again and swim up a channel towards the famed London Bridge, turn around at the green marker and back out the channel and into shore.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 62F / 17C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Good Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:27
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:03:16 | 24.85 miles | 23.57 mile/hr
Age Group: 2/30
Overall: 2/262
Performance: Good
I had HR data , but forgot to stop my watch when I got off the bike, so I lost it all. I held a steady 157-158
Wind: Some
Course: A basic out and back with 2 side trips into residential areas. VERY technical and hilly in those sections.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 90
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:54
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
00:37:45 | 06.21 miles | 06m 05s  min/mile
Age Group: 2/30
Overall: 4/262
Performance: Good
Course: A quick run into a little recreation of a London sttreet and then up a steep flight on stairs to London Bridge, and then a long out and back on a rec path in a state park.
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4