ITU Age Group World Championships - TriathlonOlympic


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Hamburg,
Germany
ITU
65F / 18C
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 29m 41s
Overall Rank = 156/1800
Age Group = f30-34
Age Group Rank = 30/95
Pre-race routine:

Got up at a reasonable time, although I was awake VERY early. Ate some breakfast- basically a PBJ on some nice hearty roll along with some sustained Energy. Went to the race site with John and Steve, my Mom and Jenni to get the bike set and transitioin area ready. I was pretty nervous at this point, but was able to keep things in check. I didn't start until 9:20 and we were there at 7 AM so I tried to relax a bit.
Event warmup:

Jogged a mile or so with a few quick pickups. Then I stretched and suited up. Didn't get much of a WU in the water. IT was COLD and DIRTY!
Swim
  • 26m 55s
  • 1640 yards
  • 01m 38s / 100 yards
Comments:

How did I have SUCH a bad swim!!!!!! I was shocked to come out of the water and see 27' on my watch! WTF?! I had a tricky start- maybe I started too far to the outside?? I thought I was getting into a groove about half way to the tunnel, but then couldn't catch any feet. Felt like I was swimming the straight line, but everyone was to my left on the way out and on my right on the way back. After rounding the turn bouys and heading back through the bridges, it was strange to see the group ahead of me. I could tell that I was leading the second pack, but I could not bricge to the back of that first pack. I surged several times to try, but then gave up and found myself to the left and pulling about 15 gals... This was my worst swim of the year. Part of it was probably just realizing that I Was at worlds and part of it that I hadn't swam much in the weeks leading up to the race.
What would you do differently?:

Start faster. Screw this thing of trying to find feet right away. In these big races, I need to go back to my strategy of the sprint start, then find feet. No more SH!T in the water from me!!!
Transition 1
  • 04m 9s
Comments:

So this included the 200m run TO transition, and the 700m run THROUGH transition. I got hung up with the suit jsut a tad, but the real problem was gettting through the MASSES of people in the transition area. It was one LONG narrow lane and Iit was tough to run around the AWAD athletes as well as those just walking thier bikes to the exit. I wanted to run, but it was tough going. Of course then I had almost no speed for a flying mount anyway...
What would you do differently?:

Not much, but maybe jsut be more pushy.
Bike
  • 1h 10m 31s
  • 24.85 miles
  • 21.14 mile/hr
Comments:

I knew I had some ground to make up so I PUSHED this bike as hard as I could. It was trickier than it appeared because of all of the turns. Every time I felt comfortable I told myself to push harder. I don't think I left much on the table. My goal was 1:10 and I was at 1:10:30 so I was a touch off, but not bad, especially since the course was long and lots of turns. There were race officials En Masse, so I was very careful with passing, especially where there were big groups around. I did have to slow down a few times after being passed by people (mostly men though :) )
What would you do differently?:

Not much, but the flying mount at the start and maybe push a tad more coming out of the turns.
Transition 2
  • 03m 4s
Comments:

I ran into SO many people running back into transition. I tried to be pushy, but it was tough. There were several wheelchair athletes in transition around this time and it was tough to get around them. I pretty much ran over another athlete who was just sauntering through the transition area... WTF?? Then I had trouble getting my bike racked with all of the CRAP in the way. No excuse though, I had one of the slower transitions in my AG and I wasn't happy with it! The fact is that I was in 21st place after the bike finish and in 27th place as the run started. This is NOT acceptable!
What would you do differently?:

Don't know. Not get frustrated! The basics were OK, no hitches with the helmet or shoes, but I was frustrated...
Run
  • 45m
  • 6.21 miles
  • 07m 15s  min/mile
Comments:

The run start was tough for me. I had a bit of a side stitch along with some pretty bad shin splints. I think the stitch was from drinking a tad too much near the end of the bike. The shin splints were most likely from the hard brick surface along with pushing so hard on the bike. It's pretty cool how they have all of the splits and everything up on the ITU site. I can see that I was in GREAT shape coming off the bike, lost SEVERAL positions through transition and the beginning of the run, but then made a bit of a comeback on the run. The best position I was ever in was at hte end of the bike. This is all VERY encouraging. If I had had a better swim, I would have rocked this race. I negative split the run by almost a minute to pull off the 45. YES, I wanted to run 7' miles, but I also knew that it would have to be perfect for that and it was not quite. The first mile SUCKED. I just kept telling myself "It's just PAIN. It's NOTHING." You can do this. At the 5k check I was at 23' and was PISSED, so I put my head down, got forward on my toes and ran as hard as I could. I thought that I Was going to blow with a mile left, then was sure I was going to blow with 1/2 mile left. Then I started seeing the USAT people pushing me and cheering me on JUST IN TIME. I didn't give ANYTHING up, I passed one last girl for an AWESOME finish. This was on eof my hardest mental and physical efforts ever and I feel good about that.
What would you do differently?:

Start better :) Not drink quite so much on the end of the bike and maybe hit the gel a little earlier (like if I didn't have a stitch, I would have)

Post race
Warm down:

Not much of one since I had to sit in the doping control area for an hour and a half waiting for my turn to pee in a few cups... I was one of 55 lucky athletes out of 2500 to be tested. I did jog back to the beer tent after the pee test :)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Emotional stress from Kathleen not being there. Not a perfect taper in terms of travelling so much and not swimming at all and riding very little.

Event comments:

I would love to go to short course worlds every year!!! IT was great to be a part of Team USA and some day I'd like to be competing for a top finish there!!!





Last updated: 2007-07-23 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:26:55 | 1640 yards | 01m 38s / 100yards
Age Group: 37/95
Overall: 0/1800
Performance: Below average
YUCK!!!
Suit: Superfull
Course: Line start then out a few bouys, through two tunnel/ bridges, around 2 bouys (right hand turns) then back through the bridges, through the inner Alster to the canal tunnel then exit on a slippery ramp.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 60F / 16C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Below average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 04:09
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
01:10:31 | 24.85 miles | 21.14 mile/hr
Age Group: 23/95
Overall: 0/1800
Performance: Good
Wind: Some with gusts
Course: Funny, but everyone got the bike leg as long, at around 25.3 miles. It was 2 loops very flat, but with several turns. There were 3 U-turns in the course.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 93
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 03:04
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike Below average
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:45:00 | 06.21 miles | 07m 15s  min/mile
Age Group: 38/95
Overall: 0/1800
Performance: Good
Course: Out anc back with a jog on the out part. VERY flat. Part on road, part on brick sidewalk.
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] 5