Los Alamos Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Los Alamos, New Mexico
United States
Los Alamos County Recreation Division
75F / 24C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 10m 27s
Overall Rank = 26/492
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 3/17
Pre-race routine:

After work... drove from Phoenix to Los Alamos... 513 miles. Arrived at my parents house at 3:30am. Snoozed for 2 hours and then woke up completely. Went to my truck to get my bike and gear and my dog Io (pronounced eye-oh) took off through the neighborhood chasing a rabbit or something. She came back and had a gash on her front right leg to where it looked like she tried to roll her fur down a little like a sleeve. It didn't seem to faze her, but I went ahead and bandaged it and while my dad and I went to the race my mom took Io to the vet for stitches.
Event warmup:

The bike was first so I biked 4.5 miles spinning up hills. At 7700ft elevation there aren't many flat areas.
Swim
  • 09m
  • 400 meters
  • 02m 15s / 100 meters
Comments:

Swam pretty well. The Swim was the 2nd event so I had just finished the bike leg. I practiced flip turns once in the pool last week and it paid off as I was able to flip turn on all but turns (those were congested... passing people from the bike leg that started 10 minutes ahead of my wave).

I was pleased with my swim and felt good and like I was moving right along. Estimated the time... really don't know what my time was.
What would you do differently?:

Work on swimming more... since I haven't much I do not have much speed.
Transition 1
  • 01m 30s
Comments:

Good size run from transition to the pool on asphalt.

Took my bike shoes off and ran on down to the pool. Gave my sunglasses to the "sunglasses" taker guy... put my goggles on and jumped in the pool.
What would you do differently?:

Remember that the sunglasses guy was putting the sunglasses on a table at the swim exit so I have them for the run.
Bike
  • 35m 50s
  • 12.43 miles
  • 20.81 mile/hr
Comments:

Bike was first. It was a mass bike start. I went out with 2 other guys... don't know what was behind me. Took off at about 27mph for the first 1/2 mile then the climb started gradually and became steeper for about 3 miles or so. My legs were burning more than I think I have ever felt them burn. Another rider caught up with me about 3 1/2 miles in. We were already passing people that started 10 minutes in front of us and we were less than 4 miles into the bike. We would yo-yo with each other for the rest of the bike. He even commented that we kept passing each other back and forth and I said "well... you have the climbing bike and I have the aero speed bike." As he would pass me on the up hills and I would then go by him on the downhills. He was a little ahead of me when we started back down the 3 mile hill and I went by him again as I was moving about 44mph back down the hill. There were a lot of people walking their bikes up that hill too... tough hill. So at the bottom of the hill I went through the guard station for the National Lab and saw a yellow jersey ahead. It was my dad who was doing a relay and started 10 minutes ahead of me. I yelled "GO DAD" with a grin as I passed him going about 30 mph. I then cruised right on up the gradual hill to transition.
What would you do differently?:

I think the burn in my legs was from the altitude/lack of oxygen and just flat out racing up that hill.

Well... acclimatization would be neat... but it takes about 2 weeks and I am not taking 2 weeks off to acclimate for a sprint...LOL
Transition 2
  • 00m 30s
Comments:

Swim to run. Really fast transition... popped my shoes on and I was off.
Run
  • 22m 50s
  • 3.11 miles
  • 07m 20s  min/mile
Comments:

Silly but I didn't drink anything but I put just right... LOL

I ran well... I think I negative split. Also during the first part of the run as we went by the high school the football team was practicing so I yelled "is coach Scott still coaching" and one of them replied "yes." I kept running on and never got close to getting passed while I was still passing loads of people that started 10 minutes ahead of me.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really... didn't run as fast as I can but I run the faster times at low altitude so I can't really expect too much more right?
Post race
Warm down:

Felt almost instantly warmed down. Grabbed my sunglasses and talked to my dad and his relay teammate that I knew back when I lived there. I then grabbed my bike and went down to the high school and talked to coach Scott. He remembered me. Told him about Ironman, etc., how another guy I went to school with that he remembered also is a pro Xterra triathlete and is working for a triathlon magazine, and asked him how the team was going to do this year. Also, asked him about whether my old track coach was still there and he is. He is going to tell coach Baca wassup and let him know how a couple of his old athletes are still grinding away.

After the awards I then biked back up that hill and rode another 24 miles with more hills back to my parents house. Got rained on and blown around by some nice thunderstorm winds.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Don't know that I could have gone much faster. I think I still had a slight bit of fatigue from Wednesdays stair expedition.

Will gradually throw speed work in here and there as I do all of my endurance and hill training.

Event comments:

For a sprint race, even though the events were run BIKE - SWIM - RUN... this was a really well put on race and everything about it was enjoyable...even the burn on the hills. Plus I kind of liked the mass bike start. Fun to start with speed instead of giving head starts to everyone in the water. This was the 33rd annual running of this event, the longest run triathlon in the world... so they know how to put on a smooth well run race. Even when they had 100 more entrants than they expected.

Fun high altitude race.




Last updated: 2007-08-13 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:09:00 | 400 meters | 02m 15s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/17
Overall: 0/492
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course: Larry R Walkup 50m lane Olympic pool... serpentine.
Start type: Inside Pool Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current:
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 01:30
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:35:50 | 12.43 miles | 20.81 mile/hr
Age Group: 3/17
Overall: 17/492
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: Hilly with 1420ft of climbing over the 12.4 mile course. Going up to 7800ft elevation.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:30
Overall:
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:22:50 | 03.11 miles | 07m 20s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/17
Overall: 0/492
Performance: Good
Course: Little gradual hill... out and back.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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