Bassman Spring Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Tuckerton, New Jersey
United States
Citytri
51F / 11C
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 00m 53s
Overall Rank = 8/280
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 2/30
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 4:30am. Made coffee. Ate my usual breakfast of yogurt and cereal at 5am. We decided the night before that Sue and the kids weren't going because it was going to be cold and rainy. This is a bummer. I love having them there at the finish. My wife's parents showed up to cheer me on which was great. Since I was on my own, I packed up the car and left a little early....about 5:30. Transition opened at 5:30am and it takes about 25 minutes to get there. I was relatively early so I got my chip, set up transition and chilled for a while. Since this event is weighted towards cycling, I walked around and eyed all the sweet bikes. It was actually a little intimidating seeing these pricey bike setups at such a small event.
Event warmup:

I put on my wetsuit at 7:30am and went for a 200 yard warm-up swim. It actually made me colder that I was before I warmed up. Air temp was 50 and water temp was 63. I was the second wave which left around 8:10....3 minutes after wave 1.
Swim
  • 14m 37s
  • 980 yards
  • 01m 29s / 100 yards
Comments:

The water was chilly and a bit shocking at first. You really had to concentrate on not hyperventilating because that was what my body seemed to want to do. I was kicked in the face really hard around the 200 yard mark and this really screwed me up for a few minutes. I had to swim head up for a while to catch my breath and re-focus. The 2nd half of the swim was good.
Transition 1
  • 01m 30s
Comments:

There was a 150 yard run with your bike through the sand to the bike mount line. I decided to put my shoes on in T1 so I didn't get sand all over my feet and have to ride 30 miles like that. This made things a little slower...but everybody was in the same boat. I didn't have a saddle bag so I put my gels and tire changing stuff in my shirt pockets and took off. The 150 yard run in and out was counted in your bike time so this made the bike splits a little slow.
What would you do differently?:

I need a good aero saddle bag for Eagleman so i don't have to put them in my pockets. Other than that...not much different.
Bike
  • 1h 16m 45s
  • 29 miles
  • 22.67 mile/hr
Comments:

As I said above, the 150 yard run to the bike mount was counted in your bike time so the bike splits are a little off. I took 2 bottles on the bike with me and lost my bottle of accelerade when I hit a bump early in the bike. I also lost some tubular repair stuff so good thing I didn't get a flat. The temp was in the low 50s with low humidity so luckily I really only needed on bottle. Took 2 gels on the bike with the water. I got passed by 2 people on the bike with the 2nd guy finishing just barely ahead of me. I thought my pacing was OK. I probably started off a little too fast. I don't think I felt like I had a great bike but it was OK. With the fastest bike split around 1:13...I wasn't too far off. A little better effort and I could have been in the top 8 bike splits. I did get drafted for a few miles bike some dude but I think he got a penalty. They handed out quite a few drafting penalties for such a small event. This makes me happy since I'm usually the one gettting drafted.
What would you do differently?:

Start of a little easier. Make sure my flat repair stuff and bottle are secured better. I'm lucky I didn't need more fluids because there was nothing on the course. I'm also lucky I didn't flat...because I would have been walking home.
Transition 2
  • 01m 11s
Comments:

My hands were pretty frozen when I got to T2. I was thirsty because I only had one bottle on the bike. I took some extra time to eat another gel and drink some extra water in T2. I also had trouble getting my shoes on even though I had speed laces. My hands were too cold to grip the shoes to get them on. It took extra time to open the gel and put on my shoes because of the cold. I'm usually pretty good in T2 but this was just a mess. I really don't think it cost me any places though because the guy in front of me finsihed a good 1:30 ahead.
What would you do differently?:

Since I lost the bottle on the bike I had to spend more time in T2 to hydrate. I suppose not losing stuff on the bike would have fixed this. Not sure what I could have done about the shoes....this usually won't be a problem so I'm not worried about it. That's why these local sprints are good...they get you ready for the bigger events.
Run
  • 26m 55s
  • 4.2 miles
  • 06m 25s  min/mile
Comments:

Sue called it correctly after the race when she said that I'm a closet runner. I LOVE biking but always seem to place much higher in my run splits. I started off fast because I wanted to catch the guys that smoked me through T2. I caught them in a matter of minutes. I probably passed 5-7 people in the first 1.5 miles. They weren't running all that fast so I never worried about them re-passing me. After this, I looked ahead and didn't see anybody in front of me that was close. At this point, I put my running in cruise control and slowed up a little. This was a mistake that could have cost me. With about 1 mile to go, I see two guys off in the distance. I was disappointed that I hadn't run harder so I could have caught them. I said "what the hell" and started REALLY pushing the last mile. I caught one of the guys with about 300-400 yards to go and he didn't respond. The last guy saw me coming and picked up his pace. I sprinted by him with about 100 yards to go. He laughed as I passed and told me to slow down. I think he said something like "Don't worry dude, I'm not gonna try to keep up". I ended up finishing 9 seconds ahead of him. He was a swimmer/biker and I'm a biker/runner. We know who always wins these battles. :) One thing to note...I took a wrong turn that cost me 10-15 seconds. The race volunteers on the run course didn't really say much until you had already gone the wrong way. It was a confusing run course and the volunteers should have been more vocal.
What would you do differently?:

Keep a fast pace throughout the whole run. I probably could have finished ahead of those two guys without the frantic sprint at the end if I would have kept a strong pace the whole way. In the end, it was a fun finish but it could have cost me a few spots. I probably could have had the 4th or 5th run split with a little more effort.
Post race
Warm down:

Nothing. High fived Sue's parents who came out to cheer me on. Ate some food and waited for results to see if I needed to stick around for the awards ceremony.

Turns out I finished 2nd in my age group. The guy who finished 1st in my age group was 2nd overall so I got the roll down and the award for 1st in the 30-34 age group. I think I'm a little lucky because it didn't seem like this age group wasn't that competitive. If I was in the 35-39 age group, I wouldn't have gotten shit. I'll take it though. My first hardware. I'm just disappointed that Sue and my two girls couldn't be there due to the weather. :(

What limited your ability to perform faster:

A little chilly. Kicked in the face on the swim. Underfueled on the bike. Lollygagging on the run. Even so...with a perfect effort, I wouldn't have finsihed that much higher...maybe one spot. The course didn't seem that fast today and this is reflected with the slower than normal times for the course. They moved the transition area to the sand which also slowed things down from years past.

Event comments:

This is a great local race that is organized by some great poeple. The post race food was good. The race only started a few minutes late which is pretty good for small sprints. The swim course was nice...the bike course was great. The venue was a great place to take your family (if the weather were better). I absolutely recommend this race. The finish times do seem quite a bit slower than last year though. Not sure if this is because of course changes or because the field wasn't as deep.

The police on the bike course were fantastic. Never a question which way to go. Always held traffic (even though there wasn't much)

Two complaints

1) They need to change the location of the transition area so it isn't in the sand. What a mess. I had sand on everything. And the 150 yard run with the bike through the sand both ways was terrible.

2) The volunteers on the run course needed to be more vocal. It was a zig-zag course with people running every direction. There were signs but it was easy to be confused which direction to go. This cost me about 10-15 seconds. The volunteers should be pointing and yelling the whole time telling you where to go.




Last updated: 2007-12-17 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:14:37 | 980 yards | 01m 29s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/30
Overall: 37/280
Performance: Good
Suit: Full Zoot
Course: It was a triagle shaped swim with started and finished in the same place. I'm not sure if this is 0.5 miles or 0.6 miles. The race director said 0.5 but the timing company says 0.6. I guess it doesn't matter.
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 63F / 17C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Average Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 01:30
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
01:16:45 | 29 miles | 22.67 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/30
Overall: 12/280
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: It was actually a nice course with very little traffic. The road surface was OK but not great. There was one metal bridge that was a little sketchy since it was wet. I think somebody actually crashed there because I saw an ambulance on the way back. The course was an out and back with a loop at the end. Light winds...mostly flat with one "hill". They called it a hill but it really wasn't. No need to even get out of aero.
Road: Rough Wet Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills:
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks:
T2
Time: 01:11
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:26:55 | 04.2 miles | 06m 25s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/30
Overall: 6/280
Performance: Good
Course: This was a figure 8 course through the camping area of the park. Since the out and back runners crossed paths so many times...you always had a good sense of who was in front and behind and how fast they were running. It was not a fast course because you had to run through some loose dirt at times and there were lots of turns that slowed you down.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
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?
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4