mini-Mussel Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Geneva, New York
United States
Musselman Triathlon
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 38m 15s
Overall Rank = 369/568
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 17/30
Pre-race routine:

The morning started a little rough! I was picking up a friend and driving up at 6:30- I set the time on my alarm clock but forgot to turn the alarm on! Fortunately I woke up a 6:15, so I wasn't late, but I had planned to drink some coffee and eat something here. Instead I had a half a bagel with peanut butter as I was setting up, and a banana, and coffee that I spilled all over my transition area. I think I should have eaten a little more, a little earlier. Otherwise, I love my new bag (Rocket Science) and had all my stuff organized and ready to go the night before.
Event warmup:

A few short sprints. I didn't really do any warmups, but should have gotten into the lake and swum a little first to get used to it. Ate an accel gel 1/2 hour before with some water.
Swim
  • 10m 38s
  • 500 yards
  • 02m 08s / 100 yards
Comments:

It was a bit choppy and I was nervous about the scrum since it's been awhile. The waves were also coming into my natural breathing side, so I spent the first 100 yards trying to figure out how I was going to swim. Finally I settled in on crawl breathing to the usual side, just trying to read the waves as to how high to breathe, which worked out fine. Coming in I was swimming until I had to shorten my arm strokes so my hands didn't hit the ground!
What would you do differently?:

Swim more in training, especially in the lake, and do a warmup swim in the water to get used to it. I am just so slow!
Transition 1
  • 02m 14s
What would you do differently?:

more triathlons!
Bike
  • 55m 20s
  • 15 miles
  • 16.27 mile/hr
Comments:

1 accel gel on the ride. I was a little faster than I expected to be. I know I haven't been biking enough, so I was very happy with the time. It's close to where I was 4 years ago at the last mini-mussel. I probably pushed too hard at the end- there was a long downhill stretch and we were riding on the left because of how the course was set up, and two people in front of me were riding side by side and wouldn't pull over, so I had to push hard to pull into the right (safely) to pass around them. I though there was a fair amount of unsafe cycling- like people riding 3 across on the shoulder and into the right lane (on a 2 lane highway) with an 18 wheeler coming up behind. There really are times when it's better not to pass!
What would you do differently?:

I'm not sure- I don't know if the push at the end helped by bike time, or if it hurt my run more. I do know I need to spend more time on the bike, and start doing more (gulp) hills.
Transition 2
  • 01m 51s
Comments:

1 bite of accel gel with some water.
What would you do differently?:

Have some accelerade to drink at transition before the run.
Run
  • 28m 12s
  • 3 miles
  • 09m 24s  min/mile
Comments:

I was actually really disappointed in the run. Of all the sports, I have come the farthest in running since my last tri, and I actually did it slower! Since I have run a 26:30 5K I was really hoping for at least just under 9 minute miles here. It took about 1.5 miles for my legs to start to feel someone relaxed, and for my heart rate and breathing to come down a little. Clearly I need to do more than one brick in training to get my legs accustomed! Also, I think the late push on the bike hurt, and I didn't eat enough prior to the race.
What would you do differently?:

More bricks definately. I think I need to start focusing on speed and stop increasing my distance. I don't think my 8 mile run helped me at all on the race! I'll also bring some accelerade to the next one to drink at T2.
Post race
Warm down:

Walking around with my friend Todd who did a fantastic job in his first tri!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Training, nutrition, race strategy. I'll sit down with Friel's book this week and start to plot out training for FLT in September. I also didn't use my garmin or HRM during the race- I'm not sure if that would have helped or not (I'm not sure I'd want to know my heart rate!) but I'll have to give that some more thought.

Event comments:

It's a lot bigger than 2004, but is still a fun and well organized race. I wish they had massages rather than chiropractic care though! Thanks to all the volunteers that came out- especially the BT folks at the run station- I think I was too tired to say thank you by that point!




Last updated: 2008-01-29 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:10:38 | 500 yards | 02m 08s / 100yards
Age Group: 24/30
Overall: 421/568
Performance: Average
Suit: Full
Course: Starting at a bouy about 50 yards out in waist deep water, across to another marker, and then into shore. It was about 75y where it was too shallow to swim.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 72F / 22C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Bad Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Bad
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 02:14
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: Average
Biking
00:55:20 | 15 miles | 16.27 mile/hr
Age Group: 23/30
Overall: 395/568
Performance: Average
Wind: Some
Course: Basically a triangle; it was a beautiful course! There was a nasty headwind coming out, but then a great tailwind coming back which made up for it.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:51
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Below average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:28:12 | 03 miles | 09m 24s  min/mile
Age Group: 17/30
Overall: 332/568
Performance: Below average
Course: Flat out and back along the lake
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5