Blaster Blast - TriathlonMini Sprint


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Golden, Colorado
United States
Colorado School of Mines
32F / 0C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 04m 26s
Overall Rank = 29/102
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 3/8
Pre-race routine:

This was the my first triathlon ever last year. It is small, low key and close to home, so I decided to do it again. Also I figured I had an outside chance of reaching the podium in my age group. I was 5th (out of 9) last year, and only 1 minute behind the 3rd place finisher. It would also be a good chance to guage my progress from last year.

Up at 5:30, coffee and a bagel and out the door at 6:30 for the 10 minutes drive to the race.
Event warmup:

I haven't really figured out yet how to warm up properly, especially for a pool swim when I am not in the first wave, and it is hard to judge when my heat would start. Swam about 150 yards about 30 minutes before my heat started and another 150 yards just before my heat went off
Swim
  • 06m 29s
  • 400 yards
  • 01m 37s / 100 yards
Comments:

Last year did the I swam in 7:52. This year was 6:29, so a 1:23 improvement, and I moved up from the bottom third to middle of the pack overall. Felt good the whole way. Pacing seemed right on.

We were swimming heat 2 to a lane. The guy I was sharing the lane with was doing flip turns to my open turns. He had a body length on me at every turn, but I came off the wall even with him almost every time. His turns didn't seen that bad, so my open turns must be improving.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing
Transition 1
  • 02m 17s
Comments:

This was a wacky set up for T1. Bikes were outside laying on the grass, and you broght all your T1 stuff inside and changed behind your lane. While you were swimming, they brought your bike and racked it just outside the door from the pool. It required some quick thinking to get everything set up, but no problems.

Last year I was bottom 1/3 in T1 time. This year, I was middle of the pack. Basically I just used less stuff. No garmin, no HRM, less clothes, put on gloves while running to the bike instead of while in tranistion. I could have been even faster by skipping the bike jersey, but it was damm cold (low 30's with a 20 mph wind). I guess I just need to HTFU since there were several biking in just the tri top.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. This was smooth and controlled.
Bike
  • 28m 22s
  • 8 miles
  • 16.92 mile/hr
Comments:

2nd in age group with a sub 17 mph speed? WTF? Well, start with almost a 1,000 feet of climbing in 8 miles, combine with cold and windy weather (low 30's and a 20 mph wind), and add in 45 90 degree turns and you get one slow overall speed.

For the second year in a row, no one passed me on the bike (one guy tried but I passed him back within half a lap then never saw him again). It was probably an even better accomplishment this year as I swam faster and was in an earlier heat, so I was out there with better athletes this year.

I pretty much gave it a good strong effort on each hill and tried to recover on the downhill.

My time improved by about 1 minute over last year.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, although after seeing my run time, I probably pushed too hard on the bike as usual, and didn't have much left for the run.
Transition 2
  • 00m 47s
Comments:

I got my feet out of my shoes OK, but lost a couple of seconds on the dismount. I otherwise felt pretty quick. It was just park the bike, put on the running shoes and take off the helmet, grab the running gloves and go.

T2 time was top 10 overall and tops in my age group. Very pleased.
What would you do differently?:

Practice dismounts?
Run
  • 26m 31s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 08m 33s  min/mile
Comments:

At the start of the run, my feet felt frozen and my legs were very stiff. All of the climbing took a great deal out of my legs. This just felt sllllooooowwww and painful. At about the 1.5 mile mark, it felt like I got my legs back.

One of the top over 40 guys from last year was back this year and I had looked up his race number. At a little over a mile, I heard footsteps behind me, and as the guy passed me, I saw it was my over 40 competition. I screamed out "crap" and tried to pick of the pace. I stayed with him for about a 100 yards, but then he left me in the dust.

Run split this year was about 1 minute faster than last year. Based on my training, I was really hoping for a much bigger improvement.
What would you do differently?:

I definitely need to do some bricks. The run was half way over before I felt like I got my legs back.

I ran hard but I could have pushed harder. I wish that I had at least tried to stay with my age group competitor a little longer.
Post race
Warm down:

Grazing the post-race food spread.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of brick training, and limited training on the bike at this point in the year. Could have pushed harder on the run. Just wasn't prepared today to reach down and really suffer that last 1.5 miles on the run.

Event comments:

3rd place in my age group, and first ever podium finish (even if there were only 8 in my age group), so I am reasonably pleased with the day.

The T1 set up was pretty weird, and wasn't as well communicated as it could have been, and I am not really fond of having people touch my bike. Otherwise, the race was reasonably well run and organised.




Last updated: 2008-04-12 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:06:29 | 400 yards | 01m 37s / 100yards
Age Group: 3/8
Overall: 0/102
Performance: Good
Suit:
Course:
Start type: Plus:
Water temp: 81F / 27C Current: Low
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 02:17
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:28:22 | 08 miles | 16.92 mile/hr
Age Group: 2/8
Overall: 21/102
Performance: Good
Wind: Strong
Course: 6 laps around downtown Golden with one big azz hill on each lap and 7 90 degree turns on each lap.
Road: Rough  Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering:
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks:
T2
Time: 00:47
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes Average
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:26:31 | 03.1 miles | 08m 33s  min/mile
Age Group: 4/8
Overall: 0/102
Performance: Below average
Course:
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 3