Hickory Grove Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Colo, Iowa
United States
60F / 16C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 29m 16s
Overall Rank = 185/336
Age Group = 35 - 39
Age Group Rank = 6/13
Pre-race routine:

Distances are: 500 yard swim, 15.5 mile bike, 3.1 mile run

Had a Lenders Whole Wheat Bagel with PB and grape jelly at 5am. Drank 1 serving of Gatorade Lemon-Lime on the way there.

Event warmup:

Chilly morning for August but the humidity was low as well which made for a chilly swim and beginning part of the bike ride but overall a great day to race.

Took a dip in the lake to get used to the water just before my wave started. I was probably in the water for close to 10 minutes. This helped calm me down.
Swim
  • 09m 59s
  • 457 meters
  • 02m 11s / 100 meters
Comments:

I made it!!!! This is such a big deal for me. I don't think I could do it without the wetsuit though. I seriously don't feel comfortable without one.

I started in the back and to the left and got caught in a pretty decent traffic jam. I felt really good in the wetsuit and settled into a decent rythmn pretty quickly. I got bumped in the head pretty good one time, swam up on a few times & someone attempted to swim over me once but other than that not bad. I didn't try to draft off of anyone.
What would you do differently?:

Start more towards the front. I got in a decent bottleneck with people breaststroking during the first 100 - 200 yards. After the turn around I did pretty good pacing.
Transition 1
  • 02m 40s
Comments:

I had a little trouble getting out of my wetsuit but not too much. For my 1st ever transition I'm going to give myself an "average rating". I could have done things a bit quicker but I was ok with it today.
What would you do differently?:

Quicker!!!
Bike
  • 47m 53s
  • 15.5 miles
  • 19.42 mile/hr
Comments:

I rode in the drops and pushed myself pretty hard on the bike as I didn't want to save myself and regret it later. I drank about 12 oz of Lemon-Lime Gatorade and that seemed to work well.

Most of the other bikers had tri bikes (I would guess 75% of them did) and I felt like I was riding about as fast as my bike could go most of the time.

I was a bit hesitant to pass people for some reason. I think I was worried they would blow by me on their fancy tri bikes after they warmed up and make me look like a fool. I need to get over that.

I kept my cadence rather high.

I got a bit concerned that my heart rate was creeping up. During lap two I think I was at about 150-155 BPM.
What would you do differently?:

Maybe ride a bit more in the big chain ring and not be so hesitant to pass.
Transition 2
  • 01m 32s
Comments:

I didn't even think about taking my shoes off while I was still riding and I about endo'ed on my dismount.

I also didn't do anything special with my shoe laces so I had to tie them all up and double knot them before I could start running. The race belt thing was a bit uncomfortable as well. We received race belts in our packets. Prior to that I planned on pinning my # on my tri shirt.
What would you do differently?:

Get some speed laces or something!

Figure out the comfortable spot for a race belt.

Practice dismounts.
Run
  • 27m 14s
  • 3.11 miles
  • 08m 46s  min/mile
Comments:

The first part was cross country (grass and wood chips) with small hills and not much fun. It took about 1.25 miles before I felt like I had my legs under me. After that I felt really good for about 5 min. Then during the last mile my legs started to feel like they wanted to give out a bit.

I didn't drink anything during the run and I think that was ok for me.
What would you do differently?:

Push myself a little harder. Since this was my first race I had difficulty judging how running at a certain race would make me feel down the line.

I need to get faster.
Post race
Warm down:

Stood around drinking Gatorade. Ate a bit of a banana, sliver of a bagel and a lot of oranges.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

This was my first race and I didn't really know how to pace myself.

Event comments:

Very good 1st complete race. They had a ton of people in the water to help keep a watch on swimmers which was great. The volunteers were very good in general and there were a lot of them. The post race atmosphere is ok but not great.

The goodies in our packet were pretty good.

I'm glad I can officially say I am a triathelete now!




Last updated: 2008-07-18 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:09:59 | 457 meters | 02m 11s / 100meters
Age Group: 5/13
Overall: 183/336
Performance: Average
Suit: Sleeveless Xterra Wetsuit
Course: The swim starts from the park's only beach and goes 250 yards straight out into the lake. The course is marked with bouys which you can see in the picture to the right. Clockwise swim with the buoys in sight on right side. Swim waves had 6 minute gaps to prevent congestion on the bike course.
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 77F / 25C Current: Low
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Average Drafting: Bad
Waves: Average Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 02:40
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:47:53 | 15.5 miles | 19.42 mile/hr
Age Group: 5/13
Overall: 181/336
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: The bike course follows the paved roads surrounding the park. Participants will do three five mile loops around the park plus a little extra getting in and out of the park for 15.5 miles. We will be keeping track of each loop so you can compare your loop splits and we can make sure you did three. The bike course would not be considered hilly or flat. Just typical terrain for Iowa.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 90
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:32
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Bad
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:27:14 | 03.11 miles | 08m 46s  min/mile
Age Group: 7/13
Overall: 202/336
Performance: Below average
Course: The run is 3.1 miles or 5 kilometers long and is a looped course. Running will be a mix of road and grass. The grass sections total less than a mile of the course. The first section of grass is about a half mile long at the beginning of the run and the second and shorter section is about a quarter mile. The off road sections are on short grass cut for running. The majority of people say they like the variety of the run course. There aren't any major hills on the run course.
Keeping cool Good Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %???
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4