Steelman Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Quakertown, Pennsylvania
United States
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 30m 56s
Overall Rank = 172/522
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 21/37
Pre-race routine:

Ate a Clif Mojo bar, drank some water and sipped some of my girlfriend's coffee. Set up transition and then did some people watching.
Event warmup:

I stood in the water up to my knees, helped some people out who were slipping on the rocks and generally did no physical activity. I'm bad at motivating myself to warm up....that's a habit I need to break.
Swim
  • 17m 30s
  • 830 yards
  • 02m 07s / 100 yards
Comments:

My first open water swim. My time was a little disappointing - I can swim that in the pool and thought at race time I would be able to swim faster. Had to keep myself from pushing too hard at the beginning to keep up with the better swimmers. Found it a little difficult to relax and get my stroke down with all the contact from other swimmers.
What would you do differently?:

I've only been freestyle swimming for about 3 months and totally self-taught. I need some lessons to improve my form and more structured training. I was mainly focused on just finishing this distance. Now I have a time to beat for next race.
Transition 1
  • 04m
Comments:

I lost my bike...someone at the end of the row had a big Nemo balloon flying in the sky that I was using as my row identifier, but when I came in the balloon was on the ground and I didn't see it. Didn't have my wits about me to start looking at the numbers on the row. Wasted a good minute to 2 minutes just finding my set up.
What would you do differently?:

Slow down coming into the T1 and find my bike the first time. Also might use some sort of more visible indentifier to find it quickly. Pre-rolling socks would have been a good idea.
Bike
  • 46m 4s
  • 12.8 miles
  • 16.67 mile/hr
Comments:

As with the siwm, I haven't been biking for very long. I need to get off the bike trail with its long flats and short, steep hills and find the longer, more rolling hills that I encountered in this race. Also time to ditch the toe clips and get cleats.
What would you do differently?:

Getting real cycling shoes, training on longer hills.
Transition 2
  • 00m 56s
Comments:

I still have toe clips on my bike, so only had to get off the bike, throw my helmet and gloves in the bag, take a bite of my dark chocolate bar and swig of Gatorade and get moving.
What would you do differently?:

This part will be more challenging next time, as I'm planning on having cycling shoes and will have to deal with more of a transition than I had to in this race.
Run
  • 22m 28s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 07m 15s  min/mile
Comments:

Somehow I ended up only 21 seconds off of a PR in the 5k. I didn't feel particularly fast, but I passed a lot of people and didn't get passed by very many. Pace felt good, though I did weaken during the last mile and didn't seem to have anything extra when I tried to push harder.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing - I think that run was as good as I could have hoped for at this point.
Post race
Warm down:

Pizza, chicken fingers, gatorade and a banana....and a short rinse in the cold showers they had set up at the finish :-)

Event comments:

Very happy with it for my first race. Very well organized, and the race director gave a very nice overview and explanation of the course and rules the afternoon before. Will definitely do this again next year.




Last updated: 2008-08-14 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:17:30 | 830 yards | 02m 07s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/37
Overall: 0/522
Performance: Average
Suit: Sugoi 9" piston tri shorts
Course: 100 yards straight, hang a left and then a gentle arc for about 500 yards, another left turn and about 200y to the boat dock.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 79F / 26C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Below average Drafting: Bad
Waves: Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 04:00
Performance: Bad
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Below average
Biking
00:46:04 | 12.8 miles | 16.67 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/37
Overall: 0/522
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: First hill was steeper than I would have liked. Course overall had more hills than the flat bike trail I usually train on.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering:
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:56
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:22:28 | 03.1 miles | 07m 15s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/37
Overall: 0/522
Performance: Good
Course: Most flat, narrow trail through woods. A few gently rising hills and moderately sharp S-turns.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
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