Galena Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Galena, Illinois
United States
Eagle Ridge Resort
60F / 16C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 02m 20s
Overall Rank = 232/799
Age Group = 40-45
Age Group Rank = 45/129
Pre-race routine:

Since it was my first ever Tri, just watch and learn. Ran into a few women from my Elgin Blue Wave Masters swim team and they were helpful and supportive and full of good hints and tips for me.
Event warmup:

Stretching a little more than usual. Since it was prety cold I got into my wetsuit fairly quickly [ as it seemed most everyone did just to stay warm]. Quick swim to get the wetsuit settled and used to the water. A couple PowerBar gel blasts for a last minute caffeine intake (figured they'd hit me into the bike portion).
Swim
  • 09m 53s
  • 660 yards
  • 01m 30s / 100 yards
What would you do differently?:

Not hyperventilate near the end...in order to navigate around the swimmers in the pack I overtook I went into shorter, choppy strokes which pumped up my breathing rate, [bad] so when I exited I was too dizzy. not take water just as I was exiting, that was stupid, and with only 9 minutes into it I didn't need any hydration at that point and it just made me cough.
Transition 1
  • 04m 7s
Comments:

The gravel [c'mon, GRAVEL?] on the way and into the bike transition was a little rough on the feet and made me slow down a bit. Some people had sandals hidden just off the path to grab and slip on so they could run to their bikes [good idea!]. As this was my first Tri I definitely wanted to wear socks, so that took an extra minute as I had to completely dry my feet off twice, then scrape off the pea gravel a few times. Plus I slipped on a long sleeve layer over my sleeveless Tri top because I was unsure of the wind temps on the ridges. This turned out to be a good move because for me it was pretty gosh darn cold when those gusts hit. Didn't know whether running was OK in T1 [I thought I had read it wasn't] so I walked and was trying to see what other people were doing [which didn't work well as I was trying to navigate down a crowded lane filled with protruding bikes and people, with gear flying in all directions] some were trotting/running and some were walking.
What would you do differently?:

Not sure, still mulling over this.....but need to practice this transition more at home more than I did!
Bike
  • 1h 12m 12s
  • 16.8 miles
  • 13.96 mile/hr
Comments:

Weakest area. Need to get more comfortable on my Tri bike next time just to get more aero [I used my commuter/road bike this time just because I'm extremely comfortable on it]. Lost my chain off the front gear ring shifting up a hill too aggressively; will have to address the mechanical aspect of that sometime as it's happened [although rarely] before, lost about 2-3 minutes there trying to get it back on without snapping it. Although I ride the Fox Valley Hills almost daily, they're nothing compared to what Galena has to offer up. But still was a blast!
What would you do differently?:

Better quality Tri shorts, the thin pad on the Zoots I used didn't cut it. Don't know why? I wore these in training for similar amounts of time and more, but still was sore in the derriere near the end near Eagle Ridge. My HR and cadence were both pretty good.
Transition 2
  • 02m 50s
Comments:

Again, didn't know if running in a Transition zone was OK or not so I walked. In blogs I hear people writing about how it hard to get their legs going out of the chute from T2 but I didn't have that problem this time. Shoes went on quick with the socks already on, so I was glad I did that at T1. Probably took too long a time swigging out of my water bottle just before I left.
What would you do differently?:

Not sure why I was so slow here, I'll have to watch some YouTube's of other people's transitions to see why it took me so long. Seems like the organizers have a very circuitous way of routing you into T2 which adds a lot of time/steps and really didn't seem necessary [but what do I know!].
Run
  • 33m 21s
  • 4.3 miles
  • 07m 46s  min/mile
Comments:

Felt pretty good to pick off a few guys in my age group I know passed me on the bike portion. As I went by and saw the 4X's on their calf I was cheering myself on! What Fun!
What would you do differently?:

Hit the downhills a little more smoothly.
Post race
Warm down:

Gatorade, bananna, stretching and a short walk. Then it was off to the food the resort has prepared as part of the athlete's post-race meal, which wasn't half bad!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Obviously, lack of knowledge of how to perform certain technical aspects [the Transitions], and of course the biking skills.

Event comments:

I hear this was new course this year so I have no prior experience to compare it to. But what cracked me up was the amount of people [5, by actual count] I entered into small talk with at the beginning of the race, and they said "and you chose THIS for your first race?" like I was out of my mind. I can take their point, but what better way than to jump right into the sport. Apart from that, the logistics from the Friday evening before was a little tiring, trying to get all my gear at the right place was a little bit of a pain, [thank goodness for GPS]. Overall great first race for me I think, and with experience it'll get better. And yeah, Galena was tough, but it was FUN!




Last updated: 2008-11-25 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:09:53 | 660 yards | 01m 30s / 100yards
Age Group: 5/129
Overall: 29/799
Performance: Good
Suit: Zoot
Course: Simple loop. They should make the swim longer! Started out in the middle of the pack and finished about 75 yards ahead of the nearest guy in my pack with the pink swimcaps on. [Funny digressing: the woman checking me in the night before said a few guys were actually complaining about the pink color, and she said they were serious! Something about the other waves having more "man"ly colors-she cracked me up...).
Start type: Run Plus:
Water temp: 63F / 17C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Below average Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 04:07
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Below average Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
01:12:12 | 16.8 miles | 13.96 mile/hr
Age Group: 60/129
Overall: 340/799
Performance: Below average
Wind: Headwind with gusts
Course: Can you say FRIGGIN' HILLY! Honestly, I don't think the hills would have taken so much out of me if it weren't for the headwind 75% of the time. I checked the wind conditions and it said 25-30MPH, but on the ridges I'm guessing it hit close to 40MPH in a lot of areas where we had sloping funnel hills. Some of the downhills I was anticipating hammering weren't that spectacular just from the frontal wind, even when tucked in the drops. I know the wind was getting ugly when a woman I was about 7 yards behind went into her areobars anticipating a long downhill, but as she was shifting to them got hit by a blast of wind, which caused her to shift her balance, and she lost it and wiped out. Now you're probably saying she should have had better technique to counter something like that, but there WERE a few gusts that really took me by surprise at their intensity, so I can totally understand how it happened. Did a good job of taking my hydration [CytoMax, but mixed slightly on the watery side] at regular intervals during the entire bike and moreso at the end before the run.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Below average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 02:50
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike
Racking bike Below average
Shoe and helmet removal Below average
Running
00:33:21 | 04.3 miles | 07m 46s  min/mile
Age Group: 35/129
Overall: 177/799
Performance: Good
Course: I expected the hills on the run just based on the bike portion, but that last uphill, yow! It was a killer. Just picture it: you can see the end in sight, all the people cheering, the last turn going into the chute and you've got the biggest uphill yet and I was just about drained. A lot of people were walking on the side on this last hill, but there was no way I was going to stop with only a minute or so left to go, so i just kept looking the next guy/gal to pass and kept going.
Keeping cool Good Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Ok
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] 4