login
Chain of Lakes Triathlon
-
No new posts
Chain of Lakes Triathlon - TriathlonSprint
View Member's Race Log View other race reports
 Swim
Comments: There were 5 of us assigned to my lane and 3 of us started out really close. Passing was chaos and for the first 200m we were a total traffic jam. There was no room for flip turns since we were basically reaching the end of the lane at the same time in a cluster. After the first couple laps I was able to pull ahead of the pack and stay there, which allowed me to relax my pace a little, breath more steadily, and incorporate flip turns. What would you do differently?: Better estimate my swim time & be more confident of placement. If I'd agreed to lead in our lane I would have been out in front the whole time and wouldn't have had to jockey for position. Bonus: it gave me a small taste of what an open-water swim might eventually be like. Get a couple practice laps in the pool. The wall was hard to see & it repeatedly came up too fast for me to comfortably flip turn. Focus on breathing better. In the heightened excitement I hardly breathed bilaterally at all, falling back on my dominant right-side breathing. Better anticipate the long wait between race start & my heat. I got hungry & had to beg additional snacks off my friend.  Transition 1
Comments: Shoes & socks went on pretty well, while standing, but balance was a little hard. I took the time to put my bike gloves on and I was glad I did even though it took extra time. It felt *cold* and I took the time to consider putting on a long-sleeve shirt, but didn't take the time to do it. What would you do differently?: Put on a long-sleeve shirt when it's that cold. The first 1/2, if not more, of the bike was uncomfortably cold. Practice T1 more.  Bike
Comments: I always find it hard to drink on the bike when I'm cold. Luckily I trained in cold, windy conditions, so this was an improvement. But being cold from the swim, combined with race excitement/anxiety, left me through most of the first mile before I thought about my water bottle. After that I improved, but still could have been more consistent. I was uncomfortably cold for the first mile & a half to 2 miles, but after that the sun came out and I had a lot of fun! I was passed by several people in the first 1/2 mile, and 2 later on, but I passed a few as well. What would you do differently?: Put a shirt over my trisuit if it's chilly. Push myself harder on the bike. Drink more water/sport drink. Transition 2
Comments: I biked with my running shoes, so all that happened here was that I found my stall, racked my bike, removed helmet & gloves, took quick stock of my transition area to make sure I wasn't missing anything, and headed out on the run. Slid race number around as I ran. What would you do differently?: Have a little more confidence that I don't need to do much in this transition. Just remove helmet and GO. Practice biking w/o gloves & decide if I can do without.  Run
Comments: Everything felt pretty good, but I felt like I was barely moving even though my race pace was much better than in training. I couldn't find any water stations so I just kept going. I was passed by so many people I lost count, but I couldn't care beyond just noticing & laughing about it. I was having so much fun! I did pass 2 or 3 people towards the middle of the run. I took it really easy for first 5 minutes, then did fairly random pick-up intervals for the rest of the run. I would just pick a landmark (tree, building, etc) and pick up my pace until I reached it - if I still felt good I kept up the pace, then relaxed & recovered at a jog until I felt good again. What would you do differently?: Pay more attention to where the water station/s were (I'm not sure what happened there). Push myself a little harder, but I'm pleased with my pace. Post race
Warm down: Walked around & stuffed food in my face. Banana, date & nut bar from home, water. Packed up transition area & loaded bike onto car. Stretched a little. Attended race awards. Headed to a restaurant and ate a big lunch: turkey sandwich, chicken noodle soup, 2 plates of salad & veggies & unsweetened ice tea. Food tasted awesome! 2.5 hr drive home. What limited your ability to perform faster: Crowding in the pool. Aside from that, not much. I could have pushed a bit harder in places, but intentionally held myself to a steady, moderate pace to enjoy the experience & not max out. Now that I know more what to expect & how it feels, I will be able to push closer to my limits. Event comments: This was an incredible first race experience for me. I didn't like the long wait for my swim heat, and could have better used my time to stretch & mentally prepare, but I wanted to watch everything to see how things worked and enjoyed watching the other swimmers. I definitely want to do more races and have confidence that I will eventually train my way up to a longer distance. Profile Album Last updated: 2011-01-18 12:00 AM
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
{postbutton}
 2011-05-08 9:07 AM |
Veteran  318  Minneapolis |  Subject: Chain of Lakes Triathlon |
| 2011-05-09 12:04 AM in reply to: #3487608 |
Member 10 | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon Great race! I hope I read it correctly when you said that this was your first triathlon. Keep up the hard work. Just for curiosity sake; did you race in heat 6 or 7? I was in 6 but I thought I saw you during the race. |
| 2011-05-09 6:54 AM in reply to: #3488553 |
Master 9705   Raleigh, NC area | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon Great race! I love the pictures! Question, when you test rode your bike, you left it in a really easy gear, right? |
| 2011-05-09 8:19 AM in reply to: #3487608 |
Elite 3515 Romeoville, Il | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon Great job Henry!! It may not have felt that way but you had a pretty solid swim here. All that crowding is just part of tri swims. You still pulled off 2min/100m's. That's a solid MOP time!!! |
| 2011-05-09 8:35 AM in reply to: #3487608 |
Expert 1544 Alexandria, MN | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon Looking at that swim start photo, I think you were in the same lane as TooTallRunner. Heat seven, right? I was in heat 7, but on the other side of the pool. |
| 2011-05-09 9:30 AM in reply to: #3487608 |
Veteran 458 Greensburg, PA | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon It sounds like you had a great first race. Congrats! Love the pictures - it looks like you had fun! |
| 2011-05-09 11:29 AM in reply to: #3488553 |
Veteran 318 Minneapolis | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon mrjoshwaltzing - 2011-05-09 12:04 AM Great race! I hope I read it correctly when you said that this was your first triathlon. Keep up the hard work. Just for curiosity sake; did you race in heat 6 or 7? I was in 6 but I thought I saw you during the race. Yup! This was my first triathlon! Overall excellent first experience. I swam in Heat 7. Mis-estimated my swim time by a full minute (I swam faster than I thought) but it all worked out. Beat *both* my overall time goals! |
| 2011-05-09 11:30 AM in reply to: #3488681 |
Veteran 318 Minneapolis | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon jmkizer - 2011-05-09 6:54 AM Great race! I love the pictures! Question, when you test rode your bike, you left it in a really easy gear, right? Yeah, I had checked the gears the night before with a 1 mile easy ride. In the parking lot I left the bike in the gear I planned to start out in and only rode in a small circle a couple times just to make sure my computer was working & that the wheels were turning. |
| 2011-05-09 11:32 AM in reply to: #3488889 |
Veteran 318 Minneapolis | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon Climbinggonzo - 2011-05-09 8:35 AM Looking at that swim start photo, I think you were in the same lane as TooTallRunner. Heat seven, right? I was in heat 7, but on the other side of the pool. Yup! I actually just sent him some of these photos since he didn't have anyone taking pics for him. You must have been in the fast lanes! |
| 2011-05-09 2:58 PM in reply to: #3487608 |
Expert 1544 Alexandria, MN | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon Yeah, funny you mention that. I pointed him out to Tom, saying I really liked his technique, his breathing, and ability to keep his head below the waterline the entire time he was swimming. He must have been out sub-8 minutes for sure. I was in your heat, but in lane 6 with two other guys. It worked out real well, we all told them we were within 15 seconds of each other, the fastest guy went first, then we all swam within 20 feet of each other for the entire 600 yards, no one got passed and no one was in anybody's way. |
| 2011-05-09 4:26 PM in reply to: #3487608 |
Expert 743 Minnesota | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon The lack of balance in T1 is commonly called the T1 two step. Wait until you have to remove a wetsuit with that feeling. Keep up the effort. They get better with time. This sport is addicting like golf. It's that one good hole that keeps you coming back. |
| 2011-05-09 8:34 PM in reply to: #3487608 |
Extreme Veteran 996 Minnesota | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon Great race Henry. Something came up and I couldn't make it which is too bad because I was looking forward to meeting you. 5/lane - I didn't know they did that many - I thought max was 4. You still had a pretty good swim time. You, for sure, have to do a couple more this summer. You'll only get better, you've got a great base. Good luck, Denise |
| 2011-05-10 11:10 AM in reply to: #3487608 |
Expert 1544 Alexandria, MN | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon I think they may have put 5 in that lane because it was at least 1.5 times the normal lane width. Plus I think they tried to load up each lane with very similar estimated swim times, so for example the very last lane on the other side of the pool only had two people because their swim times were so far off of everyone else. |
| 2011-05-10 12:35 PM in reply to: #3487608 |
Expert 743 Minnesota | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon Look at the 5 in a lane issue as practice for an open water swim. :-) |
| 2011-05-10 1:05 PM in reply to: #3491726 |
Veteran 318 Minneapolis | Subject: RE: Chain of Lakes Triathlon B-One - 2011-05-10 12:35 PM Look at the 5 in a lane issue as practice for an open water swim. :-) Exactly! And yeah, I agree with the comment above - I saw that in other heats the "slowest" lane (which was also the widest lane) sometimes got more people in it. |
| General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
{postbutton}
|
|
|
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK
United States
Pickle Events
55F / 13C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 128/192
Age Group = 3039
Age Group Rank = 37/42
Woke up at 5:30 after only getting about 4 total hours of sleep. Still felt good though, and a little nervous & excited. Ate 2 pieces of whole wheat bread w/ peanut butter, a banana and a couple cups of coffee. Used the bathroom, double-checked my gear, loaded everything up and headed to check-in at 7am. Arrived 7:10 and the transition area was already 1/3 full. Rode bike around the parking lot to check for any problems. Set up transition area, going over transitions in my head & checking off everything I would need. Picked up my race packet, got body marked & used the bathroom.
I used the time waiting for the pre-race meeting to stretch & use the bathroom again. I knew it was going to be a while before my swim heat was called, and I didn't want to be on my feet too much, but I walked around a little to stay loose. Pre-race meeting was pretty short and then the first couple heats were called down to the pool.