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Mermaid Triathlon - Fremont - TriathlonSprint


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Fremont, California
United States
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 15m 7s
Overall Rank = 15/
Age Group = Athena
Age Group Rank = 7/25
Pre-race routine:

Went out for a movie with my friends Friday night. Had samurai salmon wrap and potstickers from World Wraps followed by a small scoop of ice-cream. I know, I know, should not have had the ice-cream. Came home around 9:30 pm, packed up my gear. Was much more organized this time with the gear, so it took me very little time. Thankfully, I put together a good gear checklist for my 1st tri, so leveraging it made the process much easier. I was less anxious about the race as well. Went to bed around 10:30 - 11. Had a good night sleep.Woke up at 6 am, was in my car and ready to go by 6:30 am. Had to wait for Lena for a few minutes. We got on the road around 6:40 am, stopped by Starbucks to pick up some coffee. Got to the race site around 7:10 am. The place was full of people and looked more hectic than Napa Valley Sprint event. Got my packet and proceeded to the transition area where they body marked me. The security was not tight, so Lena was able to come into the transition area with me and watch me set up. As I finished setting up my transition area Danielle called. She was not feeling well all morning and even had to throw up, poor thing. Don't know what caused it, but she got to the transition area and was trying to shake it off. We chatted while I was finishing my set up. It's always great to chat with her, she is such a sunbeam, even when she feels crapy. We parted ways as I was ready to head down to the water since my wave was starting 15 mins earlier than hers and I was just getting anxious to get in the water. As I later found out she didn't manage to shake it off and had to leave the race.
Event warmup:

Only warmed up for swimming, no bike/run warm up before the event. Not sure if anyone does that.
I spent about 20+ minutes in the water before the swim. The water was super warm compared to Lake Berryessa, so I swam out and back a few times which felt very good. Then just hung out in the shallows chatting with a couple of girls that were in For Fun division with this being their first tri and first OWS. Tried to get them to relax about the swim.
Swim
  • 10m 15s
  • 437 yards
  • 02m 20s / 100 yards
Comments:

Water was pretty warm, which was a nice change from my experience at the Napa Valley Sprint. This was a running start, which was different for me and I think this got my adrenaline pumping more than I wanted it to. I positioned myself in the 1st row on the far left of the start area. Once the signal was given I charged ahead, plunged into the water and started swimming. The combination of my desire to get a good swim time, how much easier it is to swim in a wetsuit, running start and adrenaline I was going at a much higher pace than I can sustain for the whole course length, so naturally I started running out of breath as I was getting close to the 1st bouy. I tried to switch to breathing every second stroke, but I was still having difficulty managing my breathing. I should have stopped to catch my breath, but I wanted to keep moving, so I switched to my "modified" freestyle with my head completely out of the water leaning onto the left shoulder while still doing the freestyle stroke. This is not the most efficient way to swim, but I can still move faster than breast stroke. So I swam most of the remainder of the distance this way. I was able to get back into normal freestyle form 20-30 yards after I rounded the 2nd bouy. I swam the rest of the distance until I could reach the bottom of the lake, then stood up and charged out of the water. I was pretty out of breath by that point and couldn't even look into the camera, so I am pretty sure my picture will look horrible. Oh well :) I started to unzip my wetsuit as soon as I exited the water, so it was easy to peel the top off. After exiting the water you have to run up the hill, part sandy beach, part grassy hill. Running uphill after the swim was pretty tough, but I was able to run and catch my breath on the flat portion leading up to the transition area. I wanted to be under 10 min for the swim and ended up with 10:15, so not great, but better than my 1st tri.Per official record I was 13th in swim, but first 10 participants’ time chips did not register, yet they put them first on the ranking. Not sure why. Out of participants whose chips registered I was 3rd on the swim.
What would you do differently?:

Practice swimming in a wetsuit both in the pool and in OW, but primarily in OW to get used to managing sustaining pace. Train to manage my adrenaline, maybe practice running starts every time I do OWS practice.
Transition 1
  • 02m 58s
Comments:

Overall much better transition than the 1st time.
Forgot to put baby powder into socks and shoes, but the tip that I got from BT to roll up socks definitely worked. Having a bottle of water handy to wash off feet worked well, since after running on the sand and pavement my feet were covered in debris that would be quite annoying in the socks and shoes.Decision not to put bike gloves on was the right one as well - lesson learned from 1st tri, it took too much time, plus if I am biking for less than 2 hours then I can do fine without the gloves.With 2:58 T1 time I ranked 7th in my group, with first 4 participants’ time chips not registering (i.e.3rd?)
What would you do differently?:

Remember to put baby powder into socks and shoes to eliminate moisture after swim. Remember to undo the velcro straps on bike shoes.
Practice transitions. I am sure there is plenty of time to shave off. I could skip the socks completely, especially on sprint distances like this one. I could also skip the jersey and the skull cap for the helmet, although the skull cap took no time at all. Definitely room for improvement.
Bike
  • 32m 5s
  • 11 miles
  • 20.57 mile/hr
Comments:

I ran out of transition area, paused to get on the bike and wave at my friends. Started pedaling and got up to speed pretty quickly. Not sure what was causing it, but I felt a bit tight in my hamstring/inner thigh area and couldn’t shake it off throughout the biking portion despite being pretty warmed up after the first loop. Maintained a pretty good speed throughout, around 22 mph, but had to break on turns primarily because of slower bikers that looked very tentative. I didn’t want to crash into them or freak them out so opted to break more than I would have liked. Overall decent biking performance, although I would have liked to be able to get higher speed, since I am able to get up to 26-27 mph on flats in my training rides. There was some headwind which played a role. Was somewhat annoyed by a lot of bikers going slow, sometimes weaving and taking up the whole bike lane on parts of the course where we only had the bike lane to ride in and had to share the road with the cars.
I ranked 3rd in my group on the biking portion.

What would you do differently?:

Practice jumping on the bike after running out of transition area.
Practice taking turns at higher speed on flats, being familiar with the course would have helped to avoid breaking before the turn too much. I am still rather tentative with cornering, since I don’t ride flat courses with a lot of turns and when I ride hills with lots of turns I am concerned about picking up too much speed on the downhill, so I take turns on the downhill very cautiously.
Transition 2
  • 01m 27s
Comments:

The exist out of biking course was not very well marked and required some maneuvering to get into. I almost crossed the time chip mat on my bike, but realized it, stopped, got off the bike and ran across the mat with my bike. Racked my bike, took off the helmet and the skull cap, put on the hat, took off cycling shoes, put on running shoes, took a big swig of Rehydrate and was on my way to the running portion. I thought transition 2 went well, but I was still at 1:27, so not sure where I’ve lost time. I ranked 8th on T2.
What would you do differently?:

Not sure, maybe drink as I run out of transition area, but I didn’t want to bring the big bottle with me. Need to practice more, I guess.
Run
  • 28m 20s
  • 2.5 miles
  • 11m 20s  min/mile
Comments:

Running is clearly my Achilles heel. I am such a slow runner that I lose all the advantage that I have gained on the swim and bike segments. I took 28:20 to run 2.5 miles. Dang it! Which is way too slow! I ranked 8th in my group on the running portion. I am always very cautious about pacing my runs, so I do not push pretty much until I can see the finish line. I think I am overly conservative with saving my energy and need to push harder on the runs. Not having distance markers was throwing me off, since I had no idea how far I still had to go. I could only peg somewhat based on timing. The course was pleasant to run, I enjoyed the scenery. The last 200 yards of the course were on the beach, in the sand! Although it was hard to run on the sand, especially as the final stretch, I enjoyed it. My main issue with the sand was the uneven footing – I had a couple of close calls on twisting my ankle. As I ran up to the finish line I saw Lena, Claudia and Jason cheering for me and I even had enough energy to make silly faces at them as I was running by.
What would you do differently?:

Push faster pace, train to run faster longer.
Post race
Warm down:

Overall, I enjoyed the race, but felt that I could have done better (especially on the running). My goal for completing the course was 1:30 (was being conservative). I beat my goal by 15 minutes finishing in 1:15, which put me 6th in my group. I was pretty happy with the results and looking forward to improving it next month.
After the race I hung out with my friends, got a 5 minute free massage, stood in long line to find out my official result. This part of event organization was very annoying. I think they may have had some technical difficulties, but still, standing in a huge line to find out your result was frustrating. We kind of wondered around the expo for a while. I saw Diana from SVTC again as we were heading out, so didn’t have time to stay and chat. Packed up my gear and drove to Palo Alto to have brunch, which I followed by a nice nap in the afternoon. It was a good day. On Sunday I got an hour massage, wondering all along why am I not doing it more frequently.


Event comments:

Overall good event organization, except for a few areas.
Getting results after the race was painful, had to stand in a long line. Orientation before the race was not done. Not enough volunteers directing people in and out of transition area. Lots of people were riding their bikes in transition area which presented some safety issues.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2008-05-28 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:10:15 | 437 yards | 02m 20s / 100yards
Age Group: 13/25
Overall: 0/
Performance: Average
Suit: Yes - Blue Seventy Reaction
Course: U shaped set up with 2 bouys. Start and Finish are within 20 yards of each other.
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 70F / 21C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Average
Breathing: Below average Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 02:58
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:32:05 | 11 miles | 20.57 mile/hr
Age Group: 3/25
Overall: 0/
Performance:
Wind: Headwind
Course: 3 loops on street roads, very flat, 1 area with pretty rough albeit paved surface (couple of hundred yards).
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Below average Cornering: Below average
Gear changes: Good Hills:
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:27
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:28:20 | 02.5 miles | 11m 20s  min/mile
Age Group: 8/25
Overall: 0/
Performance: Below average
Course: Packed dirt trail, flat for the most part, last 200 yards are beach sand (not packed).
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3

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2008-06-19 1:48 PM

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Subject: Mermaid Triathlon - Fremont


2008-06-19 2:14 PM
in reply to: #1477091

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Expert
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5001001001001002525
Berkeley, Calif.
Subject: RE: Mermaid Triathlon - Fremont
Great race, Juliana!! You are *unbelievably* fast on the bike. And that's with riding pretty conservatively? I'm impressed.

I'm still sad we didn't get to meet up before or after the race, but yeah, it was kind of chaotic there. One of these days we'll hook up for sure.

Congrats on another well-run tri. You're looking so strong!
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