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Harbor Lights Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Waukegan, Illinois
United States
Capri Events
65F / 18C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 24m 39s
Overall Rank = 168/807
Age Group = M30 - 34
Age Group Rank = 28/105
Pre-race routine:

Got up around 4am. Had a bagel and some Gatorade. Put the bike and my bag into the car and my wife and I drove to the race site. Took about 45 minutes to get there.
Event warmup:

Not much. I setup transition and then hung out at some picnic tables with my wife and a couple of buddies doing the race. I ate a Cliff bar, took a GU about 20 minutes before the start and got the wetsuit on. The water temp was 58 degrees, so I decided to bail on the swim warmup. I walked down to the beach about 10 minutes before the start, zipped up the wetsuit and got ready to go.
Swim
  • 09m 15s
  • 800 yards
  • 01m 10s / 100 yards
Comments:

No way this course was 800 yards. If it was I'm quitting my job and training for the Olympics in swimming. The swim was good. The water was cold, but I got used to it quickly. I started towards the front and had clean open water the whole time. I just got into a good rhythm and I was done. The last 100 feet or so was only 1 foot of water so I had to high step it out of the water.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. I was happy with the swim. Maybe increase the effort slightly. I probably could have gone sub 9.
Transition 1
  • 03m 40s
Comments:

Long run from the swim to the bikes. Probably a half of my time was spent running to my bike.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing
Bike
  • 37m 21s
  • 13.2 miles
  • 21.20 mile/hr
Comments:

Wow, this course had two faces. The first 2 miles and the last 2 miles were like riding on the moon. It was full of potholes and craters. I ejected my spare tube and tire levers from my xLAB. They were velcroed in and I was hit some hole so hard it pulled the velcro apart.

The middle two loops were on freshly paved roads and were flat. You could really fly on those. I hammered it fairly hard on this section. Overall if they don't fix the access road to the highway's I'm not sure I'm going to ever do this race again. It was extremely dangerous. I've ridden several thousand miles this year and several thousand last year on the roads of Illinois and haven't been on ones in that bad of condition.
What would you do differently?:

The rough roads dropped my average speed some.
Transition 2
  • 01m 53s
Comments:

Long run from my bike to the run exit. Probably half the time was spent running in transition.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, I'm happy.
Run
  • 32m 33s
  • 4 miles
  • 08m 08s  min/mile
Comments:

Good run. My legs still have some deep fatigue from the Ironman and it kicked in during the run. Overall, I was a little disappointed I didn't run faster. I took in a couple of quick drinks of water as it was fairly cool out and I didn't feel myself overheating at all.
What would you do differently?:

Not run an Ironman a month before. If I had my normal legs I could have gone faster on the run course.
Post race
Warm down:

Not much of a warm-down. Met my wife and put on some dry clothes. We watched some of our friends come in (one of my buddies had to walk his bike the last 2 miles as he broke a spoke and flatted).

They had a great picnic afterwards. They had breakfast buffet and burgers. Great post race spread.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Rough roads and tired legs.

Event comments:

The course is pancake flat (both bike and run). My biggest gripe was the condition of the roads on the bike. If they don't get that fixed somebody is going to get hurt. The other issue is that it is over a mile walk from the cars to transition. My friends with kids were not happy about that as walking with a 3 year old at 5:30am for a mile is not fun. They said there were shuttle buses, but we didn't see any.

However, the post race food spread almost makes up the above issues. It is a good local race and well organized. If you are looking for a beginner race this would be a good one (assuming they fix the bike course).




Last updated: 2009-05-05 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:09:15 | 800 yards | 01m 10s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/105
Overall: 0/807
Performance: Good
Suit: Full Wetsuit
Course: Rectangle Course
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 58F / 14C Current: Low
200M Perf. Remainder:
Breathing: Drafting:
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 03:40
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:37:21 | 13.2 miles | 21.20 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/105
Overall: 0/807
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: Two loop course with and out and back
Road: Potholes Dry Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 01:53
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:32:33 | 04 miles | 08m 08s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/105
Overall: 0/807
Performance: Average
Course: Out and back course. One small hill just after mile 1. It is an overpass.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Too easy
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 3

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2009-07-20 9:23 AM

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Master
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Chicago
Subject: Harbor Lights Triathlon


2009-07-20 11:12 AM
in reply to: #2295644

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Veteran
201
100100
Winter Park, Florida
Subject: RE: Harbor Lights Triathlon
Matt,
Thanks for the post!  Man that water was cold huh?  Yeah, this guy that was in our Wave was so blatant with his drafting.  Even when I got out of my aero and turned around on my bike and yelled at him and waved him away, he still tail whipped around me and got right behind the other guy he was drafting off of.  I'm still steaming from that.

It's ok, he passed me out of transition but I tracked him down within the first mile and crushed him on the run by 15 mintues.  Sweet, sweet revenge!

Great job yesterday, especially coming off of your Ironman.  You did awesome considering 1 month of recovery.

Edited by eddievolly 2009-07-20 11:13 AM
2009-07-22 7:12 PM
in reply to: #2295644

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Member
37
25
Subject: RE: Harbor Lights Triathlon
nice all around effort. train hard and keep up the good work.
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