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Coliseum Rock 'N RollMan Half - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


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Macon, Georgia
United States
Setup Events
91F / 33C
Sunny
Total Time = 6h 33m 16s
Overall Rank = 63/104
Age Group = F25-29
Age Group Rank = 12/17
Pre-race routine:

Woke up, had a toasted bagel with PB, and drove the hour to the race from my parent's house. I set up my transition area, chatted with fellow NAMCers and went potty (and didn't have to use a port-o-potty, wooo hoo!).
Event warmup:

Swam a quick out and back and then stood around for a while waiting for the race to start (I think some lifeguards hit "snooze" a few too many times)
Swim
  • 32m 25s
  • 2112 yards
  • 01m 32s / 100 yards
Comments:

(Time includes a long uphill run to transtion) Nice, relaxing swim. I probably could have pushed it more but that is always a challenge for me on any kind of distance swim. So the only weird thing was that I don't think I was swimming very straight. Everytime I'd sight, I'd have to correct my direction some and I somehow ended up really wide on the last section. I'm not sure if it was because maybe they had the sighting bouy in a little too far and since I wasn't using that bouy, I ended up in a different place than other people or if I just kept swimming to the left (which was clearly the case going out). It was nice to be able to see so far that I didn't need the sighting bouys.
What would you do differently?:

Hmmm...swim straight (going to have to get in some more practice in open water to correct that) and push a little harder
Transition 1
  • 02m 14s
Comments:

Pretty smooth transition. Only thing was that since I racked my bike without my bottles in it, I didn't realize they wouldn't clear the rack when I took my bike out. So I had to pick up my two rear bottles after they were forced out of their cages. I do have one comment about the transition setup. So they put this barricade up between the sprint and HIM transition areas (but you had to run through the other one). I thought they would take it down after the race started, but they didn't, so after you ran in from the swim, you hit the barricade and had to run all the way to the other side of the transition area to avoid it (the swim in brought you right into the middle of the transtion area) and then if you weren't on the right side of the transition area (which I wasn't), you had to run back the other way to get to your rack. I was a little to the left of the middle but that didn't seem very equitable, especially for those on the left side of transition. I wonder if people really think about how they are setting up a transition area.
What would you do differently?:

Meh. Not much. Just be speedier...
Bike
  • 3h 20m 43s
  • 56 miles
  • 16.74 mile/hr
Comments:

There was quite the traffic jam at the mount line. I managed to get some slow people mounting right in front of me which caused a traffic jam for all of those behind me. It was a total yard sale the first 10 miles. I narrowly missed someone's bottle that ejected before we even got out of the park (not sure how that happened). People's lack of knowledge for the rules (or just complete disregard) was pretty frustrating. I passed a girl with my front wheel and she never dropped back, she just kind of "raced" me for a while and then ended up picking it up and passing me on the right. I saw a guy out for a Sunday ride with a girl (he could have just been trying to pick her up) that he rode next to the entire time. I'm really not used to people flying by me on the bike. It was actually pretty hard to restrain myself because I wasn't working very hard so it was hard to not pick it up after watching people pass me. I think I need to get my HR zones retested because I feel like I took it too easy on the bike. Granted, I'd rather take it too easy on the bike than too hard, but I'd like to get more concrete numbers to use for the rest of my training and for Louisville. I was trying to stay below Z3 for the first 2/3 of the bike, after about the first 1/3, I decided to switch to low Z3 for the rest. I think I did pretty good about keeping my effort consistent. There were a couple of times where I looked down and had let myself slack but I made sure to get full use out of my gears so my HR never got out of control on the hills.
What would you do differently?:

Spray sunblock on my lower back (I got a nice burn there which didn't help on the run when the fuel belt rubbed against it). Not carry as much fluids. I didn't even touch the gatorade I had in my lower cage and would have been better off without it since the whole bottle pick up/drop was a pretty painless process.
Transition 2
  • 02m 54s
Comments:

It wasn't my fastest transition. I kind of took a second to pause and make sure I wasn't forgetting anything.
What would you do differently?:

Be speedier.
Run
  • 2h 35m 1s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 11m 50s  min/mile
Comments:

Well, since my run training had taken a significant hit the last 3 weeks, I figured I'd end up walking at some point so I didn't have high expectations. I actually took it out too fast the first couple of miles which didn't kill me but was a good challenge to recognize now since it could be much more detrimental at Louisville. I knew I was going too fast but was just having a hard time forcing myself to slow down. I did slow down some and my 4th and 5th mile splits were my slowest of the day. I was really just plodding along. I know that people who were run/walking were probably making way better time than me but I was really happy that I never walked (outside of the aid stations that I got drinks at). It was kind of funny because every aid station that actually had ice water (which seemed to be about 50/50), I'd drink the water and then dump the ice down my top, which probably looked strange but definitely felt good. My fuel belt managed to do some significant chafing, especially before I pulled my top down lower (need to find a super long tri top somewhere). I had a decent amount of energy at the end and managed to have a pretty strong finish. The worst bit of irony was that it started sprinkling as I was running the last quarter of a mile and then after I crossed the finish line, it started raining. It didn't rain for all that long but that sure would have been appreciated earlier.
What would you do differently?:

Run more during my training and improve upon my running technique (which I'm pretty sure was abyssmal)
Post race
Warm down:

Walked. I downed a bottle of water within the first two minutes and ate a grilled chicken sandwich. I kept moving while I was drinking and eating.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Well, if you want to have an aggressive time, you have to be aggressive which just wasn't my approach for my first HIM since I wasn't really sure what to expect and I really wanted to avoid misery at all costs. My craptacular running skills were probably my biggest limiter since I did have some energy on the run but wasn't able to take full advantage of it like a runner would be able to. But....I am really happy with this race, and since it wasn't an 'A' race, it was probably about as close to perfect as I could hope for.

Event comments:

It really was a nice race and they had a good amount of volunteers even though the heat had to be brutal on them as well. They need to work on their weather karma though since the conditions certainly could have been better.




Last updated: 2010-04-05 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:32:25 | 2112 yards | 01m 32s / 100yards
Age Group: 4/17
Overall: 19/104
Performance: Average
Suit: Fastskin over my tri top and shorts
Course: Rectangle with two mandatory bouys.
Start type: Run Plus: Waves
Water temp: 81F / 27C Current: Low
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Average Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 02:14
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
03:20:43 | 56 miles | 16.74 mile/hr
Age Group: 12/17
Overall: 75/104
Performance: Good
Avg was 143 which is low Z3. I'll update with more info later after I upload everything.
Wind: Some
Course: Lots of hills. Nothing too steep, just lots.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 02:54
Overall: Average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
02:35:01 | 13.1 miles | 11m 50s  min/mile
Age Group: 13/17
Overall: 71/104
Performance: Good
Course: HOT, HOT, HOT! with no shade and some gradual inclines and declines.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2010-06-07 8:37 AM

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Subject: Coliseum Rock 'N RollMan Half


2010-06-07 8:45 AM
in reply to: #2904652

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Subject: RE: Coliseum Rock 'N RollMan Half
Great race; I think you paced it perfectly.  Swim should just be a warmup.  Bike should be easy for first 15 miles, then pick it up after that.  Run should be everything you have.  

You are VERY well prepared for Lou. 
2010-06-07 11:43 AM
in reply to: #2904652

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Subject: RE: Coliseum Rock 'N RollMan Half
congratulations on your first HIM!

I relate to the issue with the baricade between the sprint and Half transions.
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