20th Annual New York Tri/Biathlon Series

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20th Annual New York Tri/Biathlon Series - TriathlonSprint


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Harriman State Park, NY
New York Triathlon
85F / 29C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 1h 38m 35s
Overall Rank = 80/330
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 12/39
Pre-race routine:

First, let me tell you that I ran this race with a mild head cold. So I had a sore throat, mild nasal congestion and head fogginess starting 1 day before and during the race.

Had bagel, OJ, H2O and some coffee around 2 hrs before start of race. Set-up transition area. Kept hydrating, especially knowing that I'd be relatively dehydrated from the my stupid cold. Plus it had reached near-record high temps yesterday, and the forcast for the race was hot and humid.
Event warmup:

Jogging back and forth from car to transition area with Joe to get stuff we had forgotten.
Swim
  • 15m 30s
  • 880 yards
  • 01m 46s / 100 yards
Comments:

Having only really begun swimming in January, I'm not a strong swimmer. I fairly successfully utilized recently practiced stroke skills (bending elbow, better catch, full extension on pull, front quadrant swimming, proper hip rotation), which for me resulted in a decent swim. Sighting was pretty good. I tend to drift to the left in open water swimming. That only happened once during the race.

As mentioned previously about this race, there are lots of weeds to swim through. I really wasn't a problem. I just ignored them (rather have weeds than jellyfish).
What would you do differently?:

Need to keep working on swimming skills. Masters class is hopefully in my future starting the off-season. Overall pleased with my performance. I keep slowly improving.
Transition 1
  • 04m 30s
Comments:

They had the transition area around 100yds (up hill) away from the beach. The transition area was in a rocky/gravel parking lot that was brutal on bare feet. People had to leave shoes by the entrance to the parking lot so they wouldn't destroy feet getting to transition spot. That was annoying. Well, in my post-swim delerium, I accidently grabbed some other guys shoes! I didn't realize that until he found me and told me so after the race. Oops.

Anyway, I felt pretty wiped after the swim. HR was in mid 180's (really high for me during a swim). I suppose my cold was partly responsible for my breathlessness. To allow my HR to come down a bit and to catch my breath, I purposely took my time getting out of suit, popping endurolytes and a GU and getting ready for the bike.
What would you do differently?:

Uh, not steal someone's shoes.

Leave the water in better form.
Bike
  • 54m 18s
  • 16 miles
  • 17.68 mile/hr
Comments:

As stated in course description, this is a very difficult, almost technical course, with a great deal of time spent climbing. At the end of the day, I think I could have attacked more aggressively on the hills. I took the major climb conservatively, as I didn't know how tough it would really get, and didn't know how well I'd manage with my cold.

I was passed by many on the climb, but I overtook about 1/2 of them on the rollers following the climb on the way back to the transition area.
What would you do differently?:

By far my best segment is usually the bike. Not the case in this race, so I don't think I was aggressive enough. Should have attacked more on the climb.

I should also mention that I felt chills several times during the ride--not a good thing in 85-90 degree heat. I'm sure my cold was making its presence known.
Transition 2
  • 00m
Comments:

Time included in bike segment.
Run
  • 24m 16s
  • 3 miles
  • 08m 05s  min/mile
Comments:

As always, it took ~1 mile to get my running legs. I got stronger as the run went on. Grateful that the end was mostly downhill.

Felt more chills (not good).
What would you do differently?:

Find a cure for the common cold.

My pace was 15-30 secs off my typical brick pace. Given whole scenerio I can't complain.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around, drank lots of Red Bull and H2O. Waited with Jen for Joe to come in, who was doing his first tri in several years.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Stupid head cold.

Event comments:

I bugs me when race organizers choose a timing system that doesn't give T1/T2 times. This race used disposable chips that were attached to the back of your race number. Seemed cheap.

The transition zone should not be on such a rough terrain. There are huge parking lots right near the beach. It would have been much better if they had managed to claim part of one of the lots for a transistion zone instead of the rock pit we were in.

I really love the challenge of the bike course, so I definitely want to do it again. It's a refreshing change from the steriotypical flat and often boring courses at most races. However, the race director really needs to find a way to alert riders earlier about the u-turn on the steep downhill. That is extremely dangerous! If you do this race, do yourself a favor and at least drive the bike course, if not actually bike it, before the race.




Last updated: 2005-07-10 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:15:30 | 880 yards | 01m 46s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/39
Overall: 147/330
Performance: Good
The official race times include swim and T1 together. I checked my watch when exiting water and subtracted a close estimate of my T1 time.
Suit: Full
Course: Clockwise triangle from beach.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 75F / 24C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Average Drafting: Average
Waves: Average Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 04:30
Performance: Bad
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off: 		No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed:
Biking
00:54:18 | 16 miles | 17.68 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/39
Overall: 75/330
Performance: Below average
Time includes my T2.
Wind: Some
Course: See in my post below. I'm going to cut/paste a great description of the course posted on the forums awhile ago by rollinbones. This course was very difficult. Highlights: Starts out with ~1.5 mile climb; a steep downhill ~ 6 miles in (I reached 45.8 MPH); 3 mile climb midway into course. WORD OF WARNING for anyone who wants to do this race: at the bottom of the steep hill you have to come to a near-complete stop and make a u-turn into the big climb. It's very dangerous the way it's organized (2 people crashed) as they don't alert you soon enough about the turn while you're flying down the hill.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 80
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Below average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:00
Overall:
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:24:16 | 03 miles | 08m 05s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/39
Overall: 71/330
Performance: Average
Course: Out and back from transition area. Most of the "out" portion was slightly uphill, making it easy to get a negative split on the "back" portion.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
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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2005-08-16 7:54 AM

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Veteran
118
100
Roseville, California
Subject: 20th Annual New York Tri/Biathlon Series

Here is a great description of bike course, posted by rollinbones in a previous BT post:

1/2 mile out of T1 up the first 1 1/2 mile hill. Not killer.
up and down some more till you get the big downhill past Lake Welch.
Keep it in a high Gear past here. Push it just past here as it levels slightly.
Last chance to hammer it. then MUST MUST downshift at the Steep Hill Sign. I hit 45 mph here.
BUT you have to come to a complete stop at the U-Turn. There is a bridge approx 1/4 mile before. That's the time to lean up and start breaking. YOU MUST SLOW DOWN or you won't make it (YUP, I Speak from experience!)
Now the fun starts - Up Tiarhati Drive. 2 1/2 miles of hell. You get some minor breaks where you can shift up but not many. Takes me 18 minutes to get up. When you see Cedar Pond you've made it! Well almost. Slight hill around a bend then your done.
Downhill to Tiarhati Circle. Now is your chance to make some time IF your legs respond.
Around Kahaukee (sp?) cirlcle and you've got one last hill of about 1 1/2 miles. Not too steep but your thighs will know it.
Finish slight downslope to T2
Takes me 55 mins to 1 hour. ave about 16 mph. Got an older bike and can't seem to do much better than that. I do get passed quite a bit (next year I'll have my Cervelo, I hope so I'll be doing the passing!!!)



Edited by Vapor Trail 2005-08-16 8:03 AM

2005-08-16 8:30 AM
in reply to: #226169

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Elite
2915
2000500100100100100
New City, New York
Subject: RE: 20th Annual New York Tri/Biathlon Series
Paul,
Nice report and that is one hell of a time on that course and not feeling well to boot. Great time on the bike hard to believe you think you can do much better. I domy training rides there in about that time hard to get it to 50 mins. So you know, in June when they run it they use the lower lot - much nicer. I agree I HATE the timing system they use. I talked to the director in June it's a money issue. If it wasn't so close to my house and beuatiful there i would'nt keep doing it. again good job, Mark
2005-08-17 3:59 AM
in reply to: #226169

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Veteran
257
1001002525
Stirling, Scotland
Subject: RE: 20th Annual New York Tri/Biathlon Series

Well done. Enjoyed the race report.

Good luck on finding that cure for the common cold.

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