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TriAmerica St. Paul
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TriAmerica St. Paul - TriathlonSprint
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 Swim
Comments: NO WAY this was a 750m course. I know I swam it faster than 3min/100m. I usually swim about 2:15 100s and that's without a wetsuit. The top male swam it at a pace of 1:40/100 according to the results. I have to think the #1 guy would swim it faster than that. Anyhow, the start was a little slow and I felt like I was passing a lot of people. After only a few minutes the pack spread out and I had lots of space. The last 200m were getting hard and I came out of the water very winded. I even got a little side stitch as I was running up the beach. What would you do differently?: Train more! Get some swim coaching.  Transition 1
Comments: Long run from the beach to the T. Once there, I had to hurdle a guy who was sitting right by my stuff and then struggled my way out of the wetsuit. Felt like the rest went on OK. No speed records but didn't struggle with any equip. What would you do differently?: Practice wetsuit removal. Practice running with bike shoes on (mine aren't tri specific and, I think, would be hard to slip on while attached to the pedals with the bike moving!  Bike
Comments: Didn't get my breathing under control until quite a ways into the course though I didn't feel like it was effecting my performance. I took a hammer gel about 10 minutes in - I really needed it! One annoyance was a guy who kept hanging on me for about 2/3 of the bike. He came up on me at the big hill (on his fancy Kestrel with HED wheels, no less) and was to my left the entire climb and for a ways at the top. I finally got pissed and dropped him. He came back up on me 2 more times before the turnaround but would never pass me. So I dropped him again, twice! In the turnaround, he just about crashed into me and wasn't giving me or anyone else any room. He was hanging on my left rear AGAIN so I dropped him, AGAIN! I didn't see him until almost the end when he finally passed me for good. Don't know if he was saving himself for the end or what... All in all, it was a pretty good ride. I would have expected that my time and MPH pace fell where they did. What would you do differently?: Say something to the guy who was constantly on me. Something like "drafting is illegal"? Get a new bike. It was demoralizing to see all these nice light bikes go flying by my big 'ol steel MTB. I know that you need a good motor to power the bike but I sure am not taking advantage of the technology available! Transition 2
Comments: I wasn't able to get out of shoes like I planned. I guess the finish came up more quickly than I'd expected as it must've for others - a woman almost crashed into me in the dismount. The racks were an absolute mess! I was on the end and the guy next to me had racked his MTB backwards and had the big, wide bull bars on the rack. Plus, there was a guy in the same area as me and was not being very good about sharing space so I could get my bike in. Once I got it racked, I switched shoes, put on hat and race belt and took down a hammer gel and ran off. What would you do differently?: Knock other guy's bike off rack? I don't know how I could've improved that part. Next time I'll take the hammer gel with me. I need water with it but didn't realize there was an aid station right at the start. That probably wasted at least 30 seconds...  Run
Comments: I felt like my wind was good but I had NO legs whatsoever. I knew that the run was going to be my biggest challenge so I acheived my goal of not walking (except for aid stations - I can't run and drink from a cup at the same time!). There were a few hills on the course and I kept thinking, who the heck puts hills on the run?!?! I met up with fellow BTer Autumn on the course. We chatted for a bit and then she was off runnung fast like so many others on the course! It sure was cool having a bunch of family and friends at the finish line. What would you do differently?: Log more miles! I need to become a runner, not a jogger. Post race
Warm down: Hugs from friends and family and a little post race food and water. I should've stretched. What limited your ability to perform faster: #1 - Training. I'll be far better off next time as I'll have given myself more time to train. #2 - Technology. Need to ditch the mountain bike. Event comments: Not sure why but the race started almost 30 minutes late. Otherwise, it seemed well organized. I wish there would've been more bike marshals to help deal with the guy I couldn't shake. A friend also complained about people riding 3 abreast on the course because they were "racing together". All in all, great for MY FIRST TRI! I achieved all three goals which were: 1) Finish, 2) No slack strokes on the swim, no coasting on the bike, no walking on the run, and 3) finish in under two hours. Last updated: 2005-07-29 12:00 AM
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 2005-08-29 9:33 AM |
Elite  2515   Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea |  Subject: TriAmerica St. Paul |
| 2005-08-29 10:48 AM in reply to: #236333 |
Master 2346  Dayton, Minnesota Bronze member | Subject: RE: TriAmerica St. Paul Congratulations on your first race! Great job! |
| 2005-08-29 11:02 AM in reply to: #236333 |
Champion 11641  Fairport, NY | Subject: RE: TriAmerica St. Paul Congratulations triathlete! WTG meeting all your goals. |
| 2005-08-29 11:39 AM in reply to: #236333 |
Champion 19812 MA | Subject: RE: TriAmerica St. Paul Great Job Triathlete!! Way to go in make realistic goals and make them. What are you going to do next? I think some bike shopping may be in your future!! |
| 2005-08-29 1:05 PM in reply to: #236333 |
molto veloce mama 9311 | Subject: RE: TriAmerica St. Paul hey tom! congratulations, triathlete! a great race! i LOVED that the racks were marked. i got to my last race and got a horrible spot. at ian's race this weekend, someone racked their bike in what had been his spot! so, marked spots are cool - although i hear ya about getting there early. i was there at about 5:30 too. however, most people DID get there later, and the hold up with the race start was the HUGE line of people still getting body marked before they could go into the transition area. my start was about 10 minutes off, and it must have gotten delayed more for other reasons too, but i'm sure that long line was part of it. and yes, you need a new bike! fall is a great time to check out sales. my brother has an old bianchi road bike that's too big for him that he's trying to sell. let me know if you're interested in seeing it. it might fit you. it was great seeing another bt'er on the run. i wish we minnesotans would have thought of marking 'BT' on our calves.  you had a great first race. you should be proud. awesome work!!!! |
| 2005-08-29 3:16 PM in reply to: #236333 |
Regular 69 Lafayette, CO | Subject: RE: TriAmerica St. Paul Congrats Sir! It was my first yesterday too, how good do you feel? I want to just stop every person I walk by - "Hey, what did you do yesterday? I DID A TRIATHLON!" Congrats again, and a great job on achieving all of your goals! |
| 2005-08-30 11:52 AM in reply to: #236333 |
Elite 2515 Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea | Subject: RE: TriAmerica St. Paul OK, y'all. I'm having trouble posting pics into the race report so here's a link to the album. http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/photos/photo-thumbnail... Thanks kelpeng, marmadaddy, KathyG, autumn, and emartin10 for the kind words. Again, this is an awesome bunch and helps keep me motivated. KathyG, you pose and excellent question. I don't know what's next other than getting more serious about my training. I think I need to develop a better nutrition plan and also get a better understanding about how to approach training rather than just swimming/biking/running my butt off. Looks like a HRM is in my future, too. As for the next race, there's at least one winter indoor tri at the UofMN that it looks like autumn's already done. Maybe I'll stage one at our health club for friends and family... autumn, let me know more about your brother's bike via PM or something. I'm not sure I'm ready to buy a bike yet (read: my wife isn't ready for me to spend $$ on a bike yet) but I'll always be looking. Is it bad that I think about a new bike dozens of times a day? emartin10, yes, I wanted everybody to know how awesome it was. I had a LONG day here at work yesterday and didn't get hardly anything done. Oh, well. I enjoyed the hours I spent daydreaming about all things Tri. Thanks again to you all and I hope your next race is your best! Tom |
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United States
TriAmerica
65F / 18C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 186/202
Age Group = Male 25-29
Age Group Rank = 21/22
Got up about 4:30 and took a very quick shower to wake up. Had two pieces of peanut butter toast and a cup of coffee. Drank water along with coffee. Arrived at the race site about 5:30, got marked, chipped, and racked up the bike. P.O.ed that they had assigned rack spots. I sure wouldn't have needed to get there so early.
With the sprint starting so long after the international, I didn't feel like I could get in the lake to warm up. In hindsight, I definitely could have. Instead, I took a little run down by the lake. Its weird running in a wetsuit!