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Parry Sound Triathlon - Sprint - TriathlonSprint


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Parry Sound, Ontario
Canada
Multisport Canada
25C / 77F
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 33m 20s
Overall Rank = 36/139
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 7/15
Pre-race routine:

Up at 7, shower, bagel, juice, and a few bottles of water. This was the first time the family came with me, so I cut the time closer than normal (arrived 45min prior to race). This was a perfect time to arrive, as there was no down time but I still had time to warm up.
Event warmup:

Stretching, short jog. I walked/dolphined to the start via the swim exit, and in a bonehead move jumped right on a sharp rock and cut my toe fairly bad. I chose not to look at this during the race. On the upside, I now have a lovely blood stain on my new cycling shoes. How cool is that!
Swim
  • 15m 25s
  • 750 meters
  • 02m 04s / 100 meters
Comments:

I didn't swim very straight, but I think my form was good and my effort level was high. I thought I was on course, but very often I was swimming alone. They added T1 into the swim time, so if you pull out my typical transition, I was about 1min slower than last year (and July's PS swim). Considering the field was also 1:30 or so slower, I'd say my time was OK.

My goal was to race the swim; in all my races to date the swim was an exercise in survival. This strategy was successful, and had a decent time to show for it. I’d have to say all the off season TI drills worked- my form was good throughout the race and I didn’t have to think about it. If I navigate better, the time will improve.
I racked my bike in a small rack (about 6 other bikes); it was discouraging when I came out to the water to an empty rack. Somewhat motivating, though…..
What would you do differently?:

I need work on balancing my stroke. I realize now I tend to go to the right in OW, so if I can't balance my stroke in the off season I need to account for this in races.
Transition 1
  • 02m 20s
Comments:

T1 not timed, so I assume same T1 time as last year (felt about the same)

Very lethargic T1, but nothing went wrong.
Bike
  • 47m 43s
  • 25 kms
  • 31.44 km/hr
Comments:

This turned out to be probably my best ride ever, but my time was marginally slower than last year 31.4kph vs 31.6 kph. I was VERY surprised with this, as last year I was on a MTB without clipless pedals. Oh well, everyone else was slower too.

My goal for the ride was a maximum effort throughout and attack people on every hill. This worked well- I kept checking my legs making sure I was not going to completely burn out; I passed a ton of riders on the hills, and was only passed twice on the ride. In the first few km, I kept switching to my small chainring; it came to me that I may as well stay in this ring, and simply ride like hell until I spun out on the 12 tooth cog. This seemed to work very well, as I kept a pretty high cadence and got some rest on the downhill segments when I was already over 40km/h. I may try this again if I race a similarly hilly course.

The best part of the ride- when I got back to my rack there was only one bike- and I knew who that guy was………….

What would you do differently?:

Not much- this was a solid ride.
Transition 2
  • 00m 50s
Comments:

T2 not timed, so I assume same T2 time as last year.
Run
  • 27m 3s
  • 5.5 kms
  • 04m 55s  min/km
Comments:

My ranking was a bit better than last year, but I haven’t been running well until recently. Basically, last weekend I had a good run for a crappy running year.

My goal for the run was to maintain form at all times. I kept telling myself to use all possible energy in a forward direction, not bobbing up and down as I have been. I focused on my mental cues like keeping my hips steady, knees up, and driving my arms forward like a train. I think it worked pretty well, and I don’t recall letting my form drop (this took considerable concentration for the entire run- contrast this to the swim where my muscles seemed to remember good form. Totally opposite of my early races.) I wanted to run a steady pace and then use the next gear at about 1.5km to go. I think I had the energy to do this, but my quads felt like they might cramp at that point; I felt like I was having a good race, so I chose not to risk cramps and kept the pace steady.

The best part of the run was seeing the only guy from my rack ahead of me, catching him at about 1.5 km, and seeing at the turnaround that I built a lead on him that I did not relinquish. I saw saunaking at the turn and didn’t want that bugger to catch me, so I was motivated to keep moving!

What would you do differently?:

I could have run through the leg cramps, but it seemed risky at the time.
I made several mistakes in my run training in 2005 that will not be repeated next year.
Post race
Warm down:

Scarfed some pizza and went to the beach with the kids. We had to prepare for the important K0S 3-5 race in the afternoon.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Swim: Much improvement this year, need to continue with TI
Bike: No complaints
Run: Unfocused running in training and lack of speedwork hurt my run this year. 20006 will be a different story.

I think the course was 2-3 min slower this year for the field, which is why I feel pretty good about my time (an improvement of almost 2 min on last year). Last year there were 9 guys under 1:20, this year only 4 even though the run was shorter and easier. If I just looked at the time, a 2 min improvement isn't great (considering I have a road bike and a faster wetsuit), but if I improved by, say, 4:00 from last year that shows real progress and is close to my pre-race goal of 1:30. My ordinals (50/31/50) were pretty steady, meaning I was OK in all 3 disciplines.

Event comments:

This is a great course, easily my favorite of the tris in Ontario.

It was a great race to end the season- it's going to make for a long winter and spring until the next race.





Last updated: 2005-09-03 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:15:25 | 750 meters | 02m 04s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/15
Overall: 50/139
Performance: Average
T1 subtracted from posted race time
Suit: Yes
Course: The course was roughly triangular, with the longest segment running southeast. In my 2 previous races at this beach, I thought there was a current favoring swimmers during this straightaway, but this year the reverse seemed to be true- that segment of the swim was into the wind which seemed to slow things down a bit. Last year there were 10 swimmers under 10:30, and most of those were out of T1 in less than 1 minute. This year there was only one guy under 12:00 for both. Plus the run to T1 was a bit longer. Overall, I think the course was about 1:30 slower than last year.
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 76F / 24C Current: Medium
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:20
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
No
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
00:47:43 | 25 kms | 31.44 km/hr
Age Group: 0/15
Overall: 31/139
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: The ride was harder/hillier than I remembered. Nice course with a lot of small but steep hills in the first 5km, a long quad burner and rollers after that. Not entirely sure why the course was slower (9 guys over 35kph in 2004, 6 this year); also my ordinal for this slower ride went from 40 to 31 but my speed was about the same. I did not think the wind was a big factor, but maybe it was on the way back? I wasn't really paying attention to that. The turnaround could possibly have been a bit farther out this year, and it was hotter. In all, the bike course was probably 2-3 minutes slower than last year
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:50
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:27:03 | 05.5 kms | 04m 55s  min/km
Age Group: 0/15
Overall: 50/139
Performance: Good
Course: The run was much easier than last year- they lopped off 500m, but it was a steep hill, so I think it made a disproportionally larger difference- probably a 2:00 difference for the leaders, 3:00 difference for me. The trail was very soft and sandy in places.
Keeping cool Average Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2005-09-06 2:34 PM

Regular
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Guelph, ON
Subject: Parry Sound Triathlon - Sprint
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General Discussion Race Reports! » Parry Sound Triathlon - Sprint Rss Feed