General Discussion Race Reports! » XTERRA EX2 Off-Road Triathlon Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply

XTERRA EX2 Off-Road Triathlon - TriathlonOther


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Flintstone, Maryland
United States
EX2 Adventures
85F / 29C
Precipitation
Total Time = 2h 28m 42s
Overall Rank = 11/218
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 3/29
Pre-race routine:

Nutella and Toast topped with a banana. 2 cups of coffee and plenty of water along the drive there.
Event warmup:

Swam to the first marker and back, made sure to get in a decent amount and only stop at the last possible minute.
Swim
  • 27m 28s
  • 1320 yards
  • 02m 05s / 100 yards
Comments:

Best triathlon swim yet. While I didn't get any drafting in, it was still a good swim that was quick enough for me to reach my goal of trying to get to the singletrack before the pack while still saving plenty of energy for the bike. I was 25th overall in the virtual placing for this swim, but in the race I was 12 or 13th out of the water which was a pretty awesome feeling.

Someone decided to buzz by us in a powerboat as we were reaching the first turn buoy, so in the wake I did the smart thing and turned up the stroke rate until I got to calmer water.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing, really happy with this swim
Transition 1
  • 00m 58s
Comments:

Pretty good transition, I think I spent too much time strapping on my shoes though, but still under a minute.
What would you do differently?:

Just do the one strap and go, since I usually have to readjust the straps during the first road segment anyway.
Bike
  • 1h 17m 15s
  • 14.5 miles
  • 11.26 mile/hr
Comments:

Legs felt great at the beginning of this bike! I actually passed a good 3-4 people during the first road climb and I didn't encounter anyone during the first section of lakeside singletrack. I was probably taking that section a bit slow though because of the wet roots and rocks since I got spooked early on when I took a bad angle on some and didn't unweight the fork properly. I got passed by Frank at the campsites, and I was able to keep his pace on the climbs, but I wasn't able to keep up on the downs since I was too tentative going downhill to just let the bike rip. I had visions of the front end slipping out on me like in Richmond and I decided to play it safe and keep the rubber side down over being risky for some time. Once again I was slowed by the roots when I got to the second section of lakeside single track, and that is where I was caught by a group of 4-5 guys. I held my position through most of the second lap, gained a spot or two during the road climb, and thought I was going faster during the singletrack on the second lap but after uploading my gps file to strava I'm seeing that I was slower even though I felt like I was in more of a groove. Most of the second lap was uneventful until after the climb up evitt's where I asked one of the aid station helpers to douse me.. bad mistake as it then caused a lot of my sweat to get all over my glass lenses and obstruct my view for pretty much the rest of the bike section. I did not clean the trickier rock garden on the second lap, and lost my chain and had to spend a good 30 second to a minute fiddling around with it until I could get it back on, then of course running with the bike until I could get to a section where I could get back on. From there on I was just trying to pick my way through the traffic and get on to a strong run.
What would you do differently?:

I wish I had been smarter about riding in the slippery conditions, for some reason I thought it was going to be dry on the trails, but a few days worth of t-storms made those rocky and rooty trails more slippery than I was ready for. Judging by the results, the times were pretty consistent with last year's, so even though a few people were slowed down by the conditions, most weren't, at least not at the top. Also I made a mistake in the bike setup and had my rebound too active. I was worried about the front shock packing down during the descent in to the campsites, but in reality it was bouncing back at me during the rocky/loose climbs and I'm lucky I was able to clean those despite getting bounced around a bit.
Transition 2
  • 00m 40s
Comments:

Good Transition, sometimes this one is so quick I always feel like I am forgetting something so usually do a double check before I left.
Run
  • 42m 20s
  • 5 miles
  • 08m 28s  min/mile
Comments:

I started this one out nice and quick, nailing my goal time of the first mile, doing a 7:30. During the second mile I was slowed down more than expected from the rough and wet trails. I had the fitness to go faster, but I didn't have the confidence to try and go that fast in those conditions. That slowed me down almost 40 seconds since I thought I was going to be able to get another 7:30 or so for the second mile before the climbs up along the campsites. I saw Pierre during the road climb to the ridge trail and gave him a pat on the back when I passed by. I think I did pretty good for mile 3, 8:25 with a good climbing portion, so I wasn't that far off from my goal at this point. I was getting a bit of a twinge in my right hamstring at the time so I made the decision not to try and run up evitt's, but to walk it, albeit quickly. I think it was a good decision since the backside was very wet and slippery and I had my wits and was good on my foot placement and didn't slip or trip at all during that section.
During the climb from the valley I felt like I went at a pretty good pace, I had a hard time getting moving again in the middle section, but I could tell as I popped out on the road that I had given it my all as my legs nearly buckled. From there it was a nice and quick run down the road to the finish line. I was zapped as each time the road flattened out I was dreading it.
What would you do differently?:

I would have wore my roclites instead of the no lug soled f-lites. I had actually brought them with me, but I had underestimated the amount of precipitation that had fallen there the last few days. Having those shoes would have helped on some of those downhill sections.
Post race
Warm down:

Walk around and get in some fluids

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Poor consistency through April and May, while I had a great June, it would have been an even better June had it been the third month in a row of solid biking. My bike was limping in to the finish as well, but at least I was so zapped from those solid weeks that the time off during this week's mechanical issues was quality recovery time.

A few mental errors before the race on equipment decisions, and a few mental errors in the wet conditions. I'm getting better at riding in the wet stuff, but I still have some work to do and remember that the bike doesn't do all the work for me. All in all still a great finish to this race, just outside the top ten and 3rd in my age group.




Last updated: 2012-07-16 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:27:28 | 1320 yards | 02m 05s / 100yards
Age Group: 3/29
Overall: 25/218
Performance: Good
This course was longer than last year no doubt, I halved my overall placing for the swim, but did it 2 minutes longer.
Suit:
Course: Swim straight out to the turn buoy, about 300 meters, take a hairpin turn towards the opposite beach. Run around for the second lap and repeat.
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 78F / 26C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting:
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 00:58
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:17:15 | 14.5 miles | 11.26 mile/hr
Age Group: 3/29
Overall: 23/218
Performance: Average
(including transition, 1st lap 38:12) 2nd lap 39:53
Wind:
Course: After transition, start with a moderate climb up to road and over to the lake dam. From there start in to the first half of the lakeside singletrack until you exit near the campsites. Climb up to the settlers path trail and then traverse that for close to a mile. Climb up Evitt's revenge, and then continue climbing up to the top of the rocky trail after a short downhill section. Descend to the campsites and then follow the road to the second half of the lakeside singletrack. Follow that through to transition area and repeat for the second loop.
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 00:40
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
00:42:20 | 05 miles | 08m 28s  min/mile
Age Group: 2/29
Overall: 10/218
Performance: Good
avg 164 max 173
Course: leave transition like the bike exit, except take a right in to the woods past the resort lodge. Take that singletrack until it meets the road just before the dam. From there the same as the bike, but split again to avoid some high traffic in the single track. After joining back to the bike course, climb up the road by the campsites and across over to evitt's. From there go down the backside, then up the crazy rock scramble. Once done with the scramble it is a downhill race to the finish line.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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

{postbutton}
2012-07-17 1:22 PM

User image

Expert
1123
1000100
Falls Church, VA
Subject: XTERRA EX2 Off-Road Triathlon
General Discussion-> Race Reports!
{postbutton}
General Discussion Race Reports! » XTERRA EX2 Off-Road Triathlon Rss Feed