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Columbia Triathlon - Triathlon


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Ellicott City, Maryland
United States
Columbia Triathlon Association
65F / 18C
Precipitation
Total Time = 3h 25m 3s
Overall Rank = 1200/1523
Age Group = M25-29
Age Group Rank = 55/71
Pre-race routine:

Saturday morning I went to packet pickup and racked my bike. Really smooth flow of things now that they have packet pick up right across the street from the race venue. Visited the expo and got my shirt and race premiums (they gave out a race belt and set of arm warmers-SWEET!). After racking my bike, a club member and I went and got some food and went home. Back up at 0430hrs the next morning and drove in the rain to the race site.
Event warmup:

Got the the race site around 0520hrs and set up my transition area and went to the bathroom. My wave didn't go off until 0800hrs and we needed to be out of transition by 0630 so I had about an hour and half to kill. My triathlon club set up a tent next to some other clubs and we hung out there for a while. While waiting for the race to start, I saw Cameron Dye jog past me and also saw Leanda Cave. I think I gave Leanda a good laugh because right before I saw her I had gotten a bloody nose so I had put some tissue up there to stop the bleeding. I see her walk by and Say "Hi Leanda" and wave. She sees me and smiles but with a funny look on her face and waves back. I completely forgot about the tissue hanging down from my nose until some friends told me about it. Oh well, she still waved back but I thought it was pretty funny. After that I put my wetsuit on and just relaxed before I entered the water for my first Columbia Triathlon!
Swim
  • 33m 8s
  • 1640 yards
  • 02m 01s / 100 yards
Comments:

Maryland weather has been unseasonably cool this spring so the water temperature was only 69 degrees on race day. I have never raced in water that was wetsuit legal before so I was excited to be able to wear my wetsuit. I got into the water a minute or two before the wave went off which was a big help because the water was cooler then I thought it would be. Put my face in the water a few times to get used to it and then the wave went off and I started my swim.

I felt like I had a decent swim. Although the course seemed long, it was spot on. I really liked the wave start as I did not get punched, kicked, run over or really have any contact like I did at The Nations Triathlon in September. As a result, my swim was almost five minutes faster! Nothing too exciting on the swim, no current whatsoever. I got out of the water and looked at my watch and was very pleased with my time.
What would you do differently?:

I made the stupid mistake of trying something new on race day. I knew I shouldn't have but for some reason I did. I really like biking with compression sleeves on so I figured I would save some time in transistion by putting my sleeves on under my wetsuit. BIG MISTAKE. about 400 meters into the swim my right foot felt numb and I knew that my leg was cramping due to the compression sleeves. I toes were falling asleep and it felt hard to kick and I knew I needed to get out of the water ASAP. Boy I will never do that again and its probably the biggest reason my T1 time sucked so much.
Transition 1
  • 05m 25s
Comments:

My T1 time was horrible due to a mistake I made in the swim by trying to swim with calf sleeves on. My feet went totally numb and my calf was cramping as I got out of the water. I spent some time taking the sleeves off and massaging my calf and foot to get it better. After a minute or two I was good to go and got my shoes on and was off. Also it was raining so that slowed things down a bit.
What would you do differently?:

Hope for no rain on race day but mostly do not swim with calf sleeves on :)
Bike
  • 1h 37m 42s
  • 25 miles
  • 15.37 mile/hr
Comments:

This bike course has been one of the reasons I had never competed in this race until this year. For some reason, I had always been very intimidated by the climbing on this course since biking is my weakest discipline. With that being said, I knew that I should pre-ride the course one day before the race and I did that about three weeks prior to race day. WOW, pre-riding helped so much! I was very comfortable on the course during the race because I was so familiar with it and knew where every hill was, what to expect and what gearing I needed. Now it was raining still when i got onto the bike course and they were announcing to be careful on the bike because people from earlier waves had already been crashing so I took the bike pretty slow. I was able to maintain the same speed on a very hilly course (over 15mph) as I did on the flat course of the Nations Triathlon and I was very pleased with myself. To some, 15mph is pretty slow and I know I have much to improve upon with my biking but to me, setting a PR on the bike leg of this course in horrible conditions was truly amazing and gave me the confidence to know that I can go harder next time and my speed and endurance is improving. I felt really good during the ride and drank 1 bottle of EFS, 1 bottle of water and a gel on the bike leg. I handled the hills by spinning up the large ones and attacking the slower ones. Overall I am very happy with my bike portion of the race, its definately a tough course.
What would you do differently?:

Go a little faster and work on hill climbing.
Transition 2
  • 03m 57s
Comments:

Took my time to get my feet dry before putting on shoes and socks for the run. Finished drinking some water and took a gel before heading out onto the course.
What would you do differently?:

Go a litte faster.
Run
  • 1h 04m 52s
  • 6.2 miles
  • 10m 20s  min/mile
Comments:

My run has been the one aspect of my training that has improved the most. In my training, I am running 8:30min/miles without really realizing I am going that fast. I tried to run the course before the race but I got lost while looking at the map when I went for the pre run and did not get a chance to see any of the hills and boy were there plenty of them. A few people said that this run is probably one of the most difficult in all of triathlon and after experiencing it, I will probably agree with them.

I started out running 8:40 min/miles for the first 3/4 mile or so and realized I needed to slow down and tried to slow to a 10min/mile pace. Kept that pace for about half a mile and then when I looked down at my watch I was back around 8:30's again. Around mile two I noticed some pain around the top of my foot and saw that my shoes were loose so I stopped and tied them tighter-problem solved. After exiting the park we climbed into the neighborhoods which were just awful! whoever put this run course together is a twisted person since these hills were long, steep and just out right torture. I knew I couldn't keep up my pace for the whole run portion so I was reduced to walking the hills. Volunteers along the run course were amazing and they had plenty which was nice. Great signs and chalk markings at the uphills which was also a great motivator. During the neighborhood section, I noticed someone ahead of me that was in my AG. I knew that I needed to finish ahead of this person and made that my goal. Around the 4 mile mark there were some kind folks from the neighborhood that created their own refreshment stand and were passing out Yuenglings to racers! This reminded me of the Waverly neighborhood at the Baltimore Marathon where they hand out Natty Boh's to racers. I decided not to partake despite being pretty thirsty and wanting some ice cold beer. I saw that the guy I was chasing decided to grab a beer cup and at that moment I knew I would pass him and that is exactly what I did. I passed him and never looked back. Sweet! I knew I was not last in my AG lol. After going through the neighborhood there is one last large climb that they call "Gatorade Hill" and its a 12% grade. I saw a bunch of TNT signs lining the hill so I decided that I would run from one to the next and then walk to the next, then run, etc until I got to the top. Doing this made the hill more pleasant and kept my mind off how long the hill was. Once I got to the top of the hill I realized where I was on the run course and that it was all flat & downhill to the race finish. I glanced at my watch and knew that I was going to set a PR today. Ran full force to the finish line with some friends cheering me on and crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face.
What would you do differently?:

Do more hill work and figure out my zones and how to pace properly.
Post race
Warm down:

Got my medal and met up with some friends from my club. Walked up another freaking hill to get to the food tent (Seriously they needed to put the food at the top of a freaking hill after all the hills we did on the bike and run?? lol). Had some food, got changed, got my bike and loaded my stuff into the car. Went over to the awards and saw my friend Rob take 2nd in his AG. Drove home and relaxed the rest of the day.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

This was not an A race for me and I signed up on a whim because I just wanted to do it. I felt good about my race but I made a few mistakes that cost me some time. I know that I will not make the same mistakes at my next race which will help my time. Oh and I will train more on hills :)

Event comments:

There are not enough words to say how great this race is. Tri columbia is known for putting on the best races in the Mid-Atlantic and I am grateful to have raced in the 30th anniversary of the Columbia Triathlon. There were so many volunteers which made for an amazing day. I really loved the atmosphere because it was a large race with a competitive field that had a good mix of non competitive racers like me. I finally conquered my fear of this course and came away with a Olympic Distance PR!! whats not to love about that!! I will definately be back next year and would encourage anyone looking for a great race to give this one a try.




Last updated: 2013-04-12 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:33:08 | 1640 yards | 02m 01s / 100yards
Age Group: 0/71
Overall: 0/1523
Performance: Good
Suit: Xterra Sleeveless
Course: Large Rectangle thing. Large Bouys that were easy to spot and no current.
Start type: Deep Water Plus: Waves
Water temp: 69F / 21C Current:
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 05:25
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
01:37:42 | 25 miles | 15.37 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/71
Overall: 0/1523
Performance: Good
Wind: None
Course: Lolipop route with HILLS
Road: Smooth Wet Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 03:57
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
01:04:52 | 06.2 miles | 10m 20s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/71
Overall: 0/1523
Performance: Good
Course: Around the lake and up through some neighborhoods and downhill to the finish line by the boat ramp. HILLY is an understatement!!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
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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2013-05-23 1:51 PM

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Subject: Columbia Triathlon


2013-05-24 11:13 AM
in reply to: #4754575

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Subject: RE: Columbia Triathlon
Congratulations on the great race and PR on a tough course. Well done! ! Beer on the run? I'll have to email the RD of the local oly and make a suggestion.
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