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March Triathlon Series - Olympic Course
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March Triathlon Series - Olympic Course - Triathlon
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 Swim
Comments: I don't want to make an assumption about everybody else in the conference that I was racing. Hopefully I just had a bad experience with just a few racers. At the start of the swim we didn't really hear a gun we just suddenly all started flailing and suddenly, my heart rate spiked. I was not ready for the first 200m of the swim. I was getting punished with mouthfuls of water, swam over, feet to the face, and one of the other swimmers grabbed my shoulder and threw me backwards. This was the first time in a few years that I actually started thinking about finding a canoe; how could I go from feeling so fresh and strong the day before to this?! After a little bit I settled into a comfortable pace, found some feet and started moving. After a few minutes behind each set of feet I would move up. Once I hit the turnaround I saw a group of swimmers about one minute up from me. Frustrated that because of my start I most likely missed that group I decided to push anyways, why hold back when I want to challenge my swim speed? I really felt in a groove for the second half and came out of the water strong. My official results are not posted anywhere (the race said I had a DNF so they didn't give me a time) so I can't tell how fast I was going. What would you do differently?: Prepare to get physical in first few minutes.  Transition 1
Comments: Quickly made my way through transition. I saw Lee heading out on the bike and was excited knowing that he's a fast swimmer from what I hear so I knew I must have done well. With a big starting hill I wasn't able to do a flying mount to start it off. What would you do differently?: Practice taking off wetsuit. Just repetition of doing transition practice will improve it.  Bike
Comments: The bike course was about to get interesting. Fifth time total on the bike outside this year and I was about to go all after it! I got out and started pushing it. I found Bryan up ahead and kept moving my way up the pack. Again, I don't want to make assumptions about the conference as a whole but there seemed to be a lot of guys who were really testing the drafting limit and really edging up on the guy in front of them. I shot down the first half and knew it was time to get some strong hill work in. Every time I saw somebody from USC I gave them the 'Fight On' sign. As we made our way to the big hill I was toying with two guys from UCLA who seemed to be really keen on staying within the three bike lengths allowed for drafting. As we hit the big hill of the day I was able to keep up with one of the two while the other was unable to hold our position. Turning around was about to get entertaining as we shot down the winding technical course over 40 mph and rolled through a nice casual downhill for a little while. At this point I was getting frustrated with this UCLA guy hanging around so I wanted to make a move. I made a pass by him and just let it rip for a little bit. Diving through corners and really putting out some watts I was feeling good. Coming up I saw Jessie on her way out. I told her before the race, "Don't say 'Let's go Alex!' that won't do anything for me. Instead just yell, 'Who are you racing for?' because that is what I likely need to hear to push." She tried to yell it at me but I took a giant breath of air and screamed, "LET'S GO!!!!!!!" at her; I found out later she got a little scared from me at that point. After a few miles I backed off a little and saw that the rider from UCLA was sticking right with me. My strategies I was able to do in the Midwest was not going to work against the competition that was out on the coast. I paced it back in with the rider and planned to take the rest on the run. What would you do differently?: More saddle time. It is still early season. Transition 2
Comments: Coming through transition I felt ready to go. I got a quick step and started out steady. Coming onto the run course I heard somebody yell out, "Let's go Mr. Awesome!" which made my game face go on just a little more. What would you do differently?: Nothing. Went smooth.  Run
Comments: In the first mile I knew I was going to be in trouble. The soreness I had in the morning was catching up with me through the bike but it became very evident on the run. My quads were almost taunting me to try and push knowing they would cramped up. I had to find that sweet spot and keep that pace all the way through. I slowly picked off a few guys and as I made it to the way back one of the runners got ride in stride with me. In years past I would have panicked and tried to instantly drop this guy but I wanted to have a new attitude this year. I want to have confidence that if somebody will run with me I will take them at the end; that I will have more to fight for at the final kick. So this year I used him and we ran together for the next few miles. At about 4.5 miles I saw Grace coming and she yelled, "Who are you running for Alex?" so I picked it up a little bit and I instantly felt the other runner, Mark, fade. I knew I had the kick and he wouldn't be able to stay with. We continued the rest of the way until the final 400 meters and we started to pick it up for a strong finish. As we rounded the last turn we both kicked it in. This was the first time I got in an all out sprint to the finish and I was able to edge him out for the finish. I wasn't sure of my final time other than it was somewhere around 2:13:XX. After about two minutes of composing myself I then went and ran back out onto the run course to help encourage the rest of the USC team to finish up strong. What would you do differently?: More brick work. I think my first brick was two days before this. Post race
Warm down: Looking at my performance I was extremely happy. I raced in the toughest conferences championship race, at the peak of their season, and placed top 30 collegiate had they allowed me for scoring. This was my first race of the year which always turns out to be a little rusty which can easily cut down a few minutes with minor adjustments. My bike split was about six minutes slower than my best last year. The course was much more difficult and I hadn't had the time in the saddle than I did when I hit my fastest split. My swim was able to get under control after a slight panic at the start. Even with soft legs I was still able to pace and kick it at the end. With more time in the saddle, more open water swimming, and more brick runs I am going to be on pace for some incredible racing this year! What limited your ability to perform faster: Early season race. Not being able to be outside doing more specific workouts. I knew these things would happen though. Event comments: Different atmosphere than the Midwest races. It was fun to see a different style and race different people! Last updated: 2013-03-18 12:00 AM
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 2013-07-16 8:04 AM |
Member  38 |  Subject: March Triathlon Series - Olympic Course |
| General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
Cal Poly Triathlon Team
75F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 41/365
Age Group = Collegiate
Age Group Rank = 29/166
Heading into the March Triathlon Series (MTS) I was both excited and nervous. This was my first time racing this year and I really felt that up to now my training has been really strong so I was excited to see how I would do. I was also nervous because the weather in Iowa hadn't permitted me to get outside a lot. Seriously, three times on my bike before I headed to the race.
I flew out on Thursday afternoon and got to Los Angeles and was picked up by my friend Jessie, whom I met last year at collegiate nationals. We went back to her place and started assembling my bike like we were opening presents on Christmas morning. Finally we went to bed around midnight but my body was still on Iowa time. I woke up at 4:00am the next morning without an alarm and made myself go back to bed until 6:45. About an hour later we began working on her bike before we headed to the race site later that afternoon with her teammate, Jazmyn.
We finally got to the course and the three of us rode the course to get an idea of the turns and the hills. This course was definitely going to be more challenging than anything I'd faced at this distance before. We came back to the park and I quickly strapped on my running shoes for my first brick run of the year, two days before the race. I took off and was flying! I was running faster than I have ever run a brick before.
After our little workout we headed to the hotel to meet up with the rest of their team and go out to eat. I was able to introduce myself so the rest of the team knew who I was and ate some local food. The next morning I led a group of their team through an easy run shake out to loosen up the legs. Again, my legs felt strong and ready to destroy any course that would come in front of me.
Later in the day we hit up the course to do some swimming where I was able to get my first open water swimming in for the year. Jessie, Lee, and I swam around for a little bit and I felt really good. My swimming has had a lot of retuning all year and to get in and feel strong was an exciting feeling. The only concern I had was for the bike course and the technicality of it.
Waking up race morning I had a horrible feeling, soreness. I'm still trying to figure out where it came from but my hips and quads were exhausted right when I woke up. I calmly got ready for the day and tried to loosen them up with a warm-up jog and they felt strong but just lacking the kick I was wanting. I got down to the swim start and seeded myself right in the mix of everything.