Warren County Armco Park Sprint Triathlon
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Warren County Armco Park Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon
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Swim
Comments: The swim was mediocre. I'm still not used to swimming open water, and it took me a couple hundred yards to settle in to feeling comfortable putting my head down to my normal position. That will come with experience, I guess. During the swim I would swim a hundred or two yards, and then flip over and do a little kicking on my back. Being comfortable is such a mental thing. In a straight out lap swim, I would have swum significantly faster. Things to work on. What would you do differently?: I need to build up my comfort level in the open water. Transition 1
Comments: It was a pretty straightforward transition. I put on my bike shoes without socks, and I put my running jersey (not my tri top) on in transition, rather than trying to swim in my tri top. The running jersey is much easier to put on, and in such a short race, I don't need anything with pockets. Bike
Comments: The bike was interesting. Lots of up and downs, which is different from the flat bike trail that I usually ride on. I pretty much hung with the riders that I got out of transition with. There was a little settling out of the field, but I don't remember too much of a position change at the beginning. I was a bit worried about the hills, because it was the small hills on my last race that really hammered me. I tried to not go as all out as the last race, and save some juice for the run. There was one lady, who must have been doing the Olympic race (not sure), who leapfrogged with me. She passed me first, then, I jumped by her on a climb, and then she passed me on a downhill and so on. I had passed her on a climb, and was going downhill about 35 mph, when a car on the course clogged up my lane. I could have gone by on the right shoulder, but that seemed like a pretty dangerous thing to do, and I had to hit the brakes and follow the lady around to the left of the car. She called over and said that I had made the right decision in a difficult spot. I followed her for a few more miles before passing her on a climb, and then I didn't see her again. As I passed her she told me to stick around for her second lap (the Olympic distance) as I was good to ride with. I told her I was just trying to keep up with her! I surprised myself on the last third of the ride. I passed a number of people going up hills. I got out of the saddle and basically ran up the hills. I know that got me a number of spots. Maybe there is some hope for me yet on these hills. What would you do differently?: I need to get out on the roads and do some rides where there are hills. I think once I get used to riding hills, I'll be averaging over 20 mph regularly. Transition 2
Comments: T2 is longer than T1 because I put my socks on here. I tied my shoes ahead of time for this race, which saved me some time. I grabbed my Team Revolution headband and headed out for the run feeling pretty good. Run
Comments: The run started off ok. I was feeling a bit tired from the bike, and was just trying to push through the first mile until my body fully switched over to running mode. I wasn't making any big moves in this portion. I stayed behind the runner ahead of me, though I was following my natural pace rather than his. I passed him after maybe 4/10s of a mile, and picked up steam from there. I had reset my watch for the run portion, and wanted to see what my first mile time was. I did the first mile in maybe 7:50, which felt real positive. I knew I wasn't overexerting myself, and thought that maybe I could set a good time (my mile times get faster when I do three mile training runs). I hit the halfway spot in a pretty good time, and finished the second mile in 6:xx. It felt real fast, and I was passing a number of people. On the way to the halfway point I had passed a young guy that I had met before the race who was doing his first race. I set a goal to catch him before the end, and I ended up catching him before the second mile marker. I was clicking along pretty good at that point, and the third mile went by quickly. I didn't quite remember where the end of the race was, and so I didn't manage my finishing kick the best, but I still knew that I had run a good time. Here's to some future sub-20 off the bike 5k runs! (A good time means a lot because I haven't been able to do much running at all this year with an injury I picked up. The 5k time I got is only one second slower than my best official 5k time, which gives me a lot of hope that I can still smash my 5k PR in some race later this fall.) Post race
Warm down: The volunteers gave me the finishers medal and took my timing chip off my ankle. I hung around for a short bit, and then loaded my stuff in my car. I went back to check official times, but I haven't been to an HFP race yet where they have posted the results in a timely manner, so I gave up and headed home. When I checked the race times later, I thought at first that I had finished 3rd in my age group, and I was happy about that. However, the first two had raced in the elite category, so officially I won my age group! Super pumped about that! I know it was a small race, but winning my age group, especially in the toughest age group (M 30-34) was a goal of mine. I know I'll improve in the three disciplines, and I hope to win the age group again sometime. Last updated: 2013-08-05 12:00 AM
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2013-08-09 1:03 PM |
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2013-08-09 1:17 PM in reply to: #4825387 |
2013-08-09 1:19 PM in reply to: #4825387 |
2013-08-09 4:33 PM in reply to: #4825387 |
2013-08-09 4:41 PM in reply to: cdban66 |
2013-08-09 6:25 PM in reply to: 4agoodlife |
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2013-08-10 11:18 PM in reply to: StaceyK |
2013-08-12 3:08 PM in reply to: KansasMom |
General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
HFP
70F / 21C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 27/104
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 1/8
I showed up an hour and a half early to the race. I like to get to races early so I can pick a good spot in transition (near the bike exit). I like to have plenty of time to set up my bike and run gear in the transition area, and to soak up the vibe of the race.
I had visited the area's local tri shop the week before to get info on gear, and I ended up chatting to one of the coaches there. The tri shop had a tent at the race, and I saw him again and chatted a little. I also had an aerobar going crooked on me, and I got that fixed as well.
A nice part of the event was the pre-race prayer. Evidently HFP does that for all of their races.
Everyone headed down to the lake, maybe 300 or 400 yards from transition. Most people were in wet suits (something I'll get for next season), and only a handful of us in swim or tri gear. A number of people were warmup up in their wet suits. I waded into the water (which felt nice actually), but I didn't do any warm up swimming. The only warmup I did was jumping in from the dock and paddling out to the start right before the start.