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Colchester Triathlon - Triathlon


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Colchester, Vermont
United States
Colchester Recreation Dept.
70F / 21C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 17m 45s
Overall Rank = 69/196
Age Group = 40-49
Age Group Rank = 5/15
Pre-race routine:

Up at 4:40 am. peanut butter on toast, water, coffee, Fage yogurt with walnuts, craisins, and honey. Shower. Double check gear, pump tires, load car; rolling by 6:00.
Transitions are in two different locations. I was the second to arrive at T1 with my bike. Spots are first come, first served so I had my pick. No bike racks - you're given a wooden stake with a notch on the top to pound into the ground and lean your bike on it. I brought a hammer for this. I could see rain was coming so I left my bag intact with a bag over it and headed to T2 to drop my running shoes.
T2 - again, first come, first served. No bike racks again - must lay your bike down when you come in. Left my shoes, visor, and race belt in a garbage bag for the rain. Went to get body marked and pick up timing chip. Parked car in yet a different spot, ate half a banana and headed back to T1 to set up and get wetsuit on.
Event warmup:

After setting up T1 I wore my old running shoes and went for a short 1/2 mile jog to loosen up the legs.
Changed into my wetsuit - body glide on wrists and ankles - and headed to the beach. Hopped in the water for a few hundred yard swim, glad I did - arms needed a warm-up and it was good to see how gross/weedy the water was. hahaha.
Swim
  • 12m 43s
  • 500 meters
  • 02m 32s / 100 meters
Comments:

First off, my Garmin told me the swim was a good 700 yards - significantly off what it was supposed to be. I was not that off course.
I actually felt pretty okay on the swim though once I swallowed some water and my stomach felt off the rest of the day. I started behind a group of what I thought was high school or college swimmers thinking they would be good to draft off but I caught up with them and got amongst them and couldn't get away from them - got pinched off multiple times.
The water was quite weedy (not my favorite swim).
Sighting went fine, I stayed fairly close I think - I'll check my Garmin map.
I stood up too soon instead of swimming in closer - but I ran into a wall of people so it was hard to swim any further.
What would you do differently?:

Swim faster. LOL. I guess my average moving pace according to my Garmin was 1:46/100 yds so I'll take it. I would swim in farther if able. My cornering around the buoys looked good but on the Garmin map it looked wide - I don't know if the buoy was wide but I was almost close enough to touch it.
Transition 1
  • 01m 57s
Comments:

The road coming out of the water and up to T1 is quite steep - steeper than any hill on the run. It's a good challenge to get your vertigo under control and get up the steep, asphalt incline to the bikes.
I was a full minute faster on this transition than the one a month ago so that's good. I have tri shoes now so one less buckle to deal with. No socks this time.
What would you do differently?:

Not much I could do differently - I think maybe put baby powder in the shoes - they were hard to get on with wet feet.
I have not mastered jumping on my bike yet or rubber-banding my shoes (just got them less than 2 weeks ago). That may help.
Bike
  • 38m 6s
  • 12 miles
  • 18.90 mile/hr
Comments:

The bike piece felt good. I felt I had a decent and manageable pace with a decent cadence. My goal was to have about a 90 rpm cadence and I just about nailed it averaging 89. I could have gone a bit harder but I was anticipating the run - i haven't been running much - and I didn't want to blow up on the run.
I used zero nutrition on the bike or the run. I did have my aero bottle with water in it - took only a few sips throughout the race. I had planned to grab a GU for the ride since I hadn't eaten in quite a while, but I didn't.
I used aerobars for a good portion - about 1/2 to 2/3 of the race.
What would you do differently?:

I was pretty happy with the bike. As always - go faster. maybe get a GU in there or something for energy having eaten breakfast so long ago.
Transition 2
  • 01m 28s
Comments:

this was not a good transition for me, I'm usually under a minute. I did not have socks on and had forgotten to put powder in my shoes so they were very hard to get on - stupid hard! Also, my bike shoes are new enough that the stiffness made them harder to get off than I'm used to. Finally got my shoes on, visor on (first time running with a visor so that took an extra 10 seconds to get situated), and I put my race belt on as I was running toward the exit.
What would you do differently?:

i may try to take my shoes off while riding in so I dismount with bare feet. I will also powder the heck out of my shoes.
Run
  • 23m 32s
  • 3 miles
  • 07m 50s  min/mile
Comments:

Stomach didn't feel right after the swim - I think the drink I took of lake water made me feel not so great.
All in all, considering my knee injury this past winter and my lack of running workouts I was pretty happy with the run. I saved enough that I could sprint the last hundred yards to the finish.
What would you do differently?:

Just run more in training and start doing tempo runs again to get my speed back up.
I'll give my "overall run" a good considering the uphill battle I've had with my knee.
Post race
Warm down:

I did zero warm-down.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

lack of running training - bad knee
my swim felt off a bit - need to check my technique to find places to improve it.

Event comments:

Volunteers are always great - love them. I tried to thank every police officer I saw holding traffic and everyone offering water (whether I took it or not). I also thanked the few spectators I saw on the course. One note: there are no aid stations on the bike and maybe 2 aid stations on the run - water only. It's a sprint after all, but if you want more, bring it yourself.
Good announcing pre-race and for finishers. There were bagels, watermelon, oranges, sports drink, water and something else to eat at the end (more than at the Tupper Lake Tinman HIM in June!) Pint glasses were awarded to the top 3 in each age group category. The AG categories are big, mine was 40-49. So happy the thunderstorms held off this year and despite a prerace rain, the bike course dried up fairly quickly. It was good, I'd do it again.




Last updated: 2015-07-27 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:12:43 | 500 meters | 02m 32s / 100meters
Age Group: 5/15
Overall: 0/196
Performance: Average
Suit: Full
Course: clockwise U - out, right turn, across, right turn, in to shore.
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 74F / 23C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Below average Drafting: Average
Waves: Average Navigation: Average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 01:57
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:38:06 | 12 miles | 18.90 mile/hr
Age Group: 4/15
Overall: 0/196
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: flat to rolling and fast. This is a great course to do a first triathlon on. It was not a closed course. Lakeshore Drive is newly paved - that was great (first 1 mile). Coming away from the lake there's a steady gentle incline followed by a gentle downhill to a very short but decently steep incline with poor pavement. Then lots of flat for the next few miles. All turns were to the right. About 6.5 miles in - a right turn up the beltway with a gentle incline, right turn and more flat. After crossing over the interstate it's a gentle downhill to T2. One woman in front of me went flying over the T2 pad on her bike into the transition area - certainly saved her some time and I don't think she got dinged for it. :(
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence: 89
Turns: Average Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Average Hills: Average
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:28
Overall: Below average
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:23:32 | 03 miles | 07m 50s  min/mile
Age Group: 3/15
Overall: 0/196
Performance: Good
Course: This was a shorter course than advertised. I made sure to hit my watch on the transition mat and at the finish line and it came up with 2.8 miles. (I would love to have run a sub-8:00 minute mile, but I know I didn't.) Flat for the most part - one downhill followed by a short, fairly steep uphill. It was a nice course. After departing T2, you run on a bike path for 3/4 mile to a street - nice downhill, left turn back onto Lakeshore Drive (not a closed course and narrow shoulder in parts). Here is where the short steep uphill happens. Turn left into a neighborhood - there was an aid station (one of 2 total) with water. Loop around the neighborhood, back onto and cross the main road back onto the bike path by the high school and your almost there. Nicely shaded. Flat to the finish.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: 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: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2015-07-27 3:55 PM

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Subject: Colchester Triathlon
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