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Diamond in the Rough Triathlon - Sprint Course
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Diamond in the Rough Triathlon - Sprint Course - Triathlon
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 Swim
Comments: "Ouch and Ewwwwwww" The start is a jump into the water off a dock maybe 3 feet above the water. Every other triathlon I've done where you jump in the water was pretty deep. Apparently not the case here, as I jumped in and BAM!! feet hit hard, which hurt pretty much everything below my chest. That'll hurt tomorrow (spoiler alert, it does). Anyway, nothing really messed up so onward. Water is gross and super warm, so no issues with hyperventilating but the water just smells. Rectangular course so I just work on breathing slowly, swimming steadily, and trying to keep my feet high. No issues with people climbing over each other and minimal washing machine, but that also meant tough to find feet to drag off. Hit the final turn and starting kicking a little harder. Cruised into the ladder around 19-flat, which is a little slow but I was taking it pretty easy. 2/10 AG, 84/186 OA - solid swim considering no wetsuit What would you do differently?: Swim more, practice open water. Intentionally took it easy so not surprised with the MOP time.  Transition 1
Comments: "It's Gotta Be the Shoes!" Dragged myself out of the water up the ladder, then there's about 20-25 stairs, the another 100 yard run to transition. Got there and did a pretty quick job of the checklist, including my non-Boa shoes which went right on (more on those shoes in a sec). Grabbed the bike and off. There's another 50 yard run to the timing mat out of transition before the bike mount...during that run I noted I did a shitty job of securing the velcro on one of my shoes so had to stop and fix that for about 2-3 seconds. 3/10 AG, 63/186 OA - I'd say that's solid given my history of slow transitions What would you do differently?: Practice transitions with velcro shoes - good grief 2 year olds can manage them.  Bike
Comments: "Attack the Hills and Those Shoes Again" So I cross the mount line and try to start pedaling and clipping in, but the left cleat doesn't want to engage because it's wet...this continues for a good 15 seconds before I get going. So now I've blown the time advantage I gained in T1 with velcro shoes vs. Boa fasteners. The course is rolling out-and back on a country-ish road and I've never ridden it before, so I have no idea what the hills look like, but I do know there's a railroad bridge at about 1.25 miles in so that's when my race will really get going. The Plan is attack the hills, aerobar the flats, coast the downhills in the drops. Shooting for about 210 watts average and keeping HR in check. First mile is a technical windy road out of the park so I use this as my warm up, and pass a couple of people along the way. Now we turn and go over a steep hill so I ramp up the effort and pass two more people, coast downhill, then make the right onto the main course, which is a super rough road. All going as planned and now we get to some hills, which are much tougher than I though they would be. Hmmm...bad choice on cassette so I'm pushing pretty hard up the hills, then coasting the down hills to keep HR in check. Actually working pretty well as I'm passing a TON of people. Get back to the park entrance and hammer over the railroad bridge, then Z2 my way the mile into transition with a few accelerations to get past people. I probably passed 25 people in 8 miles. Unclipping/dismount went fine. Also managed to drink half a bottle of fluid and not drop it on the road, so that's a double-win for me. 2/10 AG, 37/186 OA average watts 193, NP 229 (as planned), VI 1.19 (yikes - told you it was a punchy course - that's like a crit VI) What would you do differently?: Get my shoe thing worked out, otherwise perfectly executed bike segment. Transition 2
Comments: "Are You New Here?" Ran the 50 yards into transition, was doing fine. Got my running shoes on, tied them up and then started running out and then realized just before leaving transition I don't have my race belt and bib. Yelled out an expletive, ran back and grabbed it and then ran out. Cost me 40 seconds per sport tracks. Idiot. 8/10 AG, 166/186 - that's unacceptable What would you do differently?: Remember the basics - good grief that's a bad mistake.  Run
Comments: "Stay the Course, Ouch This Hurts" Managed to settle myself down quickly and ramp up to a sub-9 pace...there's a little downhill to start which helped the easing in part, but yikes it's warm out and my HR is a little quick, but I'm feeling OK. Just keep running. 1st mile @ 9:16, that's a little slower than I wanted but HR is where I want it, time to pick up the pace a bit. Gets a little more rolling hills now, so I focus on shuffling up and striding down. Shoe comes untied (good grief I'm a mess logistically today!!) so a quick break to retie. Go to the turnaround and sort of sauntered through it to get a little break, then picked it up again. I'm now holding 9 flat or so, being passed a little and passing a little. We're also mixed in with the Olympic racers so unless you see their bib you don't know what race they're in. Mile 2 @ 9:20 - OK so sub-9 isn't happening, but we can still finish strong. Getting into the Pain Cave now, HR is pushing zone 5, uphill finish which sucked but I pushed hard and kicked the final 200 yards or so. Mile 3 @ 9:00, kick at 8:36. 4/10 AG, 78/186 OA - best run result in a tri since 2014 What would you do differently?: Better manage my shoe logistics, plus I still am missing the run KI I used to have. It'll probably be a few more races before I can really hold that Z4/Z5 line for 25+ minutes. Post race
Warm down: The usual double-over for 30 seconds or so, though I did manage to not lay down so that's a bonus. I feel a little nauseous but didn't fell like puking, so an appropriate effort. Finally got my wits about me and grabbed water and an ice towel...man it's hot out now, so glad it was overcast most of the time. I smell like a combination of that gross bay water and sweat - yuck. Find my daughter who came in 2nd in her AG, 11th OA on the swim (and she hasn't swam a yard since our last tri six weeks ago) and the little shit beat me by almost 4 minutes. I beat her in T1, the bike and the run, and she smoked me in T2 and the swim. I have a feeling this is going to continue. Got the results and podium, baby!! Well, after you pull out the 3 guys in my age group who placed in Masters. I originally though I made AG Nationals in sort of a back door kinda way, but not only did I not make it I missed it by almost twenty minutes. Eek. Oh, and my age group is brutal...3 of the top 7 OA in M 55-59 - don't you old guys have anything better to do?? Oh well - race more. What limited your ability to perform faster: 1) While I did exactly what I wanted to on the swim, 19 minutes on a sprint course is unacceptable so if I want to reasonably compete in short course, non-wetsuit I need to get my act together there. 2) Did I mention two-year-olds can manage their shoes better than I can? Lost a full minute. SMH 3) While my running is coming back, it's still not there yet. I've run a 24:30 5K off the bike before, so I know what is theoretically possible, which is something significantly better than 9-flat pacing. All told, probably my 2nd or 3rd best sprint based on results and no regrets other than being an idiot. Event comments: Kinetic as always has their act together. Mediocre post-race spread but this area is kinda remote and no vehicle traffic was allowed in after the Oly started, so they can't exactly have pizzas delivered. Last updated: 2024-07-14 12:00 AM
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 2024-07-15 11:47 AM |
Expert  4748     Middle River, Maryland Silver member |  Subject: Diamond in the Rough Triathlon - Sprint Course |
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United States
Kinetic Multisports
85F / 29C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 71/186
Age Group = M 55-59
Age Group Rank = 3/10
"Fourth Time is a Charm"
This race is about 35 minutes from me, and this is the 4th time I've signed up for either the Olympic (back in 2011) or the Sprint (in 2022 and 2023) and not raced for the either injury or the weather. So I get to finally see what the race is all about, a Chesapeake Bay swim, short and punchy rolling bike course, then a pretty flat 5K usually conducted in gross humid weather in bathtub water.
The weather leading up didn't disappoint...rain the day and night before, super hot and humid. Forecast high of 92, low 80s at race time.
Training has been going pretty well after health scare back in May, raced a tri in early June, a 5K in late June, averaging about 13-14 miles a week running. I'm probably a little under-trained on the bike and swim but they haven't really been my limiters, it's been the run so hopefully my experience will pull me through. I experimented with a different taper, training right through to the race with just a couple of easier days before the race.
The Plan was to swim zone 2, bike zone 3, run zone 4 and nail the transitions. Figuring on about a 1:20, depending on how that all went.
Also racing again with The Daughter, whom I haven't beaten head-to-head. :-/
"So Far So Good"
Woke up at 4:30...light breakfast and coffee, out the door at about 5:45. We parked about a mile and a half from the race site so we didn't get stuck there for another hour after the race because the park has a really narrow road so no vehicle traffic until all bikes are in from the Olympic. This wound up being a pretty good idea for a couple of reasons: 1) got a little bike warm up, and 2) saw almost half of the bike course.
Checked in, set up transition, watched the Oly start. Did like a 3/4 mile run to get fully warmed up then a bunch of stretching. We walked down to the swim start, and the first 50 feet or so of water was covered in a gross seaweed/algae slurry - blech! At least it's water where you jump in from the dock.
There's a light breeze and a very mild current so pretty much optimal. Water temp 85 degrees, more reason to go easy. Got the opportunity to spend a few minutes chilling out to get the race nerves good. As we were lining up the fastest Olympic swimmers were coming out - no one looked happy and not particularly fast either.
Equipment list: Desoto Forza Trisuit, Ridley Fenix road bike with clip-ons, Flo 64/90 carbon wheels, 12/25 cassette (maybe a wrong choice) Garmin Fenix 6.
Cap, goggles, queue up for time trial start. I'm like halfway in line, so hoping in won't be too crowded out there. Off we go.