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Buster Britton Memorial Triathlon - TriathlonSprint


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Birmingham, Alabama
United States
Team Magic
Total Time = 1h 43m 32s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Getting ready, I must have looked comical/pitiful pumping up my tires (hate my pump - for my road bike I have to almost sit on the stupid thing and jump up and down on it to get it to work - no problem with the MTB, though), because some guy came over and did my back tire for me (sweet of him). At the transition area entrance, there are people there making sure only racers go in. To help with this, we are given arm bands to wear. Well, I was carrying all my crap up there, and for some reason the lady decided that the wrist band wasn't enough (it was on the other side of the transition area and at other races) - she had to see our actual race number. Well, of course that is buried inside my bag, and there was no place to prop up my bike so I was trying to coordinate myself (on a sloaped road), to dig it out. My bike started to fall, and I had no hands, so used my right foot to catch it out of instinct - mistake - I cought it on the big chain ring, and ended up with multiple curs on my foot and ankle with grease inside of it (I was in flip flops at the time). Tried to clean it out, but the chain grease seems to be embedded (sp?). Nice and sore, but still functional.
Event warmup:

Swam - about 300yards, some drills to relax.
Swim
  • 09m 9s
  • 400 yards
  • 02m 15s / 100 yards
Comments:

This was my first OWS of the year (no practices even), so I took some extra time and swam part of the course, then did some drills to help relax. It helped because during the race I felt no anxiety. Now, this was supossed to be 400yards, but with my fantastic navigational skills I'm sure it was more like 450, maybe even 500 . I was sighting, but every time I sighted, I overcorrected myself. It became a tale of - oh, I need to go to the left slightly - crap - need to go back right - and back and forth I zig-zagged. At the end, I almost got stepped on by another racer. I was swimming in as close to shore as I could get (ie, standing up when my hands touch the bottom). My swim coach from last year told me it was faster, and it seems to be for me. Well, the othe guy didn't seem to agree, and I almost got stepped on (felt his foot brushing against me as he was stepping down.)
Transition 1
  • 03m 50s
Comments:

T1 - there was quite a run from the beach to the bikes, and with my tender footsies and rocks, it took me a while. My time was 3:50. I was fairly efficient at the transition, but wore socks and used my camelbak for this race, which adds some time.
Bike
  • 53m 59s
  • 13 miles
  • 14.45 mile/hr
Comments:

All I can say is that this course was HILLY!! No huge 3mile climbs, but alot in the 1/4 - 1/2 mile range, with less than 1mile of flat over the whole thing. You come out of transition and go down the first hill then have to make a 90 degree right hand turn onto the main road, or you end up in the golf course. Haven't heard if anyone did that this year, but usually a couple of people end up there every year .

It took me a couple of rollers to find my climbing legs, but once I did, my climbing went great. Throughout most of the bike leg, it became a story of me passing a number of people going up hill, then most of those come flying by me on the down hill - repeat at next hill. I've gotten much better at descending, and on this course, you could fly down the hills without having to break because the road curves in such a nice manner. But even with me using my momentum over the top, pedaling until I max out my gears, and getting into the best tuck I can do, I still get passed. I know I'm relatively small, but I'm not exactly built like a climber. I mean, I'm only 5'2" and 123lbs, but I have the butt and thighs of a sprinter, not a climber - they just don't work the way they look.

The only interesting thing on the bike was going up one of the hills - I needed to scoot over about a foot to pass two guys, and the people coming up behind didn't call out. Of course, as I was starting to move over, one of the guys I was going to pass decided he couldn't go up the hill straight and started weaving. As I started to make a more extreem move, I spotted the other guys out of the corner of my eye and had to almost stop on the hill to avoid them. Well, I was still in my middle ring at this point and had been planning on going into the granny to spin up it. But since I was in the middle and almost stopped, I just stood up and went to power it by those two. Well, this worked better than expected and I just kept climbing standing up and ended up passing those two, plus the other guys that had come up behind me. Of course, the best part was how fast I went by these macho guys on their fance tri bikes
What would you do differently?:

Push more on the flats, be more careful at the turn-arounds - had problems at each
Transition 2
  • 01m 21s
Comments:

efficient - in and out quickly
What would you do differently?:

make sure running shoes are on the right side of the bike - had to duck under and grab them
Run
  • 36m 10s
  • 3 miles
  • 12m 04s  min/mile
Comments:

Once again, multiple hills on this one, just not as steep. It was getting hot by now but luckily most of the run was in the shade and plenty of water stations to douse myself with water at. The time wasn't great, but I did accomplish one thing that I was wanting too - I ran the entire 5k without walking. Now when I'm training, I can run 8miles at a faster pace without walking, but for some reason, I have a mental block at tris where I always end up walking part of the run, even if I didn't need too. Hopefully this will help me get through it
What would you do differently?:

not much - do a few more bricks before hand, work on pushing myself harder
Post race
What limited your ability to perform faster:

lack of training over the past month

Event comments:

always a great race, what you would expect from Team Magic




Last updated: 2007-04-30 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:09:09 | 400 yards | 02m 15s / 100yards
Age Group: 18/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Average
Suit:
Course:
Start type: Wade Plus: Shot
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Low
200M Perf. Below average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Bad
Waves: Navigation: Below average
Rounding: Average
T1
Time: 03:50
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Good Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
00:53:59 | 13 miles | 14.45 mile/hr
Age Group: 14/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: Hilly, hilly, hilly at Oak Mountain
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Below average Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Average Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:21
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Average
Shoe and helmet removal Average
Running
00:36:10 | 03 miles | 12m 04s  min/mile
Age Group: 16/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Average
Course: Out toward Pevine falls and back - some gravel road
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 2
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2007-06-09 8:55 PM

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Regular
98
252525
, Oklahoma
Subject: Buster Britton Memorial Triathlon


2007-06-10 3:38 PM
in reply to: #837407

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Veteran
270
1001002525
Tuscaloosa, AL
Subject: RE: Buster Britton Memorial Triathlon

Nice report and congrats.

 
I almost ended up on the golf course at that 1st turn.  There were no turn arrows or signs, as soon as I saw that the road T'd I started yelling "Which Way" to the guys working the turn.  Even though there were 4 of them there, they didn't respond until I was almost at the turn.

2007-06-11 9:59 AM
in reply to: #837755

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Member
47
25
Subject: RE: Buster Britton Memorial Triathlon
Great swim for it being your first OW of the year. I'm with you the bike and run we're crazy with hills. I really loved the course though.
Great race! Good luck for the rest of the tri season.

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