Race 1, Lessons Learned

Race 1 is in the books!  Here is the race report.  

The weather was sunny in the mid teens when I entered the water at 9am.  It was wave starts with the Olympic men going first (my wave).  I don’t know the official number of people who started but my guess is it was at least 100 in this heat.  This was a Collegiate race so there were racers from many of the schools here.  It also meant there were going to be some very fast athletes

I was happy to get this one underway.  Triathlons for me are about staying as calm as possible for the swim.  This way I don’t get the heart rate up and burn out in the first 500 meters.  Duathlons I find are the exact opposite as I need hard core music to get me in the mood.  With nobody to worry about but myself, I was at ease as the bell went off.  The 2008 race season was underway!

I had some goals before this race that I wished to achieve.  Don’t blow up on the swim was my most important.  Get into a steady pace for the bike that will mimic next weekends ride.  Lastly, finish off with a run at 4K pace which is want I want to run next weekend.

Starting the swim I felt good even with the crazy amount of kicking and splashing going on around me.  The course was a hemisphere in shape, starting from one beach and ending up on another.  My swim is by far my worst leg as I am still learning the ropes.  I gave myself an estimated time of 28mins to do it.

As I approached the other side my sighting must have been a little awry has I went about 25 meters off course.  This caused me to be a bit anxious and made my heart rate sky rocket.  I located my exit point and was happy to just be over with it! 

After pulling off my wetsuit I did a quick check of the time (21mins!).  I thought it was a dream! 

Getting into T1 (transition 1) I got the wetsuit off and got my bike gear on.  My transitions have been my savior as I am usually in the top 10 fastest exit and entries.

The bike course was either up or down.  Exiting transition you had to climb a hill that was about 100 meters with a gradient of about 8-10%.  Great way to wake the legs up!  This led to a fast descent which exited the park and then went out along the lake.  Very beautiful as I drove it the day before.  All that was gonig through my mind at this point was go, go, go! 

We had a tail wind on the way out which made for an exciting ride.  The wheels I had rented really helped me fly down through these sections.  After about 10K I got to see where the leaders were.  I knew if I had any chance of finishing in the top 5, a great finish was going to be needed!

One of the good things about finishing mid pack in the swim is I get to pass a lot of people on the bike.  I think I made up 15-20 positions just cycling. 

On the way back was all into a brunt headwind which really slowed the pace down.  I kept my head down and just pedaled through, trying to keep the HR down. 

Instead of a 4 loop course we traveled up another road which led to a steep climb.  I mean steep!  Like people walking!  After this turn around it was back to the park with a gentle tail wind escorting us in.

At this point I was getting to no mans land; the point where there were not many people left ot catch (or they were too far out of reach). 

Hitting the run I felt a little sluggish but managed to pick it up as I went on.  I passed a few more people on some of the crazy hill climbs (if you hate hills, this was a toughie!). 

The course was pretty well marked except for one of the crucial points where come to find out later, a lot of people went off course.  There was point on the ground marked "Sprint TA" but there was no mention of the Olympic.  I didn’t know if we were suppose to do two laps and there was no one there to ask.  So I waited and asked some people and they didn’t know either.  Time ticked on so I decided to just keep going.  Good decision as I found an aid stations a mile up the road. 

This was an out and back so upon the turn around I just tried not to slow down.  I finished well which was a good sign for next week.  Overall time of 2:19:23 which for me, is slow.   When I finished I thought it was the swim and bike that cost me but it turns out it was my run!  My biggest strength last year didn’t help me at all this time!  I think some quick speed is necessary for this weekend so hopefully I can wake those running muscles up!

I am not sure of overall placing.  I just know what my watch told me.  I’m feeling good though today.  This week is about short but fast workouts which I hope will spell well for next weekend!

Thanks for readin!

Happy (Easter) Trainin!

Cliff