Yorktown Sprint Triathlon
10 June 2007
8:00am start
Summary:
Swim (750m, river): 16:56
(24/24 AG, 238/275 mens)
T1: 5:35
(24/24 AG, 261/275 mens)
Bike (12 mi): 35:38
(19/24 AG, 204/275 mens)
T2: 1:47
(20/24 AG, 225/275 mens)
Run (3.1 mi): 27:35
(19/24 AG, 213/275 mens)
Overall: 1:27:30 (22/24 AG, 230/275 mens)
VERY long version:
Background: Ever since high school I've wanted to do a triathlon. Now I have! I'm twice as old as when I had the first desire, but that's ok.
I've been running for about a year, and did a pair of HMs in the Spring that I was pleased with. Leading up to the event I ratcheted back running to about 22 miles a week. I swam 3 days a week. I rode... not as often as I should have, nor as long. Scheduling is hard for me. I don't give up things easily.
The Morning Of the Race:
I had packed everything up the night before and loaded the car upon waking. I sat down for my normal breakfast of cereal with soy milk and a banana. I chugged a water and drove the big 4 miles to the race. I may just ride the bike next year, but I wanted the comfort of over-packing the truck.
I made it to transition, got my chip and got body marked. Hairy legs make body marking difficult apparently. My bleach-white bare shoulders were fine. I set up transition by copying the person next to me. I even met Boggs who was adjacent in transition. That was very odd since she was the only other person I knew at the race, even though we've never met. It's always fun to meet previously virtual people.
Good news: Water temps were announced at 76! Whee! Wetsuits!
Bad news: I witnessed the boat, which was suppose to be carrying the big red buoys out, get stuck on the beach due to the particularly rough waves and current. An omen?
I put on my new wetsuit (which I had tried out on OW the day before with great success). I grabbed the goggles and swim cap and wandered over for a warmup swim.
The Swim:
For warmup, I got in the water and just floated and relaxed, then swam out to the first buoy. The swim is an out, right-hand turn, follow the shore for about 500m, then turn right again and head back to a different part of the beach. The shoreline between start and finish is all rocky riprap.
Just before the start I catch DW with DD and another local CR friend - mamaruns, who haunts the Boomers board. She and I have run a number of local races together including a pair of HMs this Spring.
I'm in wave 4, so I get to see the people jam as previous waves clear the first buoy on the right hand turn. I vow to start a few seconds late and swim a little wide and give folks some clearance. I don't consider myself a strong swimmer and I didn't want to get swum over.
The air horn fires! We're off! I stand around. I get into the water and have at it. Get to the buoy. Great! I'm swiming strong, enjoying the moment. I make the turn.
We're now out of the little protected swimming area and into the chop. They are not rhythmic, nor relaxing. I don't panic, but I have a hard time maintaining form. I'm breathing every stroke (a bad sign) and trying to spot the next red buoy which seems impossibly far away. I notice that the white capped swimmers are not near me anymore, save for a handful. My heart rate is sky high for swimming and I'm very unsettled.
By the time I hit the first red buoy I've reverted to side stroke, which is really odd because I didn't know I knew how to side stroke. I try crawl again and just can't make it work. I flop onto my back and do some kind of weird sculling thing. I practiced it in the pool as a technique for fixing my goggles. Now I was just using it to relax. A kayaker looked concerned but I flashed a thumbs up and gave a cheerful "I'm good!". I have no idea who said that because my brain was telling me otherwise.
Now the next wave of people is overtaking me. I'm often self conscious about performance, mostly due to a competitive streak, but I was too tired to care. I switched from side, to back to crawl and tried to stay out of the way of other swimmers. The waves splash over my face when I was on my back and since I couldn't see them coming they broke any level of relaxation I might have achieved. I'm wearing my HR monitor for post-race analysis and happen to glance at it. 165 bpm? That's over 80%. My HR rarely seems high swimming, and certainly not that high!
Finally the last red buoy is in sight and I can see the shore. Red, then yellow, then shore. I flip over and begin crawling for all I'm worth. I forget all mantras about relax, rotate, breath. It's all red, yellow, beach. Red, yellow, beach. I've had a fair bit of brackish (half-salt, half-fresh) water to drink by now and I'm focusing on breathing and swimming. This is all power, no form. It's not pretty.
Shore! I stand, and fall over sideways back into the water. I stand again and trudge out of the water. ((The Visual[/URL" target="_blank">). Nameless, faceless people slosh by me and start the 100m or so grassy run to transition. I walk. I can't bring myself to do anything more than walk, and that is an effort.
Another guy with a white cap walks up beside me. He sees the look on my face and mutters "That's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life." I respond with a simple "I hear ya" then turn and puke in the riprap.
I walk into T1, remove the wetsuit with amazing ease. I sit and spend a few seconds cleaning my feet off and putting on socks and bike shoes. I grab the number belt, glasses, helmet (worn) and am off with the bike.
The bike:
The bike is just fun for me. I enjoy riding. I have a ton of things to practice and perfect (turns, hills, stops, riding in a straight line!) but it's just fun.
I wave to my cheering section and give a thumbs up and a grin.
In the first mile about 5 people pass me. What? I'm suppose to be catching up with all those white capped AG guys! Grr. Mile 2 has us go up a hill; the only real hill on the course. I've practiced it many times and performed at least as well as the folks that passed me.
Onto the flat area I get down and low on the hoods and start churning. Now we're talking! I have no idea if my speedometer thing is calibrated but numbers were in the 20-21 range. I'm passing people. I'm happy.
(The visual[/URL" target="_blank">)
The bike progresses in this manner back to the start. It's a lollipop course. The big hill at mile 2-3 becomes a fun 27mph descent with a photographer at the bottom. I hope he caught my grin.
The cheering section wasn't expecting me so soon and I caught them by surprise. I spin it back to transition and dismount without too many issues. Click-clacking into transition for my thing -- the run!
If I did the math right the avg comes out to about 20.5mph. I'm thrilled, but also a little skeptical. Even that time puts me in the back of the pack, and that doesn't seem normal. I won't be surprised of the bike course was a little short. I clocked it at 11.5 miles which would come out to 19.7mph.
The run:
T2 goes well enough for me. I double check myself with a pat down and I'm off!
Well, off to a slow start. I've practiced this too, and, well, it felt just like practice. I hobbled away and stopped a quarter mile in to stretch out my calves. They always feel like they're gonna charley-horse on me at the beginning of a brick! I've got to figure that out. My chest is tight and I'm feeling unwell. I'm not myself. This is not an experience I've ever felt before. I'm breathing heavily, but the HR really isn't bad at all. I'm just huffing and puffing. I can't get control of my breathing.
I pass my cheering section again looking, I imagine, pretty much worse for the wear. I mutter a pathetic "This is hard!" and keep moving.
Mile 1.5 is up that big hill we just biked down. I "run" up the hill. On the far side we run down another hill, turn around, and back up. At the turn around something magical happens and I'm feeling almost normal. I pick up the pace which as been in the 9 min/ mile area, and get into the low 8's.
With a quarter mile to go I see the family/friends cheering section again and give a smiley wave. I sprint in hard to the finish.
The aftermath:
My time was 1:27:30 and that's under my fairly randomly set goal of 1:30 so I'll mark it up as a win. By far, this was harder than either half marathon I've run even though it was shorter time wise. Overall, my HR was actually a little lower than the HMs, but the level of effort seemed much harder on the swim and run.
The swim just beat me (this time). I'm not happy with it and I'm going to have to work hard to figure that out. I've since found a local tri club that does OW swims every two weeks so I'll be hitting every one of those to gain some comfort in the river. From all the reports I got the swim had a pretty strong current. Times were certainly faster than last year.
My lower back is quite sore from all the lousy swimming technique. I was really fighting the swim. I'm sure that's also why my HR was so high and why I was so tired on the swim. Relaxing in rough water is going to be tough for me. Both OW swims I did in this same river were on relatively flat, calm water. I guess I'll have to go swim after a storm or something!
I'm definitely up for another triathlon though. I'm already plotting a full summer and, after a few days to settle down, and eyeing the day for the Patriot Half in September. That might be too aggressive and nervy after my Yorktown experience but it'll probably make for a great race report!
Happy Family shot!
http://This message has been edited by Mobius (edited Jun-12-2007).
10 June 2007
8:00am start
Summary:
Swim (750m, river): 16:56
(24/24 AG, 238/275 mens)
T1: 5:35
(24/24 AG, 261/275 mens)
Bike (12 mi): 35:38
(19/24 AG, 204/275 mens)
T2: 1:47
(20/24 AG, 225/275 mens)
Run (3.1 mi): 27:35
(19/24 AG, 213/275 mens)
Overall: 1:27:30 (22/24 AG, 230/275 mens)
VERY long version:
Background: Ever since high school I've wanted to do a triathlon. Now I have! I'm twice as old as when I had the first desire, but that's ok.
I've been running for about a year, and did a pair of HMs in the Spring that I was pleased with. Leading up to the event I ratcheted back running to about 22 miles a week. I swam 3 days a week. I rode... not as often as I should have, nor as long. Scheduling is hard for me. I don't give up things easily.
The Morning Of the Race:
I had packed everything up the night before and loaded the car upon waking. I sat down for my normal breakfast of cereal with soy milk and a banana. I chugged a water and drove the big 4 miles to the race. I may just ride the bike next year, but I wanted the comfort of over-packing the truck.
I made it to transition, got my chip and got body marked. Hairy legs make body marking difficult apparently. My bleach-white bare shoulders were fine. I set up transition by copying the person next to me. I even met Boggs who was adjacent in transition. That was very odd since she was the only other person I knew at the race, even though we've never met. It's always fun to meet previously virtual people.
Good news: Water temps were announced at 76! Whee! Wetsuits!
Bad news: I witnessed the boat, which was suppose to be carrying the big red buoys out, get stuck on the beach due to the particularly rough waves and current. An omen?
I put on my new wetsuit (which I had tried out on OW the day before with great success). I grabbed the goggles and swim cap and wandered over for a warmup swim.
The Swim:
For warmup, I got in the water and just floated and relaxed, then swam out to the first buoy. The swim is an out, right-hand turn, follow the shore for about 500m, then turn right again and head back to a different part of the beach. The shoreline between start and finish is all rocky riprap.
Just before the start I catch DW with DD and another local CR friend - mamaruns, who haunts the Boomers board. She and I have run a number of local races together including a pair of HMs this Spring.
I'm in wave 4, so I get to see the people jam as previous waves clear the first buoy on the right hand turn. I vow to start a few seconds late and swim a little wide and give folks some clearance. I don't consider myself a strong swimmer and I didn't want to get swum over.
The air horn fires! We're off! I stand around. I get into the water and have at it. Get to the buoy. Great! I'm swiming strong, enjoying the moment. I make the turn.
We're now out of the little protected swimming area and into the chop. They are not rhythmic, nor relaxing. I don't panic, but I have a hard time maintaining form. I'm breathing every stroke (a bad sign) and trying to spot the next red buoy which seems impossibly far away. I notice that the white capped swimmers are not near me anymore, save for a handful. My heart rate is sky high for swimming and I'm very unsettled.
By the time I hit the first red buoy I've reverted to side stroke, which is really odd because I didn't know I knew how to side stroke. I try crawl again and just can't make it work. I flop onto my back and do some kind of weird sculling thing. I practiced it in the pool as a technique for fixing my goggles. Now I was just using it to relax. A kayaker looked concerned but I flashed a thumbs up and gave a cheerful "I'm good!". I have no idea who said that because my brain was telling me otherwise.
Now the next wave of people is overtaking me. I'm often self conscious about performance, mostly due to a competitive streak, but I was too tired to care. I switched from side, to back to crawl and tried to stay out of the way of other swimmers. The waves splash over my face when I was on my back and since I couldn't see them coming they broke any level of relaxation I might have achieved. I'm wearing my HR monitor for post-race analysis and happen to glance at it. 165 bpm? That's over 80%. My HR rarely seems high swimming, and certainly not that high!
Finally the last red buoy is in sight and I can see the shore. Red, then yellow, then shore. I flip over and begin crawling for all I'm worth. I forget all mantras about relax, rotate, breath. It's all red, yellow, beach. Red, yellow, beach. I've had a fair bit of brackish (half-salt, half-fresh) water to drink by now and I'm focusing on breathing and swimming. This is all power, no form. It's not pretty.
Shore! I stand, and fall over sideways back into the water. I stand again and trudge out of the water. ((The Visual[/URL" target="_blank">). Nameless, faceless people slosh by me and start the 100m or so grassy run to transition. I walk. I can't bring myself to do anything more than walk, and that is an effort.
Another guy with a white cap walks up beside me. He sees the look on my face and mutters "That's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life." I respond with a simple "I hear ya" then turn and puke in the riprap.
I walk into T1, remove the wetsuit with amazing ease. I sit and spend a few seconds cleaning my feet off and putting on socks and bike shoes. I grab the number belt, glasses, helmet (worn) and am off with the bike.
The bike:
The bike is just fun for me. I enjoy riding. I have a ton of things to practice and perfect (turns, hills, stops, riding in a straight line!) but it's just fun.
I wave to my cheering section and give a thumbs up and a grin.
In the first mile about 5 people pass me. What? I'm suppose to be catching up with all those white capped AG guys! Grr. Mile 2 has us go up a hill; the only real hill on the course. I've practiced it many times and performed at least as well as the folks that passed me.
Onto the flat area I get down and low on the hoods and start churning. Now we're talking! I have no idea if my speedometer thing is calibrated but numbers were in the 20-21 range. I'm passing people. I'm happy.
(The visual[/URL" target="_blank">)
The bike progresses in this manner back to the start. It's a lollipop course. The big hill at mile 2-3 becomes a fun 27mph descent with a photographer at the bottom. I hope he caught my grin.
The cheering section wasn't expecting me so soon and I caught them by surprise. I spin it back to transition and dismount without too many issues. Click-clacking into transition for my thing -- the run!
If I did the math right the avg comes out to about 20.5mph. I'm thrilled, but also a little skeptical. Even that time puts me in the back of the pack, and that doesn't seem normal. I won't be surprised of the bike course was a little short. I clocked it at 11.5 miles which would come out to 19.7mph.
The run:
T2 goes well enough for me. I double check myself with a pat down and I'm off!
Well, off to a slow start. I've practiced this too, and, well, it felt just like practice. I hobbled away and stopped a quarter mile in to stretch out my calves. They always feel like they're gonna charley-horse on me at the beginning of a brick! I've got to figure that out. My chest is tight and I'm feeling unwell. I'm not myself. This is not an experience I've ever felt before. I'm breathing heavily, but the HR really isn't bad at all. I'm just huffing and puffing. I can't get control of my breathing.
I pass my cheering section again looking, I imagine, pretty much worse for the wear. I mutter a pathetic "This is hard!" and keep moving.
Mile 1.5 is up that big hill we just biked down. I "run" up the hill. On the far side we run down another hill, turn around, and back up. At the turn around something magical happens and I'm feeling almost normal. I pick up the pace which as been in the 9 min/ mile area, and get into the low 8's.
With a quarter mile to go I see the family/friends cheering section again and give a smiley wave. I sprint in hard to the finish.
The aftermath:
My time was 1:27:30 and that's under my fairly randomly set goal of 1:30 so I'll mark it up as a win. By far, this was harder than either half marathon I've run even though it was shorter time wise. Overall, my HR was actually a little lower than the HMs, but the level of effort seemed much harder on the swim and run.
The swim just beat me (this time). I'm not happy with it and I'm going to have to work hard to figure that out. I've since found a local tri club that does OW swims every two weeks so I'll be hitting every one of those to gain some comfort in the river. From all the reports I got the swim had a pretty strong current. Times were certainly faster than last year.
My lower back is quite sore from all the lousy swimming technique. I was really fighting the swim. I'm sure that's also why my HR was so high and why I was so tired on the swim. Relaxing in rough water is going to be tough for me. Both OW swims I did in this same river were on relatively flat, calm water. I guess I'll have to go swim after a storm or something!
I'm definitely up for another triathlon though. I'm already plotting a full summer and, after a few days to settle down, and eyeing the day for the Patriot Half in September. That might be too aggressive and nervy after my Yorktown experience but it'll probably make for a great race report!
Happy Family shot!
http://This message has been edited by Mobius (edited Jun-12-2007).
