Sylvania Triathlon
USAT Mideast Regional Championship
Sylvania, OH
Aug 12, 2007

Short Version:

Total Time: 2:11:49
M35-39: 11/47 (top 24%)
OA: 48/415 ( top 12%)
1500m swim: 26:22 (15th AG, 1:45/100m)
T1: 0:59 (6th AG)
40k bike: 1:04:59 (14th AG, 22.9 mph)
T2: 1:44 (not quite DFL in AG, but down there)
10k run: 37:46 (5th AG, 6:05 min/mi)

Breakfast: (even though it has been a while since PH posted) Bagel and apple juice

Long Version:

I had originally intended to race the Lake Zurich Oly last weekend in the Chicago area. However, I procrastinated in signing up and by the time I went to do it, registration was closed. That actually worked out well since LZ was held during a thunderstorm and they postponed the race by two hours then shortened the swim course. I looked around for another race in the area and saw that Sylvania, although a 5 hour drive away, was the USAT regional championship. This was going to be my 3rd triathlon and my first try at the Oly distance, so I figured I?d do it against some good competition.

I was in wave 5, which was the first of the Oly distance waves. The water temp was in the mid-80?s, so it was a non-wetsuit swim. I tucked my tri top into my bottom and pulled it out on the run to T1. As I stood on the beach, waiting for the cannon to go off, my thoughts were ?****, those buoys are really far away!?. And then the gun was off, I ran 4 steps and dived in. Although I was in a larger wave, the start wasn?t bad. We were spread out enough that I really didn?t get kicked. I focused on getting into a strong, but comfortable groove. On the first long leg of the swim, I seemed to do pretty well on swimming straight. I did have a few times where I started to feel a bit tired, had just the tinniest questions about whether or not I could actually make the distance, banished those thoughts out of my head and just swam relaxed. I was sighting about every 5-6 strokes and had only a few minor corrections to make. I rounded the first buoy well, and swam the short length to the next buoy without issues. I got passed pretty quickly shortly after the second buoy rounding, tried to draft off the guy and simply got dropped too quickly. About 1/3rd of the way down the second long leg of the course, the shore came out and I wasn?t anywhere near the buoy line and ended up having to run about three steps. I noticed that there were one or two other guys from the wave behind (which started 5 minutes behind us) doing the same thing. I finally rounded the 3rd buoy and then headed for the water exit.

I was up, out of the water and onto a long run (maybe ¼ mile) to T1. I pulled my tri top up during that run and was ready to go when I hit my bike. Slipped my helmet on and went to grab my Oakley?s and they fell apart. Earlier in the week I set them on my truck rear bumper and then proceeded to lower the tailgate. Apparently Oakley?s are not designed to fold flat. I tried putting them back together, they fell apart again and I just dropped them on my towel, grabbed the bike and went. I passed a guy at the end of T1 who was trying to mount his bike before the mount line. Once at the mount line, I jumped on my bike with my feet on top of my clipped in shoes, started pedaling through the straight away, turned the corner and built up some speed, then slipped my feet into the shoes. As I was doing this, the guy I had passed at the exit to T1 passed me back.

The course was pancake flat. I worked on getting my cadence up and speed up, although I didn?t have a working bike computer. My computer is my Garmin ForeRunner 305 and I have the cadence sensor on that. On Saturday I had found time to get a pre-race brick workout in and had apparently forgot to turn off the Garmin after that workout. I didn?t check it the night before the race and when I went to turn it on in the morning, I got the battery low warning. Another thing to add to my pre-race checklist.

Although I had rented Zipps for my A-race HIM, I was using my Shimano training wheels for this race. I noticed that all of the guys who passed me had disks and aero helmets on. A power meter and race wheels are on my list for my April annual bonus (the PM might come earlier for winter training).

I passed a number of Oly triathlon guys on the bike (including several in my AG), and probably only had 4 guys pass me (although based on my swim, most of the fast guys were already in front of me). I passed a lot of Duathlon riders on the bike. For the 2nd half of the ride I seemed to be in no man?s land for the triathlon. I always had a few dualthetes up the road to pass and focus on, but for the most part I didn?t see too many triathletes. One thing I noticed is that I couldn?t seem to find a comfortable gear. The gear I wanted to be in, seemed to build up too much acid in the legs. The next higher gear seemed that my cadence was too high. And without a computer I couldn?t tell which was faster. I ended up in the lower gear as much as possible, but going to the higher gear every so often to rest the legs. My rear cogset is a 12/27. That?s what the guys at the LBS gave me this spring when I bought the bike, I didn?t even know what to ask for when I bought it and only now (after reading the postings here) understand why you would use a different cogset. I?ve got DuraAce components and I?m thinking that I may need to invest in a 12/25 to get a better selection of gears for the flat (if I understand the gearing correctly). That and I need to build some muscles this winter in bicycle base training.

Lack of fluids was a major problem in my HIM. I?ve been training with my aerodrink in the meantime, but just went with the frame mounted bottle for this race since I wasn?t overly worried about bonking. I drank half a bottle of InfinIT and that seemed okay.

In short time I was back at the transition. I slipped my feet out of the shoes, sped up to the mount line and laid on the brakes (much to the consternation of the volunteers), jumped off the bike and high tailed it to my bike rack spot. I found my bike rack quickly, slipped the bike into its spot, grabbed my shoes and cap and headed out. The astute reader will notice a problem.

I raced out of T2 and was rounding the corner when a volunteer shouted at me ?Where?s your number?!? DOH! I did a quick u-turn, ran back into transition and all the way back to the other end, grabbed my number belt and raced back out of transition. I was muttering at myself the entire way and one of the volunteers looked at me and said ?all right, just calm down and run your race?. It was good advice. I felt like up to that point I had a good transition and looking at the times, the median for the top 15 in my AG was about 1 minute. 45 sec feels about what I lost having to go back (no race number is a 2 minute penalty). I thanked the volunteer who had alerted me on the way out. There was a water stop about 50 feet after the transition exit, I grabbed some water a took a drink, then dropped the rest over my head. Then I was off racing again.

I started passing people pretty quickly, including a number of folks in my AG. There were still plenty of dualthletes to pass. At about mile 1.5 I passed a guy and he gave me a ?good job?. Then he looked at my calf and said ?wait a minute, you?re in my AG, slow down!? I smiled and kept on going. About 2 miles in, a guy from my AG passed me. He pulled about 30 sec in front of me, still within sight, and seemed to stabilize there and I started to slowly pull him back in. I was running hard, but in the end I don?t think I pushed it quite as much as I might have. I think that was the only guy to pass me.

Coming into the last half mile, I saw that the guy who had passed me was getting closer. He was working on passing someone else and as we approached the finish line I saw that it was someone in my AG. I pushed pass that guy with about 50 feet to go and could tell he was really hurting. It sucks to get passed by two people in your AG in the last 100 feet, but that?s racing. I reeled the other guy in, but didn?t manage to catch him in the end. I might have if I had made it really hurt in the last mile or two, but I for whatever reason I didn?t pay that price. I ended up behind this guy by 5 sec. In the end, the race number mistake cost me one spot. The next guy was 1 min 38 sec in front.

All in all, I had a good time. The race weather was just about perfect, temp was probably in the low 80?s or high 70?s with very little humidity. The Oly is probably not the best distance for me. The bike is about 45% of what a HIM is, the run is about 47% of a HIM. The swim is about 75% of a HIM and the swim is my limiter. It is also a tough distance because its too long to sprint the entire thing, but too short to go endurance pace. I?m sure I?ll fit another one (possibly this one since it is Mideast Regional Championship next year) into my schedule next year. Another interesting note, I looked at the results for 2005 and 2006 and in both those years, my finishing time would have placed 4th in my AG. I wonder why the competition was so much stronger this year?

And as a bonus, I got to meet Yoshiko and Sanders at the awards ceremony! It was great to finally meet some fellow CRMS?ers in-person. I had an enjoyable conversations and got to watch a number of the folks sitting in the group collect their medals.

Thanks for reading!
Mike