Splits: (.47m/12m/3.1m)
Swim: 14:04 (last yr 13:20)
T1: 2:56 (last yr 3:20)
Bike: 34:02 (last yr 35:25)
T2: 2:26 (last yr 2:31)
Run: 34:58 (last yr 36:54)
Overall: 1:28:13 (last yr 1:30:34 ? 2004 time ? 2:10:02!!)
63degree temps, mild wind, intermittent rain
Breakfast: Bagel w/ Peanut Butter + banana and diet coke (2).
Up at 2:50am before my 3am alarm. That?s my super-power (worthless, eh?) getting up before my alarm clock!. Look at weather? wow. Got WORSE overnight. Was 50% precipitation until 3pm. Now, 100% chance all day. And chance of Tstorms. Look at radar. Wow, why is it all red and yellow? Ick. CRACK I hear lightning. Ruh roh. Well, I paid and don?t have my bike jersey (instead of shirt) so I?ll go, who knows. Radar was not promising. Packed a towel, extra clothes, and gloves in case it was cold. And lots of grocery bags to cover my gear. The drive was horrid. Slow, slippery, and poor visibility from the rain.
Got there, we had to park in grass. Watching the 3 cars ahead of me get stuck, I just hung back until they guided me to a different area to park. Whew. Rode my bike 4 miles in the downpour to transition and setup. Saw over 100 people leave. Bad sign. Went into the rec center, met several friends from my tri club and also saw pichburg! Got marked, hung out and waited for them to decide. Eventually, race went off 40-45min late but it was a go.
Warmup - Rode my bike from parking to start - maybe 4 miles. It was dark, it was slow, so it barely a warmup. Swim warmup about 3min before, just enough. Run warmup, nada. I really wanted a run warmup, but with the way it played out there was no way unless I wanted drenched shoes. Even then. So I just stretched extra.
I saw doug1430 at the swim start as he was lining up and I was getting out! Didn?t see him after though, can?t wait to hear how it went.
Swim - I got front and center on the swim. Run downhill on a beach then off we go, I did it perfect! Woot. Don?t think just DO. I was out in the lead w/ 2 others neck and neck for first 200yds, then we dropped the one guy and it was me and another for the balance. Nobody caught me then entire swim. However, I hit THREE people, like FULL BODY slam wrapped up bodies type of hit. Plus the normal stuff as I pushed through the prior 2-3 waves. People were having HORRIBLE sighting issues in the gray morning. About 100yds from shore my competition sped up to pass, I met the challenge and held it but I was going hard. About 50yds in BAM shockwaves of agony through my right hand. I must have hit someone's head (it was out and back, someone must have been just starting and veered into our path, never saw him). So hard I couldn't close my hand. It hurt something fierce but I just did what I could with a floppy hand. Unfortunately, this was enough for my competition to beat my to the sand by about 2seconds. Grrrr!!! For some reason I thought last year was 17min so a 14min was AWESOME. Later I figured out that actually I was slower this year, figures with how little I?ve been in the pool. Plus the full body stuff really lost some time for me, so I probably was about the same. After the race several people were talking about the swim being long. I have no idea! 14:02 was fine.
T1 - up the beach in case. VERY steep but short hill and sand so I was destroyed by the crest. Started walking a bit working off goggles and wetsuit. Learned new trick, rip cap/goggles off and let go of them in the wetsuit arm. Worked perfect. Got passed by 6 or so guys zipping through T1 from my wave. Decided no socks as an experiment, since this was only 12ish miles. Left gloves, coat, skull cap, everything else there. I was able to grip my hand at this point and thought no more about it. 2:56 was an improvement from last year, clearly from the socks. Oh yeah, and helmet went on backwards AGAIN this year, but I immediately noticed it and flipped it. WTF. Only here.
Bike ? Started hard. Kept hard. Rain slowed me as the roads were wet and there were many turns. But no real complaints. I managed to gobble up everyone from my AG who passed me EXCEPT 2-3? of these guys who just BLEW by me like I was standing still. I kid you not I am doing 23 and ZOOM they are gone. Several of this pack of
6ish I went back and forth but in the end I nailed ?em all. I was pleased. A couple even made comments to me on the bike about ?yer killin me?
Oh yeah now that?s satisfying! Proper rolling dismount and a fast run into T2. Perfect. DO, DON?T THINK. Gonna have to add that to me list of mantras for a sprint, because every time I THINK about my dismount, I chicken out and screw it up. (I unclip the FAR foot, swing over and at the last moment unclip and run. Opposite from what I normally would do). 34:02 is 21.15mph which is an all time racing PR for me.
T2 ? Not too bad except I needed socks and I had to unbundle everything because I had it all tied up in grocery bags to keep it dry (was smart move for sure) but I lost time. Also, I made a decision to try ANOTHER new thing, which was not to carry any water. Just race belt w/ 1 gel. Grabbed skull cap but that was it. Off again. Fast run out. Time wasn?t so great, I think due to socks. I will try in training, just too chicken for race. My orthotics feel funky when wet and hot so I need to train it. 2:26 is better than last year, but SO slow. Got to ditch the socks.
Run ? Went out very strong for first 3min. Typical, so I stopped and did EHL stretch (20s) and went on. Painful again by 6min stopped and did much more (EHL, Quad ? 1min). Took off. Still hurt like **** but foot wasn?t seizing up so I just decided to suck it up and cope, race was almost over. By mile 2 it was a dull pain so I just kept picking up the pace.
Mile 1 ? 12:10
Mile 2 ? 11:29
Mile 3.1 ? 11:21 (9:55mile pace ? remember 9:56 is my 1 mile PR still)
Last .1 was an all out sprint, I still had it in the tank. I couldn?t keep up that pace long, but 5min after the race, just walking around ? I could have toed up and easily done it again.
Total: 34:58 ? an improvement from last year. About what I should expect, but I?m not real satisfied. It was just OK.
Random number facts:
Avg HR ? 170. Max was 182 and it was NOT at the finish. It was going up that hill from the swim!
Swim HR was 165-170, which is pretty amazing. I cannot remember last time I punched it that hard.
Bike HR was 172! Didn?t feel that hard, honestly. Looking at the chart it?s up and down all over. This is similar to something I saw on prior race reviews and NOT what I did at Steelhead this year. This race I avg 21mph. Steelhead 20mph for FAR longer and avg was 160. Makes me wonder if I should NOT be exceeding LT during racing if it is, in fact possibly slowing me down?
Run HR was 160-175 (lower at first, higher later. The shin slowed me more than cardio, that?s crystal clear from the chart)
Overall time 1:28:13 and that?s 2 min better than last year. The bike was the difference.
So, I?m pleased. It was a very good race. PR for sprint distance, Course PR, Bike Avg MPH PR, and all that. I would have loved to gain another 3 min on the run. The short run really handicaps me at this point because although I know WHAT to do for my shin, any time I gain by stretching it so I can run harder, I loose by the stretching itself. To truly resolve this, I need to do 3-5min of total stretching, after a hard bit of running. In a sprint, there simply is no time. I am going to have to find a way to solve this if I am going to capture any Clydes hardware. 5 weeks and counting for next Tri (at the moment, nothing else although I might slip a sprint in there somewhere).
Afterwards I noticed I had a cut on my hand it?s sore and stiff, but I think it will be fine.
I met up with pichburg after and talked to her and DH for a bit, good to see them again! We?re starting to making this little CR meetup an annual deal!
------------------
Yup That's me[/URL" target="_blank">
Swim: 14:04 (last yr 13:20)
T1: 2:56 (last yr 3:20)
Bike: 34:02 (last yr 35:25)
T2: 2:26 (last yr 2:31)
Run: 34:58 (last yr 36:54)
Overall: 1:28:13 (last yr 1:30:34 ? 2004 time ? 2:10:02!!)
63degree temps, mild wind, intermittent rain
Breakfast: Bagel w/ Peanut Butter + banana and diet coke (2).
Up at 2:50am before my 3am alarm. That?s my super-power (worthless, eh?) getting up before my alarm clock!. Look at weather? wow. Got WORSE overnight. Was 50% precipitation until 3pm. Now, 100% chance all day. And chance of Tstorms. Look at radar. Wow, why is it all red and yellow? Ick. CRACK I hear lightning. Ruh roh. Well, I paid and don?t have my bike jersey (instead of shirt) so I?ll go, who knows. Radar was not promising. Packed a towel, extra clothes, and gloves in case it was cold. And lots of grocery bags to cover my gear. The drive was horrid. Slow, slippery, and poor visibility from the rain.
Got there, we had to park in grass. Watching the 3 cars ahead of me get stuck, I just hung back until they guided me to a different area to park. Whew. Rode my bike 4 miles in the downpour to transition and setup. Saw over 100 people leave. Bad sign. Went into the rec center, met several friends from my tri club and also saw pichburg! Got marked, hung out and waited for them to decide. Eventually, race went off 40-45min late but it was a go.
Warmup - Rode my bike from parking to start - maybe 4 miles. It was dark, it was slow, so it barely a warmup. Swim warmup about 3min before, just enough. Run warmup, nada. I really wanted a run warmup, but with the way it played out there was no way unless I wanted drenched shoes. Even then. So I just stretched extra.
I saw doug1430 at the swim start as he was lining up and I was getting out! Didn?t see him after though, can?t wait to hear how it went.
Swim - I got front and center on the swim. Run downhill on a beach then off we go, I did it perfect! Woot. Don?t think just DO. I was out in the lead w/ 2 others neck and neck for first 200yds, then we dropped the one guy and it was me and another for the balance. Nobody caught me then entire swim. However, I hit THREE people, like FULL BODY slam wrapped up bodies type of hit. Plus the normal stuff as I pushed through the prior 2-3 waves. People were having HORRIBLE sighting issues in the gray morning. About 100yds from shore my competition sped up to pass, I met the challenge and held it but I was going hard. About 50yds in BAM shockwaves of agony through my right hand. I must have hit someone's head (it was out and back, someone must have been just starting and veered into our path, never saw him). So hard I couldn't close my hand. It hurt something fierce but I just did what I could with a floppy hand. Unfortunately, this was enough for my competition to beat my to the sand by about 2seconds. Grrrr!!! For some reason I thought last year was 17min so a 14min was AWESOME. Later I figured out that actually I was slower this year, figures with how little I?ve been in the pool. Plus the full body stuff really lost some time for me, so I probably was about the same. After the race several people were talking about the swim being long. I have no idea! 14:02 was fine.
T1 - up the beach in case. VERY steep but short hill and sand so I was destroyed by the crest. Started walking a bit working off goggles and wetsuit. Learned new trick, rip cap/goggles off and let go of them in the wetsuit arm. Worked perfect. Got passed by 6 or so guys zipping through T1 from my wave. Decided no socks as an experiment, since this was only 12ish miles. Left gloves, coat, skull cap, everything else there. I was able to grip my hand at this point and thought no more about it. 2:56 was an improvement from last year, clearly from the socks. Oh yeah, and helmet went on backwards AGAIN this year, but I immediately noticed it and flipped it. WTF. Only here.
Bike ? Started hard. Kept hard. Rain slowed me as the roads were wet and there were many turns. But no real complaints. I managed to gobble up everyone from my AG who passed me EXCEPT 2-3? of these guys who just BLEW by me like I was standing still. I kid you not I am doing 23 and ZOOM they are gone. Several of this pack of
6ish I went back and forth but in the end I nailed ?em all. I was pleased. A couple even made comments to me on the bike about ?yer killin me?
Oh yeah now that?s satisfying! Proper rolling dismount and a fast run into T2. Perfect. DO, DON?T THINK. Gonna have to add that to me list of mantras for a sprint, because every time I THINK about my dismount, I chicken out and screw it up. (I unclip the FAR foot, swing over and at the last moment unclip and run. Opposite from what I normally would do). 34:02 is 21.15mph which is an all time racing PR for me.T2 ? Not too bad except I needed socks and I had to unbundle everything because I had it all tied up in grocery bags to keep it dry (was smart move for sure) but I lost time. Also, I made a decision to try ANOTHER new thing, which was not to carry any water. Just race belt w/ 1 gel. Grabbed skull cap but that was it. Off again. Fast run out. Time wasn?t so great, I think due to socks. I will try in training, just too chicken for race. My orthotics feel funky when wet and hot so I need to train it. 2:26 is better than last year, but SO slow. Got to ditch the socks.
Run ? Went out very strong for first 3min. Typical, so I stopped and did EHL stretch (20s) and went on. Painful again by 6min stopped and did much more (EHL, Quad ? 1min). Took off. Still hurt like **** but foot wasn?t seizing up so I just decided to suck it up and cope, race was almost over. By mile 2 it was a dull pain so I just kept picking up the pace.
Mile 1 ? 12:10
Mile 2 ? 11:29
Mile 3.1 ? 11:21 (9:55mile pace ? remember 9:56 is my 1 mile PR still)
Last .1 was an all out sprint, I still had it in the tank. I couldn?t keep up that pace long, but 5min after the race, just walking around ? I could have toed up and easily done it again.
Total: 34:58 ? an improvement from last year. About what I should expect, but I?m not real satisfied. It was just OK.
Random number facts:
Avg HR ? 170. Max was 182 and it was NOT at the finish. It was going up that hill from the swim!
Swim HR was 165-170, which is pretty amazing. I cannot remember last time I punched it that hard.
Bike HR was 172! Didn?t feel that hard, honestly. Looking at the chart it?s up and down all over. This is similar to something I saw on prior race reviews and NOT what I did at Steelhead this year. This race I avg 21mph. Steelhead 20mph for FAR longer and avg was 160. Makes me wonder if I should NOT be exceeding LT during racing if it is, in fact possibly slowing me down?
Run HR was 160-175 (lower at first, higher later. The shin slowed me more than cardio, that?s crystal clear from the chart)
Overall time 1:28:13 and that?s 2 min better than last year. The bike was the difference.
So, I?m pleased. It was a very good race. PR for sprint distance, Course PR, Bike Avg MPH PR, and all that. I would have loved to gain another 3 min on the run. The short run really handicaps me at this point because although I know WHAT to do for my shin, any time I gain by stretching it so I can run harder, I loose by the stretching itself. To truly resolve this, I need to do 3-5min of total stretching, after a hard bit of running. In a sprint, there simply is no time. I am going to have to find a way to solve this if I am going to capture any Clydes hardware. 5 weeks and counting for next Tri (at the moment, nothing else although I might slip a sprint in there somewhere).
Afterwards I noticed I had a cut on my hand it?s sore and stiff, but I think it will be fine.
I met up with pichburg after and talked to her and DH for a bit, good to see them again! We?re starting to making this little CR meetup an annual deal!
------------------
Yup That's me[/URL" target="_blank">
