Race Report #2

Alright, so, as I did last time, I am posting my race results a week late.  Sorry, like I said, I am going to try to get better at posting sooner.  I am not going to go into all the detail that I did for the last one, but I will still give the rankings and times for each discipline.


Pre-Race


Coming into this race, I felt a LOT less prepared than I did for my last race.  I felt like I hadn't put in the same time/effort that I had.  I wasn't sure if it was because I had built up my base fitness more, so doing the same amount of work felt easier, or if I just didn't put as much in for this one as I did last time.  


As discussed in my previous post, I also had a LOT on my mind for this race, so I was very nervous for the race.


Race Morning


I did pretty much the exact same thing for this race as I did for my last one.  I got up nice and early, had a good, healthy breakfast, and left for my race earlier than I needed to, but I didn't know what to expect.  I got to the race venue, pumped the tires, set up my transition, and got marked up.  Light warm up (short run), but the legs felt heavy and tired.  Not a good omen.


Swim  Time:  14'17" (1'55"/100m)  Rank:  70


The swim was the part that I was most worried about, because of Dr. Doom.  It was a deep water start, which I hadn't done before.  I tried to give myself a good position, but I guess I didn't do a very good job.  I ended up getting boxed in, and couldn't get around anyone.  Grabbed a few ankles, got a few swift kicks to the face.  Sighting was better than the first race, but not by much.  Still went a bit off course, but it was in a narrow river, so I couldn't go TOO far off course.  On the last leg, I swam too close to shore, had to swim through some weeds.  Not the end of the world.  Felt good coming out of the water, but there was a lont (100-150m) run into T1, which is included in my swim time.


T1  Time:  1:09


T1 went smoothly again, no real comments to make.  I knew where my bike was, everything went on fairly smoothly, and came out in a good position.  I got cut off on my way out of the TA.  


Bike  Time:  34'39"  (34.6km/hr)  Rank:  14


So again, the bike was the strength of my race.  I seem to do very well on this leg, for whatever reason.  I wish I had driven the course ahead of time, even if it was just the morning of.  I pushed WAY too hard coming out of T1, and was not expecting the first hill that I met (or any of the other ones, for that matter).  It was a HUGE hill, and I didn't give myself enough gear.  But it seemed to get everyone else, too.  It slowed down to a crawl, but to make it up, I really had to mash up the hill.  I got passed at the top or every hill, but then passed them right back.  On the back (of the out and back), I was playing leap frog with a group of about 5 others, which made it hard for me to avoid drafting.  No one else seemed to care, which is frustrating.  But I managed to do well on the bike, and I am happy with my overall performance.  I learned that I REALLY need to work on hills.


T2  Time:  0'44"


Again, T2 went smoothly.  Nothing really to mention, other than the fact that I almost forgot to take off my bike helmet before coming out for the run.  That would have been embarrassing.


Run  Time:  25'47" (5'10"/km)  Rank:  139


Well, again, my run is my limiter.  I really need to work on this part of my game.  Coming out of T2, my legs felt a bit heavy, just like my warm up.  I had a hard time getting going, and I had a hard time keeping going.  Seeing the volunteers in the aid stations really helped.  I think I was underhydrated, so the sips of water felt great.  It was a flat course, which helped, and the second half of the race was a lot easier than the first for whatever reason.  I don't know if it was that I knew I was going to be done or what, but the last 2.5km was rather easy.  Come into the finishing chute with a good speed, and finished strong.  Again, I think that I left a bit too much in the tank.


Overall  Time:  1:16:34  Rank:  44  AG:  5/20


I can't complain at all about my race.  Maybe I left a bit too much in the tank, but I was 9 seconds behind the person ahead of me, who was also 4th in the AG.  I don't think I could have made up 9 seconds.  I was, however, only 50 seconds behind 3rd place in my AG, which is very disappointing and motivating at the same time.  Next year, I will be on the podium.  That's a promise.  The winner of the race was in in 1:05:00, so being 11 minutes off that pace is a good sign.  


Also I should mention that I maintained my race time from Joe's Team Tri.  This course was markedly harder, so I am very happy with the result.  Keeping the same time for a harder course is always a good thing.