Early Bird Triathlon Race Report May 19, 2007 ================================ It was a cool, sunny, 5C as I rode down to the race site, so I wore tights,arm armers, gloves, and a toque. I hoped I could carry it all back again at the end of the morning. I got down to Carleton at 7:05am, and quickly got my registration and body marking. I picked a good transition spot right by the light pole, so I could easier find which of the long bike rack rows was mine - a good decision. I had my equipment malfunction of the day then as I could not undo the clip of my backpack and I had to undo the straps to get it off. Once setup I had time to do a lap of the bike course, which I did. It was nice and quiet, no wind, and just a few other bikes and the race crew on the road. I forgot my gloves and my hands got cold. Back at transition at 7:45am I ate a can fruit cocktail and did my final setup and chatted with fellow racers, and at 8am walked down to the pool and took a couple of bathroom breaks. We seeded ourselves out, and a joined the 10min group and chatted with them. I drank a bottle of Gatorade at I waited to start. The time-trial starts started at 8:30am, and just before 9am I jumped into the pool for a short warmup. I felt good and relaxed. I was ready to go and not nervous at all. I was wearing my new watch, no HRM, as it is shipped to Polar for repair. Swim 500m --------- I got going quickly, holding a hard pace. I caught the guy who started ahead of me in the second lane, and passed him quickly. Then I had open water until the last lane. I felt good and kept up my fairly hard pace. My left hand did not bother me, although I could feel that with a longer swim it would start to cramp. In the last lap I caught a gal ahead of me, but I did not have time/toom to pass her, so I just drafted her to the end of the lane. T1 -- I was a bit disappointed to just miss my 10min swim-time goal, as I knew that I could have swum a little harder. No matter, I put it aside and focused on what was next, getting to my bike. Out of the building and across the timing mats and found my shoes easily. I had difficulty getting my wet feet into my shoes (the "quick-slip" laces aren't so much), and I started a patient run of the 500m to the bikes. The temp was warmer now, so no worries about being cold for the bike ride, as I was only wearing tri shorts and top. A couple of guys passed me running much faster. I got to bike and quickly shoes off, race # on, sunglasses on, helmet on, and away I went. I beat out of transition the guys who had passed me in the long run - ha! fast transition! Bike 34.2km ----------- I quickly settled into an intense pace - my quads were hurting abit right from the start, but I felt I could hold it. In the first lap I yo-yoed with one of the guys I had beaten out of transition, but I eventually pulled ahead of him, and I spent the whole bike ride passing lots of people - no one passed me back. The time-trial starting of racers made the bike course all spread out, which was nice, there were no packs or problems. I rode hard and fast - my speed was consistently 35/36 km/h, a bit slower/faster on the hills - and stayed in the aerobars the whole time. I wanted to beat 1hr for the bike split, and although I did not have exact split times, I noted that as I completed each of the first two laps that I was right around the 20min/lap time. The third lap I tried to got all out, and on the uphills at the end my legs were failing - I was rocking and pushing with my body weight as my legs had nothing left to push with. I had done what I wanted to do - time-trialled the bike and gone as fast as possible the whole way. Now, what would this do to my run? I tried to stretch out a bit as I came into the dismount chute, but the calves and quads were preatty stiff going into T2. T2 -- I found that I could run alright as I came into transition. I again had difficulty getting my shoes on (tight laces - I need to do something about this), but I didn't force them, was patient, and I got going quickly. Another good transition. Run 5km ------- Legs were there, loose, energized, right from the start, and I quickly found a good steady pace. The run started/ended on grass, and I was not going to push it hard cuz of the uneven surface, so I didn't. I felt good and steady, even when the footing was better in the middle part of the run course on the pavement/gravel path, I did not change my effort level at all. I was just happy that I had running legs after such a fast/hard bike ride. I passed a few people, and one guy, running much faster than me, passed me, the only one to do so the whole day. I noted by the km markers that my time was going to be good. I just cruised into the finish line, no-one around me and feeling no desire to sprint. I felt just as good at the end of the run as I had felt at the start. Awesome race. I did a short 5min CD run, then got food. Chatted with Ryan and Gisele and managed to pack everything into my pack and onto the bike, and rode home - legs were dead so the pace was gentle and slow. my splits --------- swim: 10:06 T1: 5:22 bike: 1:01:04 T2: 1:12 run: 24:31 Official Results ---------------- swim: 10:34 39/75 T1+bike+T2: 1:07:09 12/75 run: 24:31 46/75 1:42:13 total time overall: 22/75 Men 35-39 5/12 (3rd was 1:39:22) Men 16/51 summary ------- When I checked my splits after the race, I was quite disappointed to see that I had also missed my 1hr bike-split goal time by such a narrow margin. I wondered how that was, cuz I had consistently seen my speed around 35km/h. At home I measured the course with Google Earth and my Ottawa map software, and both said the course distance was more like 35.5km, not the 34.2km as stated by Somersault. And I am quite sure that the run course was less than 5km. In any case, I am VERY HAPPY with this race, for many reasons: - I finished, no bike crash! :-) - I did the swim and bike effort tthat I wanted; I am particularly happy with my bike ride, as I perfectly paced my effort, and was smiling, happy the whole way. I perfectly spaced out drinking the 600ml of eload that I had on the bike. - wow! look at my T1+bike+T2 ratiing of 12/75! and i bet if we had a true bike-split time, i would be even higher! this is new kind of position territory for me! - wow! my running legs were theree despite me having just taken my cycling legs to their limit. This now makes two weeks in a row I have run fabulously off the bike after a tiring/tough bike ride. I could have run faster, but i wanted to be careful running on the grass, and I needed to be as it was rough and uneven and I ended up with a hot-spot under my right foot. Overall it was a lovely day for a race. I was not nervous, was patient, and executed my race plan as I wanted to.
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