Presque Isle Sprint Triathlon 2013

Race: Sprint Triathlon
Date: August 24, 2013
Location: Erie, Pa.
Time: 1:24:13.45
Overall Rank: 111 out of 370
Age Group Rank: 16 out of 29
Results: http://runhigh.com/2013RESULTS/R082413GA/AgeGroups.htm

This was my fourth triathlon of the season and I have one more in two weeks. This one went fine but it was another mediocre or ordinary experience for me, as I improved my time compared to last year’s race by just 34 seconds. That amount of improvement is not satisfying given the more intense training I’ve done this year. However, it’s still an improvement and I did quite well considering my month of August has featured a lot of traveling and stress at work.  I recall saying last time that I was not worried much about being slow in transition zones, but with this race, I can see that I could save a minute or two by having faster transitions, and that would at least make me feel better about my overall time, even if I had no measurable improvement in the actual swimming, cycling, and running. I will have to consider how to speed things up in all areas next year!
 

SWIM segment, 640 yards

Time: 13:34.10
Age Group Rank: 2 out of 29
Overall Rank: 39 out of 370

If I can celebrate anything with this race, it was the swim. Compared to last year, I improved my time by 17%, finishing 2:16 faster. When I look at the overall results, I was ranked #39 out of 370 competitors. That’s an incredible feeling, knowing I was faster than almost 90% of the field. I attribute this to better sighting (swimming more in a straight line to minimize overall distance covered), a stronger stroke (I have increased my speed over the last year), and my new wetsuit (no wetsuit last year). The wetsuit not only provides warmth in 74-degree water, but it also increases buoyancy in the torso and legs, which helps the swimmer reduce drag. The water was somewhat choppy. It was also filled with seaweed that got in my mouth sometimes! The swimmers were released in “waves” according to their reported confidence in open-water swimming. I was supposed to respond to an email a few weeks ago asking me about my confidence, but I have been on several trips and didn’t read the email until the day before the race. Therefore, I was placed in the fourth of five waves, which ended up being composed of less-confident swimmers. The same thing happened to my friend Dan, so we positioned ourselves up front and soon got ahead of our group. We had a few minutes of time in the water without other swimmers around, and then we started encountering the waves of swimmers ahead of us. Traffic jam! I feel like I was fighting these swimmers for the rest of the race, often coming into bodily contact with them. I have lost my fear of being hit y someone, and I just try to plow through the human mass as best I can. It’s not fun, but I think I do it pretty well.

T1 TRANSITION

My transition time between swim and bike was 2:25.20, which was just a fraction of a second faster than last year. This is significant, since last year I was not wearing a wetsuit and this year I was. It takes a bit of time to pull the wetsuit off, so I am happy to see that it didn’t slow me down at all. I should still work on being faster, though, as I was ranked 25 out of 29 in my age group.

BIKE segment, 13 miles

Time: 38:06.75
Age Group Rank: 19 out of 29

Here is the big surprise. I finished this segment around a minute slower this year compared to last year. Cycling is my strongest sport and my goal was to burn rubber on the road. Dan and I were evenly matched on the swim, so he was just a couple bikes ahead when I started the cycling segment. He increased his lead almost immediately. Several things worked against me. First, I was last on my road bike two weeks ago, doing the North Park triathlon. My legs did not feel strong, then or now. Second, and more acutely, I was out of breath when I started the ride. I don’t remember having this issue before. Third, I experienced a mild stomach cramp almost as soon as I started riding. Fourth, my front wheel began rubbing one of my brake pads. When I noticed this, I slowed down and attempted to adjust the brake pad with my hands with no success. I thought about stopping to take off the front wheel and then re-install it. But I knew if I stopped to service my bike I would lose valuable time. So I just kept going. At some point I figured the rim would wear away enough of my brake pad that it would stop causing friction. I assumed that happened, because after a couple minutes I forgot about the problem. After the race, as we were walking our bikes back to the car, Dan said “what’s that noise?” and I saw the issue had not been resolved. So, it appears I raced the whole time with a misaligned wheel or brake pad, and that could certainly be a cause for my slower performance this year. I really hate to blame it on a mechanical issue, though. I was not in top condition. That is still a big reason why I rode slower than expected.

 

T2 TRANSITION

My transition time between bike and run was 1:27.10, more than 17 seconds faster than last year. I would have gone even faster, but I was super thirsty after my bike ride and paused to take several squirts of water from my water bottle. Maybe I should have loaded my bike with a water bottle instead of keeping it in the transition zone. For sprint-length races, I keep it in transition because the bike segment isn’t long enough to require me to drink. At least, that is how I reasoned it. But next time I will take water with me. It doesn’t weight that much.

RUN segment, 3.5 miles

Time: 30:56.30

Age Group Rank: 21 out of 29

I ran this segment 46 seconds slower this year. I am really disappointed in that, because I actually felt like I was running fast. However, it took a mile of running to feel that way. I had to run my first mile at a very slow pace because my calves were starting to cramp. When I feel that happen, I just slow down and give them a chance to adjust; else they go into a full cramp and force me to quit completely. This must-avoid-the-cramp period must have gone on longer than I thought. Eventually, I was running at a good quick pace and was passing a lot of people in the last mile.

To sum up, I swam faster and improved my transitions. Then I got tired and couldn’t ride my bike or run as fast as I wanted. I still beat my old time, so all is well, and I look forward to this race again.