Presque Isle Triathlon 2014

Race: Sprint Triathlon

Date: August 23, 2014

Location: Erie, Pa.

Time: 1:19:21.45

Overall Rank: 69 out of 355

Age Group Rank: 9 out of 24
Results: http:

This was my third triathlon of the season and it was a good one. This was also the third time in as many years that I did this particular race, and I have improved each year. In 2012 I finished in 1:24:47.10; in 2013, I finished in 1:24:13.45; and this year I finished almost 5 minutes faster in 1:19:21.45.

SWIM segment, 616 yards

Time: 10:44.15

Age Group Rank: 5 out of 24

Overall Rank: 45 out of 355

Compared to last year, I improved my time by 21%, finishing 2:50 faster. Water conditions were different this year, so maybe some of this apparent improvement had more to do with external circumstances. Indeed, when I look at my rank compared to other swimmers, I was in the top 13% this year, but last year I was in the top 11%. These data suggest that, on average, most swimmers enjoyed a faster swim this year, and my improvement was not as great as that of the average. I did not feel the water conditions were too bad. Nevertheless, the race director decided to change the swim direction on the route (from counter-clockwise to clockwise around three buoys) because of “water currents” that made swimming in the opposite direction more hazardous (somehow). Water temperature was 71 degrees.

The swim segment was an in-water wave start, meaning groups of about 50 swimmers started in the water all at once. The entry into the water was disorganized and I was too far back in the line to get near the front of the group. As my friend Dan and I treaded water and waited for the starting signal, I had some opportunity to find my way to the front of the group but decided not to take it. The wind and water currents were pushing the whole group of would-be swimmers away from shore and the front half of men treading water were already past the starting buoy. If I had made my way to the front of the group I would have felt like a cheater. I’m sure the men who started ahead of the starting buoy were not intending to cheat, but if I had made any purposeful forward progress in the water past that buoy before the official start time, I would have received an advantage I didn’t feel I deserved. I stayed in the middle of the group and consequently had to navigate through a human mass of flailing arms and legs after the starting signal.

Almost immediately, I started to see lifeguards in the water with their red flotation devices and 1-2 swimmers hanging onto each. There was a rescue kayak to swim around, and numerous swimmers who had stopped in the middle of the course just to get their bearings in choppy water. Somebody was doing the backstroke. I assume this person started out doing freestyle and lost their nerve. It is more comfortable to swim backstroke in a bay because you can breathe more easily and you don’t have your face in cold, dark, and murky water. But you also can’t navigate, and you run into people. In sum, there was chaos in the water all around me and I just kept my calm and swam through it as fast as I could. By the time I got to the first turn, I had very few competitors nearby and I was able to concentrate on my race strategy: long, strong arm strokes.  

T1 TRANSITION

My transition time between swim and bike was 2:00.2, which was 20 seconds faster than last year, and ranked me 9 out of 24 in my age group. The time savings is probably due to my triathlon suit, worn beneath my wetsuit. I did not have a triathlon suit last year; instead, I had to put a biking shirt on over wet skin, and that is hard to do quickly. Today I was worried about shedding my wetsuit because I had a deep cut on my shin from a bike incident a few days before. It hurt a lot as I put the wetsuit on before the race, but it didn’t hurt taking it off.

BIKE segment, 13 miles

Time: 38:06.75

Age Group Rank: 9 out of 24

I improved my time over last year by a little more than 2 minutes, or 6%. My average speed was 21.8 mph on this very flat course around the peninsula. Part of me is pleased with this improvement, but another part of me is surprised it wasn’t a greater improvement. I expected more improvement because in 2013, my brake pad was rubbing on my wheel during the race, and in 2014, I have been doing more bike training. I also invested in a set of aerobars and I stayed in aero position for the entire race today. However, my bike training has concentrated on longer distance rides with more hill climbing. I never maintain a 21.8 mph pace during training. In fact, I was not pedaling in my biggest gear during this race. I shift gears based on pedal cadence, and I was staying within the most efficient range of cadences (80-100 rpm) without being in my largest gear. I have the potential to go much faster if I can strengthen my leg muscles to pedal in my largest gear while still maintaining a fast cadence.

There was a lot of wind on the course (as usual), especially on the bay side of the peninsula. I watched my average speed drop from 22 mph to 18 mph during the last couple miles of the ride as wind blasted me from the right side. Using aerobars will provide no improvement in speed when the wind is blowing perpendicular to the direction of travel.

I could have pushed myself harder during the bike segment, but there is always a little voice inside me that tells me I have to save some of my effort for the run. I know this is not often the best strategy, but it worked fairly well today.

T2 TRANSITION

My transition time between bike and run was 59.65, about 27 seconds faster than last year. I am not sure what caused me to be faster.

RUN segment, 3.5 miles

Time: 29:47.25   

Age Group Rank: 14 out of 24

I ran this segment 69 seconds faster this year compared to last, but only 17 seconds faster than in 2012. I really need to work on this next year. My running pace was 8:31 min/mile; in just a simple 5K running race, I can go below 8:00. Today, my calf muscles felt tight for the first mile but they didn’t cramp up. I ate some “energy beans” and felt better. I also avoided most of the water stations. In my last race two weeks ago, I was feeling nauseated during the run, and I think maybe I was over-hydrating then. My stomach felt better today until the last 0.4 miles when the course goes into a grove of trees and I quickened my pace. I knew I was close to finishing and could afford to push more. Just before doing so, I had been running just a few steps in front of a man who was breathing hard. He would clear his throat every 12 breaths. Yes, I began to count and look for a pattern. Breathe-breathe-breathe…a-hem! Breathe-breathe-breathe…a-hem! It was remarkable how regular he was doing this and I wondered if he was aware of this habit. My question was answered at the end of the race when he found me in the crowd and apologized for all his noise. He simply had some phlegm and he couldn’t dislodge it. He wanted me to know that he doesn’t have an odd habit at all! How funny that he would be so self-conscious to apologize to me. On the other hand, it makes me feel good to know that I had a running companion that must have been studying the back of my head as I considered what was coming out the front of his own! He was one of several bikers and runners with whom I shared passing moments, both literally and figuratively. We are all in the same struggles of life together, even if we go at our own pace. 

Cayuga Lake Triathlon

Race: Cayuga Lake Olympic-length Triathlon
Date: August 3, 2014
Location: Ithaca, NY
Time: 2:53:57
Overall Rank: 108 out of 248
Age Group Rank: 13 out of 18
Results: https://results.score-this.com/SearchresultsPageMS5split.html?raceid=20140803CAYG&yr=2014

My second triathlon of the year has come and gone. I miss it already, even though I have two more lined up over the next 7 weeks. I miss the excitement and anticipation that builds up in the days before the race, and the sense of accomplishment that comes on rac

I pose with my family before the triathlon

e day.  I am sincerely grateful to my parents and to my sister and nephew for showing up super early in the morning on Sunday to cheer for me. They all wore personalized T-shirts, and cheered, and took pictures and video, and they even made a “Go Jim” sign for me. Fantastic! I will never forget it.

SWIM 1500m (0.9 miles) in 29:27—

I ranked 5^th out of 18 (top 28%) in my age group. The course was an out-and-back route. Buoys were placed in a straight line every 50 meters, and there was a rope that ran between each one with floats in between. This rope was a center line and acted to separate the swimmers going out and the swimmers coming back. The placement of this rope will have some significance later in my report.

The 8:05am heat consisted of all men aged 25-44 years old; there were 66 swimmers in this group. I made sure to get near the front of the group before the starting signal, and I was also positioned fairly close to the center line. This was part of my strategy, as I had looked up last year’s race results to see how competitive I would be (assuming the field of competitors is about the same each year). I saw that compared to last year’s swimmers in my age group, I would be around the top 33% of finishers, so at the starting line I wanted to place myself about a third of the way from the front of the group. I felt really confident with the swim today, so I actually moved to a position just behind the leaders. At the start of the swim I was able to stay close to the lead for a period of time, thus avoiding a lot of the turbulence and person-to-person contact that occurs in the larger “peloton” of swimmers.

I soon got into a sustainable rhythm. The water was quite smooth and flat and I didn’t notice any current or waves until after the turn-around point when swimmers going the opposite direction on the other side of the dividing rope started making waves. The water temperature was 69 degrees, and my wetsuit handled that easily. I felt comfortable and tried to keep my mind occupied with positive thoughts about the upcoming bike and run segments. I never veered too far off course because the buoys were easy to see during my breath cycle. However, there was a time after the turn-around point that I got too close to the center line. My right hand and arm got tangled in the rope for a moment and then two strokes later I struck one of the bigger buoys while my right arm was out of the water. I feel kind of dumb for doing that, but I was trying to thread the needle between a slower swimmer on my left and the buoy on my right and I guess I got too far to the right. It was during one of these collisions with rope and/or buoy that I sprained my right thumb. It must have bent a little too far in a direction it wasn’t mean to go. I did not realize I was injured until I started my bike ride about 10 minutes later.

Coming out of the water was a great feeling. There was a huge crowd of spectators that were cheering. Looking at the results for all age groups and heats, I was actually the 23^rd person to emerge from the water.  Since the 645 race participants did not all start at the same time, this does not mean I was the 23^rd fastest swimmer (actually, I was in the top 19%), but it sure gave me a boost of adrenaline to see only 22 competitors were in front of me!

T1 in 2:47—

I ran to the transition zone, stripped off the wetsuit, and mounted my bike. At this point, with me being so far ahead of everyone else, nearly all the bikes were still racked and I didn’t have to weave around my competitors.  For what it’s worth, the time I spent in transition ranked 13 out of 18 in my age group. I am always a bit slow in transition, but I felt so out of breath that I didn’t want to go faster, even if I could. I was still really out of breath for the first mile on the bike.

BIKE 39 km (24.3 miles) in 1:20:17, averaging 18.2 mph—

The bike route started uphill almost immediately. The MapMyRide website indicates this climb is 1.6 miles at a grade of 2.9%, which classifies it as a Category 5. It was on this climb that I realized my thumb was injured because it hurt to put my hand on the “hoods” of the handlebars (there are three hand positions on a road bike, and the hoods are where I place my hands during climbs). I compensated by using the “drops” handlebar position, but I am less practiced in shifting gears when in the drops so at mile 4—now descending after the climbing the first big hill—I didn’t push the shift level completely and my chain dropped off the front crank.  I could have coasted down the hill to the bottom and fixed the chain there, but I decided to stop on the hill so that once it was fixed I could recoup my lost time by powering down the hill. I think this was wise. It took only 10 seconds to fix the problem and during that time only two cyclists zoomed past. They likely would have passed me anyway.

There were very few cyclists ahead of me at this point. I was alone on the route much of the time. Once in a while someone would pass me, but I never felt bad about this because they were really speeding by. I was not in their league!

At mile 9 the route took a 90-degree turn into the Sheldrake community and then there is a steep descent followed by another 90-degree turn at the bottom of the hill. I have good handling skills and took the second turn at 29 mph with no fear. A motorcyclist with a photographer hanging off the back was taking my picture. I was overcome with emotion then; at this point I was literally having the best race of my life and I was nearly halfway through the race.

Such feelings would not last. At mile 12 I started to notice more cyclists pass me by as we started up another hill.  And between miles 14 and 18 there was a steady but shallow climb that looked flat to me but I just couldn’t get any speed. My lower back started to hurt from being in a bent-over position for so long. I was using the drops and aerobars far more today than I ever had on my training rides. At home, I can’t find a road flat and straight enough to be in this position for very long before needing to brake or shift. My back hurt and now my legs would not generate the pedaling power I was accustomed to. In fact, I was starting to feel leg cramps develop, so I ingested a packet of gel to supply some nutrition. More people were passing me. At mile 23 I started the steep descent to the transition zone. I had to decide whether to coast at about 26 mph down the hill, or pedal down the hill to get my speed into the mid 30s. If I continued to pedal, I would not be resting my legs in preparation for the run segment. But part of me wanted to stay competitive and keep my speed up. Being the indecisive person that I am, I did a little bit of pedaling and coasting. The race has turned a little sour with my back pain and weak legs, but speeding down this hill was still a lot of fun.

T2 in 1:33—

It was time to shed my helmet and change my shoes. My transition time was not too bad; I ranked 9 out of 18 in my age group. I could have saved a few seconds by starting to run immediately, but I took a few walking strides to test out my muscles. All seemed well enough so I started to run.

RUN 10 km (6.2 miles) in 59:53 at a 9:40 min/mile pace—

I just wasn't having a good time at this point.

I usually get cramps in my calf muscles at the very start of the run segment after biking, but not this time. I started with a burst of renewed energy and felt ok for the first mile. But I got discouraged at the mile 2 marker because I felt I had been running longer than I had. My pace was still reasonable. Using my watch, I figured I was doing an 8:30 min/mile pace for the first two miles. But I got slower and slower. All kinds of people were passing me on the dirt trail: tall ones, old ones, young ones, people in knee braces, people jumping in potato sacks. [That last one’s just a joke]. One of the volunteers commented on my “relaxed pace” and while she meant it as a compliment, I felt discouraged. I tried to go faster multiple times between miles 3 and 6 but I began to feel nauseated each time. Mile 3 out of 6 is too soon to feel that way, so I backed off. I sprinted for the last 0.2 miles, though, just to shave off a few seconds from a race time that was getting longer and longer.

My overall running pace (9:40 min/mile) placed me 15 out of 18 men in my age group. This pace is about what I was running in 2011 when I started doing triathlons. I am embarrassed at how slow I went. I’m not sure what the problem was, but there are two things that probably contributed: (1) pain makes me tired, and back pain on the bike might have taken away energy I needed to have a good run; (2) I did not start the race with fully rested and recovered legs. The day before my race I biked 14 miles. I did not take it hard or fast, but perhaps I went too far. Two days before the race I ran 9 miles. I think this is why my legs didn’t feel strong on the bike or run segments.

My finish was 2:53:57, which ranked me 13 out of 18 in my age group and 108 out of 248 overall. I wanted to finish in under 3 hours and I did. This race was really fun to do. The lake swim was great, the bike route was hazard-free and scenic. The running route was beautiful because of the waterfall and stream. The race organizers did a good job and the volunteers were abundant and very cheerful and supportive.  My family cheering section was the best.