Presque Isle Sprint Triathlon

Race: Presque Isle Sprint Triathlon
Date: August 20, 2016
Location: Presque Isle, PA
Time:
Overall Rank: 60 out of 367
Age Group Rank: 5 out of 19
Results: http:

Race Report for the 2016 Presque Isle Sprint Triathlon. Read all about it if you care! 

SWIM: Today's race was under really great weather conditions; both the air and water temperatures were in the upper 70s. Despite the reasonable temperatures and clear skies, there was somehow quite a chop in the bay water where we swam, and that presented a challenge during the swim to the first buoy. At the start, I positioned myself at the front on the right side, just as in past years. This worked really well, as I was able to avoid the crowd of less-able swimmers in the middle and rear of the wave. The choppy water was a challenge but I've swam in worse. Nevertheless, I still had to battle myself in that I was swimming too hard to get out ahead of everyone, and consequently I was out of breath and didn't concentrate on maintaining good rhythm. Curving around the first buoy, the waves were less and I was farther away from other swimmers so I got into a better rhythm. I drifted a little off course to the right, but nothing serious. Starting at the second buoy, on my way back to the beach, I started to encounter large numbers of swimmers from earlier waves. These were the weaker/slower swimmers from the younger age groups that started first. I bumped into one who was treading water, and she said "sorry!" I've never had anyone talk to me during a swim segment before, and I laughed in my head that that would even occur.

I finished the 585-yard swim in 13:11, which was 4th place in my gender+age group of 19 swimmers. I had the 60th fastest time overall, out of 367 competitors.

BIKE: I felt like I swam pretty well at the time, but looking back, I really wasn't as tired as I should have been. That might explain why I felt strong and fast on the bike segment. I passed lots and lots of people, and was passed by maybe a dozen at the most. I was maintaining a speed of 21-22mph during the first 4 miles and I remember questioning myself whether or not I should take it down a bit in order to preserve my legs for the run. I decided against that, knowing that with all my training I was in good shape and could probably still run well. So I kept the pace at my maximum output for the duration of the bike segment. I noticed that my legs got tired after a bit in the aero position so I switched around between arms forward on the aero bars to the handlebar drops to the handlebar hoods. I was surprised to find that my speed was just as fast when my hands were on the hoods as in any other position, but this may simply due to the temporary leg muscle relief the hoods provided.

I finished the 12.5 mile bike segment 5th in my gender age group and 64th overall. I have done this same race in 4 previous years so I can see how much improvement has occurred in my bike performance since 2012. Um, not much. I had a faster bike segment in 2014 (35:50), and my time in 2016 was only 2:03 faster than my slowest time of 38:07 in 2013.

RUN: My typical behavior in a triathlon of any length is to expend too much energy in the swim and bike segments and then suffer during the run. Today was not like that. I dismounted from my bike, changed my shoes, grabbed a GU, and started running at a fairly brisk pace without too much discomfort. In fact, I started passing people on the run and this was an unusual situation! I again made an assessment about whether or not my pace was too fast. It felt too fast, but I decided to push myself and keep it going. I've got an Ironman race coming up and I needed to prove to myself that I was prepared for that upcoming event. Anyway, it seemed to take a long time to get to the turn-around point, but I finally made it. As I ran back to the finish line, I concentrated on people-watching, looking at the facial expressions of folks as they passed me going the other way, plus admiring all the different triathlon suits they were wearing, plus looking at all the tattoos people had. This kept my mind occupied. There was one man with elaborate tattoos on his arm and shoulder that I passed once or twice, and he passed me once or twice. We had about the same pace, so I started up a conversation. This helped both of us immensely. At first, he was pushing me to go faster, and then toward the finish he seemed to need me to pull him along.

With his help, I had a strong finish (for me). I finished the run 4th in my gender age group and 75th overall. This year's performance was my best in 5 years of doing this race. I was 35 seconds faster than in 2014, which was my previous best time.

Combining the swim, bike, run, and transition times, I finished the entire race in 1:21.38, which was 5th (out of 19; top 26%) in my gender age group and 60th (of 367; top 16%) overall. I feel great about the race and had a lot of fun. This was Shannan's first race at Presque Isle and she had great fun, too. I am now about 22 days away from my Ironman and I feel very prepared and know I'll have fun that day, too. This was a good thing to do just before my big race, since it has bolstered my confidence.