Race Report (The Good, The Bad & The Ugly)
So today was Tri number 2 for me and I was nowhere near as stressed about this one as I was the last one.
Woke up at 4am for race day rituals. Usual raceday breakfast of a Banana protein shake with a frozen banana. Chilled out for a bit getting things together and into the car, water bottels, bags and BIKE!
Got to the race and got my Transition area set up transition was on a nice hill that my garmin had at 400 feet of elevation gain from bottom to top, this was to be just an example of the area which would later be realized on the bike leg. Met up with Jay in transition, actually we were right next to eachother.
We walked around and talked about nothing for a bit then it was time to head to the pool for the race briefing. They made a point of letting everyone know that USAT officials were present for the race and and hammered the point home about the drafting rules and they would be in effect, as more than one person would later learn.
They lined people up for the pool swim but it was clearly visible that people were not seeded by their estimated swim time as some people put down 8 minutes and were in the 200s and some put down 15 minutes and were in the 100s.
The swim began and for the first 5 minutes or so it looked like people were going in the correct order but then I noticed it was going downhill fast. The pool was 20yd and the format was up the left side of the lane and back down the right then switch lanes. I noticed that a lot of people were starting to take some pretty long breaks and a lot of back strokes and breast strokes going on. I began inching my way through the crowd open to minimize the damage, I knew I could do a decent 100yd I had banged out a 100m training swim in 8:40 a few days prior. so I tuck in with a group that is "9:30-10:00" and figure I would be ok. Well the people in front of this group were more in the 11:00 minute range. I think I got 10yd before I had to breast stroke and it wasn't because I needed a break, people were literally swimming that slow, and I am not fast by any means. What would suck even more is that on the inner lanes it was impossible to pass because you had lines of people going up and down every lane, and people did think hey this guy is faster than me I'll let him start the next length before I do. Well the last lane was a double lane and to make myself feel better about the swim I found and open path and freestyled as if I was doing a speed set and was able to get past 2-3 people. Yeah I did feel better.
Swim Time 10:32
Transition 1: Well all I can say is that it sucked. I was having an awesome transition. Slipped my bike shoes on and helmet un racked my bike and started out and somehow my Aquacell mounted between my Aero bars came un-done. in the process of trying to strap it back in my bike fell. Finally got things together, which would later prove to have been a waste of time and headed out.
T1 Time: 6 (I was set for a sub 2 T1)
Bike were we told it was a Hilly course and well it is Atlanta so I wouldn't have expected anything else. Fortunately for me I live in a fairly hilly area so I get lots of practice with the hills. Also to note this was held in an older area and well the roads sucked. lots of cracks and pits in the road and speed bumps not the short ones more of the gradual ones so standing up and shifting weight allowed you to navigate these with out dropping to much speed. Well before the first mile The velcro strap holding my Aquacell between my Aerobars decided to give out and downit goes into a ditch or a bush or something like that. I knew then that this would be a brutal day for me as I sweat like a dog and that was the bottle that had my electrolyte drink in it. I had a normal water bottle on my seat tube, but I am not that graceful yet at taking it out and putting it back in so drinks would be minimal. So with the hills and USAT officials on site the ride would be intresting as it would be very easy to get into a potential drafting situation on one of the twisty uphills and not realize it until it was to late. Yep that happened more than one and I was forced to powerup a hill to maintain the pass. One was a quick hill attack our of the saddle pushing a bigger gear at a higher cadance to do a double pass BOOYAH! No sweat got props from the volunteers at the top of the hill. I got passed twice and never saw these guys again. They were experienced cyclists just looking at their gear and their cadance I deserved to be passed by them, after all I did my fair share of passing people, but I was cheering them on as we would slowly climb the hills togther. One descent I was tucked in and rocketing down when I noticed the turn at the bottom was actually a 90 degree turn, I popped up out of aero and rode the brakes as I leaned the bike as tight as I could I managed to make the turn and missed flying into some trees but like 6 inches and all I could think was "AWESOME THAT WAS FREAKING WILD!"
Reached the dismount line and remembered to swing my leg over before fully stopping! made it sooo much easier!
Garmin had 3800 feet of gain and 3700 feet of loss. with my maxing a 42mph descent. Not sure about the elevation they werent massive climbs but the downhills were quick and the uphils plentiful.
Maybe 6oz of water on the bike taken in
Bike: 56:43 with a 15.9 mph avg.
Transition 2 went like a breeze, racked my bike, took helmet off kicked the bike shoes off put my running shoes and belt on and headed out.
T2: 2:58
Run started with some uphills and I knew I had some dehydration going on with the little fluid I had taken in on the bike and the fact that after and hour of being out of the pool in the sun my I was still soaked, so I opted to walk part of the hills until I got my legs back. Just focused on running as hard as I could and still have enough for a strong finish. Took water from both Aid stations at Mile 1 and 2 maybe 4-6 oz each station. Hit an out an back towards then end of the run and saw Jay heading out as I was coming back. I said to myself "Hell no!" and I kicked in what I had left and pulled off a strong finish.
Run Time 33:22 (negative splits the whole run!)
Total time was 1:49:39
I didn't hit my goal of placing top 50% of clydes but giving how things went for me that day I felt good about the finish. This race was longer than my first had more elevation than my first and I was only 5 minutes longer. Had I not had T1 issues I possibly would have posted a time closer to my first race if not better. I'll take that any day!
After I finished my race it was time to help my oldest son (10) get his chip and body marking for the splash and dash. He had trouble and paniced in the swim but gutted it out and in transition got his shoes on grabbed his race belt and put it on as he was running out.
So the best part of the day was having my picture taken with my oldest sporting out matching race bling.
Woke up at 4am for race day rituals. Usual raceday breakfast of a Banana protein shake with a frozen banana. Chilled out for a bit getting things together and into the car, water bottels, bags and BIKE!
Got to the race and got my Transition area set up transition was on a nice hill that my garmin had at 400 feet of elevation gain from bottom to top, this was to be just an example of the area which would later be realized on the bike leg. Met up with Jay in transition, actually we were right next to eachother.
We walked around and talked about nothing for a bit then it was time to head to the pool for the race briefing. They made a point of letting everyone know that USAT officials were present for the race and and hammered the point home about the drafting rules and they would be in effect, as more than one person would later learn.
They lined people up for the pool swim but it was clearly visible that people were not seeded by their estimated swim time as some people put down 8 minutes and were in the 200s and some put down 15 minutes and were in the 100s.
The swim began and for the first 5 minutes or so it looked like people were going in the correct order but then I noticed it was going downhill fast. The pool was 20yd and the format was up the left side of the lane and back down the right then switch lanes. I noticed that a lot of people were starting to take some pretty long breaks and a lot of back strokes and breast strokes going on. I began inching my way through the crowd open to minimize the damage, I knew I could do a decent 100yd I had banged out a 100m training swim in 8:40 a few days prior. so I tuck in with a group that is "9:30-10:00" and figure I would be ok. Well the people in front of this group were more in the 11:00 minute range. I think I got 10yd before I had to breast stroke and it wasn't because I needed a break, people were literally swimming that slow, and I am not fast by any means. What would suck even more is that on the inner lanes it was impossible to pass because you had lines of people going up and down every lane, and people did think hey this guy is faster than me I'll let him start the next length before I do. Well the last lane was a double lane and to make myself feel better about the swim I found and open path and freestyled as if I was doing a speed set and was able to get past 2-3 people. Yeah I did feel better.
Swim Time 10:32
Transition 1: Well all I can say is that it sucked. I was having an awesome transition. Slipped my bike shoes on and helmet un racked my bike and started out and somehow my Aquacell mounted between my Aero bars came un-done. in the process of trying to strap it back in my bike fell. Finally got things together, which would later prove to have been a waste of time and headed out.
T1 Time: 6 (I was set for a sub 2 T1)
Bike were we told it was a Hilly course and well it is Atlanta so I wouldn't have expected anything else. Fortunately for me I live in a fairly hilly area so I get lots of practice with the hills. Also to note this was held in an older area and well the roads sucked. lots of cracks and pits in the road and speed bumps not the short ones more of the gradual ones so standing up and shifting weight allowed you to navigate these with out dropping to much speed. Well before the first mile The velcro strap holding my Aquacell between my Aerobars decided to give out and downit goes into a ditch or a bush or something like that. I knew then that this would be a brutal day for me as I sweat like a dog and that was the bottle that had my electrolyte drink in it. I had a normal water bottle on my seat tube, but I am not that graceful yet at taking it out and putting it back in so drinks would be minimal. So with the hills and USAT officials on site the ride would be intresting as it would be very easy to get into a potential drafting situation on one of the twisty uphills and not realize it until it was to late. Yep that happened more than one and I was forced to powerup a hill to maintain the pass. One was a quick hill attack our of the saddle pushing a bigger gear at a higher cadance to do a double pass BOOYAH! No sweat got props from the volunteers at the top of the hill. I got passed twice and never saw these guys again. They were experienced cyclists just looking at their gear and their cadance I deserved to be passed by them, after all I did my fair share of passing people, but I was cheering them on as we would slowly climb the hills togther. One descent I was tucked in and rocketing down when I noticed the turn at the bottom was actually a 90 degree turn, I popped up out of aero and rode the brakes as I leaned the bike as tight as I could I managed to make the turn and missed flying into some trees but like 6 inches and all I could think was "AWESOME THAT WAS FREAKING WILD!"
Reached the dismount line and remembered to swing my leg over before fully stopping! made it sooo much easier!
Garmin had 3800 feet of gain and 3700 feet of loss. with my maxing a 42mph descent. Not sure about the elevation they werent massive climbs but the downhills were quick and the uphils plentiful.
Maybe 6oz of water on the bike taken in
Bike: 56:43 with a 15.9 mph avg.
Transition 2 went like a breeze, racked my bike, took helmet off kicked the bike shoes off put my running shoes and belt on and headed out.
T2: 2:58
Run started with some uphills and I knew I had some dehydration going on with the little fluid I had taken in on the bike and the fact that after and hour of being out of the pool in the sun my I was still soaked, so I opted to walk part of the hills until I got my legs back. Just focused on running as hard as I could and still have enough for a strong finish. Took water from both Aid stations at Mile 1 and 2 maybe 4-6 oz each station. Hit an out an back towards then end of the run and saw Jay heading out as I was coming back. I said to myself "Hell no!" and I kicked in what I had left and pulled off a strong finish.
Run Time 33:22 (negative splits the whole run!)
Total time was 1:49:39
I didn't hit my goal of placing top 50% of clydes but giving how things went for me that day I felt good about the finish. This race was longer than my first had more elevation than my first and I was only 5 minutes longer. Had I not had T1 issues I possibly would have posted a time closer to my first race if not better. I'll take that any day!
After I finished my race it was time to help my oldest son (10) get his chip and body marking for the splash and dash. He had trouble and paniced in the swim but gutted it out and in transition got his shoes on grabbed his race belt and put it on as he was running out.
So the best part of the day was having my picture taken with my oldest sporting out matching race bling.
Paul C.
First 5K 9/27/20 46:32 - 11 weeks post op (PR 28:55 8/15/11)
First 10K 7/04/2011 1:03 First 15K 9/18/2011 1:37
First Half Marathon 10/02/2011 2:27:44 (PR 2:24:35)
First Half Ironman 9/30/12 7:32:04
First 5K 9/27/20 46:32 - 11 weeks post op (PR 28:55 8/15/11)
First 10K 7/04/2011 1:03 First 15K 9/18/2011 1:37
First Half Marathon 10/02/2011 2:27:44 (PR 2:24:35)
First Half Ironman 9/30/12 7:32:04
Wow - even with the issues, you had a very solid race!!!
I actually thought about you while I was running - you've inspired me sooo much and continue to do so!
I actually thought about you while I was running - you've inspired me sooo much and continue to do so!
www.sexyskinnybitch.wordpress.com - my journey to sexy skinny bitch status
11/16/12 - Got my Body by Sauceda - arms, Bl/BA, LBL, thigh lift.
HW 420/ SW 335 /CW 200 
85 lbs lost pre-op / 135 post op
~~~~Alison~~~~~
nice race Paul... as you are seeing, every race is unique and poses different challenges. you're doing great rolling with the punches. too bad i missed this one, i would have been swearing like a sailor on the hills :)
Where are we going?? And why am I in this handbasket??
right now. somewhere. somebody is working harder than you.
right now. somewhere. somebody is working harder than you.
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