Race Report: 2011 Flat As a Pancake

Swim:
Heading into this race the obvious goal was for a course PR. All the distances were the same as last year. Swim 400 meters, Bike 12 miles and Run 5k. A welcome difference was the roads were better paved this time in comparison to last years bike which was a bit on the bumpy side. Same as last year I was in wave #1 on the swim. Age Group 30-34. Our wave started about 7:53am. As stated the objective was to go hard on all legs of this sprint distance. However not going all out in training while wearing a wetsuit caught up to me early on in the swim. First panic experience in open water or any water at that. All I felt like doing was ripping off my wetsuit to stop this claustrophobic feeling I was experiencing. This came as a direct result of not practicing hard swims in my wetsuit. I quickly begun treading water to bring my heart rate down and compose myself and rhythm to get back into it. This was achieved successfully. I slowed it down a bit and just focused on getting to one buoy at a time. This swim was definitely faster than last year. Last year the currents were stronger making for a tougher swim for all the competitors including the elites. I made the left turn at the final buoy and onto shore. At that point my wetsuit was halfway down and ready to be stripped at T1.

T1:
Did not go as expected. Huge work needs to go into improving and figuring out a solution for better transition times in my races. I have complained and made excuses about my bike being taller and requiring more effort to yank it out of the rack, but besides that issue I may just be napping in there.

Bike:
This was an amazing leg. I remember looking at my HR data last year thinking I never raced the bike leg, it was in Zone 2. Coming in to this years race there was primarily one goal – to hammer the hell out of the bike course while in Zone 4-5. This is exactly what I did. The course is an out and back. 3 sets (2 miles out and 2 miles back). I stripped the bottle cages, profile design aerorack from my bike this week. I wanted to go as minimalist as I could handle. My hydration choice was my aerobottle. It may be a sprint, but I still lose quite a bit of electrolytes on short course racing especially being 6′ 3″. I finished the bike averaging 23.2 mph.

T2:
Again slow here. Combined T1 + T2 slightly better than last year. Attention needs to be addressed in transition for sure.

Run:
Mile 1 was a bit on the slower side, but I was able to pick it up and push the pace towards the finish.

Great day for racing and thanks again to all the volunteers. Content as always with improvement clauses especially in transition. I PR’d the course by 10 minutes over last year. Race goal met! Again as I noted last year. I would recommend this race as an open water sprint to kick start the season for sure. Anh and I registered in the Husband/Wife category and placed 3rd. That was a great Tri performance on her part, especially being her first open water tri ever. Great job babe!

Overall Time: 1:03:25
Overall Place: 28th/483
Age Group: 9th/46
Husband/Wife Category: 3rd/9

2011 Results