2012 TriAdventure Summer Sprint

    Great race this morning! When I think about the way I've been training lately I can only be completely satisfied with my results for this race. I was 2 min 12 sec slower than last year and it would be easy for me to spell out all the various contributing factors that played a roll in that, but all in all I know that only losing 2:12 to the clock is a testament to how much can still get done with significantly less training.

     Anytime I do a race more than once I'm going to want to PR, but I know better than to be disappointed with results that I didn't get with the training I didn't do. My training strategy since early June has been focused on less cardio and more rest and strength training. I do the triathlons to give some focus to the swimming, biking and running workouts, but I don't really "train" for triathlons. I just do prep work and then on race day I see what I've got.

    My day started at 4:00 with the alarm clock. The race started at 7am and the drive to Christiansburg takes about an hour. Packing the gear in the Blazer and eating a light breakfast took 45 minutes, so we hit the road in plenty of time to stop for gas and get to the race site by 6:00. Timing was about perfect. I had time to pick up my race packet, set up my transition area, and get in a 100m warm up swim.

Almost showtime!

     S1: 400m: (time 10:46) I felt good in the water for my swim and was actually quite surprised to see I was 1:11 slower than last year. I guess I was just so glad to be getting enough air that I forgot to think about technique. I didn't pass anybody and nobody passed me till the last 50m when one got by, so I spent most of the swim thinking I was doing better than I really was. Swimming is my weakest discipline anyway so just not drowning is a huge win. Setup Events moved the location of the timing mat further from the pool and closer to the transition area by about 10 seconds, so that should be factored into my slower time as well.

     T1: (time 1:23) Excellent transition. Fastest T1 to date. Undoubtedly due to the close proximity of the timing mat to the transition area.

    

Not the best pic, but its the only one of me on the bike.

      B1: 13 mile: (time 41:07) Typical. I did a lot of passing and got passed once myself at the very end. I had my number belt attached to my handle bars and had intended to wear it for the bike leg, but I somehow missed it in transition and refused to stop or slow down on my bike long enough to deal with it, so I positioned it near my hand to keep the noise of it flapping in the wind to a minimum. I was feeling some burn in my legs and was concerned that I might be killing my run, but full steam ahead was the plan, so I stuck to it. Still ended up 1:42 slower than last year.

     T2: (time 1:19) Another great transition. Has more to do with me laying my stuff out in a sensible manner and knowing that I need to just go ahead and sit down on the asphalt to change shoes. When I try to change shoes standing I always end up losing time catching my balance and then sitting anyways.

     R1: 5k (time 24:19) A slow run for me. I did manage to keep the pace in the 7's so thats a positive. Even though I was a full 1:28 slower than last year, I still managed the 2nd fastest run in my 12 man age group, so I guess the humidity was making everybody work a little bit harder this year. Similar to the bike, I passed a good number of folks and got passed once about 1/2 mile into it. In triathlons our age is written on our calves so I knew the guy that passed me was in his 50's. I kept him in sight for about 2 miles, but he was running on some high octane fuel and made it out of my visual range at the steep hill shortly before the finish. 

     As I hit the top of the hill a guy wearing a US Marines t-shirt starts yelling for me to open up my stride and another guy a few yards down from him starts yelling for me to put my arms into it. Those guys actually helped a lot. I realized how terrible my form had been and once I straightened it up I found myself hitting some solid paces for the last half mile. I even gave an extra kick for the last 20 yards or so, sprinting to the point where I crossed the finish line completely breathless.

The run was rather slothful. I gave it my all, but I'm way off my high end paces after nearly 2 months of comfort based running.

Me after a short high intensity sprint to the finish.

     Well, no award for this race, but I knew awards would be a long shot this season. Last summer I raced as a Novice and got 2nd place male novice awards in both the tri's I did. This year I'm qualifying for a series award, so I have to register as an Age Grouper. Age group awards are a challenge for me in this business and I'm not doing a lot of high end training this summer, so if I get an age group award it will likely be more of a fluke than anything else.

Thanks to all the sponsors!

Garmin Data: Bike     Garmin Data: Run

2012 Triadventure Summer Sprint Triathlon
(400m/13M/5k) 
2012 Time-01:18:52, (S-10:46, T1-1:23, B-41:07, T2-1:19, R-24:19),
Place-33/93 Men, 6/12 Men 40-44