2006 Jack’s Generic Triathlon
I had a really good race yesterday at Jack's Generic Triathlon. I did quite well on the swim, had a super bike and a nice solid run. Roger also did well on his first triathlon. He had a bit of a difficult swim, but he did really well on the bike and the run. I think he's decided he's more of a duathlete (bike and run).
According to the website they would be using pretty much the same courses as the Rogue Women's Triathlon. There were two differences. The run was a slightly different course (but part of it used the same road) and the swim was marked very differently (but it was in the same body of water).
We headed down to the water and warmed up a bit and Roger seemed a bit anxious at the swim. I think he was counting on the short swim I did at Rogue, but they obviously figured out that it was short. I had talked about the swim course at Rogue and how I thought it was quite short. It turns out I was right. This course was supposed to be the same distance, but the buoys were much further out in the water and instead of going between the buoys (to the inside of the buoys) and a little island in the middle of the "lake" we were to go around the outside of the buoys. This time the swim course felt longer than 500 meters! We listened to the pre-race instructions and then started getting ready.
About halfway through the swim I checked my watch - 6 minutes. I was headed for a 12 minute swim. This didn't make me happy but by this point I had broken away from a group and was somewhat on my own so I really tried to focus on my swimming form. Soon I came upon Roger doing a resting backstroke. I slowed down and paced him while I tried to get his attention. He finally noticed me. He was not having a good swim. I tried to say encouraging things, but it was clear that not much I could say would make a difference so I decided to move on. I swam in and was yanked out of the water by volunteers (thank goodness - otherwise I don't think I could have gotten out). I looked at my watch - 11 minutes. I actually swam faster on the second half, even with slowing down to talk to Roger. I've just got to get away from the pack and focus on my form.
I really tried to focus on my stroke, foot position, cadence and other technical things on the bike. My new saddle felt fine (this was the longest ride with the new saddle) and I felt very strong. I had remembered to start my bike computer which made me very excited. Unfortunately, partway through, I realized I must have accidently hit the stop button because it was stuck at around 9 minutes. I knew I was further into the bike than that. I started it up again for the hell of it, but I was a little frustrated that I didn't really know how much further I had to go. I just kept pushing and suddenly I was back to the I-35 frontage road with one more big hill and just a couple of miles left to go. The big hill was hard and I felt like I didn't have much left in me, but I just kept pushing and finally felt myself hauling down the other side.
Swim 500 meters: 11:06.9 pace - 2:13/M swim rank - 251/452
T1: 2:42.3
Bike 14.8 miles: 50:41.3 pace - 17.5 mph bike rank - 309/452
T2: 1:51.7
Run 3 miles: 34:48.4 pace - 11:36/mi run rank - 390/452
Total time: 1:41:10.7
Overall rank: 347/452
Age group rank: 28/46
Gender rank: 125/206
Once again, I'm highest ranking in the swim which is so weird for me. Overall, my ranking is lower for this race than for others, even though my performance was better. While it's not a huge deal, I attribute this to two things. First, it seemed there were a lot more experienced triathletes on this course than I had raced with in the past. Second, my last couple of races were with all women (Rogue Women's Tri, Danskin) so there weren't faster men in the mix. CapTexTri FirsTri distance was with a bunch of newbies and Danskin is pretty newbie heavy too.
I had wanted to compare this to the Rogue Women's Tri, unfortunately, because of the course differences between the swim courses, I can't compare the swim. However, I can compare the bike and the run. My bike at Rogue Women's Tri was 58:06.40 so I did yesterday's bike over 7 minutes faster. Wow! Even though I did the bike faster, I shaved about 30 seconds off my run time. Wow! The weather was definitely a factor (it was cooler and somewhat overcast for most of the race) but I'd also like to think that my training lately, especially the bike and run training I've been working hard on, contributed to my time.
Looking at the swim, even though I can't compare to Rouge Women's Tri, I can compare my pace to other races and also recent training times. My first swim was the Austin Triathletes 800 meter Open Water Swim which I did at a pace of 3:27/M (that means 3:27 per 100 meters). Then I did CapTexTri which was a 400 meter swim at a pace of 2:48/M. After that, I swam the 800 meters at Danskin at a 2:31/M pace. Lately, my training swims (which have been in the 400-600 meter range) have come in around 2:30-2:40/M. My swim at Jack's was 2:13/M. What a great improvement!
Amy reminded me that if I didn't do well to remember that I had run 11 miles 2 days prior. Even with that long run though, I was perfectly fine. Would I have done better if I hadn't run 11 miles? I will add that I'm a bit sore which is a first for me for a triathlon. Perhaps I should have taken an ice bath after. I'm sure the ice bath after the 11 miler helped a lot.
All in all, I'm so excited and happy and feel a HUGE sense of accomplishment for my first season of triathloning. This was probably my last race of the season. I definitely look forward to next season.
I'm really proud of Roger for pushing through even though he didn't have a good swim. Also, he said he dropped his chain on the last bit of the bike just before the last big hill. He put it back on the chain ring and continued on up the last nightmare hill. I saw him when he was heading out on the run and I was heading in. He looked tired, but good. He finished strong though. His final time was 1:55:38.06 which I think is really respectable for a first triathlon.
Pre-Race
Dru, Roger and I woke up super early (I guess I'm getting accustomed to it) and headed down to New Braunfels. We arrived and Roger and I set up our transition areas next to each other. We then went off to get body marked and pick up our timing chips. (They didn't mark our thighs in this race which I thought was strange.) We went back to transition and applied some sunscreen (I've learned the secrets of spray on sunscreen - it doesn't rub the numbers off). We then lined up to use the port-a-potties.According to the website they would be using pretty much the same courses as the Rogue Women's Triathlon. There were two differences. The run was a slightly different course (but part of it used the same road) and the swim was marked very differently (but it was in the same body of water).
We headed down to the water and warmed up a bit and Roger seemed a bit anxious at the swim. I think he was counting on the short swim I did at Rogue, but they obviously figured out that it was short. I had talked about the swim course at Rogue and how I thought it was quite short. It turns out I was right. This course was supposed to be the same distance, but the buoys were much further out in the water and instead of going between the buoys (to the inside of the buoys) and a little island in the middle of the "lake" we were to go around the outside of the buoys. This time the swim course felt longer than 500 meters! We listened to the pre-race instructions and then started getting ready.
Swim
Roger was in the second wave. My wave was fourth. I wished Roger luck and his wave headed out. A few minutes later it was my turn. The waves seemed really large. When the air horn sounded, I tried to find a little hole and start swimming, but I couldn't find my pace. I got hit and kicked sort of hard in the beginning and I couldn't get my bearings. Once again, all form I had practiced flew out the window. I was breathing on every other stroke, only on my left side. In a pool I can breathe every third stroke on every other side but in a race, that never seems to work.About halfway through the swim I checked my watch - 6 minutes. I was headed for a 12 minute swim. This didn't make me happy but by this point I had broken away from a group and was somewhat on my own so I really tried to focus on my swimming form. Soon I came upon Roger doing a resting backstroke. I slowed down and paced him while I tried to get his attention. He finally noticed me. He was not having a good swim. I tried to say encouraging things, but it was clear that not much I could say would make a difference so I decided to move on. I swam in and was yanked out of the water by volunteers (thank goodness - otherwise I don't think I could have gotten out). I looked at my watch - 11 minutes. I actually swam faster on the second half, even with slowing down to talk to Roger. I've just got to get away from the pack and focus on my form.
T1
In transition, as I was putting my second shoe on, Roger came in. I said more encouraging things while finishing my transition. Once again, near the end of the transition (after putting on my shoes) I started to feel really dizzy and light-headed, like I was going to faint. My first inclination was to stop and sit down, but I pushed that aside and told myself that last time this happened, I kept moving and I was fine. I grabbed my bike and headed for bike out. It was the right thing to do, I felt instantly better.Bike
I mounted my bike and headed up the first big hill (which is right out of transition). The bike was great. I felt really strong and I really pushed hard. This was the same course as Rogue so I knew how the course felt. I saved a little for the last big hill (and the run after) but for the most part, I really tried to cruise. I spent most of the time in the aero position and felt surprisingly comfortable. I passed a lot of people, but was also passed by a lot of people. I felt pretty okay that the people passing me seemed to have really fancy bikes (and thus either had too much money or probably did this a lot more than I).I really tried to focus on my stroke, foot position, cadence and other technical things on the bike. My new saddle felt fine (this was the longest ride with the new saddle) and I felt very strong. I had remembered to start my bike computer which made me very excited. Unfortunately, partway through, I realized I must have accidently hit the stop button because it was stuck at around 9 minutes. I knew I was further into the bike than that. I started it up again for the hell of it, but I was a little frustrated that I didn't really know how much further I had to go. I just kept pushing and suddenly I was back to the I-35 frontage road with one more big hill and just a couple of miles left to go. The big hill was hard and I felt like I didn't have much left in me, but I just kept pushing and finally felt myself hauling down the other side.
T2
I saw Dru on the way into transition and told her I felt great about my bike. Looking at my watch, it looked like I did a 50 minute bike which is awesome. I felt like the second transition went quite smoothly. I drank a bit of gatorade and a little water after eating the third Clif Shot Block I didn't eat on the bike. I changed shoes, grabbed my number belt, GPS and visor and headed out.Run
The first half mile of the run or so were really awful. My legs felt really heavy. This was the worst they've felt on the bike to run transition and it's probably from my effort on the bike. Imagine my surprise when, upon hitting mile 1, my GPS beeped and I read 11:15! Heartened by my great performance on the bike and knowing I had a downhill on the way back (it was an out-and-back course and the entire way out was uphill and the entire way back was downhill) I kept up my pace. The second mile felt really long, but I kept plodding along. I was really in a good groove. The watch beeped and I checked my time. It was a little slower, but not much. Mile 3 went by really quickly and suddenly I was coming around the bend. I saw Dru and smiled a big smile before I gave every last bit I had to gun it across the finish line.
General Thoughts
I was SO excited about my times. I'm really super happy! Here's the breakdown:Swim 500 meters: 11:06.9 pace - 2:13/M swim rank - 251/452
T1: 2:42.3
Bike 14.8 miles: 50:41.3 pace - 17.5 mph bike rank - 309/452
T2: 1:51.7
Run 3 miles: 34:48.4 pace - 11:36/mi run rank - 390/452
Total time: 1:41:10.7
Overall rank: 347/452
Age group rank: 28/46
Gender rank: 125/206
Once again, I'm highest ranking in the swim which is so weird for me. Overall, my ranking is lower for this race than for others, even though my performance was better. While it's not a huge deal, I attribute this to two things. First, it seemed there were a lot more experienced triathletes on this course than I had raced with in the past. Second, my last couple of races were with all women (Rogue Women's Tri, Danskin) so there weren't faster men in the mix. CapTexTri FirsTri distance was with a bunch of newbies and Danskin is pretty newbie heavy too.
I had wanted to compare this to the Rogue Women's Tri, unfortunately, because of the course differences between the swim courses, I can't compare the swim. However, I can compare the bike and the run. My bike at Rogue Women's Tri was 58:06.40 so I did yesterday's bike over 7 minutes faster. Wow! Even though I did the bike faster, I shaved about 30 seconds off my run time. Wow! The weather was definitely a factor (it was cooler and somewhat overcast for most of the race) but I'd also like to think that my training lately, especially the bike and run training I've been working hard on, contributed to my time.
Looking at the swim, even though I can't compare to Rouge Women's Tri, I can compare my pace to other races and also recent training times. My first swim was the Austin Triathletes 800 meter Open Water Swim which I did at a pace of 3:27/M (that means 3:27 per 100 meters). Then I did CapTexTri which was a 400 meter swim at a pace of 2:48/M. After that, I swam the 800 meters at Danskin at a 2:31/M pace. Lately, my training swims (which have been in the 400-600 meter range) have come in around 2:30-2:40/M. My swim at Jack's was 2:13/M. What a great improvement!
Amy reminded me that if I didn't do well to remember that I had run 11 miles 2 days prior. Even with that long run though, I was perfectly fine. Would I have done better if I hadn't run 11 miles? I will add that I'm a bit sore which is a first for me for a triathlon. Perhaps I should have taken an ice bath after. I'm sure the ice bath after the 11 miler helped a lot.
All in all, I'm so excited and happy and feel a HUGE sense of accomplishment for my first season of triathloning. This was probably my last race of the season. I definitely look forward to next season.
I'm really proud of Roger for pushing through even though he didn't have a good swim. Also, he said he dropped his chain on the last bit of the bike just before the last big hill. He put it back on the chain ring and continued on up the last nightmare hill. I saw him when he was heading out on the run and I was heading in. He looked tired, but good. He finished strong though. His final time was 1:55:38.06 which I think is really respectable for a first triathlon.
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