After racing a hard Fitchburg stage race the team decided to take July 4th off from racing. There was a local sprint triathlon in Shelburne that I decided to jump in. Here is my race report:
Preparation before the race:
On Friday I went out and practiced some hills on my Mt. Washington bike. I went pretty hard for 2 hours but it helped to loosen up my legs which were still sore from my run on Wednesday!
On Saturday I rode the course and scouted out the hills and what kind of gearing I wanted to use. Overall the course is pretty rolling. By Vermont standards I would call it flat but then again I think anything is flat when I am not using my 12-25 for this race I went with my 12-23 (53/39 up front)
Saturday night I worked on some of my transitions. T1 was going to be difficult; I decided I wanted to ride in my bike stuff as this is what I have been used to (bad idea). T2 I got down pretty well as I was just going to change my shoes.
Race Day
Swim (500yds): The swim was a wet start so it was not crazy. I had a pretty good swim, came out of the water in 9:30. The first guy was out in 8 minutes so I figure the course was a little longer than the advertised 500yds. I made one mistake in the swim: I stood up way too early. It was not until after the race that I was told to swim all the way until your hand hits the bottom.
T1: This was terrible! The leaders official swim split was 9minutes. Mine was 11:30, so not only did I loose 1:30 in the swim but I lost 1 minute in the transition. This was a little frustrating as I had hoped to be closer than that.
Bike (15.6mile): This went well. I passed most people in the first few miles. This opened up the road and I was able to get in a rhythm. I passed everybody on the bike except for the leader. I came within 30 seconds but needed a few more miles to catch him. My official bike split was 35.13 (26.57mph).
A few notes from the bike:
I had a little problem with my butt cramping up in the first few miles of the bike was not expecting that! I had difficulty getting my heartrate up most of the time it was low 170’s (I usually TT at low 180’s).
I felt “ok” on the bike not great…a bike leg is a little different that a flat out TT!
T2: This went fine. Took the helmet off, got the running shoes on and I was off!
Run (5k): I left the run 30 seconds down on the leader but never got any closer. The run actually felt ok from I was really surprised that the first half mile was not bad at all. My stomach was not great but I think that would improve with some “brick” workouts. My official run split was 21:20 (6:53 pace). I ended up holding my position; finishing 2nd overall and winning my age group (25-30). The winner was Tim Watson who I found out later was a former pro. He ended up running 6 minute pace and smoked me on the run.
Overall, it was a fun day and hopefully I will get to do another tri in September. I will definitely get some Louis Garneau tri-gear and swim/bike/run in all the same clothing. God that T1 was bad. Nothing like trying to get your bike jersey on over a wet body that is just asking for problems!