Monday, March 12, 2012

SCSS Wrap Up

Well I have competed in my first tri of this year.  There are lots of things to be excited about and also things to work on.  

1.  I actually do have a governor.  I can hold back.  
2.  I actually can swim.  As hard as that is too believe.  
3.  It is easy to slow down too much.  

Here's my race recap.  

This race had a later start.  It started at 9.  I had prepared my transition bag and bike the night before so I was able to sleep later.  Was up around 5:30 and only had coffee.  As I was sitting waiting to leave, I was visualizing the race.  Since I had ran the course before I remembered most of it.  So I could see the turns for the bike and the run.  

My game plan was to take it easy on the swim, step it up on the bike and finish strong on the run.  Let see how did it work. 

Some of the conversations while standing waiting for a TT pool start can be really distracting.  The guy behind who was doing his first tri provided comic relief.  He first was totally impressed with how well everyone was swimming.  He couldn't believe almost everyone was doing flip turns.  Then as we inched closer to starting he decided to pray, out loud.  While I have no problem with communicating with God.  Nor do I have a problem with corporate prayer, but I think in this case it was a little overboard.  Then we were about 4 people from starting and he starting singing out loud.  I had to keep my back to him to keep from laughing out loud.  

Finally I am starting.  My first hundred was really smooth.  I was so happy with myself.  Not winded.  Not rushing.  No one passed me.  I didn't catch anyone but I was ok with that as well.  At the 100 mark, I stopped at the way for a sec and started again.  Again this was pretty smooth and easy.  The finally 50 was a little tougher.  So I slowed my pace and finished feeling good.  

T1 was really slow for some reason.  Just couldn't get it together.  Finally made it out of transition and couldn't get clipped in.  Finally started riding.  Passed several people going out.  I felt I was going good.  My bike computer/odometer decided it didn't want to work so I wasn't able to see how fast or slow I was going.  I  made it to the turn around still feeling great.  This was only a 7 mile course so I didn't anticipate feeling anything.   Coming back I ran into a serious head wind. and it was gusting so my return speed ended up being slower than I wanted.   

T2 also felt slow.  I struggled getting my shoes on. My speed laces were messed up so I just used regular laces.  I had my shoes tied so I thought it would be simple to slip my foot in.  Oh well, that didn't go as planned. Finally in my shoes and heading out of transition.  The run was good.  The start was up hill but that wasn't any thing of concern.  It was just a 2 mile run so I felt very comfortable.  Again I was able to catch and pass lots of people.  The run was very easy with a down hill finish.  I actually took it easy on the run not wanting to push to hard on my calf.  

All in all the race was more training than racing.  It was good because I didn't get passed by anyone in any leg of the race.  It was bad because of poor transitions and below average bike.  I was more than a little angry with myself.  

I ended up finishing 5 of 15 in my age group.  44th overall out of 225.  
Swim - 5:20
Bike - 23:40
Run - 12:55
Total:  44:56



2 comments:

  1. Awesome Job! See you CAN swim well! I tell you what, once you get into mid season form, you are going to blow folks away! With that swim coming around, you'll hold your own with the "swimmers" and crush them on the bike and run! Especially the run! Great job!

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  2. Ken, great job on the swim. My swim just kicked into feeling more natural now after the last two weeks and ready to improve on all my swims from last year. It's like I got a "aha" moment and everything just started to flow. On Saturday's run, did you feel it was a little short? I felt like crap, but my run was way faster than I expected. I thought I was holding back but the time did not show it for me.

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