Race Day

So pictures are up on facebook, but I wanted to write an extended blog post about the race itself.

I didn't make my goal of 80 minutes.  I finished in 83:34.  I was 139 out of 257 males(54th percentile), I was 24 out of 42 in my age group 30-34(57th percentile), I was 161 out of 397 overall(41st percentile).  I beat both the average and median times which were right around 87 minutes. 

The swim went well despite me taking off WAY too fast, thus spiking my heart rate and giving me breathing trouble.  I settled down though and finished the swim in 15:17, about 2 minutes behind my goal pace.  The extra bodies in the water didn't bother me too much.  I only had a couple collisions, and spotting got easier as I got settled in.  Coming out of the water I didn't feel exhausted which is probably a sign I could have swum harder.

The first transition, I had to strip the wet suit, put on my jersey, put on my helmet and bike shoes, and run my bike to the mounting line.  My goal for this stage was 2 minutes and I accomplished it in 2:03.  The biggest trouble I had was getting my bucket out from under my bike, and putting my jersey on over my wet torso.  I probably could have saved 10-15 seconds there easily.  I think if I switched to a Trisuit for biking and running and a race belt for my bib number I could save another 10-15 seconds. 

My legs felt really good on the bike and at the turnaround I was averaging about 21mph.  If I could have maintained that I would have shaved almost 4 minutes off my time, however that 21 was apparently fueled by a hefty tailwind, which became a monster head wind when I turned around.  I was still really happy with my bike time, 39:14, which matched my goal.

My second transition, I had to dismount my bike, run it to the rack switch my bike shoes for my running shoes and go.  I wanted to complete these tasks in 1 minute or less and I did it in 0:59.  I still think there is some room for improvement on this stage, but only 10-15 seconds at most.

The run was by far my most disappointing leg of the race.  I ran a 26 minute 5k which was a full 4minutes slower than my River Run 5k earlier this year.  I know river run was a fresh race, but I still thought I could muster at least a 24 on this run.  It didn't help that the mileage for the run was not marked and none of the volunteers had any clue what the mileage was at their aid stations.  Even just knowing the mileage I think I could have shaved 1-2 minutes off my time. 

So if I train harder and shave 2 minutes off my swim, 2 minutes off my run, 34 seconds off my transitions I would finish next year's race in 79 minutes.  My biggest place to make improvements is in the bike.  If I could just average 21 instead of 19mph I would shave another 4 minutes off and break the 75 minute mark. 

All of this leads into my next announcement.  I've decided to forego the Quad City Marathon and instead train for the TriHawk Triathlon at the Coralville reservoir.  This course is slightly different, it is a shorter swim, 500m as opposed to 750, a longer bike 15 miles as opposed to 12.5, and a 5k.  What this means is a really hard training regimen on the bike should help me dramatically cut my overall time.  I've got 2 weeks to put together my training schedule.  In the meantime, I'll be lifting weights, riding my bike in preparation for Ragbrai, and running to prep my legs for my other races.  I've also picked up a yoga class on Monday's and Saturdays to help my flexibility. 

I'm setting my goal at 80 minutes for the Trihawk.  My goal is 9 minutes on the swim, 1:30 transition 1, 45 minutes on the bike, 0:45 transition 2, and 23:30 on the run.  Making those goals would put me at 79:45.