Swim
This was my first open water swim. The swim distance was only 150m, which is basically my warm-up in the pool. However, the water was cold (68F) and the visibility in the lake was nil. We waded in for the start and a had a few minutes to get acclimatized to the temperature. I did a very short warm-up off to the side (but I don’t think it was enough). Start is announced and I'm redlining it from the start - I didn't intend to but with all the adrenaline, I was telling myself to stop kicking so much, but my body wasn't listening. I sight - and I am going too far to the right, so I corrected. I swim some more and after sighting again I realized that I over-corrected and was about to broadside a bunch of swimmers. I corrected again but quickly hit a traffic jam by the buoy. GPS data says it took me about a minute to get to the buoy. While I did some practice in the pool turning, I wasn't nearly as smooth due to the other people. I didn't want to swim into people, but this caused me to slow. I tried to water polo swim around this group which was tiring and slow. Getting going again was also difficult and there were lot of people in the way. It took about 25 yards to be able to get some space and get going again.
My overall time compared to my pool time was pretty good so I am not too unhappy about it. (I am not good at turns in the pool). Even if everything went well, I might have gained 40 seconds at best.
Time: 2:59
Speed: 1:59/100m
Rank after Swim: 18/70
Transition 1
I didn't wear a wetsuit, so I was able to get going a little faster than others, but I spend a few extra too many seconds drying my feet. I passed 6 people in transition, and got passed by 2.
Time: 2:00
Overall Rank after T1: 14/70
Bike
Overall it was a fairly good ride which was rather consistent with recent training time trials. Getting on, getting going, and clipping in was fairly smooth, helped by some recent practice as well as setting the crank arm in the right spot prior to transition.
I quickly passed some of the kids that exited T1 before me in the first mile. Then I started getting passed by a lot of people, mostly the riders doing the full sprint on their second lap. Of those doing the super sprint, I ended up passing 5 people and getting passed by 5 others. When we hit the 2nd u-turn, I noticed that this young girl wasn’t too far behind me, but more on that later.
My Timex GPS said that the course 6.47 miles so my average speed may have been a bit higher (16.8 mph). It also showed that my peak 12 and 20 minutes was 18.5 mph and 17.6 mph, respectively. That indicates that I was tailing off towards the end, but also that I lost a a little time getting on and off. Data shows that I took about 18 seconds after transition to get on and start moving, but only a few seconds to dismount. So, average time actually cycling was about 17.1 mph based on Timex data.
Time: 23:05
Speed: 16.38 mph (based on official distance)
Bike Rank: 17/70
Overall Rank after Bike: 14/70
Transition 2
Everything went fairly smoothly and was slightly faster than my practice runs. Some others were faster because they didn't wear cycling shoes.
There was a 16 year old guy who had the bike spot right next to me. He was out of T1 before me, but I passed him towards the end of the bike ride. He wasn’t wearing cycling shoes, so he was out of T2 before me.
Time: 1:11
Overall Rank after T2: 15/70
Run
Surprisingly, the run was my strongest compared to my competition.
The previous races I have done (5Ks), there were so many people and almost everyone is significantly better or worse than you, so you are really just racing against yourself. However, here, since the race was smaller, it started to feel like you were racing specific people, which was a fun motivator.
The run went pretty well and I started passing people. First it a 47 year old who seem to have stomach cramps, then I passed a 61 year old who blew by me on the bike, then it was the 16 year old who passed me in T2, and finally it was a 19 year old girl who was always just ahead of me.
However, about 1/2 mile from the finish, the 13 year old girl passed me. I was determined not to get beat by her, so I starting keeping pace with her, intending to out-sprint her at the end. Up a small hill, I passed her, but as we rounded the corner towards the finish line straightaway, she started passing me again. So I went for an all-out sprint. Her parents/friends starting cheering for her, but luckily was able to edge her across the finish line and retain my "man-card."
The final timing shows I placed ahead of her, but with equal finishing times. times are only down to a 1/10th of a second, so the difference must have been less than that.
Run Rank: 13/70
Overall
Final Rankings
2/4 - Age group
10/50 - official overall finish (overall excluded Clydesdales/Athenas and First-Timer division)
11/70 - amongst all super sprints, including first timers and Clydesdales/Athenas, (given that it was my first time, it was fair to include them). An "athena" finished ahead of me so I beat the other first timers.
8/31 - amongst all men.
I didn't finish any slower than anyone under 30 or over 50, so I can feel pretty happy. I also like the design of the medal.
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