©2009 Clarke Rodgers/SPORTZFOTO.com
500yd Pool Swim - 20K Bike - 5K Run
GOALS:
* Finish
* Win
* Stay w/in 30 seconds of Lisska on the swim
* Have fastest bike split
* Have fastest run split
ACTUAL TIMES:
Overall Place: 1st
Overall Time: 53:25
Overall Ave HR: 174 bpm
Swim Time: 5:48 + 14s run to the mat (6:02)...9th
T1: 0:42
Bike Time: 30:34....2nd
T2: 0:36
Run Time: 15:32 (I think this is short)....1st
Complete Results
SWIM:
I seeded myself for the swim so that I'd be close to the main competition. I ended up getting the 3rd seed and going 20 seconds behind Lisska. It's not much fun to race when you can't see your competition so that was my motive for doing so even though I knew I'd get passed by a couple of guys in the pool. I wore my blue seventy skinsuit because it takes less time to take it off than the time I would have lost due to the drag of wearing my race jersey w/ pockets. During the first 100 of the swim I tried to stay within myself and thought I did a decent job. Murray passed me within the first 150yds and I tried to get on his feet but that only lasted about 25yds. I did an okay job with the flip turns but hit my head on a couple of lane lines. The effort felt tiring towards the end and just before the last turn Soko caught me and roughed me up quite a bit as we took the turn at the same time. I can't blame him as I shouldn't have been in front of him in the first place. Got out of the pool and tried to hurry through transition as every second counts in a sprint.
BIKE:
I got on the bike just behind Murray and Soko. I passed Murray within the first 1/2 mile and Soko within the first mile. The wind was in our face for most of the first half of the ride and at our back for a good part of the second half. Wind was 16-17 mph and was moving me on the bike. I could see that Lisska was a ways up the road and I didn't gain ground on him until we turned onto McCoy. I tried to work the section with the wind at our back and started to slowly bring him in from 50 secs to 10 secs as we entered the business park. When we hit the wind at our face again he put a little more time on me before heading into transition. I could also tell that Lance wasn't very far behind.
RUN:
When we hit the run course I was about 17 seconds behind Kevin. When I started out I didn't have any legs and for the first mile I didn't make up any ground. I started to close the gap on the second mile and eventually went into the lead in the last mile.
SPLITS:
Mile 1: 5:23 (173 bpm ave)
Mile 2: 5:16 (176 bpm)
Mile 3: 5:16 pace (178 bpm) .... was only .92 miles (4:51) according to my gps.
SUMMARY:
I was able to reach all goals except for having the fastest bike split. From this race I've learned that my swim is coming along nicely. If I continue to knock out the workouts that Brad is giving me then I should be right where I want to be by June/July. My bike and run didn't feel comfortable at the HR and effort level that I was racing at. Probably because I've done a decent bit of steady work @ 160 bpm (bike) and 170 bpm (run) but haven't done much work at LT (170 bike & 180 run). Getting close to that phase though. The good news is that I felt like I could have gone a lot longer on the bike and the run.....just couldn't go any faster.