All 660 competitors had to line up (sit down) in designated swim time areas. It was up to each competitor to line up. I made my way over to the fastest swim area at 5 minute 15 seconds. They then announced that if anyone was going to swim 4 minutes or faster to come over to the elite wave (they are the "pros"). Well, I didn't go over but I should have. . . We lined up for the swim and I was about the 6th guy to start. The swimmers went off every 10 seconds apart. They made us jump in (not dive) which made it awkward, but I managed and off I went. In about 100 meters I caught my first guy and then another and then another. I ended up passing 3 guys. Total Swim time: 6 minutes 23 seconds. (actual time was 5:15, but they counted some of our run time to transition).Transition: This is where I lost about a minute. I had a tough time getting on my cycling shoes. . after doing that, I was off. Time: 1 minute 16 seconds.
My biggest mistake here, was that I didn't drive the bike course ahead of time, so I really had no idea what the course was like. To put it mildly, there were a ton of sharp turns in the course. Normally triathlons are not that technical, but this had some very nasty turns. I am surprised someone didn't get seriously injured. There were also two good sized hills in the race. The first one caught me offguard and in the wrong gear, but I managed to get up it and passed a guy in my age group. I wanted to do the bike course in 35 minutes and as I was coming to the last hill back up to campus, I knew I would be hard pressed to do that. Coming into the 2nd lap area, they didn't really have it marked, so I had to slow down and basically have the volunteer tell me what to do (when I was done with the second lap, I noticed they put a sign up that explained what to do, would have been nice to have that a little earlier). The second time around, I was more comfortable with what to expect and was ready for the first hill. I spun up it and just tried to go as fast as possible. Coming down the hill (right before the last hill up to campus) I remembered a nasty bump in the road that on the first lap I was surprised didn't destroy my wheel. I managed to jump that this time and just went for broke up the hill. Coming into the finish is a 80 degree turn that almost ended it for me (the volunteer really wasn't pointing where to go), but I managed to stay upright and headed for the transition area.
Bike Time: 37 minutes 8 seconds 22.62 mph avg
Transition 2: Bad . I think that sums it up. If I would of had good transitions, I probably would have been top 10 overall. . . . Triathlons are really a 4 leg sport.
Time: 1 minute 7 seconds
The run is what I was really looking forward to. I have been working my run and I was anxious to see how I would do. I started off feeling a little sluggish, but after about a half mile, this passed and I just tried to keep my turnover high. I noticed some duathletes out on the course, but no other triathetes. At the 1 mile marker I saw an elite female athlete and decided I would try and chase her down. I also saw a guy in my age group behind me, and knew I had to keep him there. I caught the elite female at mile 2 and never did see that guy in my age group again. The course was pretty windy/curvy, but finally I made it back to the pool area and just kept up the pace till the finish. I reallly did feel good during the run and felt like I could have kept it up for a while longer if necessary.
Run Time: 19 minutes 46 seconds 6 min 35 second per mile
I was happy with the race and figured I would be right around there this time of year. I was happy with the run time, especially after the hard bike. I saw Amy right at the finish and Kloden was still in the pool area with Melissa. . we went in there and I talked with Troy and Kris (they had yet to start) and gave them a heads up about the bike course.
Overall Place: 19 out of 660
Age Group: 3 out of 52
Well. . that is all. . I hope you enjoyed it! I did!!!
2 comments:
Well done Jared. Good way to start off the season.
I had alot of fun. It wasn't too hard having Kloden there either. He likes to watch his daddy!
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