Race Date: May 28, 2016 / 7am
Is it me, or is 2016 going by a little too fast? 'Cause just like that, my first triathlon of the 2016 season came and went in a flash. This was my first time doing the Caine Halter YMCA Sprint. It's a short one – by sprint distance standards – and was a great way to get the season started. Not to mention, it was my buddy Nigel Robertson's first triathlon which made it extra awesome.
How'd I do? Well, my time was OK (01:00:22 total time), but I'd say the theme of this race was "not fully prepared". I shall explain...
The Setup
The bad news is while we're renovating our house, we're living in a tiny apartment. The good news is, it's just a couple of blocks from the Caine Halter YMCA where the race was! So I woke up bright and early and just rode my bike over to race with my bag of gear slung over my back.
Not fully prepared moment: it's an uphill ride from the apartment complex to the YMCA and I nearly fell over on the bike (twice) trying to clip in and get started pedaling. Ugh...not a good sign.
I got there a little early, so after getting my timing chip, body markings and my transition area setup, I had about 30 minutes to kill. It was surprisingly chilly and standing around waiting for the gun to fire, I actually got the shivers. Another 'not prepared' moment.
The Swim
The swim was a quick 300 meters in the pool. Basically you swim down and back then switch to the next lane, then down and back, and so on. This awesome drone shot from the race (courtesy of YMCA of Greenville) shows the setup perfectly:
Image courtesy of YMCA of Greenville
Since this was my first pool swim for a triathlon I was very curious to see how this would work, logistically. Spoiler alert: it was a hot mess.
Racers were supposed to be lined up in order of their average swim pace, then released into the pool one at a time, in 5 second increments. Great idea, in theory, but it didn't really work...nobody was in the right order.
Not fully prepared moment: I either underestimated my average pace or the people around me overestimated theirs because once I jumped in, I had to overtake several people, causing me to run head-on into swimmers going the opposite direction on the other side of the lane. Then towards the end, there was a backlog of three or four swimmers waiting to climb the ladder out of the pool. Needless to say, I did NOT like the swim...I felt like a fish in a barrel.
Total Swim Time: 6:27 (including run to transition). About what I expected, despite the fish-in-a-barrel scenario.
Transition 1
Not prepared moment: I never seem to be prepared with how much effort the run to transition will be after the swim.
So while the run was downhill, it was longer than i expected and I was out of breath way more than I should have been. I threw on my helmet, bike shoes and sunglasses and hobbled out of the gate to the mount line.
Total T1 Time: 0:1:28 That's my fastest swim-to-bike transition so far. Woot!
The Bike
Not prepared moment: even though I studied the bike route online multiple times, I was completely unprepared for how intense the hills would be on the bike route.
The route was a simple criterium-style course: 3 laps around a large section of the Cleveland road area, starting with a nice downhill. I was hoping this would be my chance to catch my breath, but before I could even attempt to relax, the first intense uphill had already started.
You can see the constant uphill / downhill nature of the bike course just by looking at my speed and heart rate graphs:
An obvious correlation: my heartrate spikes (going uphill) vs. my speed spikes (going downhill)
The bike course, as recorded by my watch. Out, then three laps around the loop, then back.
The good news is it was just a 9 mile bike route, so it was over in a flash.
Total Bike Time: 0:29:01 A little slower than I'd hoped. Stupid hills..
Transition 2
The bike-to-run transition is always pretty easy – stash the bike and helmet, throw on the running shoes and hat and go!
Total T2 Time: 00:01:42
The Run
The run course was a simple out and back, most of it on the Swamp Rabbit Trail for a total of 2.72 miles.
The run course, as recorded by my watch.
I was dreading the run because as I mentioned a while back, I have a stupid knee at the moment. I was worried it would hurt like hell and reduce me to walking. Luckily the swim and bike loosened me up pretty well and my knee was only mildly irritating.
Despite the irritation, I was able to hit my fastest pace yet for a triathlon run. Not exactly a stellar pace, but hey...it's an improvement, so I'll take it!
Total Run Time: 00:23:54. (8:45/mile average pace) My fastest pace for a triathlon run so far. Woot!
The Summary
For you fellow data geeks, here's a link to the stats collected by my watch during the race.
Even though I felt a little unprepared at several moments and didn't love the swim, I still enjoyed the race overall. Since this is such a short race, it's a great way to kick off the season. Not to mention, it was so much fun training with and watching Nigel finish his first triathlon! Just doing my duty to pass along the triathlon bug...