Race Report- First Olympic Tri, 7-15-07

[KSH]

Well, I completed my first Olympic distance tri this past weekend. Here are the details.

I will preface it with this: My focus wasn't what is should have been. I know that I really didn't give it my all. For that, I'm disappointed in myself. I could have pushed harder in all 3 disciplines. I'm not even sore the day after... and that's probably a key indicator that I slacked some.
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Ironhead Dallas Triathlon
2007-07-15
Grand Prairie, Texas
United States
Ironhead Race Productions
90F / 32C
Sunny

Triathlon - Olympic
Total Time = 3h 17m 10s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 10/15

Pre-race routine:

This was my first Olympic distance race. Actually, CapTex was supposed to have been my first Olympic, but as we know... it got rained out. I had tapered for CapTex, but I didn't taper for this race.

In fact for this week (including the race miles) is the most amount of miles running I have logged for one week. This past week was my first 10 mile run ever.

Excuses? Maybe so. I would like to think that I'm cutting myself some slack on not reaching my race goal of 3:10, because of the week leading up to the race. Or, maybe it was all the walking on the run I did?


Event warmup:

Woke up at 4:30 AM and made my usual breakfast- 2 waffles and 1 breakfast sandwhich. It's about 600 calories.

Packed up the car and away I went. Jonny got a free pass to stay home on this one, since I missed his first Oly the weekend before and will miss his August race.

Stood around. Setup my transition area. I took 1 salt tablet, as instructed by my coach.


SWIM
00:31:36 | 1640.4 yards | 1m 56s / 100yards
Age Group: 4/15

Mass start with a huge AG in the water. The gals and guys started together. Hate that.

I started strong, but a bit off course. I finally got it together and got back on course. Pretty uneventful swim. I never got globbered and I didn't push anyone out of the way. When I was swimming back to shore, I hit the bouys perfectly. Sighting was perfect.

I felt strong and smooth in the water. The swim seemed LONG... very LONG!

When I exited the water I checked my watch and my time was over what I had anticipated. I had hoped to get below 2:00 per 100, and that is typically very achieveable for me. As you can see, I went slower than that.

So, horrible swim. I'm disappointed in my performance here. I can't believe I was so slow!

I got out of the water... and WOAH! Not dizzy, just tired. I had felt the swim. Lesson learned. I can't skip on my swim workouts anymore... must do 2 times a week for the HIM coming up in October.


What would you do differently?
My time sucked, but I didn't have a bad swim. I felt good in the water and my sighting was spot on. Not sure what I could have done differently to improve my time. Maybe swim 2 times a week like my coach tells me to?

Transition 1- Swim to Bike
Time: 02:06
I'm surprised my T1 wasn't slower. Seriously. It was like I geeked out in T1 and didn't know what to do first. I put my hair in a ponytail, then tried to put on the helmet. Nope, wouldn't fit. Helmet off, hair down. Then the Camelbak went on... shoes all that stuff. Honestly, I mostly looked at my pile and wondered, "what next". It was like information overload.


BIKE
01:22:38 | 26 miles | 18.88 mile/hr
Age Group: 10/15

Per my coach I needed to start out easy and take the first 1/2 easy while pushing the last half.

This bike was dismal. My legs were feeling tired and I was always shifting trying to find the perfect cadence. I wasn't in the big ring a lot, and that is odd for me.

I think I got kind of bored out there. I would pedal and then just feel like coasting. I would have to remind myself to pedal again and I would get back on it. There were moments of speed and sprinting and moments of "I'm tired".

The slight inclines kind of got to me (there was like 2 of them) and I wasn't powering my way up. Not like me at all.

I pretty much got passed by everyone. Typical, since I come out of the water relatively fast. I think I passed 2 people on the bike. Not the performance I saw on this course back in June.

Per my coach I was to take in a gel at 5 miles and at 10. Done and done. Although, MESSY and hard to multi-task eating a gel and riding at the same time. Everytime it went to eat on the gel my speed went down. Too bad my stomach can't do the shot blocks anymore, because they are so much easier on the bike.

The bike was finally over and I was really happy to be getting off the bike.


What would you do differently?:
Not sure. Maybe get more focused on going fast. My focus just wasn't out there today. I know I can do better, I do it at WRL all the time. It wasn't like I was exhausted, I just didn't care to go any faster.


Transition 2- Bike to Run
Time: 03:04
Ah, yea, not sure how this one was longer than the first one. Seriously. Although I did sit down and dry off my feet before putting on socks


RUN
01:17:09 | 06.1999 miles | 12m 26s min/mile
Age Group: 14/15

So we were told beforehand the run was going to be brutal. Yes, it was.

The first 2 miles were somewhat shaded, but my lower legs were screaming. Both legs tightened up and it hurt to run. Ok, fine, I run through this pain all the time. I then stopped before mile 2 for a bathroom break, that was a good minute. Back I went on the course, more walking thanks to my lower legs. I hit mile 2 with a 12 minute mile average. Good.

Mile 2-3, I did not hit my target of a 12 minute mile. Oh well.

After mile 3... it's a blur really. It was hot, and then we had to cross the DAM. We go up a hill and then on the dam... it's flat and hot. Luckily I found a run/walk buddy (Grady) and we chatted it up. If it hadn't been for him chatting with me, the dam would have been absolutely miserable.

Finally got to the turn around and then off the dam. I had about 2 miles to go. Yep, lots of walking. At the aid stations (which were appropriately placed) I would drink and pour ice cold water on my neck. AAAAHHHH. That felt good.

Then... along came the finish line. I was so happy it was over! YES! I made sure to run where the spectors were. I also made sure my race number was in front so he could call out my name. HA! It was simple though, "Here comes Karen Hicks".


What would you do differently?:
Uuuuuhhhhh... not walk so damn much. I think I got it in my head that I was going to be walking a lot on this run, so I did. Didn't help either that so many other people were walking. It made me feel OK with walking. I should have done at least a 12 minute mile, even with the walking.

[Wahine]

KSH, congratulations on your first Oly. For that you should be proud and you're not even sore. Also a good thing.

Having said that, you're times are a little slower than what you would expect, especially on the swim and bike. The run, well it is really tough to do your first Oly run and I think you need to cut your self some slack there. The other 2 though, it makes me think you were over tired and maybe over trained right now. If it was me, I'd take about 3 or 4 days off completely and go back to at least 2 weeks of lighter training (intensity wise, not necessarily time).

Good job on the finish! It's no small feet to do an Oly distance race. You really should be proud.

[KSH]

KSH, congratulations on your first Oly. For that you should be proud and you're not even sore. Also a good thing.

Having said that, you're times are a little slower than what you would expect, especially on the swim and bike. The run, well it is really tough to do your first Oly run and I think you need to cut your self some slack there. The other 2 though, it makes me think you were over tired and maybe over trained right now. If it was me, I'd take about 3 or 4 days off completely and go back to at least 2 weeks of lighter training (intensity wise, not necessarily time).

Good job on the finish! It's no small feet to do an Oly distance race. You really should be proud.

Well, I might cut myself some slack if I didn't think I wasn't up for the challenge going into it.

In training, I do 3500 meters a workout... I have been doing long distance runs of 8 and 10 miles... and I have been doing 40+ mile bike rides. Honestly, I was ready for this tri.

I do think I was a little tired going into though, as my coach really took it to heart when I said "no taper until the Half Ironman".

Days off? Nope. No rest days for me. I keep training hard until my taper in October. Of course, I always seem to get 1 or 2 rest days a week...somehow. HA!

Anyhoo, thanks for the kind words. Trust me though, I could have pushed harder. I'm not even sore today.

[colby]

Good job, KSH, even if you didn't rock it, you did at least get to make a mental map of the distance. Not tapering definitely affected you, and it's not like this was your A race for the season. Too bad you didn't get to do the earlier Oly, I think you would have rocked it. Here's to hoping this all works out for your HIM!! Lessons learned are always good.

Congrats on your finish, and don't be too down on yourself. You still have lots of running, biking, and swimming to do to be prepared. The upside of not being sore is that you can slide back into training easier, and you at the very least had proper nutrition for your amount of effort. Good job.

[eclectic]

GREAT REPORT!
thanks so much for writing up the detail.

In my calculations and according to your split times you were swimming less than a 2m 100 nothing bad about that!

Your bike sounds interesting - that is the way I felt on Sat. I knew I should and could go harder but I just didn't have it in me.

RE the run - the temps were 90 degrees I suppose you folks run in that kind of weather all the time - to us it would be brutal

With my very limited knowledge I am w/ the others re tapering but that wasn't your long term goal - the HIM is, this was just a practice run and you did GREAT ! ! ! !

Thanks again for posting and WAY TO GO GIRL - YOU ROCK FOR "GITTEN ER DONE ! ! ! "

[Kimmyt]

It sounds like you were just a bit off from not tapering. I'm 100% sure that you'll be much happier with your results from the HIM. I get that feeling you mentioned on the bike sometimes when I'm doing too much. I want to push myself to go harder, but my mind just is telling my body 'who cares? why pedal so fast?'. Good job in getting through it and keep up the hard work!

K.

[TriMom217]

I read your RR on BT and I still think you had a great race. I mean c'mon, you just did your first Olympic distance triathlon! It's ok to finish with something left in the tank and now you have a benchmark to compete against. Take it from someone who does a 7+ hour HIM, doing is better than not doing, regardless of what the time is.

[Tri Girl]

I think you did GREAT, KSH! I know you're a little disappointed, but some days it's just not "there" no matter how much you want it to be. You did your best, and I'm sure not tapering at all had you feeling a bit tired (and a bit tired translates into slower times). You did fantastic! Your first oly is a lesson in pacing and nutrition. It's prepared you well for the HIM later in the season. You've got it under your belt, and now you can focus on the training again.
We had many club members head down for the race and all liked it pretty well (well, except for the really long wait at bike check-in and the major attitude from the RD when leaving- but oh well). They said the course was good, but the run was brutal (and you say the same thing- so it must be unfortunately true). A few of our club members got very dehydrated on the run and petered out big time.

I'm proud of your accomplishment! You should be satisfied that you did your best out there and now have some things to focus on for your A race!
Congrats, KSH- you stud puppy, you!

[yellow]

KSH, you are an awesome athlete! You finished a half IM, something most people will NEVER do. We can always do better next time...but for now I think you need to bask in the limelight a little bit!

[KSH]

KSH, you are an awesome athlete! You finished a half IM, something most people will NEVER do. We can always do better next time...but for now I think you need to bask in the limelight a little bit!

OH.... uuuummm... actually it was an Olympic distance... not a full HIM. Thanks though! I hope to finish my HIM in October!

[roadie gal]

I think you're times were very good considering that this really wasn't the race that you were training for. Not tapering makes a huge difference in your legs. Give yourself a BIG pat on the back!

[Kimmyt]

Isn't it annoying when you're trying to be hard on yourself or 'realistic' as I put it and everyone is so dang nice to you? Hehe.

[HillSlugger]

I can't post your swim pace or bike pace for a sprint triathlon. You are awesome even when you are not on your A game! Now you get to use this as a stepping stone to HIM. Way to go!

[HappyAnika]

Congrats on finishing your first Oly! You still had a solid race, and you definitely learned some things, which makes it worthwhile. So now, take what you learned, use it, and move along. Do you have another Oly before the HIM?

[KSH]

Congrats on finishing your first Oly! You still had a solid race, and you definitely learned some things, which makes it worthwhile. So now, take what you learned, use it, and move along. Do you have another Oly before the HIM?

Thanks so much for the kind words.

There is another Oly I can do in September. Although I am hesitant, because I heard the run course is brutal and the race director had the aid stations setup very poorly at the last Oly race he did at the venue.

So, we will see what shakes out.