Jersey Genesis Race Report

OK--as promised--here is the first of three i owe you--in all it's ugliness!

2014 Jersey Genesis Sprint Triathlon Race Report

May 31^st, 2014

Background

Location: Port Republic, New Jersey

Distance: 0.53-mile swim/15-mile bike/4-mile run

2014 Triathlon Race Number: 5

Career Triathlon Race Number: 142

Conditions: Mild—temp around 67 degrees. Modest wind.  Water temp of about 64 degrees.

The big issue facing me in this race is how my lower left leg would hold up.  I was way behind in my run training before my peroneal longus was strained and much more so post the injury.  I was also facing two far superior triathletes in Ken Lehner and Nace Mullen so I knew I was (at best) racing for third in my AG.  There were 240 triathletes racing overall and 16 in my AG. 

Still, I was anxious to do this race as I needed to either figure out if I could just train/race going forward and rebuild my run fitness through training or if I needed to step back and seek some more serious PT so that I could pave the way towards my Kona IM on October 11^th.  I was pretty apprehensive.

The Swim

I was pretty positive about my swim.  I’ve been really focusing on it over the last month or so and plan to continue to do so all the way to Kona.  I was better a couple of years ago when I really focused on it and I see no reason to not regain a bit of that glory—I really enjoy swimming—especially here at the Jersey Shore and with just 10,000-15,000 yards/week, I can get pretty good (for me).

At the start, I lined up on the far right and generally had a pretty tame swim.  I felt like I was doing a solid job but I wasn’t reaching for it, as I knew I would most likely finish third and the big issue was going to be my run.

I finished the swim in 13:09 and clocked it at 0.53-miles.  This, in my view, is pretty solid.  It works out to a 24:36/mile pace (24 min/mile is my gold standard).  I took 479 strokes so I averaged 1.95 yds/stroke (when I hit 2 yds/stroke I’m really fit).  I also averaged 36.4 spm, which is very solid.  When I’m at 2 yds/stroke and 37 spm I average 23:47/mile—which is about the best I can expect.  This is equivalent to swimming a 57-minute Ironman time…. The best I’ve ever done at that distance is 66 minutes.

So, from a competitive perspective, I was 27^th OA out of 240 (89.2 %-tile).  My prior years at this site:

2002: 59.7 %-tile

2003: 58.9

2010: 89.1

2011: 82.8

2013: 74.1

So, in one sense I had my best career swim here this morning.

In my AG I was 3^rd on the swim:

1.  Lehner                      --------

2.  Mullen                       + 1:47

3.  Christofferson           + 2:34

4.  Senff                        + 2:36

5.  Conger                     + 2:59

Transition One

I exited the swim feeling like I had a very solid swim.  I proceeded to do as good a job on T1 as I thought I could but was very much schooled by Ken and Nace—I had the 3^rd fastest T1 in my AG and just 66^th OA (72.9%-tile):

1.  Lehner                      --------

2.  Mullen                       + 1:58

3.  Christofferson           + 3:02

4.  Senff                        + 3:12

The Bike

I’ve whined quite a bit about my lack of bike training and fitness this year in prior posts so I won’t do so here (except to say its true).  I pushed as much as I could but I was really not ready to race well.  I averaged 232 watts (and my NP came in at the same).  My average cadence was 86 rpm and my avg. HR was 159 bpm.  In comparison, last year I averaged 251 watts/254 NP with an average HR of 160 (cadence of 85).  Last year I was a bit off early in the season as well (due to mountaineering) so this shows how unfit I was for this bike.

I’m second in our AG and a disheartening 26^th OA on the bike (89.6 %-tile). Last year I was 7^th OA on the bike—here is how this ride compares to historical rides:

2002: 94.6 %-tile

2003: 98.3

2010: 94.3

2011: 91.6

2013: 96.1

2014: 89.6

DAMN!

Here is where we were after the bike:

1.  Mullen                       --------

2.  Lehner                      + 0:17

3.  Christofferson           + 2:25

4.  Senff                        + 5:42

Transition Two

More of the same—3^rd in my AG and 79^th OA:

1.  Mullen                       --------

2.  Lehner                      + 0:09

3.  Christofferson           + 2:42

4.  Senff                        + 5:53

The Run

The run was very challenging.  I could immediately feel my peroneal strain and at one point my left leg actually gave out and I sorta collapsed to the pavement—jeez.  Still, I was able to grind it out (only four miles) and while it was embarrassingly slow, I think it might set a low point I can build from for the rest of the season…. we’ll see!

Mile 1: 9:06/157 bpm

Mile 2: 9:04/157 bpm

Mile 3: 8:50/159 bpm

Mile 4: 8:38/162 bpm

+: 7:14/164 bpm

I had one of the worst competitive runs of my triathlon career.  I was just 10^th in my AG and a horrible 170^th OA (29.6%-tile).

I finished 3^rd in my AG and just 75^th OA (69.2 %-tile).

No surprises here.  I’m not in the shape I normally in at this time of your and my lower left leg is a real problem…it is what it is.

The question is what can I do about it?  I intend to find out!