Parvin Sprint Race Report

Parvin Sprint Triathlon
Race Report #7: 6/20/09

Background

Back at the shore in New Jersey, and mostly recovered from our Mount Rainier exploits, I was ready to get back to the sprint triathlon scene. While the expedition had necessitated about a 20 day departure from normal triathlon operations, I was none-the-less excited and fairly optimistic about the weekend’s agenda. I decided that this weekend would be my first Saturday/Sunday triathlon double—two races in one weekend. First the Parvin State Park sprint on the 20th and followed the next day by the Marathon Sports sprint triathlon at the beautiful campus of St. Andrews. These were to be my 80th and 81st triathlons of my career but they would be just my first triathlon double—I was psyched but had no idea if this was a good idea or not.

I came into the weekend with 4 firsts, 1 second and 1 third in my AG races this year. I’ve never been able to win five times in a season and I was hopeful that I could get the job done this weekend—maybe even go two for two. First up was Parvin where I won last year by holding off Mickey Syrop in a close finish. The rematch was on and I was especially motivated to do well since Mick had taken me down at Hammonton three weeks prior. In that race I had a bad day after just getting back from Australia and I was hopeful I could give Mick a better challenge on this Saturday morning.

My legs were returning to a semblance of normalcy after the post Rainier recovery period. My legs still felt a bit heavy but I thought that maybe I would benefit from the training effect of the Rainier climb. The whole not-Tri-training was a bit of a worry but I was anxious to find out. Race morning dawned in the low 70s and overcast with little wind. During the run it would rain a bit but it was a very good day to race and so we did!

The Swim

So this is just your basic little NJ lake swim. A little right hand (clockwise) swim in a 70-degree lake that is reasonably clear. Since Chuck Sellers was running the race, us old guys were once again in the last wave—number 5. I started way right, on the buoy line for a change. I was able to stay there out to the first turn using my natural left-side breathing pattern to keep track of developments. I felt good about the early swim though it was evident to me that I was a bit back in the pack—not unexpected given my training.

The rest of the swim was uneventful—while we had to swim through the slower folks in the waves ahead of us I felt it did not really affect my race. When I exited the swim at 8:11, I was a bit disappointed because in the past my swim times were in the 7s at this race. My heart rate ended up averaging 152 bpm, which seems to be my comfortable sprint energy level. I was soon to learn that everyone’s times were slower than prior years so it seems that the swim was a bit longer this year. Anyways, I dropped 25 seconds to Mickey, which is on the lower side of my expectations about my disadvantage to him. As it turned out I was 45th out of 264 for an 83.3 %-tile—which I’m fine with. I was 3rd out of 13 in my AG for a 84.6 %-tile...again something I’m happy with given my fitness. Here is where we stood after the swim:

1. Krick --------
2. Syrop + 0:31
3. Christofferson + 0:56




Transition One

So business as usual here. Mick kicked my butt in T1 and I took down everyone else. Overall I was 30th (89 %-tile) in the transition but because Mick is so good I lost 16 seconds to him but passed Krick who seemed to be focused on making sure he looked good as opposed to being fast (my T1 time was 1:27)! Here is where it was after T2 (btw my HR averaged 168 during T1):

1. Syrop --------
2. Christofferson +0:41
3. Krick +0:48

As I left T1 I saw Mick leaving and glancing at my watch I figured I was about 35 seconds behind him— this was a bit optimistic but a reasonable estimate. In any event I was pleased with this as I thought if I brought my “normal” bike split that I’d leave myself with a reasonable chance to push him on the run. Anyways, off we went!

The Bike

I felt real good right away on the bike. As I looked down periodically at my SRM I saw very happy power numbers. I was motivated and energized. I had come into this race thinking that I needed a very fast bike leg to have a shot at beating Mick and I proceeded to try to give it everything I had.

I hoped to pass Mick by the 4th mile or so. I figured that this would translate into a 90-120 second lead coming off the bike. In fact I caught Mick at about 4.4 miles and as I powered by him I thought that I had a reasonable chance to take him down today.

The rest of the ride was uneventful but I was conscious of always pushing it—probably too much so. I jumped off the bike with a 30:36 split. This was good enough for 11th OA (96.2 %-tile), which is a bit disappointing. The last three times I’ve raced here I’ve had either the 2nd or 3rd fastest. Oh well. Power-wise I averaged a respectable 251 watts—probably a little high given my current fitness and all the downtime associated with Rainier. My HR was 168 bpm, which definitely implies I was a little hot on the bike. My cadence was 81 rpm so I was probably guilty of trying to grind through too large a gearing in my drive to open up a lead on Mick. For the 12.125 miles I ended up averaging 23.74 mph.

I was able to open up a nice gap on my AG competitors. I had the fastest bike split and was 1:56 and 1:50 faster than Mick and John respectively. Last year I put 2:27 on Mick so this result is not surprising. I had a pretty decent bike but so did Mick and as a consequence, I was only 1:15 ahead as I hopped off my bike and raced into T2:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Syrop + 1:15
3. Krick + 1:57

Transition Two

I pushed hard through transition (my HR averaged 168 bpm) and was able to get running in just 0:53. Mick and John were both marginally faster than I with 49 and 51 second T2s respectively. My T2 was the 4th fastest in the AG (76.9 %-tile) and 33rd OA (87.9 %-tile). Here is where we stood as we ran out of T2:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Syrop + 1:11
3. Krick + 1:55



The Run

As I started the run I was feeling pretty good about my chances of holding Mick off. I thought that my bike was pretty solid—I was hoping I might have as much as a two- minute lead at the start of the run. Had I known that I was only 1:11 ahead I would have known that I was probably not going to prevail. Especially if I had known this 100 yards into the run when I realized that my legs were absolutely dead. I can’t remember a sprint race when they were this fried—probably a combination of my fitness, Rainier and an overly optimistic bike ride.

I was chuckling to myself at how slow I was running—there wasn’t anything I could do about it—I could either run slow or slower. I tried to remain optimistic. I was hopeful my legs would come back at some point and after all I was still in the lead. Maybe if I could get to the turnaround with a 45-60 second lead I could hold Mick off.

It seemed to me that we ran up the road considerably further than we had in past years—maybe my blinding speed was playing havoc with my perceptiveness. Soon the moment of truth arrived and I made the turn and lo and behold, right behind me was Mick! So much for holding him off. I could only chuckle and wish Mick well as he sped by. To amuse myself I tried to stay with Mick for a while but I steadily fell off his pace. Little did I know that Krick was also closing on me although not at the pace Mick did and he would ultimately run out of real estate and not close the gap.

I struggled home with a run split of 25:29 and an average HR of 168 bpm (a good honest effort). This sounds slow (and of-course it really is) but perhaps not as slow as it seems. Last year Mick ran 20:45 and I ran 21:53. This year Mick ran 23:11 so he put an extra 1:09 on me this year. I’m guessing based on this and a look at other comparable runs that the course was about a quarter mile longer this year. In any event Mick finished the race with a 65:29 which was 1:06 faster than my 66:35. I was able to retain a 65 second lead on Krick.

My run was an embarrassing 104th (!!!!) or 60.9 %-tile OA and I was 5th in our AG (69.2 %-tile)—pretty sad. In addition to finishing 2nd in our AG I was a middling 35th OA (87.1 %-tile).

Conclusion

I’m not going to get too hard on myself about this race. I raced hard and as fast as my fitness allowed me. Rainier was a bit of a factor but the reality is I was beaten by a stronger triathlete this morning. I did a much better job than I had done at Hammonton several weeks ago. As I did at Pocomoke at the end of May I raced hard but ultimately had to settle for second.

I drove home satisfied but sore and wondering what I would have left in the tank for the 2nd game of the twin-bill down in Middletown, DE. We would soon find out. On this evening I grabbed some pasta and crawled into my bed at 8:30 to await the 4:30 a.m. alarm.