St. Andrews' Sprint Race Report

St. Andrews’ Sprint Triathlon
Race Report #8: 6/21/09


Background

After a good eight hours of sleep I awoke at 4:30 feeling pretty stiff and sore from the prior day’s activities down at Parvin State Park. I was up early to compete in the 22nd edition of Delaware’s best triathlon and to complete my first triathlon “double”—two races in one weekend.

This race is my favorite sprint triathlon and I would be competing in it for the seventh year in a row—more than any other race. Prior to this year I’ve enjoyed three 1st place AG finishes, one 2nd, one 3rd and in my first attempt, one 4th.

My main competitive focus for this race was Paul Schlosser. Paul has been competing in triathlons for well over 20 years and has raced in most of the prior versions of this race. He was the first AG competitor that I remember being aware of as he was a perennial All-American and dominated his AG in this race (and many others) through the years. Over the last few years I’ve managed to close the gap between us and as we entered this race, our head-to-head record in this race stood at Schlosser: 3, Christofferson: 2. Here is how we have compared through the years:

Year Christofferson Schlosser Delta

2003 74:53 69:14 (5:07)
2004 73:46 71:47 (1:59)
2005 71:21 71:42 +0:21
2006 71:14 68:47 (2:27)
2007 69:54 DNF
2008 70:50 DNS

So while I was only behind 3-2 coming this race the more in-depth perspective would tell you that Paul had killed me 3 times and I barely beat him once and he DNF’ed another time.

But not to worry! My expectations about my performance were low but I was very pumped to race this great race again. While I did not expect to be able to hang with Paul, I was still excited to jump into the fray and give it my best shot!

The Swim

Race morning looked ominous and it seemed that there was a good chance that more than just the swim would be wet. It was pleasant temp wise, but there was a noticeable wind blowing in connection with the front that was moving in—I knew it would definitely be a factor on the bike (which of course is to my advantage).

The water in Noxontown Pond was about 74 degrees and we were all in wetsuits. The swim is a simple out and back in the shallow weedy waters. The RD, Wayne Kursh, has always had an “elite” wave and because of my three prior AG wins here I was afforded the honor of being in that first wave. This is an advantage for sure due to the traffic that back-up on the swim as well as early in the bike if you’re in wave five (where I would be if I was with the majority of the 50-54 year-old AG). Paul was also up in this first wave as well as my good buddy Dave Spartin. I didn’t think that Dave would be able to hang with Paul and I but I figured he had a good chance of grabbing 3rd (or better if we had problems).

I positioned myself way to the left off the buoy line and tried to stay out of the congestion of the 60 or so folks in the first wave. In this I was generally successful. I saw Dave off to my left as he was definitely pursuing a solo route—despite the longer swim path he seemed to be having no trouble staying with me.

I knew Paul was up ahead as he is one of the best swimmers in the overall field. In the past my task in swim versus Paul has been to try to keep the gap as narrow as possible. As I have improved through the years I’ve been able to do better and better at that. Here is how my swim disadvantage to Paul has trended through the years:

2003 (3:11)
2004 (2:32)
2005 (1:57)
2006 (1:38)
2007 (0:41)

I didn’t expect to do as well as 2007 when I was working with Pete as my coach but I hoped to at least keep the gap less than two minutes. I thought I swam pretty well but it seemed like the course was longer this year. I exited the water in 8:37, which is quite slow. I was 31 seconds slower than last year but in looking at folks who raced both years, most folks were 15-25 seconds slower so it seems my swim was fairly decent. My HR averaged 153 bpm, which is typical for me so I know I gave a good solid effort.

Competitively, I was 43rd OA (84.3 %-tile) and 3rd in our AG (87.5 %-tile). Most importantly I had only lost 1:21 to Paul—my second smallest gap to date—and I had given myself a chance, with a very good bike, of beating him. Here is where we stood after the swim:

1. Schlosser --------
2. Faccenda + 0:48
3. Christofferson + 1:21
4. Spartin + 1:25


Transition One

As I made the very long run up from the pond to the transition area I could feel my HR spike. The fatigue from yesterday’s race was very evident. My total transition time was 3:16, which is very slow indeed. In the six years prior my T1 times have ranged from 2:44-3:18 and this year was my 6th slowest of the 7 years. I had been under 3 minutes in each of the last 4 years so my guess is I probably threw 30 seconds away here.

As I reached my bike Dave came right in behind me. I knew he was close on the swim but to see him here was quite a surprise. Not only is Dave typically a lot slower than me in transition (something I bug him about) but he also claimed before than race to have a stress fracture and wasn’t even planning on running the last leg of the race. He had about 4 pounds of tape on his leg and ankle to back this suspicious claim up. In any event, since he clips his shoes to his bike and puts them on while rolling he was able to leave T1 a few seconds before me. Geez! I knew I was going to get some grief from him after the race on this (which I did) but more importantly I had to get moving—I was sure Paul was well up the road already.

I soon caught Dave on the St. Andrews road as he fiddled with his shoes—as I went by him with at least a 10 mph advantage I yelled: “Nice transition—until now!”. Dave and I have had this debate about the efficacy of clipping your shoes in and putting your feet in on the fly. Dave feels that this is cooler and it makes you faster. I’m not sure about the former but for us dinosaurs, I’m highly confident that he is wrong about the latter. In any event, it was time to put the hammer down.




The Bike

I felt surprisingly good very soon into the bike leg. I expected my legs to be stiff and weary from yesterday’s race but the stiffness quickly dissipated and I was seeing some pretty decent power numbers. For the first half of each lap we had the wind helping and I was seeing some healthy high 30 speedo readings. I was into the racing and starting to have a good time.

I passed quite a few folks and around five miles in I believe I passed Paul. I wasn’t certain but in retrospect I think it was he. He tried to stay right on my tail (a little too close in my opinion) and I waved him off and simultaneously stood up and created a sustainable gap. It was a little silly throwing a 500-watt surge at that point in the race but I didn’t want any one hanging around my rear wheel for any length of time.

The wind on this section of the course was significant (I’d say 15-20 mph) and combined with the hills made things a bit challenging for all. I kept at it and felt pretty good. I could tell my power was off 10-15 watts from yesterday’s effort but I was feeling optimistic. Especially to catch Paul this early—I’d normally expect to catch him in the second lap, if at all.

I went through the first lap in a little under 21 minutes so I knew this was going to be a very slow bike leg (I had never been over 40 minutes for the whole ride before). I knew the wind was a big part of this so I tried not to worry about it.

The rest of the ride was more of the same, although the wind effect was stronger on the second lap, and I eventually dismounted my bike with a split of 41:48. I knew this was very slow but right in front of me was Rich Brokaw who had out rode me just a couple of weeks earlier at Pocomoke so I knew my ride couldn’t have been that bad. I averaged 237 watts and a 164 bpm HR. This is about 15 watts and 4 bpm low and probably a reflection of the fatigue in my legs. My cadence was quite low at 77 rpm and I averaged 22.32 mph over the measured distance of 15.55 miles.

Competitively I recorded the 7th fastest bike split (historically I’ve had the 6th-9th) which I’m very happy with. This is at the 97.8 %-tile. I was fastest in my AG and most importantly put a very surprising 3:16 into Schlosser. This was by-far my best relative showing to Paul as the data below illustrates:

2003 + 0:22
2004 + 2:17
2005 + 2:07
2006 + 0:19

Looking at last year’s results everyone was a lot slower this year due to the conditions. I was perhaps a little more slower than others but not really that bad of a ride, especially in the 2nd race of a double:

2009 vs. 2008 bike splits

Faccianni + 2:12 + 5.5%
Brokaw + 3:21 + 7.8%
Sauer + 3:12 + 6.9%
Holmes + 4:00 + 9.1%
Christofferson + 4:01 + 9.7%

The best news of course was that I had now opened up a nice lead heading into the final leg of the race:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Schlosser + 1:55
3. Dana + 2:15
4. Spartin + 3:40
Transition Two

I really pushed it in T2 and I was out of transition in just 38 seconds, which I’m pleased to report, was my best T2 at this race to date. I left in a group of young guys that included Jeff Strojny who was on his way to a race best 15:27 run.

The Run

The kiddie corps blasted away from me astonishingly fast. The relevant question for me of course was: Did I open up enough of a gap on Paul to be able to hold him off. Paul has usually easily outran me here in the past as this data shows:

2003 (2:41)
2004 (1:44)
2005 +0:11
2006 (0:52)

I of course didn’t know how big a lead I had or how much I needed but I guessed it was probably about two minutes given my fitness and fatigue. Due to the shape of the run course I did not expect to see Paul until either when he passed me or towards the very end of the race. I just had to go as fast as I could and hope for the best.

I noticed very quickly that my legs felt very leaden and tired. I had a very poor run the prior day at Parvin and my legs did not improve from that effort. I had a deep muscle soreness/tightness in my left glute and I was a little worried I might have to walk. I felt like I was running slowly but no one was catching me and the young studs in front of me were long gone.

The cross-country course was a little sloppy from all of our recent rain and one point we had to get around a large tree that had fallen during the storms. I kept plugging along and with about a half mile to go I turned around and there Paul was (or at least I thought) about 75 yards or so behind me. I put my head down and decided to give it everything I had. If that was indeed Paul I was determined to not lose to him in the final few steps of the race.

I pushed hard, really running better than I had at any point prior in the race and eventually crossed the finish line at 76:59 for a run split of 22:39. And just eleven seconds latter Paul finished his race. His first words were: “Damn, I really wanted it but I couldn’t catch you”. I was frankly as surprised as I was thrilled. I had managed to eek out a close victory in my second race of a double, with questionable fitness. Very satisfying! Also, it was my fifth win of the year, more than I’ve ever recorded in a season.

Overall I had the 82nd fastest run (69.8 %-tile) and the 4th best in my AG (81.3 %-tile). Here is how we stood at the finish:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Schlosser + 0:11
3. Dana + 1:43
4. Spartin + 4:22

I was 21st OA in the race, which was good enough for a 92.5 %-tile.