Jersey Genesis Race Report

2011 Jersey Genesis Sprint Triathlon Race Report
June 11th, 2011


Background

Location: Port Republic, New Jersey
Distance: 0.5-mile swim/15.5-mile bike/4.25-mile run
2011 Triathlon Race Number: 6
Career Triathlon Race Number: 106
Conditions: Hazy and humid. Mid 70s. Modest breeze. 78-80 degree water.

I returned to racing after a three-week hiatus at this venerable Jersey Shore triathlon. I had to take a racing break due to an exceptionally bad flare-up of pain in my left knee. Even with another cycle of Syn-Visc shots the pain caused me to suffer through three weeks of limited run training followed by a nine day complete break from running. Beginning June 1st I started running again every other day. The pain was still quite noticeable but it seemed to be manageable and I decided it was time to race again and hopefully in the weeks ahead return to a more normal training status.

This was the 4th time for me racing at Genesis. I did it twice (2002, 2003) back when it featured a 20-mile bike and I also raced here last year with the shorter bike leg. I won my AG last year but had two guys who aged up as well as a competitor I’ve raced in prior years (Mercer Craft)—all of whom were definitely able to outrace me on this morning. One fellow, Ray Campeau beat me by 3:42 last year and the other, Dan Fabrizio, I finished just 36 seconds ahead of. I knew I was unlikely to win my AG today and frankly was worried about just getting on the podium. In total there were 28 in my AG and 247 individual triathletes overall. This was an unusually large and deep M50-54 AG field.

During my pre-race activities I discovered two things that were not helpful. First, my SRM died. I had charged it the night before so I’m not certain what the issue is. Secondly, I noted that they had changed the run course and had added a 0.28-mile (I clocked it before the SRM died) loop at the front end of the run. Given my run problems, the latter was not welcome news at all. Still, I was in great spirits and just happy to be racing again.

The Swim

In the days preceding this race it had been very warm—close to 100 degrees and so I wasn’t surprised to find the water felt close to 80 degrees. It probably should not have been wetsuit legal but they were allowed none-the-less. Last year, the water was also warm here and I overheated in my full wetsuit so this year I decided to go with my sleeveless wetsuit—I knew it would be a little slower but I thought I would be in better shape post swim by staying cooler.

I was in the 2nd wave and lined up way to the right. I was near my buddy, Wes Burns, whom is very similar in swim capabilities to me so I thought he would give me a good way to gauge my progress as the swim unfolded. The course is basically a big box with 4 turns. It looked to my eye to be similar to the year before and fairly accurately measured.

At the gun I went very hard to try to gain some separation. This was not as effective a tactic as it has been for me in recent swims. There was a fairly large group that seemed to have relatively little problems matching my pace. I felt pretty good although it seemed like I was having trouble breathing—perhaps due to the very humid air. The water was indeed quite warm and I was thankful for my wetsuit decision. My HR seemed high so I tried to manage it by slowing down and lengthening my strokes. I focused on relaxing and this seemed to help quite a bit.
The swim was basically uneventful. There was quite a bit of contact since I seemed to be mired in a group throughout the swim. I also saw Wes the whole way so I knew I was probably having a decent enough swim. Finally, I exited the swim with a time of 12:31 and an average HR of 155 bpm. This was 16 seconds faster than last year. As I stood up on the beach I noted Campeau directly in front of me. This was quite a surprise since he had outswam me by 1:21 the year before. I really didn’t know what to make of this development but I was certainly encouraged. Further, there were three people who were faster than I (overall) in both 2010 and 2011 (Lovett, Otto, and Campeau) and they were on average 22 seconds slower in the swim this year. From this perspective, I had a strong swim this morning.

However, what I didn’t know was that Fabrizio was 27 seconds ahead of me, whereas last year I had outswam him by 8 seconds. (I’ve raced Dan 8 times and he has swum faster 7 of those times so maybe last year was a fluke). Had I known this, I would have been very concerned as pre-race, I had really focused more on Fabrizio than Campeau (I didn’t think I could make up almost 4 minutes on Ray). Also, as fate would have it, just 4 seconds behind me was Craft. The race was on!

Here is a comparison between 2010 and 2011:

2010 2011

Time 12:47 12:31
Heart Rate 158 bpm 155 bpm

AG place 2 5
AG %-tile 95 86

OA place 22 46
OA %-tile 89 82

What became very evident to me as the race unfolded and as I analyze the data, is that the 2011 field was much stronger and deeper than 2010 and the %-tile comparisons above are probably a misleading indicator of my relative performance—2010 vs. 2011.

In any event, here is where we stood in the AG after the swim:

1. Fabrizio --------
2. Baker + 0:07
3. Grout + 0:15
4. Campeau + 0:23
5. Christofferson + 0:27

On balance, it seems to me that this was an “almost there” swim for me. Perhaps a “B+” performance. I was faster than last year. I worked hard and I was well positioned competitively, but perhaps on another day, with my current fitness I might have been 20-30 seconds faster.

Transition One

I sprint into T1 on Campeau’s heels. I’m intent on having a fast transition and in fact I have an outstanding one. I have the fastest transition in my AG (and 23rd OA—91.1 %-tile). Just before I finish up I see Fabrizio run by and I realize he outswam me this year. Oh-oh, time to get moving! (Relative to 2010, I’ve lost 35 seconds on the swim to Fabrizio and last year I beat him by just 36 seconds).

I finish T1 with a sparkling 1:37 and an average HR of 165 bpm. This is 17 seconds faster than last year. I put 26 seconds on Campeau, 17 on Fabrizio, and 48 seconds on Craft. This transition has been hugely important to me competitively and I’ve now moved into 3rd place in the AG:


1. Fabrizio --------
2. Grout + 0:03
3. Christofferson + 0:10
4. Baker + 0:18
5. Campeau + 0:32

As I run out the transition exit I can see both Fabrizio and Grout just ahead of me—game on!!!

The Bike

I immediately crank up the effort. I have no data coming from my SRM so all of my reporting data will be subjective. I feel very strong on the bike and in relatively short order (less than a mile) I pass both Grout and Fabrizio. My working assumption is that I’m now in 2nd place with Campeau somewhere up ahead of me but in reality I have taken over the lead of my AG.

I feel fantastic. I’m passing a lot of younger riders and it seems to me like I’m putting out a lot of power. We have a tail wind on this outbound section and I can tell that I’m riding well over 25 mph. I’m very energized and desperate to open up a gap on Fabrizio—I figure I’ll need perhaps as much as 3 minutes given my recent run training (or lack therein).

As I near the end of the outbound leg, I am surprised to have Campeau come by me. It frankly takes me a while to process this. I wasn’t even looking for him among the guys coming back after the turnaround—I’ve been focused on trying to gap Fabrizio. Right after he passes me we reach the turnaround and I glance at my watch so I can get an estimate of my lead on Fabrizio. I note that I am on a sub 39 minute pace and since I did 40:10 last year, this is very encouraging to me.

After the turn, Campeau decides to hydrate so I re-pass him and then I see Fabrizio on the other side—my lead is only 60 seconds, not the 80-90 that I was looking for. At this point in the race, I’ve put 70 seconds into Fabrizio and Campeau has put 24 seconds on me.

In short order, Campeau re-passes me. I sit-up and hydrate and then when the gap reaches about 25 yards I decide that I’ll try to pace off of him for a while. (BTW, I love that my dad is looking down and seeing how respectful I am of the drafting rules!). Campeau is a machine on the bike. It is very difficult for me to hold the pace. I glance at my watch and note my HR is 168 bpm. Not a disaster but pretty close to punching over the edge for me. I have a decision to make. Do I try to hold onto Campeau and risk blowing up on the run and getting passed by the guys behind me or do I focus on Fabrizio (and the others) and ride in a way that conserves more for the run.

I’ll always wonder if I made the right decision but I tell myself that Campeau is going to outrun me (I mistakenly recall his run advantage from last year as 1-2 minutes—it was 34 seconds) anyways so why put 2nd place in real jeopardy. I basically convince myself that Campeau will beat me. I watch Campeau slowly edge away and with the haze I soon lose sight of him.

The return segment is into the wind so I know it’s slower. I also sense that I’m putting out a little less power. I’m still passing people but it just seems a little bit off from the out-bound leg. I finally hit transition with an elapsed time of 39:03 and an average HR of 162. Objectively, this is a solid ride for me. Last year, I did 40:10 with an average power of 236 watts (161 average HR). So a rough estimate of my power this year would be 257 watts. It was definitely windier this year so probably my actual wattage was a bit higher. If you believe the advertised 16 miles, this works out to an average speed of 24.6 mph. However, I clocked it at 15.5 miles last year so I’ll use that distance as the correct measure and this translates into 23.8 mph. Again I have to conclude this was an almost there ride. Given my HR I believe I had more to give on this ride.

Competitively, I end up losing 63 seconds to Campeau—so I lost 24 seconds on the outbound leg and 39 seconds coming back. On the plus side, I lost 1:44 to him last year. Versus, Fabrizio, I gained 70 seconds in the first half and another 1:41 on the way back. Last year I beat him by 2:51 and this year by 2:41. What I didn’t know was that Craft had passed Fabrizio and now was just 2 minutes behind me.

Relative to the field, the top three guys were on average 19 seconds slower than last year but the depth of the field lowered my %-tile comparisons:


2010 2011

Time 40:10 39:03
Heart Rate 161 bpm 162 bpm

AG place 1 2
AG %-tile 100 96

OA place 12 23
OA %-tile 94 91

Here is where we stood after the bike in my AG:

1. Campeau --------
2. Christofferson + 0:41
3. Craft + 1:48
4. Grout + 2:26
5. Fabrizio + 2:31


Transition Two

If I had known the above competitive situation, I probably would have reacted a bit differently when I entered T2. Campeau was out of sight, out of mind. He executed an AG best T2 and was already gone when I entered the transition zone. I was so worried about the folks behind me that I didn’t even look for him.

I thought I had an excellent T2 and I completed it with a time of 51 seconds and an average HR of 161. This was an 18 second improvement over last year, even though we had to run further to reach the transition exit this year. This was the second best in our AG and 51st OA. Unfortunately, I lost 12 seconds to Campeau but gained 13 on Craft and 29 on Fabrizio. Here is where we stood after T2:

1. Campeau --------
2. Christofferson + 0:53
3. Craft + 2:01
4. Grout + 2:52
5. Fabrizio + 3:00

The Run

As I exit transition I try to keep an eye out for Fabrizio. I run the new part of the run course and when I get to the end of the extra portion I hit my timer and see 1:55. This will allow me to compare my time this year to last. It also tells me, I’m running about a 7:40/mile pace. Right at this time I also see Fabrizio running into transition. I do the math and estimate that I have about a 2:35-2:40 lead on him after the bike (actually 2:31) and that news makes me more nervous. He put 2:04 on me last year and with the way my knee has been it was easy for me to believe he would do better than that this year.

As I left the park I actually felt pretty good running. My HR was settled in at 165, which is very sustainable for me in a run of this distance. I felt like I had a good cadence to my run—I was surprised by how good I felt given my lack of recent training. During the first mile I only had one or two folks pass me so I seemed to be holding my own. My first “mile” passed in 7:51 and my HR was 164. (These mile splits should be taken with a grain of salt given the course change).

Mile 2 passed by at 7:51 with a heart rate of 165. I felt very in control and was running comfortably. Every now and then a younger runner would pass me by. Up ahead I noticed I was running about the same pace as a small group of guys. One of these guys was probably Campeau although this never registered with me.

Mile 3 came (7:43, 167 bpm) right before the bridge and I used that occasion to turn and see if I had anyone from my AG on my tail. I was pleased to see that there was no one that was that close that I had an immediate worry. This gave me some tactical flexibility as I knew I had another gear that I could hammer the last ½-1 mile but I sensed I should just hold that in reserve.

I hit the final straight away and looked back again and I knew that no one would catch me. I cruised home (final mile: 7:43 and 169 bpm) and recorded a total run time of 31:08, which is 14 seconds faster than last year. If you subtract out the extra 1:55 tacked on this year, my time would have been 29:13—a full 2:09 faster than last year. I was thrilled with that result. Here is how I stacked up against the rest of the field:

2010 2011

Time 31:22 31:08
Heart Rate 163 bpm 166 bpm
Avg Pace 7:51/mile 7:20/mile

AG place 8 11
AG %-tile 68 64

OA place 75 96
OA %-tile 62 62

The top 3 guys were on average 2 seconds slower. I ended up losing just 9 seconds to Campeau (vs. 34 last year) and 1:41 to Fabrizio (vs. 2:04 last year). My final over all time was 1:25:12, which was 2:13 faster than last year and good enough for 42nd OA (83rd %-tile). Here is where we stood at the finish in my AG:

1. Campeau --------
2. Christofferson + 1:02
3. Craft + 2:03
4. Fabrizio + 2:20
5. Flourney + 2:22

Final Observations

On balance a very positive race for me. I was faster in all five components of the race as compared to last year. Relative to my competition that raced last year, I did a great deal better this year than last. That said, I finished 2nd in a race that I can visualize myself winning. I wonder what would have happened if I had swum 20-30 seconds faster and if I had stayed with Campeau a little longer and perhaps rode 20 seconds or so faster. If I had, I would have left T2 right with Ray and that would have led to a real fun run for sure. Oh well. Sometimes you don’t get what you want—but I’ll settle for getting what I need!