Lake Lenape Race Report

Lake Lenape Sprint Triathlon
Race Report: July 9th, 2011


Background

Location: Mays Landing, New Jersey
Distance: 0.25-mile swim/10.4-mile bike/3.3-mile run
2011 Race Number: 8
Career Triathlon Racer Number: 108
Conditions: Mid 80s, sunny and humid. Moderate wind. 78 degrees water temperature.

My last race was the Philly sprint, two weeks prior and I was hoping to rebound today from what was my worst triathlon of the year. While I swam strong at Philly, my bike was inexplicably off and my run was almost as bad. I took the week after Philly easy and in retrospect I sensed I was run-down at Philly from my training and a lot of work stress. In any event, I felt ready to go on this steamy July morning.

I was returning to Lenape after a four-year hiatus. I raced here from 2002-2006 and I was able to get my first AG win here in 2003. The race is more of a runner’s course with a very short bike and a slightly longer than normal run. None-the-less I was eager to race and very interested to see how my effort today would compare with my races from the earlier days of my triathlon career. There were 320 individual triathletes competing with 28 in my 50-54 YO AG. Unfortunately, the RD bailed on official USAT status and so my bud Wes Burns bumped down into my AG (he’s 55 next month)—oh well, time to focus on getting second.

The Swim

The swim is held in this very typical Pine Barrens lake. The cedar stains the waters a bit but otherwise, it is a very pleasant fresh water venue. In my 5-year run here in the first half of 2000s my swim time varied from 6:42 to 9:25. This variation was principally driven by imprecise course measurement. I was pumped to get good comparative data but assumed that my relative performance to competition would be a better measure of the changes in my swim capabilities over the last four years—which I believed were significant.

I was in the 6th and last wave with everyone else over 50 and who was Male—some 66 of us. The course is a counter-clockwise rectangle—my favorite given my propensity to breathe on my left side. I lined up way right, with just 2 guys further out from the buoy line. They seemed quite timid so I thought I would be able to start clean and have the best tactical perspective all the way to the first turn buoy.

At the gun I quickly broke free from all those in my immediate vicinity. I looked across and saw two other swimmers out with me: Wes and someone else (turned out to be Zeke Hill—who was the early leader). After 50 yards or so (and during which I swerved pass a lifeguard saving someone who had the wrong idea about this race), I decided to put my head down and swim 15 strokes focused on efficiency. After these 15 strokes, I looked over and saw that I was 5+ yards clear of the two guys in closest pursuit. John Boyle would latter tell me that he thought I had a motor on my butt, the way that I surged forward. Truth is I just focused on the 4 key stroke fundamentals that have radically improved my swim performance.

After the first buoy I just focused on swimming comfortably strong and tactically weaving my way through the mass of slower swimmers in front of me. My sense is that I did this pretty well, although, not perfect by any means. I was aware of Zeke over the last 100 yards but was able to pull steadily away from him and I hit the beach first in my AG (and wave) with an elapsed time of 7:03 and an average HR of 152 bpm. The HR indicates it was a relatively easy swim for me—152 is my target HR for an IM distance swim.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Zeke and Wes several yards back and pushed up the sizeable beach to the timing mat and claim the top AG swim split. Here is where we stood after the swim:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Burns + 0:00
3. Hill + 0:01
4. Flourney + 0:47
5. Green + 0:56

As I mentioned above, I think the %-tile rankings are better indicators of my swim performance year-to-year than my time (course length differences). That said, here are my time, OA %-tile, and AG %-tile rankings over the 6 times that I have done this race:

Time

2002: 9:25
2003: 8:23
2004: 8:22
2005: 6:42
2006: 9:00
2011: 7:03

OA %-tile

2002: 72
2003: 63
2004: 80
2005: 81
2006: 85
2011: 93


AG %-tile

2002: 79
2003: 71
2004: 81
2005: 75
2006: 83
2011: 100

I now have a ton of data that say’s that I’m right there in the mix in my AG on the swim. I’m thrilled to be here—especially give the very limited training investment I’ve put into it this year.

As for the race, I’m very pumped to be entering T1.

Transition One

I do a reasonable job in transition but Hill and Burns are much faster. I complete my T1 in 1:49 with an average HR of 165 bpm. This was the 4th fastest in my AG (89.3 %-tile) and I was 46th OA (85.9 %-tile). Here is where we stood after T1:

1. Hill --------
2. Burns + 0:03
3. Christofferson + 0:19
4. Flourney + 1:17
5. Eisen + 1:36

The Bike

Although I know I can’t hold Wes off on the run, I am intent on running him down on the bike as quickly as I can. Unlike Philly, my legs feel pretty good—I can sense the fatigue from our big ride on Wednesday, but all in all I feel like I can do some damage this morning. I catch Hill in the first mile and I can clearly see Wes up ahead—he seems to be riding well but I am slowly reeling him in. The bike is an out and back with several modest hills. There is also a slight wind that is noticeable.

I finally catch Wes around the 4-mile mark, which means I’m going 4 seconds per mile faster than him. I hit the turn at 5.2 miles and am surprised to find Wes right behind me. I put my head down and lift my effort a bit—my average wattage was higher over the back half of the ride.

I finish the ride with a bike split of 25:49 and an average HR of 161 bpm. I hop of my bike and Wes dismounts immediately after me. (I’ll refrain from editorial comments). My average power was 259 watts and I averaged 24.2 mph. This data tells me that I was power limited as opposed to CV limited. The training related fatigue in my legs inhibited me from taxing my aerobic capability as much as I might if I was rested and tapered. For such a short ride, I would have expected an average HR of 165-168 bpm.

In any event, I had the 5th fastest bike split OA (98.8 %-tile) and here is how my time compares to history:

Time

2002: 27:20
2003: 26:22
2004: 25:49
2005: 25:11
2006: 25:52
2011: 25:49

OA %-tile

2002: 90
2003: 99
2004: 99
2005: 99
2006: 98
2011: 99


AG %-tile

2002: 93
2003: 100
2004: 100
2005: 100
2006: 100
2011: 100

So this is a very encouraging result for me. My time is comparable to my results of the 2004-2006 timeframe, during which I believe I was at my peak fitness on the bike. I also feel I had a bit more speed in the tank and was a bit fatigued to really race at my full potential this morning.

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

1. Christofferson --------
2. Burns + 0:00
3. Hill + 2:36
4. Eisen + 3:18
5. Kuo + 3:43

As an aside, I was in 5th place OA in the race at this point.

Transition Two

I cruised through an uneventful T2 with a time of 1:35 and an average HR of 161 bpm. Wes was 4 seconds faster and I had the 74th fastest T2 OA (77.2 %-tile) and 5th fastest in the AG (85.7 %-tile).

Here is where we stood after T2:

1. Burns --------
2. Christofferson + 0:04
3. Hill + 2:36
4. Eisen + 3:22
5. Kuo + 4:02

The Run

My legs felt heavy as I settled into the run. I watched Wes run away from me in his graceful (and fast) style. With the swim and bike that I had I was pretty confident that I had a big enough lead to be able to stay in 2nd, but of-course, you never really know for sure.

I hit the first mile with a split of 7:58 (163 bpm). Uggggh! Not quite as bad as Philly but still so slow—I have yet to regain the even limited speed I had before my knee problems in May and early June. The next mile “flashed” by in 7:59 (164 bpm).

The 3rd mile is an out and back so when I hit the turn at about 2.5 miles I looked carefully at the runners coming the other way to see if anyone from my AG might be close. Sure enough, I recognize a guy (Eisen) that I had noted in my swim wave. He was about 55 seconds behind me and he has a smaller runner’s body and sure looked like he was moving faster than I.

I quickly ran the math and figured that he had to be about 70 seconds per mile faster than I if he was going to catch me over the final 0.8 miles. This meant he needed to be running 6:50s, which I didn’t think was likely—possible but not probable. I didn’t know who he was (he had just aged up this year) and didn’t remember racing against him in the past.

I decided to pick it up just a bit to be safe and hit the 3rd mile marker with a 7:54 split (166 bpm). I looked behind and saw Eisen there but my sense was he was going to run out of real estate. I tried to kick hard over the final 0.3 miles, which I covered in 2:05 (172 bpm)—this is a 7-minute per mile pace. I finished the run with an elapsed time of 25:56 and an overall time of 62:18, which was 14 seconds faster than Eisen.

Historically I have run 23:16-24:08 here so I was 2-2.5 minutes slower today. I think this is an accurate reflection of the current sorry state of my run. I had the 102nd fastest run OA (68.4 %-tile) and 6th fastest in my AG (82.1 %-tile). Historically, my OA %-tiles has ranged from 74-83% and my AG from 78-91%.

I finished 25th OA, which was at the 92.5 %-tile. My historical finishes have ranged from 84th to 94th %-tile, so this is in line with what I’ve done here historically—despite my very weak run.

Conclusions

Happily, it appears that Philly was just a bad day for me. From the gun to T2, this race confirms that I am probably faster than I have ever been. It also confirms that my run is at an all-time low. It is what it is.

I’ll race again next Saturday and then throw a heavy 10-day training block in.