Sunset Sprint Race Report

Sunset Sprint Triathlon Race Report
July 16th, 2011

Background

Location: Pittsgrove, New Jersey
Distance: 0.25-mile swim, 12.1-mile bike, 3.1-mile run
2011 Race Number: 9
Career Triathlon Race Number: 109
Conditions: High 70s/low 80s, sunny and pleasant with a light breeze. 79-degree water temperature

Sunset was to be my third sprint triathlon in 22 days. I was coming off a heavy training week and a lot of work including late nights up in NYC on Thursday and Friday. By the time I returned to the shore and readied my equipment it was time for bed. I didn’t sleep that well and when the alarm went off at 4:45 I had only managed about an hour of sleep. I was very tired and felt very fatigued. Oh well, time to put my game face on!

Sunset is usually held near Bridgeton but was moved to Parvin State Park this year due to water quality concerns at the usual race site. With the new location came a different race distance. What stayed the same was a well-run race with strict attention given to USAT rules and so the 79-degree water disallowed the use of wetsuits.

The no-wetsuit ruling, given the heat we’ve endured over the last few weeks, didn’t surprise me. Still, this was clearly to my disadvantage—no wetsuit swimming seems to impact my swim stroke more so than the average triathlete.
The turnout for the race was relatively light with only 150 triathletes entered and with just 8 in my AG.




The Swim

All the men went in the first wave. It was a simple counter-clockwise box so I lined up way to the right, away from the buoy line. I was mostly interested in a no-contact swim given the lack of a wetsuit.

At the gun I swung even further out right to ensure clean water. As I looked to my left, I was struck by how many guys were surging ahead of me. This was not a shock but it sure was a change from what I’ve become used to with my wetsuit. I settled in and had a relatively drama free swim. I never felt comfortable and I could tell my swim stroke was off. Only as we swam the last section towards shore did my stroke even out a bit.

I hit the beach with an elapsed time of 7:03 and an average HR of 146 bpm. This HR is a shock. I can’t remember ever being under 150 bpm in a sprint. It indicates that I really didn’t work that hard on the swim—maybe I was still asleep or at the very least, too timid.

Competitively, I was 46th OA (70.0 %-tile), which while 20+ points lower than where I have been placing with my wetsuit, was about what I would have expected. Surprisingly, I was 2nd in my AG (87.5 %-tile). Here is where we stood after the swim:

1. Conger --------
2. Christofferson + 0:07
3. Vanocker + 1:13
4. Wilson + 1:26
5. Raines + 1:58





Transition One

I was happy to be done with the swim and tried to run fairly fast up the beach and through the park in this very extended transition zone. I must of passed Conger very early in the transition because I never saw him at the bike rack, even though the guys in my AG were all racked together.

I completed my transition quickly (no wetsuit) and my total T1 was 2:27 (HR of 158). This was the best T1 in my AG by over 30 seconds. Here is where we stood after T1:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Conger + 1:08
3. Wilson + 1:59
4. Raines + 2:22
5. Vanocker + 2:31

The Bike

I knew I was in the lead as I headed out onto what for me, was a new bike course. I tried to crank it up and start pushing hard right from the start. However, it soon became quite apparent that my legs did not have the snap that they typically have. I was having trouble sustaining power above 250 watts. I could also see that my HR was mired in the low 150s so I pretty quickly surmised that my legs were not that recovered from the training load of this week.

I tried to make the best of it and kept trying to mentally urge myself on—this was tough given how my legs felt and how dispiriting the data was that I was seeing on my SRM. After what seemed like a very long time, I reached the end of the bike with an elapsed time of 31:21 and an average HR of only 155 bpm. The HR number—being a good 10-13 bpm below my sprint target clearly shows the fatigue that my legs were feeling this morning.
My average speed was 23.2 mph and my average power was 248 watts. This was a good 1-1.5 mph and 20-25 watts lower than my fresh legs would have been expected to deliver and not surprisingly, this showed up in pretty mediocre comparative results. I was only 13th OA on the bike (92.0 %-tile) but was considerably faster than the other gentlemen in my AG. Here is where we stood after the bike:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Mumman + 4:27
3. Vanocker + 5:36
4. Wilson + 6:54
5. Procida + 8:57

Transition Two

Had I known that I was this far ahead, I would have just mailed in the run. As it was, with a loop bike course, I had no idea how far ahead I was. I was a bit concerned given how labored my bike was. I very quickly sped through transition with an elapsed time of 0:55 and an average HR of 154bpm. This was once again the best in my AG (clearly, this was a relatively weak AG in this race) and here is where we stood after T2:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Mumman + 4:53
3. Vanocker + 5:57
4. Wilson + 7:36
5. Conger +10:13

The Run

I expected my legs to be a real problem given how my bike went. I was very uncomfortable but afraid to back off. In spite of the discomfort, it seemed like I was running pretty well (for me). The run was a very nice, shaded loop around the lake on a mix of roads and nice dirt trails.
I hit the first mile split and was surprised to see a 7:02 (162 bpm). My immediate reaction was that the first mile was short (in retrospect, I do think that the overall 5k was accurate but that the first mile was a bit short and the last mile a bit long). However, it definitely lifted my spirits a bit and I decided to ease off the throttle just a bit.

Younger runners were passing me here and there but not that many. I was encouraged to see the second mile pass in 7:44 (162 bpm) and I began to think that maybe I was having a pretty decent run.

I kept pushing all the way to the end and finished the run with an elapsed time of 23:55. This works out to an average pace of 7:43/mile. I’ll take that all things considered. It’s still a good 20-30 seconds/mile slower than before my knee problems but a step in the right direction after Philly and Lenape.

My run was 62nd OA (59.3 %-tile) and was 2nd best in my AG (87.5 %-tile). Overall I finished 25th (84th %-tile) and here is how my AG finished up:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Mumman + 3:08
3. Vanocker + 6:35
4. Wilson + 9:56
5. Conger +11:34

Conclusions

Well I probably should not have raced this morning. My body was too tired to really have a go at it. Still, I’m glad I did. It was a good character builder for sure and I am pleased with the way I gutted it out. Nice to grab my 32nd AG victory as well.

Looking ahead, I have a heavy-up training block over the next 10 days and then I’ll back off for a few days and race in Minnesota of the 30th.