Tuckahoe Race Report

Tuckahoe Sprint Triathlon Race Report
August 14th, 2011

Background

Location: Beesley’s Point, New Jersey
Distance: 0.25-mile swim, 12-mile bike, 2.1-mile run
2011 Race Number: 11
Career Triathlon Race Number: 111
Conditions: Cloudy, breezy, with sporadic rain, temperature in mid 70s. Water temperature of 78 degrees.

Tuckahoe is a fun little sprint I’ve competed in the last two years. It features a shorter than normal run (which I like). I’ve finished second in my AG in both of the prior years. Overall, I had finished 9th last year and in 12th in 2010. There were 11 starters in my AG and 222 overall—down from 256 in 2010.

The RD is very likeable although I always find his races a bit quirky. This year was no exception as he decided to move the transition area, after five successful years in the previous location, which necessitated a different swim course, a much longer run from the swim exit to T1 and a different run course. Further, some construction on the bike route led to a bike course change so the entire course was different this year. He also has relatively few volunteers and in the past the bike course hasn’t always been clear—especially at the prior year turnarounds (there were no markings at all and no one to tell you where to turn).

I was amongst the first to arrive early on Sunday morning and registration was a mess. I’ll spare you the details. It took quite a while to get set up but I finally did so and was also able to get a decent warm-up in. I spotted Mercer Craft, whom I had raced against and beat at Jersey Genesis and surmised that he would most likely be my main competition in our AG. Prior to the swim the RD messed up the swim waves and announced the bike course change (first anyone had heard about it). The referee announced that it was our responsibility to know the course (which I chuckled about). At the last minute they discovered they had put the exit of the swim in the wrong place so there was a bit of a delay while they sorted that out. It started to rain some—business as usual at a City Tri event!

The Swim

The sent the 40+ women out first and then the second wave was men 45+…much to everyone’s confusion—I wasn’t complaining although this would be a major factor in the outcome of the race. The course was visually (and physically) longer than the prior to years—good news for me. It was in the form of a counterclockwise box with the exit about 50 yards from the swim start.

I lined up to the right very determined to go as hard as I could—I wanted to see if maybe I could post the fastest overall swim—I felt very confident in my swim given my strong recent results. I started way to the right, away from the buoy, so I could watch the proceedings (breathing on my left). I went hard at the gun and in very short order I had pulled ahead of everyone with the exception of one swimmer to my left (turned out to be Guy Lanciano—a 46 YO). We paced each other as our paths converged and after about 75 yards I could see that he was slowing. I felt good and cranked it up another level and begin to pull steadily away from him.

I felt very strong throughout the swim and was able to navigate my way through the slower swimmers from wave 1 with relative efficiency. I could tell I was on a good swim and soon approached the swim exit. I exited the swim in 6:35 and my HR monitor did not function during this race, so no HR data to report. In the prior to years, my swim had been 6:12 and 5:23, but the 6:35 today was definitely a stronger and faster paced swim—just a longer course. In 2009, I was 21st OA (94.0%-tile) and last year I was 17th OA (93.8 %-tile). This year, I was 9th OA (96.4 %-tile). Everyone that was faster than me was in the last wave (young guys) and I was able to put a significant gap on my AG competitors (keep in mind that the “official” swim times were recorded at the entrance to T1—after I ran for 2:07—so given my relative running speed, my actual swim gap was probably considerably better than those depicted below). Here is where we stood in the AG after the swim:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Craft + 0:31
3. Gibbons + 1:27
4. Green + 1:40
5. Gimpel + 1:51

Transition One

The new T1 setup was appalling. One had to run over rough terrain with exposed roots and rocks and then alongside the road for a while and finally across a path. It took me all of 2:07 just to get to T1. Once in T1, I took another 49 seconds so my total T1 time was 2:56. This was a minute slower than prior years.

As I was finishing my preparations at my bike, I saw Craft so figured I probably had about a 30 second lead on him. I was only 4 seconds faster than him (on a longer swim course) at Genesis, so I knew that my swim is morning was relatively quite strong. Still, Mercer was able to make up time on my in T1 and here is where we stood after T1:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Craft + 0:17
3. Gibbons + 1:12
4. Green + 2:15
5. Gimpel + 2:25

The Bike

I powered out of T1 feeling pretty good about things. There were a few souls from the over 40 women’s AG but within a mile I passed them all and low and behold, I was first on the road. I kept looking up the road through the rain and couldn’t see anyone and I fairly quickly figured out that everyone was behind me.

I found this to be quite exciting. Normally, I’m in one of the latter swim waves, so I’m never first on the road. I looked down at my SRM and I saw some pretty good numbers flashing back at me. I was psyched! I came to the first major intersection and the cop just looked me. I guessed correctly and made the right turn. Hmmmm—wish I knew the new bike course.

About 4 miles in another cyclist (47 YO) came by me on a P3. I had left T1 about 16 seconds in front of him. This surprised me. I turned and looked and couldn’t really see anyone else behind me. Initially I was a little bummed, but soon convinced myself that this was actually a positive. I could follow him on this new bike course and use him to pace my effort. I settled in about 30 yards behind him (I know this is well beyond the draft zone, but I don’t like to get any drafting help, and after 110 draft free races, I never want to even be close to getting a drafting violation).

Soon, we saw the duathlon leaders coming back so I took some comfort in that. Then, we turned off the main road into a neighborhood and soon we approached an intersection. There was a cop car but the cop was in the car—apparently into donuts and coffee. There were no markings on the road. We were moving at over 25 mph. Decision time—what to do? I thought the correct course was left—I thought it had to be given the prior right turn we had made. However, the lead cyclist went straight and I had about 2 seconds to decide to follow or not. In my brain, I thought that the sporting thing to do was to follow him so I did.

As we sped up what sure looked like a cul-de-sac I had a real sinking feeling. We bent around to the left a bit and then sure enough it looked like a dead-end. The lead cyclist kept riding forward and I yelled at him several times to turn. For some reason, I kept following him. Finally at the end of the circle he turned and I dutifully followed him—we both swore as we passed each other.

With a bit of panic we cranked back. I glanced at my SRM—it turned out that we rode an extra 0.55 miles. We came back to the missed turn and I could see the first of our chasers just past the intersection—it was Lanciano. He turned around and as I passed him I yelled that he should turn around—he definitely rode some extra distance.

As we hit the intersection I could see Craft turning around to follow us. I knew that the lead guy should now go right but he went straight back the way we came. Decision time again! Damn—I wish the RD would just take care of business—this is ridiculous to spend $90 on this product! I thought what the hell and just followed him. I glanced behind and everyone was now following our lead (as they should).

Running the math, at my average pace of about 24 mph, the extra 0.55 miles cost me 82 seconds. I was probably more, given the need to decelerate and reaccelerate at the turn. I was pumping adrenaline as I was quite pissed by the episode. I cranked up and passed the lead cyclist and really put the heat down—I was seeing 300+ watts on my SRM.

I soon tired from this unwise surge, and the other fellow soon came by me again (we both cursed the RD again) and I settled back in 30 yards behind him. I was a bit deflated and I knew with Craft’s running capability that I was likely to be run down—I’m just not good enough to through away that much time to a talented triathlete like Craft.

I soldiered on and completed an elapsed 12.32 miles in 30:18—an average pace of 24.3 mph. My average watts were 261—which is quite solid and my SRM had my average HR at 161—I still had more to give!

The extra distance I rode was of-course a real issue competitively. Last year, I was 2nd OA (99.6 %-tile) on the bike and this year I slipped to 12th (95.0 %-tile). Darn, I wasted a really solid bike through poor logistical race management.

Worse, my extra 82 seconds turned a solid advantage against Craft into a very competitive situation since I was only 11 seconds faster today on the bike (vs. 56 seconds at Genesis). Here is where we stood AG-wise after the bike:

1. Christofferson --------
2. Craft + 0:28
3. Gibbons + 4:35
4. Green + 5:35
5. Kent + 8:09

Transition Two

My second transition was respectable—I even picked up three seconds on Craft. I completed T2 in 0:52. I saw Mercer in transition and I felt that I was toast—this was an inappropriate reaction but it was hard not to be down given my course miscues.

The Run

At Jersey Genesis, I was 61 seconds over 4 miles slower than Mercer on the run. I left T2 with 2.1 miles in front of me and a 31 second lead. By all objective measures, despite my course adventures, I should have expected to be very competitive with this lead.

Unfortunately, I was not in that mindset. I’m not sure why, especially given the upward ark of my run most recently, but I had a poor run today. It took me 16:40 to run the 2.1 miles—a 7:57 pace—which is way underperforming given my fitness and recent performances.

Not surprisingly, Mercer had no trouble running me down and easily beating me. He put almost two minutes on me today on the run and ended up beating me by 72 seconds. It would be easy to blame my course misadventures as the cause of this defeat—and surely that is true at one level, but equally true is Mercer’s much stronger run relative to mine—he went out and beat me on the run—good on him.
Obviously some of this is due to Craft’s great run—he was 23rd overall for the run. I was a very poor 64th (71.6 %-tile) vs. the 82.1 %-tile (2009) and 83.2 %-tile (2010) I had previously achieved.

I finished 20th OA (91.4%-tile) vs. 96.9 %-tile last year. Here is how we ended up AG wise:

1. Craft --------
2. Christofferson + 1:12
3. Gibbons + 4:22
4. Green + 6:56
5. Kent + 9:29

Good race—need to stay on course! Need to run faster! No major insights. Had fun. Good win for Mercer.

Onward and upward!