2012 Hammonton Sprint Triathlon Race Report
May 26th, 2012
Background
Location: Hammonton, NJ
Distance: 0.31-mile swim/12.5-mile bike/3-mile runs
2012 Triathlon Race Number: 4
Career Triathlon Race Number: 118
Conditions: Warm, very humid, light wind, water temp: 75
For my fourth race of the 2012 campaign I awoke at 4 a.m. in Stone Harbor and drove the 52 miles to Hammonton. I was in the midst of a very busy time period with three graduations on the family docket and I was not in very good shape, due to my limited training time and intensity. My prior race at Devilman was a very poor effort but despite my lack of fitness, I was looking for a bit of improvement relative to that race.
There were 202 total competitors on this Memorial Day weekend with 14 gentlemen entered in my 55-59 YO AG. My main competitors were expected to be John Nicholson, whom I had beat at Devilman by three seconds and my old friend, Mickey Syrop who was still in recovery mode from his prior foot injury. I knew I had my work cut out for me because the race composition at Hammonton favors runners more so than Devilman and both John and Mickey are stronger runners than I. To that point, I took John and my split deltas at Devilman and modified them for the different distances at Devilman and created this predicted relative performance model for Hammonton:
Devilman Hammonton
Swim + 2:15 + 1:29
Transition 1 ( 0:03) ( 0:03)
Bike + 5:37 + 2:49
Transition 2 ( 0:07) ( 0:07)
Run ( 6:39) ( 4:35)
Total + 0:03 ( 0:27)
Predictions aside, I clearly had my work cut out for me!
The Swim
The swim is in a relatively disgusting, murky, weedy and shallow “lake” on the outskirts of Hammonton. The water was a little warm for my liking but the swim was so short that was of little concern. I lined up way to the right, away from the buoy line, so I could best evaluate the tactical situation as it unfolded. Mick was about 15 feet inside me but I didn’t have any idea where John was. Despite my lack of fitness, I was very confident in my swim and felt that I should be able to get out of the water first. At the gun I pulled hard and soon Mickey and I had gained separation on the field. Since we breathe on opposite sides we were looking at each other with every breath.
I noticed that I kept swimming off-line to the right, which is something I’ll need to work on to correct for future races. I felt good and began to steadily pull away from Mick and the rest of the field. After the one turn buoy I stayed wide right, as this is actually a straighter and shorter course than the buoy line.
I hit the shore with a swim spit of 6:48, which is my fastest swim here at Hammonton. Here are my prior swims here:
2004: 8:56
2008: 7:10
2009: 7:23
2012: 6:48
My Garmin had the swim distance as 0.31 miles (546 yards), which is a 21:56 min/mile pace. I took 245 strokes for an average stroke rate of 36 strokes/min. This translates into an SGolf score of 59.8, which shows a nice progression of improvement from my prior two races (Rumpass: 65.0, Devilman: 61.5).
Competitively, I was the fastest in my AG and I was 27th OA (87.2 %-tile). This was my highest relative placement in the swim at this event. Here is where my AG stood after the swim:
1. Christofferson --------
2. Syrop + 0:47
3. Gusrang + 1:10
4. Leisure + 1:13
5. Nicholson + 1:27
My 1:27 advantage over Nicholson was just 2 seconds less than predicted so clearly I was off to a good start. Still, I needed to find some more time to make my run stand and I hoped that I would find it in T1.
Transition One
I executed what felt to me like a pretty solid T1. I was buoyed by neither seeing Mick nor John (although Mick would tell me after the race that he saw me leaving T1). I clocked T1 at 2:07 (which was faster than 2009-2:16-when the transition area was set up in the same configuration).
I had the 51st fastest T1 overall (75.3 %-tile) and I was 3rd in my AG (85.7 %-tile). Importantly however, Mick and John were the two who out-transitioned me and I lost a whopping 25 seconds to John. I was only 3 seconds slower than John at Devilman so this was a very surprising and damaging result. Here is where we stood after T1:
1. Christofferson --------
2. Syrop + 0:29
3. Nicholson + 1:02
4. Gusrang + 1:35
5. Leisure + 2:05
The Bike
If you read my Devilman race report you know that my bike there was one of the worse of my career—inexplicably low power output. I knew that I was actually now in worse shape than I was for that race but I hoped a return to normalcy might be in order.
I headed out onto the bike course on a mission. The course is basically a simple out and back with two small rises over the freeway and several very modest rollers. I felt pretty good and was relieved to see power numbers in the 240s—this is not where I should be at, but after Devilman it was a bit of a relief. Here is what my numbers look like over the first six (roughly half of the course) miles (avg speed/avg HR/avg cadence/average power/normalized power):
1: 22.7mph/167bpm/84rpm/259 watts/259 watts
2: 23.0/166/82/241/243
3: 23.2/164/84/232/236
4: 23.2/164/85/236/239
5: 25.4/165/89/243/243
6: 24.1/166/87/239/240
Shortly after the sixth mile I saw Mick and figured that he was probably far enough behind that even with my mediocre run fitness, I could probably hold him off. I was not able to spy Nicholson.
The last half of the ride was more of the same. If anything I felt a little bit better coming back but my numbers for both halves were pretty comparable:
7: 23.0/165/87/243/244
8: 23.9/164/90/231/235
9: 22.8/164/86/231/231
10: 23.1/163/86/239/240
11: 23.5/162/83/233/240
12: 25.4/164/84/254/264
.49: 20.8/162/83/225/225
Looking at these numbers I feel pretty good about my tactical race management—I did about as well as I could given my fitness level. I had a bit of a dead spot in miles 8 and 9, which I’ll need to focus on in future races. The stronger power numbers in the 12th mile indicates that maybe I’m not race-tough yet and I’m not digging down as deep as I should. Perhaps, I’m letting my lack of training talk myself into not going as hard as I should….
In any event, I finished the bike with a split of 31:56. This compares pretty well with my prior rides here:
2004: 32:25
2008: 32:02
2009: 31:55
2012: 31:56
That said, in looking over my RRs from prior years, it’s pretty clear that this year’s race had the best conditions for laying down a faster bike split.
Some of the other data from the bike:
Average speed: 23.5 mph
Average HR: 165 bpm
Average Cadence: 85 rpm
Average Power: 239 watts
Normalized Power: 242 watts
Maximum Power: 456 watts
Intensity Factor: 1.21
TSS: 74.9
I was first in my AG and 14th OA for the bike split (93.6 %-tile). This indicates that I’m several % slow on my bike still. My average HR and cadence are encouraging—these are mid-season kind of numbers. Of course, it just points out that I’m not in shape—at least the kind of shape that is typical for me in May.
I picked up 2:35 on Nicholson, about 14 seconds less than projected, so I entered T2 about 1 minute less in front of him than I would have predicted. Had I known this, I would have probably done a bit of mental concession. Here is where we stood after the bike:
1. Christofferson --------
2. Syrop + 2:30
3. Nicholson + 3:37
4. Gusrang + 5:53
5. Reiter + 7:49
Transition Two
I enter T2 in a pretty good place, mentally. I know my bike wasn’t great, but I’m hopeful that it might just be good enough. I think I have Mickey beat but I just don’t know about John. I execute T2 in, from my standards, an efficient manner and complete T2 in 1:10. As it turns out I have the 65th fastest T2 overall (68.3 %-tile: yuck!) and I’m the 4th fastest in my AG (78.6 %-tile). I lose a whopping 17 seconds to John, which means in total I’ve dropped 42 seconds to him in transitions—simply not acceptable—especially given my current fitness. Here is where we stood after T2:
1. Christofferson --------
2. Syrop + 2:27
3. Nicholson + 3:20
4. Gusrang + 5:43
5. Reiter + 7:49
The Run
I head out onto the run blissfully unaware how much closer John is than I would have predicted pre-race. As I try to snap into my running “groove” I’m once again struck by how uncoordinated and slow I feel. I’m trying to push it but folks—I just don’t have it. My HR is up at or above 165 so I’m giving it an honest effort, but I just do not have any speed.
I hit the first mile with an elapsed time of 8:11 and average HR of 166. At 1.6 miles, I hit the turnaround and look for Mick and John. I’m surprised to see John just a bit over a minute behind me—oh-oh—I’m cooked. Mick is further enough back that I know that second is at least in the bag. My head is all over the place in the 2nd mile but I manage to hold steady and split an 8:08 with an average HR of 168.
As I get back out on the main drag and head the final .6-.7 miles to the finish I glance back several times for John but I don’t see him…hmmm, maybe this could be a repeat of Smithfield. I start to push it harder but frankly I’m maxed out. I hit the final turn with about a quarter to go and glance back again and see him about 40-50 yards back. I give it everything I have, in fact my HR hits 178, which is up there for someone my age and finally, agonizingly, just 30 yards from the finish he pulls past me.
I’m not surprised and I literally slow to a walk—much to everyone’s confusion. As I walk across the line I feel waves of nausea but I manage to hold everything in. I end up running a 23:42, which averages out to 8:06/mile. My average HR is 167. Competitively, my run is very poor. I’m 90th OA (55.9 %-tile) and I’m 8th in my AG (50.0 %-tile).
John beats me by 9 seconds (I walked really slowly those last 30 yards!) and Mickey finishes 1:43 behind me. Overall, I finish 33rd or 84.2 %-tile.
Oh well—probably one I should have won. I would like to have the 42 seconds I lost in transitions back. Still, even with my transitional disadvantage, I can’t help but think I could have done a better job on the bike and run. Given my lack of fitness, which will continue to at least August, I need to do a better job tactically. That will be my focus for my next race down at Lum’s Pond on June 9th.
Onward and upward!
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