Stone Harbor Triathlon Race Report
Date: July 11th, 2021
Location: Stone Harbor, NJ
2021 Triathlon Race Number: 3
Career Triathlon Race Number: 162
Conditions: 70-80 degrees and humid. Light wind. Water temp in the mid 70s/wetsuit legal
Background
The Stone Harbor Triathlon was my first triathlon, way back in 2001. Prior to this year I had competed in this race 6 times (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2010). I made a decision in 2010, after seeing a car strike one of the competitors, that the Island was just a bit too dangerous to race on given that the bike/run course was not closed to traffic and the mid-July beach crowd just wasn’t used to the kinds of speeds that we were hitting—especially down-wind, which frequently is an issue in mid-July.
However, for this year, given that it’s likely my last real triathlon year (knee replacement surgery post season) that I decided to come back and do it one last time. On this race morning, there were 251 starters and 17 in my AG.
The Swim
The swim is a one loop, quarter-mile swim in the Stone Harbor Yacht Club basin, which is where I frequently do my training during the summer. In my experience the turn buoy placements vary from year-to-year, which does complicate comparisons across years. That said, my prior times here ranged from a best of 6:33 (2006) to my slowest in my first race of 10:00. I was in the 5thwave with the other old dudes and the youngest dudes.
I started on the right, away from the buoy line and was able to break free of most of the pack relatively easily and I basically had a drama-free swim the whole way. I wasn’t pushing it that hard but felt like I was doing a reasonably competent job of swimming. My Garmin had my swim at 7:13, but my official swim time was 7:32. This puts this effort at my 4thbest of the 7 times I’ve raced this swim course.
Relatively speaking, I had the top swim time (out of 17) in my AG and was 48thOA (81.3 %-tile) so all things considered, I’m pretty happy with my swim. Here is where we stood after the swim:
1. RC ---------
2. Idler + 0:03
3. Sullivan + 0:47
4. Kirsch + 0:52
5. Scarpa + 1:03
Transition One
Once climbing up out of the water I ambled up the ramp and around the Yacht Club building. I must confess I took it pretty easy but probably should have pushed it a bit harder.
As a side note, I’ve analyzed my Garmin split data in comparison to the “official” results data and have concluded that the official numbers clearly have issues and are not an accurate reflection of my race, and this is more than just a location of the timing mats issue (I return to this topic in T2 below with my “proof” of this) and so I have decided to use my splits as the more accurate representation of my T1 through T2.
I completed T1 in 2:39, which was just 134thOA (a pretty sad 47.0 %-tile) and was 6thfastest in my AG (70.6 %-tile). I definitely took it too easy in T1. Bryan Sullivan, a good friend, and the top guy in my AG was a whopping 69 seconds faster—as I consequence I started the bike 22 seconds behind Sullivan:
1. Sullivan --------
2. RC + 0:22
3. Idler + 0:28
4. Scarpa + 0:41
5. Kirsch + 0:44
The Bike
Bryan had called out to me in T1 as he headed out to start his bike and so I knew I was about 20 seconds or so behind him. I expected to have pretty good “pop” in my legs and I felt strong right from the get-go and so I looked up the road and decided to try and see if I could run Sullivan down.
The Stone Harbor bike course is about a half-mile out and back to a 3-loop bike course—each loop being a bit more than 3 miles. About halfway through the first loop, I caught up to Sullivan and decided to just track him from about 30 yards or so behind and get my heart rate back down from the big surge I had put in.
We caught a couple of the “elite” racers who had started in the first swim wave and who were now on their second bike loop. When Sullivan passed them a couple of them jumped on his wheel and began drafting him. I’m not going to name names, but it was pretty blatant. I know it must have been frustrating for Bryan.
I watched this unfold for the balance of the first loop and then as we started my second loop I decided “what-the-heck”, I can’t really run anymore anyways so I might as well make a statement on the bike. I pushed “full send” and went past the draft train at about 26 mph. I could hear the surprise in their voices, and I could also hear a bunch of scrambling behind me. At one point I looked back and saw I had now picked-up some drafters. I kept pushing harder than I should but couldn’t break away from them and as we neared the end of my 2ndlap and the exit from the loop section for the “elites” they repassed me.
I settled in for my 3rdlap and tried to keep the power up, but I definitely burned a few matches with my so-called statement. Bryan repassed me and I tried to stay reasonably within contact of him but he gradually pulled away as the final lap progressed.
I finished the bike in 29:40 and measured the course at 11.51 miles and so this translates into an average speed of 23.3mph, which I’m reasonably happy with. Historically, three times I did this course at 28:27/22:28 (24.3mph), so I’m about 1mph (4%) slower than I was 15 years ago. I was 1 second slower than Brian and so had 2ndfastest (94.1 %-tile) bike in my AG and I was 4thOA on the bike (98.8%-tile). I’ve usually (4 out of 6 times) had the fastest time in my AG and I’ve typically been in 98th/99th%-tile on the bike so this was, on balance, a pretty good effort. Interestingly enough, I was 8-seconds faster than the last time I did this race, back in 2010, although in all fairness to me back then, I was just a couple of weeks passed finishing IM Germany in early July of that year.
In any event, the AG standings looked like this after the bike:
1. Sullivan --------
2. RC + 0:23
3. Kirsch + 2:30
4. Scarpa + 2:31
5. Rose + 8:21
Transition Two
I dismounted my bike determined to do a better job in T2 than I did in T1. As I ran around the building in transition I called out to Bryan and told him I had tried to help him get the drafters off his back. As I mentioned before, this is my “proof” that my official splits are all messed up as the official numbers have Bryan starting his run21 seconds before I had even finished my bike. It’s hard to talk to someone in T2 if they leave T2 before you enter it!
In any event, I got to my transition area and had a very, very difficult time getting my brace on. Something was clearly weird, and I had to mess with the straps a bit in order for it to fit onto my leg—I remember thinking that it almost seemed backwards. This unfortunately took a bit of time and I ended up completing my T2 in a very slow 3:07. This was, not surprisingly, the 226thfastest T2 OA (10.4 %-tile, probably my worst T2 of all time) and the 13thfastest in my AG (29.4 %-tile).
I knew I had a horrible transition but tried to not worry too much about it. Even with great transitions, given how bad my knee is if I had known I only had 150 seconds on 3rd/4th, I would have assumed that I was going to fade to 4thon the run. AG standings after T2:
1. Sullivan --------
2. RC + 2:06
3. Kirsch + 3:12
4. Scarpa + 3:20
5. Rose + 9:05
The Run
As I started my run, I pretty quickly realized that my transition challenges were not quite over, as it dawned on me that I had put my brace on my right leg, and my left knee is my bad one! Unbelievable, I’ve lived with this problem for 25+ years, my left knee frequently (and painfully) reminds me it is the problem, I have a bunch of protective clothing items on my left leg to protect against chaffing from the brace—so it’s clear just by looking which leg should get the brace. I’ve never made this mistake before (and have probably used the brace 500+ times now)—amazing!
I started laughing out loud and now it was clear to me why T2 was so challenging—what an idiot! I spent a minute or so moving the brace back to its proper location (had to adjust some of the straps that I had changed in T2) and I was soon on my way. The rest of the run was painfully slow (literally) and I got the usual supporting stuff from folks about how tough I was, inspiring, etc. I had one guy run past me and say “well, at least I can beat the handicapped guy!” Thanks, dude!
Anyways, I completed the run, with my unexpected pit stop, in 32:02 and I measured the course at 3.15 miles. This works out to a blazing 10:09/mile. Not surprisingly, I dropped to 4thin my AG (82.4 %-tile) and 87thOA (65.7 %-tile). I remember, not too long ago running my miles in triathlon sprints in 7:30-7:45/mile and not being happy with how fast I was. Little did I know! Oh well, it is what it is, and I must say, while I’m not the triathlete I used to be, I still really had a good time and a pretty darn good swim and bike. Onward and upward!
1. Sullivan ---------
2. Scarpa + 5:37
3. Kirsch + 7:04
4. RC +12:01
5. Piorkowski +15:35
