Monday, August 2, 2010

Race Report for Jack's Generic Tri ...


We got Tech T's with this logo - very cool!

What a great weekend!

We made the drive up to Austin on Friday afternoon to pick up my packet at Jack and Adam's Bike Shop.  This is a great Tri/LBS on Barton Springs in Austin and I always enjoy checking out all the bike porn.  Austin has such a great multisport community and it shows in the quality of the bike shops.

I'd like to say that the drive was uneventful but for some reason it appeared all 26 + Million Texas residents decided to congregate in the greater Austin area and everyone of them was in their own car!  Traffic was just awful.  It turned the usually 2.5 hour trip into a 6 hour journey.  Well, after sitting in the car we finally made it to our weekend rental home in New Braunfels and it was worth the drive.

Just a great little bungaloo right on the lake with an awesome 2-level deck on the water with a wonderful view.  We spent the night on the deck drinking beer and telling stories.  Just a great time.  Saturday morning came quick and it was off to the river for a 5-hour float trip. 

Now if you read my last post you probably remember that one of my goals for the weekend was to stay sober on the river.  Well, if I had to give myself a grade for how I did at accomplishing this goal that grade would be a big fat FAIL.  It was hot people, like 100 degrees in the limited shade hot.  One beer led to two beers and two beers led to twelve ... you all know the story.  Yes, I am weak.  But had a great time and since this wasn't an "A" race the next morning I can honestly say I do not regret this failure! (I would not have said that at about mile 2 of the run though).

Onto the race - I figured since I did this race last year it would be fun to do a different kind of race report and  compare the results side-by-side.

Pre-Race:
Got there a little after 6am and snagged a primo parking spot.  I told Annie and our friend Yvette that no matter what happens in the race it is a good day because of the parking spot. Last year we parked far away and it really sucked lugging all the gear back and forth.  It was already extremely hot outside.  According to weather.com it was in the low 80's and the humidity was about 90%.  I was soaking wet putting air in the tires.  Gotta love Texas in August!

Swim:
There were around 100 people in my 35-39 Age Group and the swim start is pretty tight.  Last year I hung out in the back and still got kicked in the groin and had my nose a little bloodied.  So this year you would think I had learned my lesson and stayed away from the washing machine right?  No, I am a moron so I started front and center.  It was pretty violent throughout the entire 550 yards.  I was kicked, slapped and elbowed and I also kicked, slapped and elbowed!  I love the triathlon swim.  I never found open water and never really found a groove either but still was smiling like a fool running out of the water despite a fat lip!  Something is wrong with me!  

2009 Swim Time:  13:59
2010 Swim Time:  10:16

T1:
It was fun to get to the bike racks and see most of the bikes were still there! The run to the transition area is maybe 250 yards so a 2:00min time would be a solid transition, IMO.   I had planned to bike and run without socks but on Friday night I got bite by something in the right ankle.  I have no idea what it was but the skin was busted and bleeding and pretty swollen.  My guess it that a pretty big spider hit me while we were on the deck.  Because of the tenderness I decided to toss on some socks and this took me a little longer than I would have liked. I just couldn't get them on over my wet feet.  I should have just sucked it up and went without socks.

2009 T1 Time:  3:05
2010 T1 Time:  2:48

Bike:
I remembered last year that the road conditions were extremely poor and for some reason in my mind it was going to be better this year?  My mind was completely wrong and I was once again guilty of talking myself into nonsense!  The road conditions were pretty awful.  The first 3 miles were decent and the last 1.5 miles were good - The other 10 miles were like riding on cobblestone. The course had a lot more hills than I remembered too.  I am okay at climbing but need to get better at going downhill, especially on chip sealed roads.  I find myself not being very aggressive in the aero position because of my lack of control on the crappy surface and thus I am not gaining the type of speed that I should on the downhills.  On decent roads I have no problems but on crappy roads I am a big wimp.  Also one of the plastic screws popped out of my disc cover during the ride.  The other screws stayed secure but when it first happened I had no idea what the noise was?  I kept looking back and finally saw the little opening in the disc. It did not hurt my time at all but I've decided to stop using the disc cover - it is just one more moving piece that can break and cause you problems on race day.  I was really looking forward to a better bike split but this was still in the top 25% of the field - that is the good thing about poor conditions - everyone has to ride them!  I probably should have let a little air out of my tubes too.

2009 Bike Time:  55:32
2010 Bike Time:  45:52

T2:
My rack was at the furthest spot from the bike entrance and run exit.  Last year I was in a different AG so it was right by the bike start/finish area.  I easily found my rack and tossed the bike up.  Grabbed the Garmin off the bike and clipped it to my wrist and switched shoes.  Started to run with my helmet on and realized it after a few steps and tossed it off and grabbed my visor.

2009 T2 Time: 1:57
2010 T2 Time:  1:22

Run:
Rather uneventful.  Last year they had us finish right in front of the Texas Ski Ranch. This year they had us finish by coming back into the Texas Ski Ranch and doing a loop around the lake.  My Garmin had the course showing 3.15 miles instead of the posted distance of 3 miles. This makes sense because the the turn around was in the exact same spot as last year but the loop easily added a few hundred extra meters.  My legs were feeling very good on the run but my body was feeling the heat at this point.  I counted a total of one tree giving us shade on the run and the sky did not have a single cloud hanging around.  An absolutely beautiful day if you were going on a picnic or heading to the beach!  I still passed a ton of people and ran down two guys in my age group in the final hundred yards.  

2009 Run Time: 25:56
2010 Run Time: 24:20

Recap:
Overall this was a very fun race.  Extremely well organized with a good post race party.  My time was decent and I probably could have done better if I wasn't sweating beer but I had such a good time this weekend that I wouldn't change a thing. The results are a little tough to read on the website but the organizers usually clean up the data by the middle of the week.  They said at the start that around 1000 triathletes were participating.   I was extremely happy with the swim (202/overall rank). Slightly disappointed in the bike but happy with my overall ranking on the bike (254/overall rank).  I was okay with my run ranking (119/overall rank).  One of the things that I could really tell was that the vast majority of my training has been base focused.  On the bike it took me to about Mile 9 until I started to find a rhythm and I never found a rhythm on such a short run.  I am actually looking forward to the Build portion of my training which will be starting in two weeks and get to add in some additional speed work.

You are probably wondering where all the pics are that usually accompany my race report?  Well, my lovely wife Annie lost our camera somewhere at the race.  She looked everywhere and even went dumpster diving in a trash can looking for the camera.  She was really bummed because we had a ton of pics from the weekend.  Hopefully someone found the camera and will turn it in but so far it isn't looking good.  Luckily for her I lost a camera in Spain last summer so I cannot even say a word about it.  These damn triathlons sure are expensive (-:

2009 Overall Time:  1:40:32
2010 Overall Time:  1:24:41

Total Time Reduction:  15 minutes 51 seconds


Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

26 comments:

  1. Wow, a six hour drive is no joke! I'm glad it was worth it. ::smiles::

    I liked how you contrasted this race with last year's.

    What does letting air out of your tires do?

    Congratulations on improving all your times from last year - especially the swimming and biking!

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  2. Great race report Jeff and you kicked last year's results in the ass! Way to go. I hope someone turns in your camera...I want to see pictures especially of drunk Jeff floating down the river. Alcohol is a great anisthetic...no wonder you didn't feel that spider biting you. Glad you rocked and had a great time doing it.

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  3. "Damn, just damn!" that comment was MADE for you!!

    AWESOME!! Almost 16 minutes faster than last year?! CRAZY!!

    And I'm with you, LOVE that logo!!

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  4. So I guess I need to get hammered the day before my next race and I will shave 15 mins off? ;)

    Nice improvement Jeff!

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  5. GG - supposedly on rough roads it is suppose to limit the bouncing? So I was told ....?

    KC - 3 disposable underwater camera were used on the river! Pics coming soon -- just no Tri pics )-:

    Em - that's all I could think after seeing your mileage!

    Jon - Yes, Bud Light is my new pre-workout/race drink...lol

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  6. Sounds like a fun weekend and a good race overall! Beer - the new carb load.

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  7. Great improvement in every facet of the race! You should consider the beer hydration an integral part of each race's preparation.

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  8. My idea of carb loading may be a little different than yours, but I like your style better!

    Great job on the improvement over last year. Makes you feel like all that hard work you put in has worked.

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  9. great job! 12 beers? I'd be dead after that! :)

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  10. that sucks about the camera, but congrats on taking 15 minutes off last years time!

    I would have had a hard time saying no to the beers too!

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  11. Apparently the pre-race drunk helped you out! :)

    I have never been in the front of a swim, I am always way back and to the side because getting pushed around in the water freaks me out. You are braver than I am!

    I am good on descents too unless the road is crap. I hear ya.

    Congrats on an awesome race - 15 min improvement is huge!

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  12. Hi Jeff,
    Woo hoo! Congrats on an awesome finish! Holy crap, you took almost 16 minutes off of last years time!?! That is so impressive:) All of your hard training is really paying off! I am really happy for you!

    I totally agree with you on the parking...I always try to park as close as possible:)

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  13. Major props on a well done event. I haven't done a tri yet but to improve on every aspect in the event is incredible.

    Great race report. Makes me really want a bike and to venture out!!

    Not sure how I'd handle the "carbo loading" but what the heck!!

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  14. Holy Cow! You killed it! Not the cow but the race! Excellent job, especially in the hot weather... as someone we know recently said, in the fall we are all going to be so fast! (or something like that!)Cheers and hats off to a job well done.

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  15. Man serious time shaving there bud!

    You had to feel good on two notes, you beat last year's time and the parking spot. You were money before the race even began haha!

    Great job enjoying the race. I have found that is more important than actually racing your race. We aren't professionals so we shouldn't kill ourselves... enjoy what we spend every waking moment training for :)

    Keep up the good work man!

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  16. Wow! Great improvement!

    Might I propose a scientific experiment for next year? You mentioned that Bud Light was a great pre-race drink. What if you try as an IN race drink??? :) haha It might dull the pain a bit for the run. Although, you may not be able to run in a straight line. On second thought. Probably not a good idea.

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  17. I will admit that I also love the triathlon swim now. The getting position and swimming and getting swam on is fun!!!

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  18. Traffic! and totally lol @ dumpster diving...though she was probably not

    what a difference in a year....the base you have now compared to then...plus now you are an accomplished cobblestone racer!

    Great race, great report
    -D

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  19. Woohoo! You shattered last years time! Congrats on an awesome race!

    Bummer about the camera. I hope it turns up too.

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  20. Well done, Jeff. Nice shave off of last years time. Especially the swim as a %%. Hell yeah.

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  21. WOW 15 minuites!!!! off a sprint! To take 10 minutes off the bike is pretty crazy as well! Congrats, pretty cool to see year over year improvements. I hope to do that with one race I have in Oct.

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  22. Well done! Great report with the comparisons. Luckily for you they all compare very well…:)) I always wonder what the guy feels like who comes out of the water and only his bike is left.

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  23. Where are the goats, no mention of the goats, I WANT GOATS!!

    But seriously, congrats

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  24. I actually did dumpster dive. I really wanted those pictures!

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  25. I love the logo of the race!

    I also really like how you compared last years time to this years time. I'm going to steal that idea.

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