Jack Rabbit Indoor Triathlon Championships Race Report 3/14/10

TREADMILL PACE CONVERSIONS!!!

After I was told by the doctor that my meniscus was torn, my first thought was…I’m going to miss the indoor championships!  I had qualified and I didn’t want to miss this new found sport that I instantly loved.  THEN, I got the go ahead to resume normal activity…It’s ON.  Championships here I come.  I arrived, but I arrived in very average shape.  Well, maybe that’s an overstatement, I should say poor running shape since I had pretty much stopped running for 4 weeks and substituted swimming, weight lifting and biking with some sporadic running here and there.

I ran a 5k last weekend to test my fitness and satiate my competition thirst.  It went OK, 19:23, not my best, but not my worst.  A solid performance, especially this early in the season after winter.

I arrived at Asphalt Green Gym at 4pm.  This triathlon was an afternoon competition, I picked the 5pm-6pm slot just to be able to relax, sleep, and take my time getting there.

Left the house at about 3pm, got there at 4pm and had plenty of time for the tour, and to get a warm up run in before my swim.

The pool was by far the coldest pool I have been in thus far.  Our triathlon had 2 lanes for our use and there were 4 people in my heat, myself included, so we had to split the lanes.  The guy I split with was about 6’4, 25o lbs, somehow in my previous 2 indoor tri’s, I ended up in my own lane, solo.  So, this was a first.  I did a down and back to warm up, felt pretty good.  I wanted to get 22 or 23 laps.  My first tri in a 25yd pool, I managed 18.5 which got rounded up to 19.

The whistle sounded and we were off.  I was keeping pace pretty good for a few laps, then everyone spread out.  I kept breathing in water when this guy would pass me, it was like a steamship with the waves.  I didn’t feel like I got into a groove at all.  I managed 20 full laps, no rounding, so that was OK, but I survived and I was really looking forward to the bike.

My goal on the bike was 19 miles.  My previous 2 attempts had been 18.2 and 18.4.  I seemed to always start slow and build into it.  But this time, I wanted to be quick out of the gate and really get on pace for 19.  I knew I had to hit about 3.17mi. every 5 minutes.  I considered wearing my cycling shoes with clips, but I hadn’t practiced in them and didn’t want to introduce anything new on race day.  Good thing.  One guy in my heat wore them and 30 seconds into the ride his shoe slipped out and he couldn’t get it clipped back in, so they had to restart him and all that drama.

I had my ipod all programmed with good fast tempo music. I was ready.  I hit my 5 minute pace right on, and even picked it up a little at 10 minutes.  At the halfway I was 9.6!!  That’s a 19.2 miles if I hold it.  I had only remembered seeing a 19.1 as a top ride in my 2 previous indoors, so I felt like 19 would put me in the mix for a high score, then I could go get it on the run.  I kept up the pace and when my “good” songs would play, I cranked it up 🙂  I finished with a PR of 19.47.  Very pleased with it.  The weird thing with the biking is I sweat a lot, but don’t really breathe that hard.  My heart rate gets up there, but it doesn’t seem that difficult….until I get off the bike and can barely walk.

I try to shake my legs out and stretch to get some energy back in my legs.  We have a solid 5 minutes plus of transition.  Even a little extra because we wait for the guy who had to restart, so we get an extra couple minutes.

My goal in the run is 3.5 miles in 20 minutes.  I ran a 3.44 in my first one and a 3.21 in my second, but the second one included a 7 minute run, then a restart after the treadmills shut down.  3.5 was ambitious, but that’s me.  I needed to average a 10.4 pace on the treadmill computer.

We got started and worked it up to 9.0 right off the bat and felt OK.  My plan was to get up to 10.0 as quick as possible in the first mile, then inch up to 10.5 in the 2nd mile and finish fast in the upper 10s, to average it out to a 10.4.  Well, things don’t always go as planned.  By the time I got the treadmill up to 10.0 (6 minute pace), I was hurting.  My legs were absolutely dead.  Probably due to lack of long runs and partly due to going all out on the bike.  I eased it back a touch to 9.7.  This was not helping.  I was actually concerned about flying off the back of the treadmill and onto the floor.  I just couldn’t get my legs to go.  I ended up easing all the way back to 8.5 and battled a side ache which I haven’t had in a LONG time.  Maybe all the water and Endurox I drank to try to stay hydrated.  I don’t know.  But I cranked it back up to 9.0 for the last 90 seconds. In my mind all I could think was “I can’t believe I’m blowing it on the run!”  That IS my specialty.  Well, I finished with a 3.11, my lowest mileage yet.  1st one was a stellar 3.44, then a 3.22, now this.  I gave it everything I had, so I wasn’t too disappointed.  In looking back, I realized that I will really look forward to doing a “real” triathlon outside, where I can see and compete against real people and not just the clock.  That way I will know where I am at, relative to other people.

When the results were emailed the next day, my biggest fear became reality….dead last in the swim :O

Only by a lap, but I still earned the dreaded “1 point”  ugggh!  I need some coaching!  I know I am a better swimmer than I am showing.  I bet I can add 3 or 4 laps if I just got 2 or 3 tips on how to improve.  Soon enough…I will be joining Brooklyn Tri Club and start doing their swim classes.  To be fair to myself, there were 3 guys with 21 laps, so I don’t feel SO bad.  If I had swam 3 more laps it would have only moved me up 1 place in the standings.

My bike, while not the best, ranked 3rd, someone cranked out a 19.99, impressive.  My “awful” performance in the run, still got me the 3rd best in running.  But with that swim score hanging over my head, I finished 8th overall.  Not bad if I do say so myself, for my 3rd ever tri, and in the championships to boot.

Championship Results

I will be competing in my first outdoor multisport event this Saturday in Prospect Park Duathalon.

5k run, 14mi bike, 5k run

Should be interesting. This time transitions count 🙂

PS…Knee felt great, no problems