Triple T went well, not as well as I'd hoped but the result among the competition was the best I've done.
I'm happy with second place in a very competitive age group but I could have gone faster if I had prepped differently.
Race 1: I pretty much went as fast as I could in all three sports. I swam OK, I rode with a higher power than I expected and I ran slightly faster than I expected.
Race 2: Decent swim but it was short, rode fairly conservative and ran quick but fairly conservative.
Race 3: I was still a bit tired from the first race but normal. I didn't ride as hard as I'd hoped but still within my expectations. I swam better than I expected and ran fairly conservative again.
Race 4: I was really tired before this race, to the point that I was sick to my stomach before and during the first lap of the swim. I knew this would go away after I got going so I wasn't nervous at all. The swim went well, no surprises, I rode within my plan on the bike and let people go that were faster and then the run is where the surprise happened.
There were three of us that were fairly close, Scott, Andy and myself for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I was in 4th by about 40 seconds and didn't realize it at that time, I thought I was racing Andy for 3rd which we have done before at another race. Andy passed me on the bike near 35 miles in, he was going too fast for me to follow and still stick with my plan so I didn't try to keep in contact with him. I saw him go up the climb on route 125 and timed him to be about 1:45 in front of me, after that he rolled away on the fast rollers. I saw him again on the climb up 3 stage hill, I figured he was about 1:15 in front of me then. The next time I saw him was in transition where he left about :15 seconds in front of me.
When we went out on the run I was really gassed, more so than I thought I should have been, but so was Andy and I saw him short stepping near my pace. I thought I might be able to stay with him and did. At the first turn-around we were about 30 seconds apart then at the second turn-around heading out for the second loop I was catching him. When we went into the woods and up the first small hill, I caught and passed him, I didn't say a word, I mean really, what was I going to say to the guy I was racing for third, was a good friend and fellow Georgia Camp training partner? I didn't even look back to see his reaction, all I knew was I had to gain about a minute on him and I'm a better hill runner than I am a flat land runner so I kept going hard hoping he wouldn't follow.
When we got to the switchback (my favorite part of the run) I didn't see him for a minute or so and kept going hard up and over. At the turn-around I timed him to be 3 minutes behind me and just thought to myself that with his long legs he would catch me going downhill. (He's about 6'2" and I'm 5'4") I ran hard up the hill, when I got to the top I decided that I'd try to hold a HR of 140 going down. That worked well, so well that I caught my breath and decided to push it a little harder after the switchback. I tried to hold a HR of 150 for the rest of the way since I know from experience that I'll fell like I'm going to throw up if I go harder, while doing so I was passing lapped runners very quickly. In my mind I was running scared to stay in front of Andy who I thought was going to be right behind me and ran hard right up to the finish line.
I was pretty wiped out by then and just sat down, Karen greeted me with some water and congratulations. About a minute or so later Scott B finished, I really thought nothing of it. Near 4 minutes later Andy finished and then Dave D finished shortly afterwards (at least I think). I was pretty happy about being in 3rd place and when the announcer called out the podium spots he said I was second, by :14 seconds. I was surprised and happy that I ran so hard down that hill all the way to the finish to get the best result I'd had at that race.
In hindsight, my transitions were the key to me getting 2nd instead of 4th
Fri pm :43, :40 ---(1:23)
Sat am :57, :56 --- (1:53)
Sat pm 2:29, 1:09 --- (3:38)
Sun am 2:00, 1:40 ---(3:40)
My competition was:
Fri pm :42, :42 --- 1:10, :48 --- (1:24, 1:58)
Sat am 1:51, :47 --- 2:13, 1:36 --- (2:38, 3:49)
Sat pm 2:12, 2:35 --- 3:59, 4:00 --- (4:47, 7:59)
Sun am 3:13, 1:38 --- 3:59, 2:03 --- (4:51, 6:02)
Transitions do matter and I'm happy that I practice and execute them well :)
I'm happy with second place in a very competitive age group but I could have gone faster if I had prepped differently.
Race 1: I pretty much went as fast as I could in all three sports. I swam OK, I rode with a higher power than I expected and I ran slightly faster than I expected.
Race 2: Decent swim but it was short, rode fairly conservative and ran quick but fairly conservative.
Race 3: I was still a bit tired from the first race but normal. I didn't ride as hard as I'd hoped but still within my expectations. I swam better than I expected and ran fairly conservative again.
Race 4: I was really tired before this race, to the point that I was sick to my stomach before and during the first lap of the swim. I knew this would go away after I got going so I wasn't nervous at all. The swim went well, no surprises, I rode within my plan on the bike and let people go that were faster and then the run is where the surprise happened.
There were three of us that were fairly close, Scott, Andy and myself for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I was in 4th by about 40 seconds and didn't realize it at that time, I thought I was racing Andy for 3rd which we have done before at another race. Andy passed me on the bike near 35 miles in, he was going too fast for me to follow and still stick with my plan so I didn't try to keep in contact with him. I saw him go up the climb on route 125 and timed him to be about 1:45 in front of me, after that he rolled away on the fast rollers. I saw him again on the climb up 3 stage hill, I figured he was about 1:15 in front of me then. The next time I saw him was in transition where he left about :15 seconds in front of me.
When we went out on the run I was really gassed, more so than I thought I should have been, but so was Andy and I saw him short stepping near my pace. I thought I might be able to stay with him and did. At the first turn-around we were about 30 seconds apart then at the second turn-around heading out for the second loop I was catching him. When we went into the woods and up the first small hill, I caught and passed him, I didn't say a word, I mean really, what was I going to say to the guy I was racing for third, was a good friend and fellow Georgia Camp training partner? I didn't even look back to see his reaction, all I knew was I had to gain about a minute on him and I'm a better hill runner than I am a flat land runner so I kept going hard hoping he wouldn't follow.
When we got to the switchback (my favorite part of the run) I didn't see him for a minute or so and kept going hard up and over. At the turn-around I timed him to be 3 minutes behind me and just thought to myself that with his long legs he would catch me going downhill. (He's about 6'2" and I'm 5'4") I ran hard up the hill, when I got to the top I decided that I'd try to hold a HR of 140 going down. That worked well, so well that I caught my breath and decided to push it a little harder after the switchback. I tried to hold a HR of 150 for the rest of the way since I know from experience that I'll fell like I'm going to throw up if I go harder, while doing so I was passing lapped runners very quickly. In my mind I was running scared to stay in front of Andy who I thought was going to be right behind me and ran hard right up to the finish line.
I was pretty wiped out by then and just sat down, Karen greeted me with some water and congratulations. About a minute or so later Scott B finished, I really thought nothing of it. Near 4 minutes later Andy finished and then Dave D finished shortly afterwards (at least I think). I was pretty happy about being in 3rd place and when the announcer called out the podium spots he said I was second, by :14 seconds. I was surprised and happy that I ran so hard down that hill all the way to the finish to get the best result I'd had at that race.
In hindsight, my transitions were the key to me getting 2nd instead of 4th
Fri pm :43, :40 ---(1:23)
Sat am :57, :56 --- (1:53)
Sat pm 2:29, 1:09 --- (3:38)
Sun am 2:00, 1:40 ---(3:40)
My competition was:
Fri pm :42, :42 --- 1:10, :48 --- (1:24, 1:58)
Sat am 1:51, :47 --- 2:13, 1:36 --- (2:38, 3:49)
Sat pm 2:12, 2:35 --- 3:59, 4:00 --- (4:47, 7:59)
Sun am 3:13, 1:38 --- 3:59, 2:03 --- (4:51, 6:02)
Transitions do matter and I'm happy that I practice and execute them well :)
