Hockomock Sprint Triathlon Race Report

On July 18th I participated in the Hockomock Sprint Triathlon in Wrentham, MA – just down the road from my parents house.  This seemed to be a very beginner friendly race that was sponsored by the local YMCA.  Most of the bike course was a repeat of the Wrentham Duathlon back in April, including both of the significant hills from that course.  The race was a 1/4 mile swim, 9 mile bike (although Garmin indicated 8.25) and 5k run.  Weather was ideal with temperatures in the high 70s with little wind.

 

Water temperature was 77 degrees and marginal for a wetsuit.  Decided to take a practice swim and see what I thought, knowing that even a 1/4 mile swim will be faster with the wetsuit. 

Although completely unnecessary, I decided to go with the wetsuit.  Sure enough a bunch of guys emerged at the last minute wearing one as well, confirming my decision.

 

I lined up for the start as usual midpack and on the outside.  We started with ankles in the water and immediately had to get around this boating buoy.  I managed to trip over the cinder block it was tied to which was not fantastic feeling. 

The crowd at the beginning was tighter then I’ve seen so far and it took a few strokes to get going.  With the beginner friendly format of the race I should have pushed closer to the front.  I ended up getting stuck a little further outside then I wanted at the first turn.  Look at the carnage just 200 yards into the race – the number of people just floating around is unbelievable.

I had a pretty good swim and seemed to be leading in the guys behind the real strong swimmers again, similar to at Webster.  I ended up being 2nd fastest in my age group of 13 competitors with a time of 6:57 for the 440 yard course.  I was 30th fastest overall out of 201.

 

I split my T1 time from my bike using my Garmin, so the figure is approximate.  T1 included a fairly long 300 yard run from the water to the transition area.  Didn’t have my bike set for the correct gearing on the uphill start out of transition.

 

Was very familiar with the local roads on the bike course and tried to really gun it the whole way.  The first 2 miles out of transition are fairly flat and then there was a sustained climb in the 3rd mile.  Its then downhill to the 5 mile mark where there was a short, steep climb.  It was then rolling on the way back to transition.  Had a typical bike for me, passed a few more than I was passed by.  This is a good course for me, as the climbs suit me more than the average rider.  Bike time was 25:03 which was good for 19.8 mph and 3rd in my age group and 32nd overall.  I’m surprised that my swim overall was better than my bike.

 

My parents took these shots approaching T2:

T2 was again split using my Garmin time for the run, but at right on 1 min I think it was acceptable given that the timing mats were 50 yards from the transition box.

 

This run course was tough for me.  Right out of transition you got hit with a 1/4 mile long steep hill.  This just put me into a slow pace that was tough for me to get out of.  After the prior weeks 5k, I knew I had the ability to run much faster but found myself running at a 9min/mile pace.  I also am beginning to realize that I have a cramp that likes to present itself between 3/4 to 1 mile into the run.  This time I was able to fight through it.  Mile 2 was pretty steady with my pace slowing on every small incline.  By the time I got to Mile 3 I was starting to get my legs under me and accelerate.  I was increasing my pace all the way through Mile 3, and the gentle downhill was certainly helping.

 

Mile 1       9:07

Mile 2       9:10

Mile 3       8:33

Mile 3.12  6:50

 

These shots taken just before the 3 mile mark:

My run averaged 8:43 for the 5k, which put me midpack in my age group and 89th overall.

 

Overall I was very happy with my swim and bike times.  My run continues to let me down, but I am feel like I am beginning to understand how my body reacts on the run.  If I can get through the bad stretch at the 1 mile mark, I have the speed to turn in a good time overall.  I’ll continue to experiment with different breakfast foods and on course nutrition to see if I can find something that minimizes this cramping.

 

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				13		201
Swim	6:57	1/4 mile	1:35/100 yd	2	15%	30	15%
T1	2:26
Bike	25:03	8.25 miles	19.8 mph	3	23%	32	16%
T2	1:15
Run	27:15	3.12 miles	8:43/mile	7	54%	89	44%
Total	1:02:55			5	38%	45	22%

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2 Tri Guys?

Think we can get a race report out of Rico anytime soon?

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Glastonbury 5k Race Report

Just a brief race report on a 5k raced on July 11th – how much can you say about a 5k?

 

This was a spur of the moment race as it was nearby and I was looking for a bit of redemption from the 10k the weekend before.  The race was early in the morning, but it was already 82 degrees and very humid.

 

Got out to a fast start and started looking for people to pace off of.  I found someone running in the 7:45 range and found I was able to stick right behind him somewhat comfortably.  I found his steady effort to really help me keep the speed higher.  Stayed with him until right after mile 2, when I felt him slowing.  I checked my watch and saw the pace falling, then I accelerated away from him.  By mile 2.5 I had reaccelerated back to the 7:45 pace and then was able to increase the pace all the way to the line.  By the end of the race, I had put 48 seconds on my early pacer.

 

My finish time was 23:30 with an average pace of 7:35/mile.  This was my best 5k of the year by a big margin and a massive 4:35 improvement from my first 5k in March.

 

Splits:

Mile 1        7:36

Mile 2        7:51

Mile 3        7:47

Mile 3.12    6:38

 

I finished 37/98 (top 37%) overall and 7/12 (top 58%) in the men 30-39 division.  Given that it was a running only event, I was pleased with my overall standings and particularly my time.  Now I need to work on putting some of this speed to use in my triathlon races.

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Nautica NYC Triathlon

My second year doing the race, I was much more prepared than last year and felt fairly confident going in.

Pre-race

Woke up very early Sunday morning so I could get to transition before it closed at 5:45, had trouble finding a place to park. Luckily, Regina had already parked Rico's car and she offered to park mine so I could go set up. I picker her up by Rico's car and drove back toward the transition area, she took my car and I went in, she was a savior. As I got into transition I pumped my tires, re-racked my bike and started to get everything else ready when I realized that I had left my bike shoes in the trunk of the car. It was now about 5:40, transition was closing in 5 minutes. I left my phone in the car as well. I ran over to where Rico's bike was and asked if had a phone, he called Regina for me, turns out she wasn't far from where we were, I begged the staff to let me back in as I had forgotten my shoes and needed to get them, they said no OK. I ran out to where she was, grabbed my shoes and ran back. There was my morning warm up. I managed to get everything sorted and met Regina to walk up to the swim start. Right as I was leaving transition, the pro swimmers were coming out of the water. They are done with their swim and I don't start for another 90 minutes, they will almost be done with the race before I start.

The Race

The swim started well, I got into a rhythm very early, and I had a fairly easy go of it. I felt like I was moving pretty good, but only beat last years time by half a minute or so. Contact wasn't too bad until the end of the swim, I wound up behind a guy that was karate kicking the surface of the water, I took one of those kicks to the side of my head, tried to go around him, he seemed to keep moving in front of me. I eventually had to sprint a bit just to get by him, but this was only 200 meters or so from the finish. Swim, uneventful (which is good).

T1 was good, I jogged the 400 yards or so, made a quick turnaround and was off to start the bike.

The bike was good, I started nice and easy but was still moving at a good pace. The legs felt good, and I wasn't trying to recover from the swim. I pushed pretty hard the whole way around, but being in aero and pushing is not conducive to drinking, so I didn't take in enough fluids. I wound up averaging 20 mph and shaved about 9 minutes off of last years time.

Got back to transition, threw on some socks (which takes a few seconds) and my sneakers, grabbed my fuelbelt and I was off. I knew immediately that my legs were not in good shape. I left too much on the bike. I had done enough bricks to know that if I just pushed through the first two miles or so I should be ok. About 1.5 miles in my quad and hammy on my right leg started cramping at the same time. I had to stop an stretch for a minute, then walk until the leg loosened up which it eventually did. However my lack of fluid intake on the bike was detrimental as the heat was now getting to me and I knew I just didn't have it. I pushed as best I could with short spurts of walking in between and finished at 1:04:56 for the 10k. I had just done a 10k the week before and under 53 minutes so this was a little disappointing.

All told I am pretty happy with the race, I think I could have gone maybe 5 or 6 minutes faster, but that's all. I learned my lesson on the bike and have ordered a bottle I can drink from in the aero position. Also I will dial it back a little on the next one so I have fresh legs. I think I will be faster overall if I do this.

The NYC tri is a cool event but logistically a pain in the ass, and very expensive. Next year they are going to a lottery system, and I don't think I will be signing up.

The result
Swim 23:27
T1 4:31
Bike 1:14:32
T2 2:04
Run 1:04:56

Total 2:49:28

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Harvard Pilgrim 10k Race Report

July 4th I decided to do a 10k.  This 10k was the inaugural Harvard Pilgrim race held at Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots.  According to the race website, they were hoping to draw up to 10,000 runners.  So I was looking forward to running in a large race and trying to improve on the time of my only other 10k at Rev3.  The course was also designed to be flat and fast with a finish on the 50 yard line inside the stadium.

 

While they only drew about 3000 runners, it was still a large field.  Anticipating a bit of mayhem, I went over and picked up my number when registration opened and then went back home for awhile until it was closer to race time.  Once again both my parent’s came along for some support.  Temperatures at race time were 80 degrees and humid.  Here’s a shot of dad and I outside the stadium.

I started about 1/3 of the way through the field, in with the 8:00-9:00/mile crowd.  With a good day, I was hoping for around 54:00.  My mom got this great shot at the start.  The guy in orange was the eventual winner, and the 2 guys to his left rounded out the podium.

The race started with a loop around the parking lot roads, before heading out to the Foxboro town common and back.

The first 3.75 miles were going great.  In fact, I needed to dial my pace back in the beginning because I was running fast – faster then I thought I could maintain to the finish.  Mile 1 went by in 7:56, Mile 2 in 8:33 and Mile 3 in 8:39.  This included the only real hill of the day between Mile 1 and 1.5, nothing more then a gentle riser.

 

Then at mile 3.75 it all started coming undone.  I very quickly developed some severe cramps; much worse and much longer lasting then anything I had previously experienced in any race or in training.  It quickly got to a point where not only could I not run, but I couldn’t walk (see the huge spike in pace below).  As soon as I could, I got moving and tried to run but the cramp immediately returned.  I was getting pretty resigned to a disastrous race, maybe even just walking it in.  But after the 5th try of running, I could literally feel the cramp come undone.  At this point I had been moving slowly for the better part of a mile.  So mile 4 went by in 9:49 and mile 5 in 10:58. 

 

By this point, I was at the 4.75 mile mark and I knew my hope for a 54 minute time was gone but I still wanted to push for the best time I could.  As you can see below, I got back into the same pre-cramp rhythm, although I didn’t push my luck with any big end of race surges.  Mile 6 was 8:26 and the last 1/4 mile was at 7:53 pace.

The finale was great.  They had you enter the stadium through the tunnel and run out onto the field through the inflatable Patriots helmet and then dash to the 50 yard line, while putting your picture up on the jumbotron.  Your cheering section was allowed to sit in the lower level of the stadium.  Needless to say it was pretty cool to race across the field with a bunch of spectators watching.  Here are some shots on the field.

 

My finish time was 56:30, an average of 9:06 pace.  This was 2.5 minutes faster then Rev3.  Obviously I was hoping for faster given that it was a stand alone race, it was flat, and it wasn’t after swimming and biking.  But I was happy to finish pretty well after a debilitating cramp and I showed signs of better pace for this distance. 

 

I ended up 1008/2967 (top 33%) overall and 104/209 (top 49%) in my age group of M30-34.

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