Peter Noyes Pasadena Triathlon 2014 Race Report
Peter's Pasadena Triathlon Race Report
Short version:
Smashed last years time by 10 minutes, but made lots of tiny mistakes and missed the podium by 3/100ths of a second.
Long version:
Last year's Pasadena Triathlon was my very first triathlon so I felt obligated to come back and do it again. The race is reverse sprint and is sponsored by the local triathlon club that I am in. The race features a 3.3 mile run, ~10 mile bike ride and a 150m swim. I am not sure if I will do it again, the bike is a triple loop around the Rose Bowl and is really sketchy because of all the inexperienced cyclists that need to be dodged.
The run went very well. I ran the 3.3 miles in 19:17 with an average pace of 5:51 min/mi. The 5K portion was completed in 18:11 which is a 2 point bump in my vdot!
I messed up T1. I felt sluggish. I had a lot of trouble getting my cycling shoes on, the back was sort of folded over and it took me like 10-20 seconds to fix it. I also had forgot to make sure my power meter was working when I set up my transition area and I never got it to work the whole race.
In T2 I got back into that funk and again just felt sluggish. I felt like I had too much to do.
Once I got situated I sprinted to the pool, which involved sprinting barefoot like 1000 yards on cement. Not fun! The pool is the "recreational" pool at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center and is kept at 80+ degrees. Once in the pool I immediately felt suffocated.
I swam the best I could, but it was my first time swimming in a Tri Top and I felt like I was dragging a parachute. Even though it was just 3 laps it was a tough effort. I was overheating, slowed by my top, and still in that funk. I got passed by several guys on the swim.
My final time was 52:47 which was good for 11th place overall and 4th place in my age group. I missed out on 3rd place by literally 3/100ths of a second. Although I am really happy that I smashed my last PR, and that I killed the run, I just know that I could have placed much higher if I had not made so many mental errors. Gah!
I guess the silver lining is that I would much rather shake the cobwebs out in this race than in Oceanside 70.3 in two weeks!
Short version:
Smashed last years time by 10 minutes, but made lots of tiny mistakes and missed the podium by 3/100ths of a second.
Long version:
Last year's Pasadena Triathlon was my very first triathlon so I felt obligated to come back and do it again. The race is reverse sprint and is sponsored by the local triathlon club that I am in. The race features a 3.3 mile run, ~10 mile bike ride and a 150m swim. I am not sure if I will do it again, the bike is a triple loop around the Rose Bowl and is really sketchy because of all the inexperienced cyclists that need to be dodged.
The run went very well. I ran the 3.3 miles in 19:17 with an average pace of 5:51 min/mi. The 5K portion was completed in 18:11 which is a 2 point bump in my vdot!
I messed up T1. I felt sluggish. I had a lot of trouble getting my cycling shoes on, the back was sort of folded over and it took me like 10-20 seconds to fix it. I also had forgot to make sure my power meter was working when I set up my transition area and I never got it to work the whole race.
Once on the bike I think I was kind of in a funk because of my mistakes. My first lap, which should have been the fastest was actually my slowest by far. I averaged 20.8 MPH on the first lap, but I was over 23 MPH on the last two laps. I sort of snapped out of it once I got passed by a few guys with pointy helmets and in aero so I put the pedal to the metal. I averaged 21.8 MPH on the bike overall.
Finishing up the bike was my next big mistake. I wasn't paying 100% attention and I thought someone was directing me to turn and I started to go, but it was a wrong turn, thankfully someone in the crowd shouted "PETER" and I quickly corrected and went straight, but I really slowed down and got passed by several guys, I think I lost 20 seconds at least because of this.In T2 I got back into that funk and again just felt sluggish. I felt like I had too much to do.
Once I got situated I sprinted to the pool, which involved sprinting barefoot like 1000 yards on cement. Not fun! The pool is the "recreational" pool at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center and is kept at 80+ degrees. Once in the pool I immediately felt suffocated.
I swam the best I could, but it was my first time swimming in a Tri Top and I felt like I was dragging a parachute. Even though it was just 3 laps it was a tough effort. I was overheating, slowed by my top, and still in that funk. I got passed by several guys on the swim.
My final time was 52:47 which was good for 11th place overall and 4th place in my age group. I missed out on 3rd place by literally 3/100ths of a second. Although I am really happy that I smashed my last PR, and that I killed the run, I just know that I could have placed much higher if I had not made so many mental errors. Gah!
I guess the silver lining is that I would much rather shake the cobwebs out in this race than in Oceanside 70.3 in two weeks!
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Comments
The issue was I never turned my watch on and made sure it connected to the PowerTap. It just never got connected. I will check it out tomorrow, not sure if it is battery or not. I think you are right and a tri-suit would have worked much better than the top. Yeah, I guess I am probably fatigued from the BBW, and I ran 13 miles two days ago so I should cut myself some slack. Below are the results and you can see that the transitions killed me! I need to learn the flying start and how to get away without socks. Basically 6 of us finished within 30 seconds of each other!
Here is an excerpt from my IMTX results last year... Somebody did up the enhanced results showing position before and after transitions etc....
[My biggest take away is Transitions Matter.... I came out of the water 476th and came out of T1 in 363rd having passed 113 people in transition alone (without that data I assumed most of those people were passed on the bike) ... T2 only passed 7 people but still shows importance of transitions!]
I also figured out the problem with my power meter and my 910xt. I have Bike 1 and Bike 2 configured in my watch. Bike 2 is my tri bike and the only setup that I ever paired with my power meter. For the race I had it set to the multi-sport mode for the triathlon and it appears to default to bike 1. I need to figure out how to get it to use Bike 2, but I will also pair Bike 1 with the PM just in case!
P.S., the reason Tim didn't pass 113 people in T2 at IMTX was because there weren't 113 people in front of him to pass.