Jim's Late OBX HIM 9/2014 Race Report
OUTER BANKS HIM RACE
REPORT
This was my last
triathlon of the 2014 season. I started with the Williamsburg HIM where I left
a bike shoe in my truck and got in the Oly swim start (with other HIM folks)
and changed to the Oly when it was swim back and start with the HIM folks or
continue with the Oly after waiting 10 min in the water for race officials to
give us options. Since I didn’t really want to bike 56 miles with only a left
bike shoe on my bad leg and a sneaker on
my right foot I opted for finishing the Oly though I hadn’t any idea what the route was(!!!). I always hope I learn
from my mistakes. Got 1st in my AG I guess since I’d been training
for a HIM. Completed the Battle at Buckhorn Sprint Tri in early August.
I estimate I had
completed approximately 60-70% of my EN HIM training plan. I swim in a pool
leashed so I don’t have to deal with turns. I wear medium or small hand paddle.
I use the mediums for strength and the small to move faster and maybe change
some of my slow twitch muscles to fast twitch.
Zoomers are used to get my foot stretched back a bit. About a month ago
I went to an orthopedic doctor with a let knee pain and saw a sizable bone spur
on the xray! It only hurts when I attempt to squat. My only other physical
issue is a left big toe that was dislocated over the next toe in high school.
It don’t hurt so no doctor wants to touch it!
Prerace
My breakfast at 4
am was apple sauce, half a PBJ, a banana
and some chocolate milk to take my eight morning supplements. It’s much nicer
to eliminate in a real building. I take the other half of the PBJ five minutes
before the swim.
I know the routes for
this tri since I use I live along the run route and use the bike route for some
of my EN training. The weather was threatening but not a drop came down till
the last mile of my run. I’m very poor at transitions so I took EN advice and
wrote out what I wanted to do in transition and goals for the SB&R. I had a
printed copy with me in transition and looked and it and it was helpful to keep
me somewhat organized. I had what nutrition should be carried; the order of
actions to go from one event to the next and a reminder to do this race report.
More was penned in as I went thru prerace activities.
Swim
Water temp was exactly
78 degrees. As a swimmer, I always question this exact temperature since just a
tenth of a degree higher and the bikers and those winning runners can’t get an
award if they use a wetsuit. There was minimal wind. I wore a Lava suit just to
help keep my long legs up. I wore my garmin HR transmitter strap but not the
transmitter. It is not been dependable in the water. I would be putting it on
in transition and the receiver was already on the bike. Though I must admit
none of my several garmin HR transmitters and receivers has been dependable in
races. The sky was overcast so I didn’t need to worry about the sun in my eyes
throughout the swim. Oly folks started 45 minutes after the HIM and their two
floats for the triangle route were a light green and round while the next
floats out were the HIMs and triangular
yellow. Hard to ID on quick looks while swimming(?) I always tuck a spare pair
of goggles in my tri suit in case the one I’m wearing breaks or is somehow
ripped off. I have forgotten to take it out after the swim and they stayed in
my suit for the whole bike…and run!
I started near the
front of the pack and managed to swim relatively straight line. I easily breathe
every 3 strokes and spot about every 9th stroke. The start is just
outside of a small local airport and aerobatic planes were practicing so there
was noise and much activity. In the standing start a young women bumped me and
said she was sorry. I noted to her women often say that during the swim but I
reminded her few folks deliberately bump you and it was not necessary to waste
breath on a “sorry!” About a third of the way into the swim I often get the
idea “I’m getting tired already! How am I going to finish this whole
triathlon!” Didn’t happen this time but of course I still feared it would… No
water in my TYR goggles.
I was in the second
wave of 2 and managed to past many in the first group that went off five
minutes before my group. Swim was 38:59, in 2012 it was 38:52. MY swim times
had been good many years ago but in recent years nothing great, so I put in more
swim training this season (extra time, more concentration on what I was told is
already a good style). So much for the extra swim training I’d done! I may need
to lift weights (not just for this but all three sports!). I have tender feet
so I’m certainly not fast from the water 75 yards to transition. Rash on left
side where spare goggles rubbed.
T1
Saw my list but went
on memory. Still did fairly well. I think the list was too much stuff. Bento
box had melt able nutrition and gums (regular and military for caffeine).Tri
suit had five pockets and I had things in each like crackers, waffles, chews,
energy blends, shot blockers, and bike gloves Simple is faster. I barely use
half the nutrition I carried! Washed and dried tender feet and put on short
socks fairly quickly. I wish I could figure out how to do without socks. That
takes so much time but with my left big toe dislocated over the next toe foot
pain is almost always an issue in races and long training sessions. Head and
wrist sweat bands on, sun glasses on (spare 2nd pair, since first
went “into” port-a-potty! Just remember you learn from mistakes like hanging
them on back of tri suit). I had the slowest
time of all finishers; unfortunately as usual. When will I learn how to
practice this! My time was 7;37.4
Bike
Garmin says it reads
HR but nothing on the receiver…OK I’ll go by cadence on my Trek Speed Concept
as I have had to in practice (goal of RPMs was 90, way too high a goal; did an
average of 81). I may (?) need to replace HR transmitter batteries in several
of my 5 transmitters (!)… or it could be I need to do better maintenance on the
transmitter chest straps. Bike course was two loops. I missed the turnaround by
about 20 feet. It is a very confusing area with Oly and HIM bikers “racing”
thru the area near the finish line and transition area; loaded with noisy tri
crowd.
I had 2 large FRS
hydration bottles in bike frame cages. I only used 1.5 of them and two water
bottles from aid stations. I drank 80% of the water (40% immediately and 40%
just before I dropped the bottle) and the rest went on me. Put the water
bottles in a tri suit pocket until I found a good place to drop the bottle
along the road. I wonder about the aerodynamics of the bottle in my tri suit pocket
(?)
I chew regular gum
during the bike and with about an hour to go I switch to two pieces of military
gum with caffeine. I’m not sure it helps. It may just be the placebo effect. I
may use more in training to see if it really has an effect. I’d rather not use
it in training as I prefer training to be harder than the race but I see no
good alternative.
It’s basically a flat
course. No real hills on the bike course only going over the same bridge four
times. It has a rise for higher boats to go under. Since I often train on this
route I know about the effect of the usual high winds on this 2-3 mile long
bridge. Today the winds were minimal so I got no benefit from knowing the area.
I passed approximately twenty bikers and
I remember 6 who passed passed me (5 males & 1 female). My average speed was 17.8 mph. about 90% of
the time in the aerobars. I put my shoes and gloves on while in motion at the
start of the bike section. My time was 3:05:12.2
T-2
I don’t know why I
still took longer than others. I’ve seemed to rush in the past and forget
things. I took my garmin 910 off the aerobar mount and put it in a pocket so I
could move it to my wrist and change the sport from biking to running. I left with too much nutrition in my tri suit
pockets. I knew there was no coke at the aid stations so I had a 16 oz thermal
drink holder and put it in the one large pocket and took drinks along the way
when Gatorade or water were not enough. With even just two hits of coke at a
time I needed more coke and ice that was stationed along the route. I was to
use more military gum but had either forgotten it or it was buried in a tri
suit pocket (so no help there). My time was 4:26.4
RUN
About 1/3 thru the run
the only other guy in my AG passed me (a 65 YO runner of course). For some reason my left foot toes which
usually hurt in races or long training sessions didn’t hurt. I had just trimmed
my toe nails the day before but I never noticed toe nails really causing the
pain. I had considered Vaseline between my smaller left toes but hadn’t used
any. Ash under arm pits where tri suit rubbed.
My time was
2:49:23.1; making my finish 6:45:39.0. I
could say 2nd in my AG but also the oldest person to finish the HIM.
There was no one in my AG behind me that finished (big fish in a little pond).
My average pace was
approximately 12 min per mile. I can only say approx since I hadn’t stopped the
watch until I drove approx 6 miles home.
OVERALL COMMENTS
-
I was not down to the 185 weight I’d aimed
for -
In training I followed about 70% of the EN
plan (usually it was work or the activities of daily living that got in the
way). -
It rained a bit during the last mile of the
run but that had little effect on my performance. I did manage to pass one male
in his 30’s during that last hour but he knew he was not on the podium and I
was not sure. The race didn’t tell you how many folks were in your age group. -
Need to find a way to truly practice transitions; probably also need some
weight training; and in the off season watch my calorie intake so I don’t go
over 195 ( that way in season I figure I can get down to 185) -
I have elimination info but will save that
for those who ask.
I could probably
write/remember more but it’s been over a week since this tri…I don't know how the print got soooo small!?!
Comments
I didn't realize my first entry of this was in 5.5 font!!! sorry!
OUTER BANKS HIM RACE REPORT
This was my last triathlon of the 2014
season. I started with the Williamsburg HIM where I left a bike shoe in my
truck and got in the Oly swim start (with other HIM folks) and changed to the
Oly when it was swim back and start with the HIM folks or continue with the Oly
after waiting 10 min in the water for race officials to give us options. Since
I didn’t really want to bike 56 miles with only a left bike shoe on my bad leg and a sneaker on my right foot
I opted for finishing the Oly though I hadn’t any idea what the route was(!!!). I always hope I learn
from my mistakes. Got 1st in my AG I guess since I’d been training
for a HIM. Completed the Battle at Buckhorn Sprint Tri in early August.
I estimate I had completed approximately
60-70% of my EN HIM training plan. I swim in a pool leashed so I don’t have to
deal with turns. I wear medium or small hand paddle. I use the mediums for
strength and the small to move faster and maybe change some of my slow twitch
muscles to fast twitch. Zoomers are used
to get my foot stretched back a bit. About a month ago I went to an orthopedic
doctor with a let knee pain and saw a sizable bone spur on the xray! It only
hurts when I attempt to squat. My only other physical issue is a left big toe
that was dislocated over the next toe in high school. It don’t hurt so no
doctor wants to touch it!
Prerace
My breakfast at 4 am was apple sauce, half a PBJ, a banana and
some chocolate milk to take my eight morning supplements. It’s much nicer to eliminate
in a real building. I take the other half of the PBJ five minutes before the
swim.
I know the routes for this tri since I
use I live along the run route and use the bike route for some of my EN
training. The weather was threatening but not a drop came down till the last
mile of my run. I’m very poor at transitions so I took EN advice and wrote out
what I wanted to do in transition and goals for the SB&R. I had a printed
copy with me in transition and looked and it and it was helpful to keep me somewhat
organized. I had what nutrition should be carried; the order of actions to go
from one event to the next and a reminder to do this race report. More was
penned in as I went thru prerace activities.
Swim
Water temp was exactly 78 degrees. As
a swimmer, I always question this exact temperature since just a tenth of a
degree higher and the bikers and those winning runners can’t get an award if
they use a wetsuit. There was minimal wind. I wore a Lava suit just to help
keep my long legs up. I wore my garmin HR transmitter strap but not the
transmitter. It is not been dependable in the water. I would be putting it on
in transition and the receiver was already on the bike. Though I must admit
none of my several garmin HR transmitters and receivers has been dependable in
races. The sky was overcast so I didn’t need to worry about the sun in my eyes
throughout the swim. Oly folks started 45 minutes after the HIM and their two
floats for the triangle route were a light green and round while the next
floats out were the HIMs and triangular
yellow. Hard to ID on quick looks while swimming(?) I always tuck a spare pair
of goggles in my tri suit in case the one I’m wearing breaks or is somehow
ripped off. I have forgotten to take it out after the swim and they stayed in
my suit for the whole bike…and run!
I started near the front of the pack
and managed to swim relatively straight line. I easily breathe every 3 strokes
and spot about every 9th stroke. The start is just outside of a
small local airport and aerobatic planes were practicing so there was noise and
much activity. In the standing start a young women bumped me and said she was
sorry. I noted to her women often say that during the swim but I reminded her
few folks deliberately bump you and it was not necessary to waste breath on a
“sorry!” About a third of the way into the swim I often get the idea “I’m
getting tired already! How am I going to finish this whole triathlon!” Didn’t
happen this time but of course I still feared it would… No water in my TYR goggles.
I was in the second wave of 2 and
managed to past many in the first group that went off five minutes before my
group. Swim was 38:59, in 2012 it was 38:52. MY swim times had been good many
years ago but in recent years nothing great, so I put in more swim training
this season (extra time, more concentration on what I was told is already a
good style). So much for the extra swim training I’d done! I may need to lift
weights (not just for this but all three sports!). I have tender feet so I’m
certainly not fast from the water 75 yards to transition. Rash on left side
where spare goggles rubbed.
T1
Saw my list but went on memory. Still
did fairly well. I think the list was too much stuff. Bento box had melt able
nutrition and gums (regular and military for caffeine).Tri suit had five
pockets and I had things in each like crackers, waffles, chews, energy blends,
shot blockers, and bike gloves Simple is faster. I barely use half the
nutrition I carried! Washed and dried tender feet and put on short socks fairly
quickly. I wish I could figure out how to do without socks. That takes so much
time but with my left big toe dislocated over the next toe foot pain is almost
always an issue in races and long training sessions. Head and wrist sweat bands
on, sun glasses on (spare 2nd pair, since first went “into”
port-a-potty! Just remember you learn from mistakes like hanging them on back
of tri suit). I had the slowest time of
all finishers; unfortunately as usual. When will I learn how to practice this!
My time was 7;37.4
Bike
Garmin says it reads HR but nothing on
the receiver…OK I’ll go by cadence on my Trek Speed Concept as I have had to in
practice (goal of RPMs was 90, way too high a goal; did an average of 81). I
may (?) need to replace HR transmitter batteries in several of my 5
transmitters (!)… or it could be I need to do better maintenance on the
transmitter chest straps. Bike course was two loops. I missed the turnaround by
about 20 feet. It is a very confusing area with Oly and HIM bikers “racing”
thru the area near the finish line and transition area; loaded with noisy tri
crowd.
I had 2 large FRS hydration bottles in
bike frame cages. I only used 1.5 of them and two water bottles from aid
stations. I drank 80% of the water (40% immediately and 40% just before I
dropped the bottle) and the rest went on me. Put the water bottles in a tri
suit pocket until I found a good place to drop the bottle along the road. I
wonder about the aerodynamics of the bottle in my tri suit pocket (?)
I chew regular gum during the bike and
with about an hour to go I switch to two pieces of military gum with caffeine.
I’m not sure it helps. It may just be the placebo effect. I may use more in
training to see if it really has an effect. I’d rather not use it in training
as I prefer training to be harder than the race but I see no good alternative.
It’s basically a flat course. No real
hills on the bike course only going over the same bridge four times. It has a
rise for higher boats to go under. Since I often train on this route I know
about the effect of the usual high winds on this 2-3 mile long bridge. Today
the winds were minimal so I got no benefit from knowing the area. I passed approximately twenty bikers and I
remember 6 who passed passed me (5 males & 1 female). My average speed was 17.8 mph. about 90% of
the time in the aerobars. I put my shoes and gloves on while in motion at the
start of the bike section. My time was 3:05:12.2
T-2
I don’t know why I still took longer
than others. I’ve seemed to rush in the past and forget things. I took my
garmin 910 off the aerobar mount and put it in a pocket so I could move it to
my wrist and change the sport from biking to running. I left with too much nutrition in my tri suit
pockets. I knew there was no coke at the aid stations so I had a 16 oz thermal
drink holder and put it in the one large pocket and took drinks along the way
when Gatorade or water were not enough. With even just two hits of coke at a
time I needed more coke and ice that was stationed along the route. I was to
use more military gum but had either forgotten it or it was buried in a tri
suit pocket (so no help there). My time was 4:26.4
RUN
About 1/3 thru the run the only other
guy in my AG passed me (a 65 YO runner of course). For some reason my left foot toes which
usually hurt in races or long training sessions didn’t hurt. I had just trimmed
my toe nails the day before but I never noticed toe nails really causing the
pain. I had considered Vaseline between my smaller left toes but hadn’t used
any. Ash under arm pits where tri suit rubbed.
My time was 2:49:23.1; making my finish 6:45:39.0. I could say 2nd
in my AG but also the oldest person to finish the HIM. There was no one in my
AG behind me that finished (big fish in a little pond).
My average pace was approximately 12
min per mile. I can only say approx since I hadn’t stopped the watch until I
drove approx 6 miles home.
OVERALL COMMENTS
I
was not down to the 185 weight I’d aimed for
In
training I followed about 70% of the EN plan (usually it was work or the
activities of daily living that got in the way).
It
rained a bit during the last mile of the run but that had little effect on my
performance. I did manage to pass one male in his 30’s during that last hour
but he knew he was not on the podium and I was not sure. The race didn’t tell
you how many folks were in your age group.
Need
to find a way to truly practice
transitions; probably also need some weight training; and in the off season
watch my calorie intake so I don’t go over 195 ( that way in season I figure I can
get down to 185)
I
have elimination info but will save that for those who ask.
I could probably write/remember more
but it’s been over a week since this tri…
Jim - glad to see you're still motoring along. I guess you need to clean house with your Garmin gear? Make sure it's all working ahead of time.