Ludlow Boys & Girls Club Triathlon - 2009 Race Report

OFFICIAL RESULTS: 28th OA out of 278, 6th M25-29 out of 20; 1:16:07
I was on the fence with this race this year, but in the end I ended up doing it. I wanted to do the race so I could compare my time from 2 years ago when I first did this race, which was my first ever race in triathlon. On the other hand I didn't want to do the race because I have much bigger goals to worry about, like training for Amica RI 70.3, which is literally right around the corner. So instead of not doing the race at all I treated the day before the race as a regular training day and decided to go for a 43 mile bike ride. The ride went great and my legs felt very fresh on the 43 mile ride. I ended up averaging 20.7 mph on that ride. So with this long ride before the Ludlow Sprint I didn't have high expectations about finishing high up in my age group and I had predicted that I would finish in an about 1:20 and 5th in my age group.

Swim 1/2 Mile: 41st OA, 5th AG; 11:26 (2006 - 13:54)
This was my first open water swim of the season! Needless to say the swim went well anyway and I settled in comfortably and drafted someone the whole way out and back across Haviland Pond.

T-1: 2:26
I was happy with my swim time and when I got to transition I took my time in getting on my bike gear, which explains the amount of time I was in T-1!

Bike 13.58 Miles (actually 13.06): 67th OA, 10th AG; 36:58 (22.04 MPH) (2006 - 42:30, 19.17 MPH)
I was not looking forward to this portion of the race because of my long ride the day before, but I was still surprised to learn after the race that I still averaged 22 mph, which is great considering! The first 5 miles of this leg I could feel all the muscles I used the day before and it took some time for them to warm up and get use to biking again today. After those first 5 miles I was fine even though I knew there was nothing in the tank for this short 14 mile ride. It made me wonder what was going to be left for the run...

T-2: 1:54
This was pretty uneventful, but again took my time to get my running socks on only because last time I ran without socks was at the JCC race and I ended up with small blisters on my heels, but I think that was due to the rain conditions.

Run 4.02 miles: 5th OA, 2nd AG; 23:21 (5:48/mile) (2006 - 28:41 - 7:08/mile)
After the bike leg I had I was surprised that my legs actually felt great once I started running. I felt a little sluggish at first, but then it went away. I had no idea what I was going to pull off for a time here so I was shocked when I got home to find out I broke the 6 min per mile pace.

Summary: All and all it was a great race and I was happy with how well I did. I wish I had finished a little higher up in my age group, but that's okay, I'll take it. This past week was a great week for workouts and this performance really topped things off. I'll have another training report update in the next few days about my training volume over the last few weeks.

On another note my 2006 time was 1:25:06 and I finished 8th in my AG and 67th OA. I've come a long way since that considering I beat my time from 2 years ago by almost 10 minutes!

JCC Triathlon by the Sea - 2009 Race Report

OFFICIAL RESULTS: 5th OA out of 230, 1st M25-29 out of 6; 56:34

This was my first official race of the season and it was a great motivator to get me back into my groove and hopefully back to enjoying the training for my other races this season. I wasn't quite sure what to expect on how I would perform at this race this year since last year I was in much better shape considering I was training for a half in June. The race this year was back to the original course because last year construction work changed the course and made it a 10.5 mile bike and a 3 mile run. This year it was a 10 mile bike and 3.5 mile run.

The weather on race day was very rainy and 60 degrees. The good thing was that it was humid so it actually felt pretty warm and I was able to get away with no bike socks, arm warmers and leg warmers, which was a plus since they are pain to put on when you are soaking wet and its raining.

Swim 1/8 Mile: 4th OA, 1st AG; 3:39 (Last year 3:45)

The swim start is based on a seed time that you give the race director when you register since its a pool swim. So after the first person goes there is a 10-15 second gap between every swimmer in hopes that you don't catch the person in front of you. The good thing was that this year I was far enough up in the line, number 9 this year, compared to last year where I was 66 people deep. The only person I caught this year was the girl in front of me and it didn't cost me any time. I knew I would improve on my swim time this year since I was further up, but I also feel like I've been concentrating more on this. My actual swim time was 3:26 when I exited the pool, but by the time you reach the timing mat, it adds this time to your swim split, which is still a 12 second improvement over last years swim exit time, which is great over a short distance.

Bike 10 Miles: 19th OA, 1st AG, 31:38 (19.0 MPH) (Last year 20.2 mph)

I knew that going into the bike leg this year that there was no way I would be able to match or beat my average speed from last year, which was 20.2 mph. I just don't have the base mileage that I had this time last year. My longest ride to date is only 34 miles! I had predicted going into the race that I would be in around 31 minutes considering everything, but 38 seconds over isn't to bad considering the weather conditions. The bike course this year was awesome! The roads were well paved with little to no pot holes at all. The only bad thing was that you had to do 3 loops once you got out there and the turn to make the loop was very sharp so you had to slow down to make the turn so that I didn't whip out taking the corner. Overall this is and has continued to be my weakest link in triathlon and where I've been getting beat at the races. It looks like its time to get more time in the saddle and hammer out some miles!

Run 3.5 miles: 1st OA, 1st AG; 21:18 (6:05/mile) (Last year 5:33/mile)

This year the run was a half mile longer and I knew that I didn't have the speed work to pull of a 5:33 pace like I did last year. That was just a crazy fast time I pulled off last year. In fact my base running mileage is way off the mark for this time of year due to my injuries, hip tightness and hamstring issues. By the time I got to the run I was about 2-3 minutes behind the leader and knew I wouldn't be able to catch them, but I knew that I could at least try. Come to find out I still had the fastest time of the day and was able to gain a a minute on the winnder. I was all alone out there on the run course until about the 3 mile mark and I could see the 2nd finisher ahead of me in the distance, but with such a little distance to the finish and such a big gap I knew I wasn't going to be able to catch him.

Summary:

All and all I can't complain about how I finished in this race this year considering where I'm at training wise. Would I have liked to have done better, most definitely, but between my injuries and lack of motivation to train it has held me back from my true potential. My next race is in 2 weeks out at Ludlow, which I'm pretty excited about since Ludlow was where I did my first triathlon. I figured I'd do this race this year to see how far I've come since my first race ever in the sport.

Post Race:

I want to thank my parents and Jess for coming out to cheer me on today despite the very inclimate weather. That was great! After the race and awards we kept with tradition and went out to Brunch / Lunch with Jess's family where I absolutely pigged out on 6 pieces of french toast, 2 egg whites and 3 pieces of bacon!

Training Update

Okay so I haven't been as good keeping up with my blog this year as I had been last year. But the good news is that I've finally got my motivation back. Last week was finally a good week of training for me with the only exception being that I wasn't able to get in my long bike or run because I had to work both Saturday and Sunday. I've got the JCC Sprint Triathlon coming up this weekend and I'm hoping that this race will be a big motivator for me as well and help me get back on track for Amica 70.3 RI, which is in about 8 weeks. Here is my training volume for the last few weeks below.

Week 8:

• Swim - 4,928 yards
• Bike - 19.52
• Run - 10.28

Week 9:

• Swim - 6,106 yards
• Bike - 34.12
• Run - 5.39

Week 10 (Car Accident Week - suffered a mild concussion & sore lower back)

• Swim - 704 yards
• Bike - 0 miles
• Run - 3.01

Week 11:

• Swim - 6,336 yards
• Bike - 34.3 miles
• Run - 7.1 miles