Westchester Triathlon - September 23, 2012
Pre-Race
I felt pretty good going into this last week before the race, but probably not as disciplined with respect to diet and doing core exercises as I should have been. Swam on Friday night with AG Tri, and my calf cramped up in the middle of the workout pushing off the wall. Thankfully Coach Mike Galvan pulled me out of the pool right away, otherwise I would have been tempted to keep on going as the cramp began to subside. Calf didn't feel great when I got home, and even after massaging it, and applying heat, it didn't feel great. I was thinking that if that was the worst that happened, I would still be okay. Sadly, and stupidly, as I stepped out of my bathroom Saturday morning, I kicked the kickstand on my folding bike (not sure why I own one, but that's another story). It hurt lots, and got worse throughout the day. The bruise ended up spreading out through my entire toe, and even underneath. On a side note, when people who have known me for a long time found out that I hurt my toe by kicking my bike, asked me whether it was an accident or if I was mad and kicked it on purpose. Why would they think that?
I was out a little too late on Saturday night because of Kathy's 20th high school reunion. I was happy to go, and felt like I should be there, even though Kathy said I didn't need to go. I left before she did, but could have gone to bed earlier. In any case, I didn't sleep well as usual, but didn't wake up as many times as I did the night before Mighty Hamptons. Sleeping in my own bed definitely helped.
I woke up at 3:45am, changed, grabbed my water bottles from the fridge and headed to the garage to get my car. I drove to Angela's apartment to meet Angela, Nicole and Elton. Angela was the one who got me into triathlons in the first place, and Nicole and Elton were the ones who got Angela into triathlons. Anthony was racing the Westchester Tri as well, so I had alot of the people who were responsible for me getting to the starting line at the race.
We got there pretty early, around 5:15am. No line for chip pickup or body marking, and had time for the bike mechanics to take a quick look at my bike, which had been making more noise than usual since I switched to the racing wheels. I had taken it to the bike shop down the street, and I am pretty sure that they didn't do anything with my bike since it was still making noise. The mechanic took a quick look, said something like "Yeah, the Zipps can be pretty temperamental", and tightened one screw on the hub by a couple of turns. Noise was gone and there were no issues during the bike leg. I think I will always have the bike mechanics at the races give my bikes a once over from now on.
We had lots of time before the race start, which I was happy for since I think I will always have a funny stomach before a race. Elton had his headphones on, which I think I'll start bringing as well, especially if I'm going to be that early for the races. I should have spent more time warming up, but I was able to do about 5 minutes of swimming, with some short accelerations before they had us get out of the water. I did some dynamic stretches and arm swings, etc. during the pre-race announcements and waiting for my wave. I saw a guy with a stationary bike in the parking lot--I don't think I'll do that, but I should figure out a better warm-up routine that includes some time on the bike and a little bit of running for next year.
Swim
It was turning out be a pretty nice day, but the sun was going to be an issue on the way out since it wasn't that high up in the sky yet, and it was turning out to be pretty bright. I was in Wave 5, though given how crowded the beach was, I wasn't really able to see the start line or the previous waves until they had swum out a little bit. After the 4th wave left, we were called down to the start line--just had the edge of the water, with two guys on the beach representing the start line. I lined up on the right side again, 2 or 3 rows back. It was a beach start, which I hadn't done before. Sun was in our eyes on the way out, but generally felt like I was okay on sighting and took a good line on the way out. I checked my watch at turn, and I was around 14:30, and was relatively pleased with my progress given the level of effort. Coming back was a different story though. We were told during the pre-race instruction to sight using the towers. I thought I was sighted properly, but then realized that everyone was to the left of me, and that I was coming really close to the safety boats. I finally stopped, and started breast stroking to take a better look. It turned out that there were two sets of towers and I was sighted on the set to the right, when I should have been sighting on the set to the left. I finally lined up on the correct set of towers, and the blue inflatable arch that marked the swim finish. I was upset with myself because that was one of the things I was trying to do better given my experience in the last race.
Finished in 32:08, which was a bit disappointing. Garmin says that I swam over 1800m around a 1:45/100m pace, so if there's any consolation to be found, it's that I was probably swimming pretty well. Still, was pretty disappointed with my mistake given that this was something I was something I wanted to focus on for this race. I want to think about it a bit more, but perhaps next year I'll start more on the left side or in the middle of the pack, so I don't wander off to the right by myself. I also started sighting more frequently on the way back after the course correction, every 4 breaths instead of 5, and I think that helped, so I'll do that going forward.
I was 10:01 behind the M35-39 leader, 18:50 behind Men's and overall leader.
32:08 (36/116 Age Group, 224/768 Men, 278/1009 Overall), 2:09m/100m for 1500 meters. 1:47/100 meters for 1835m on Garmin.
T1
Was okay getting through transition, though I kind of got my arms stuck, and took some time getting left sleeve off over my garmin. I think it took almost the entire run to my bike to get my wetsuit down to my waist. Will need to practice more for next year. Not sure I'm reading this right, but I think I passed 4 people in my age group, and 16 men in transition.
T1 Time: 3:12
Bike
I started off feeling pretty good on the bike, probably to my detriment, as I started passing people right away. Early stretches through town were pretty flat, and was going pretty good. I also felt pretty strong going up on the hills, passing a fair number of people. Stayed in the large chain ring (easiest gear on the cassette) for the first couple of hills, and that probably hurt me. I ended up climbing the other hills and "Claire's Climb" in the small chain ring.
There was a fair amount of wind...generally head and crosswinds on the way out, and tailwinds on the way back. I am still getting used to the racing wheels, I could definitely feel the crosswinds moving the wheels around. Anthony said that the wind was significant, as he was 5 minutes slower on the bike this year than last.
I tried to stay in the moment, but I know that I was already thinking ahead on what my bike time would be, and how much slower it would be than my bike time for the Mighty Hamptons. I know that I was also thinking about my total time with my swim time. I will work harder to stay in the moment in the future, and not think about my total time or where I think I will finish during the race. It definitely led me to push harder than necessary on the bike.
I was 24:41 behind the age group leader, and 26:53 behind men's and overall leader at the end of the bike leg. According to the race website, I was faster than Anthony on the way out, and 4 seconds slower on the bike overall, so given that he's a stronger and faster than me overall, I am pretty sure I paced incorrectly on the bike.
Flying on the way back was fun, with some decent downhill sections where I hit almost 40 miles per hour. I'll admit to being a bit chicken, and braking a little bit, especially in those sections where the road was a bit bumpy. There were some rough sections where the road conditions were not great.
Split 1 44:26 @ 17.42mph (12.9 miles)
Split 2 32:32 @ 21.94mph (11.9 miles)
Total 1:16:54@ 19.33mph (35/116 Age Group, 185/768 Men, 203/1009 Overall)
T2
I was a little bit slow trying to find my spot, felt like I got out of my bike shoes and into my race flats ok. I will need to work on getting into my sneakers faster, perhaps they are too tight and I am struggling to get them on right. I somehow missed where the transition timing mat was on the run out, so hit the lap button late.
T2 Time 1:48
Run
I paid for pushing too hard on the bike with a less than great performance on the run. I ended up running 8:04min/mile versus 7:52s at Mighty Hamptons. Some of it was attributable to the fact that the course was more hilly, part of it was because my toe hurt, but pushing too hard on the hills during the bike leg cost me. Legs felt heavy, almost dead from the get go and every time I was looking for more energy/speed, it wasn't there. I normally have something left for the final kick and sprint to the end, but it wasn't there this time. It was sort of disheartening to see each mile split get slower than the one before. Mile splits were off because of when I hit the lap button, but the avg paces were 7:47, 7:58, 8:02, 8:12, 8:14, and 7:57. In looking at the HR data, it looks like my HR wasn't that high (average was 6 bpms lower than the 4 mile I did last week, and max was 13 bps lower), so I probably had more in the tank cardio-wise, but my legs were dead.
Just like at Mighty Hamptons, I developed a stitch in my right side, but this one felt like it came earlier during the run than in the last race and though it got better late in the run, it never really went away like last time.
I didn't really like the u-turns, but it was generally a pretty nice course, with lots of really enthusiastic volunteers and spectators. While it wasn't flat as advertised, it wasn't that hilly either, with only a couple of hills worth mentioning. Finish line was through a park with a downhill through grass/dirt trail. Legs were really tired, and I stumbled a bit coming down the path. Thankfully I didn't fall--would have been embarrassing in front of all of the spectators at the finish line.
If I'm reading the results correctly, doesn't look like any one in my age group passed me during the run (or I passed the same number of guys that passed me?). I started the run in 37th place, and ended in 37th in my age group) Looks like I lost about 13 minutes on the run (was 25:29 behind the leader at the beginning of the run, was 38:27 behind at the finish).
Run Time 49:60 (35/116 Age Group, 203/768 Men, 227/1009 Overall) (8:04min/mil)
Total Time: 2:44:05 (37/116 Age Group, 205/768 Men, 227/1109 Overall)
Post-Race
I thought that the race organizers did a pretty good job. Pretty lively finish area, with lots of spectators, a band and the cheerleaders from Rye High School. There was tons of food with the usual fruit and bagels, but they also had sandwiches from Fairway, pizza, and beer. I have a ton; 3 slices of pizza, a sandwich, and a cup of beer. If I didn't have to drive, I would have had more to drink.
I definitely want to bring the kids next time...saw some moms and dads cross the finish line running with their kids. I'd love to do that next time if there was a way to get them up there and without having to wake up so early.
Realized that I had a huge wetsuit hickey, which I did not have after Mighty Hamptons. I think I was not careful in making sure that the collar was in the right position when I zipped up my wetsuit, because there is a soft flap that should prevent that. Apparently, it looks nasty, and it doesn't feel great. My toe hurt as well and was red and purple all over.
I was initially pretty bummed--partly because I had set some pretty high expectations for myself because of my time from Mighty Hamptons, and partly because of how the run went where I would normally hope to run negative splits, but ended up with increasing splits instead.
It took some time and chatting with some folks to put it in perspective:
- I learned that you can't compare times across courses--Westchester is hillier than Mighty Hamptons. Conditions can vary from course to course and year to year.
- Overall, I was faster than I had hoped for in this season. I had been telling people that I was hoping to finish in less than 3 hours, with a "secret" goal of going sub- 2:45, which I did in both races, significantly better in Mighty Hamptons.
- My first race this year (actually, ever) was a NYRR 4 mile race in CP back in February, where I ran 8:43s, so I was especially happy running 7:52s for Mighty Hamptons. I was also really happy to do the most recent NYRR 4 mile race in 7:23s, so I am trying not to be too disappointed with the 8:04s I ran at Westchester. To be honest with myself, I was hoping for a faster swim than Mighty Hamptons by improving my sighting, and having a faster run after the NYRR race the week before, but the messed up toe didn't help and I learned that I need to pace better on the bike.
- This was my first year doing triathlons, and I finished in the top 25-32% of my age group in both olympic races, and 6th out of 36 in my first sprint distance earlier this year, so I'm going to view it as a pretty successful rookie year, with lots of positives to build on, and lessons learned to work on for next year.
Lessons learned and things to work on for next season:
Work on sighting strategy - This was probably the biggest disappointment of the whole race. I think my sighting frequency/timing was okay, but I need to have a better idea and picture of what I am going to sight off of before I get in the water, instead of making it up as I go along. I'm more comfortable with the contact now, so I think I am going to line up more in the middle of the pack instead of the far right edge and take a more direct, inside line with a better view of each buoy.
Leg strength/endurance - Not running and not doing any strength training for 2 months in the middle of the season due to injury couldn't have helped. I want to work on running in the offseason, maybe 3 times a week, but do it in a smarter way so I don't injure myself again. I also want to pick up strength training again...I know that I'm not that strong as I could or should be, and that more core/leg/chest/back/etc strength will benefit me next year.
Swim technique - I'm pretty happy with how far my swim has come, where I couldn't even swim 100m in January without being really winded. I'd like to take another AG swim clinic or look into a masters class or private lessons.
Pacing - As Mike says (paraphrasing), it's not how fast you do the swim, or the bike, but how fast you do all three. I think I finally learned that the hard way.
Nutrition/hydration - I only drank 1 bottle of water on the bike during Mighty Hamptons, and 2/3s of a bottle during Westchester, which was probably not enough. I wonder if the stitch in my side had anything to do with it.
Transition - perhaps work on mounting/dismounting with bike shoes in pedals for next season.
Other - maybe move Garmin off the quick release wrist strap and back to normal strap. Perhaps it will be easier to get my wetsuit off.
Check wetsuit collar before the race. It didn't happen during Mighty Hamptons, and the collar has a soft flap that should prevent it, but I ended up with a decent wetsuit hickey during Westchester.
