Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Baxter Y Tri Race Report

The Tri @ Baxter was the first Triathlon I ever did back in 2010.  It's also the only tri I have done more than once.  So here we are ready for the third time.  It a small low key race that is part the Upstate South Carolina YMCA Series.  There is only about 100 to 120 people total counting relays and duathletes.  Its known for its very hilly bike course, an actual (long) loop run course, and this year: the Slide.

The Baxter YMCA has an outdoor water park with four slides.  Two of which dump into the main outdoor pool (the blue and red).  Last year they joked about starting on the slide, but this year, they actually did!








Yes.  They did.  They put the timing clock at the top of the slide and had people go off every 15 seconds.  Now we got to choose whether you wanted to take the blue slide or the red slide.  Most people opted for the blue slide since it came out on the side where you needed to start swimming.






I took the blue slide.  I only saw a couple people go head first.  Although I will say that those people executed it perfectly.  I did make the mistake of waiting until I got to the water to start my watch.  It didn't start, so I didn't get that segment recorded. Bummer.















People snaked around the pool and up the ladder waiting to start.


Swim 5:07 official, 25/52 OA, 5/13 AG
The swim here is pretty difficult as you go up and back in the same lane.  The course is advertised at 300 yards, but is actually 275 yards plus the slide.  So not sure how that figures out for my time per hundred yards.  All's I know is that it was not good.  After I got out of the pool and realized my watch hadn't started, I started it for a little bit so as not to mess up the auto multisport that I had programmed.  I did manage to get that part right to record my transitions and bike/run legs.


The transition are was setup differently this year (its been different every year).  I kinda like this variation better as its a long thin transition basically on the driveway.  Its located more between the pool and the bike start.









 Setup and ready to go.  Had a little issue gettin my chinstrap on, but that was about it.












Bike 39:46 Official, 3/52 OA, 1/13 AG
Pretty much anaerobic from the get go.  I wanted to really hammer the bike and break 40 minutes.  The hills are pretty good and there is a long slow hill about 3M from the finish.  Almost made a wrong turn at the beginning and locked the back tire up.  Then at the turnaround there was no cone so I went the wrong (long) way around the police car.  But other than that, happy with my time and place (only 7 seconds back of #2).  Garmin had 15.74 miles so only about 23.7 average (would have liked to see 24).


Run 21:36 Official, 3/52 OA, 1/13 AG
Run was about a minute slower than I had hoped.  Although I do think now it was a little longer than last year.  I had 3.46 miles on my Garmin for a 6:16 average.  I knew going in I had to go 6 flats on the run to crack the top 3 overall. 
Coming down to the . . .

Finish 1:08:30 Official 5/52 OA, 1/13 AG.
So I missed the podium by 42 seconds.  Like I said, needed 6 flats on the run.  3rd on the bike and the run, but 5th overall.  How bad is my swim/transitions?  Wow.  Anyways I do this race because its so close to the house and the bike course goes right in front of my neighborhood.  Won my age group again this year, but like I said, not a big race. 

Its a fun race.  I see a lot of people I know, so its fun to hang out after the race.  I'm sure I'll do it again next year unless some bigger race interferes.  Full results here.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

200 Miles

200 miles sounds cool.  It just does.  Biking 200 miles in one week is something I had never done before.  My previous highest mileage week was 183 miles last year.   When the Memorial Day Weekend presented itself, we decided to go camping, so no rides on Saturday or Sunday.   So I was fresh and ready to go on Monday, Memorial Day. 

That week I did 50.5 on Mon, 32.4 on Fri, 52.2 on Sat, and then 66.6 on Sun for 201.8 miles (21.7 avg).  I was pretty pleased, but then thought that it really had an asterisk next to it because I only did 30M the week before and was pretty rested coming in.

So the second week, it was earned.  50.3 on Tues, 31 on Fri, 53 on Sat, and then 70.7 on Sun for 205 miles (21.4 avg).  Highest mileage week ever, and longest single ride ever.  Legs def felt it at the end of the 70M ride as I averaged 21.4 for that ride as well.

I surely was tired all day Monday.  407 miles in the past 2 weeks can do that.  But now its time for a little rest as the Baxter Tri is less than 2 weeks away.

Last 2 Week Training Block
Swim
14,150 yards, 5:39, 6 swims
Finally had some good workouts.  Last one in this block was 12x100's where I averaged 1:47's.  Pretty good for me.  I'm taking 60 sec rest so I can do them hard and work on speed (Thanks Tigerchik)

Bike
406.8 miles, 18:51, 8 rides, 21.6 mph average
Doing intervals once a week.  Still keeping every ride over 21mph.  Memorial Day 50 miler was at 22.2 mph.

Run
52 miles, 5:55, 6 runs
Got some good 3:00 min intervals in.  Basically a 6x 1/2 mile repeats with 2min rest as I did them right at or under 6:00 pace.  Did that workout last 2 Saturdays.  Feel pretty good, but need to start working in some tempo runs.

Other
2:40, 6 lifts
On to 3 lifts a week and exercises 4x a week.