Last week was the Jamestown Triathlon, my second Olympic-distance race. Having completed the Monticelloman triathlon with no problem, I was ready to push myself to exhaustion in this race. Here were my Monticelloman times from a month prior:
Swim: 34:52 (2:24/100m)
Bike: 1:21:53 (3:29/mile)
Run: 58:00 (9:20/mile)
Total (including transitions): 2:59:45
My goal for the Jamestown race was to improve on my swim and bike times, and then struggle through the run. I truly wanted to try to burn myself out on the first two legs of the race, to try to find the upper max of my effort.
It rained HARD the night before the race, but race morning was dry (though cloudy). I got to the race at 5:30 and grabbed the end-spot on the rack in transition.
My nutrition plan was similar to Monticelloman: one 25oz bottle of gatorade sipped every 5-7 minutes, and a caffeine pill at the start and end of the bike. I had two gels on the bike in case I felt hungry enough, too.
All the rain the day before lowered the water temperature to 77 degrees, which meant the race was wetsuit-legal (78 and above means wetsuits aren't allowed). I visited the porta-potties, got body-marked, put on my wetsuit and headed down to the beach.
SWIM
32:04 (2:08/100m)
The rain added a lot of water to high-tide, which meant that about 100 feet of beach was underwater. This meant the first minute or two of the race was spent jogging through knee-high water before having enough room to dive in and start swimming. The swim was 3 sides of a rectangle: we swam out to a buoy, turned and swam with the current, then turned and swam directly back to shore. I settled into a nice groove and headed towards the first buoy, sighting about every 10 seconds.
Halfway to the buoy I realized that the current was pushing me downriver: although I was keeping the buoy directly in front of me, I was being pushed into a "u" shaped route to it. This was tough because in order to make up some ground I had to swim against the current a bit. The last few hundred feet to the buoy took forever. Once I rounded it I picked up the pace to try to make up time. My arms grew tired but I pushed myself to the second buoy and headed back to shore.
The last leg of the swim was better than the first, but the current still pushed me some. I was 20-30 feet downriver from the rest of the racers and had to adjust my course again and go against the stream for the final stretch. My arms ached but I was pleased so see my time at 32:04; I thought it would be much worse. So far I had knocked off 2:48 off my Monticelloman time!
T1: 4:46
The transition from Jamestown beach to the bikes is long: you run about 1/4 of a mile. This is the same course as the Patriot Sprint I did in September, and my T1 for that race was 5:24. Still an improvement. My body felt pretty warm leaving transition with the bike.
BIKE
1:10:56 (2:57/mile)
I felt good, but forced myself to stick with the plan: take the first 10 minutes easy to warm up the legs, then start hammering. I sipped gatorade and took my first caffeine pill, and impatiently watched the clock. Several people passed me. It was tough to watch them speed along while I spin in an easy gear.
10:00 on my watch beeped, and I dropped the hammer. There was a clump of 10-15 people ahead of me, and I passed all of them. There were a few speedy women ahead of me (they started the swim several minutes behind me) and I passed them too. I didn't have a speedometer so I didn't know exactly how fast I was going, but my perceived effort was very high. I didn't think I could keep up this pace until the end, but I would hang on for as long as I could.
I continued to fly by people on the left until we reached the turn-around at the halfway point: 12 miles in 34 minutes. I did the math in my head: even with the first few miles going slow, I was averaging 2:50 per mile! That was faster than any of my speed training rides. Invigorated by my pace, I continued hammering on the way back. I passed more people, including another big clump of guys that were drafting off one-another (drafting isn't allowed: this is cheating). I could feel the fatigue slowly building up in my legs, but I ignored the pain and pushed on. I hammered until my legs felt like they were pumping battery acid. Only one person passed me on the second half of the bike course.
When I had 2 miles left I finally allowed myself to slow down a bit, but I had plenty of time banked. I crossed the mark into transition with a bike time of 1:10:56, 2:57/mile. This crushed my Monticelloman time by 10:57.
T2: 1:35
This was slower than my Patriot Sprint T2 time (0:57), but back then I was wearing Vibrams for both the bike and the run.
RUN
57:39 (9:16/mile)
My legs were great for the first two minutes of the run, but then my calves started cramping. I was paying the price for such a fast bike. I kept myself from walking until the water stops, but it was painful. I didn't have GPS, but I had my watch and clicked the "lap" button at every mile marker. Here were my splits:
Mile 1: 9:05
Mile 2: 9:15
Mile 3: 9:30
Mile 4: 9:45
Mile 5: 9:40
Mile 6: 8:50
I am not a fast runner, and this is where a lot of people made up time on me. In the entirety of the run I passed 2 people, but was passed by dozens. I pushed myself as hard as I could, but I was teetering on the edge of exhaustion and it was all I could do to make it to each water stop. But this was exactly what I had planned, and I was still giddy from crushing the bike portion, so I kept a smile on my face and gave some words of encouragement to everyone who passed me. Triathletes are a friendly bunch.
Most of the run course was on a shady bike path through the woods, which helped keep me somewhat cool. I dumped water over my head at the water stops all the same. One of the larger Pro triathletes wears latex gloves and shoves ice in them to help keep his body temperature down. I would have killed for ice!
I dug deep for the last mile (and the final .22 after that) and finished strong. The time on the finish clock had me yelling with joy.
Swim: 32:04
T1: 4:46
Bike: 1:10:56
T2: 1:35
Run: 57:39
Total: 2:46:58
213 out of 347 (Overall)
160 out of 228 (Men)
13 out of 19 (25-29 Age Group)
Some take-aways from the race:
Once I finished I grabbed my gear, hopped in the car and drove north to DC for a bachelor/bachelorette party at a Nationals game. My body wasn't tired or sore at all. It was a long but fun day!
Swim: 34:52 (2:24/100m)
Bike: 1:21:53 (3:29/mile)
Run: 58:00 (9:20/mile)
Total (including transitions): 2:59:45
My goal for the Jamestown race was to improve on my swim and bike times, and then struggle through the run. I truly wanted to try to burn myself out on the first two legs of the race, to try to find the upper max of my effort.
It rained HARD the night before the race, but race morning was dry (though cloudy). I got to the race at 5:30 and grabbed the end-spot on the rack in transition.
My nutrition plan was similar to Monticelloman: one 25oz bottle of gatorade sipped every 5-7 minutes, and a caffeine pill at the start and end of the bike. I had two gels on the bike in case I felt hungry enough, too.
All the rain the day before lowered the water temperature to 77 degrees, which meant the race was wetsuit-legal (78 and above means wetsuits aren't allowed). I visited the porta-potties, got body-marked, put on my wetsuit and headed down to the beach.
SWIM
32:04 (2:08/100m)
The rain added a lot of water to high-tide, which meant that about 100 feet of beach was underwater. This meant the first minute or two of the race was spent jogging through knee-high water before having enough room to dive in and start swimming. The swim was 3 sides of a rectangle: we swam out to a buoy, turned and swam with the current, then turned and swam directly back to shore. I settled into a nice groove and headed towards the first buoy, sighting about every 10 seconds.
Halfway to the buoy I realized that the current was pushing me downriver: although I was keeping the buoy directly in front of me, I was being pushed into a "u" shaped route to it. This was tough because in order to make up some ground I had to swim against the current a bit. The last few hundred feet to the buoy took forever. Once I rounded it I picked up the pace to try to make up time. My arms grew tired but I pushed myself to the second buoy and headed back to shore.
The last leg of the swim was better than the first, but the current still pushed me some. I was 20-30 feet downriver from the rest of the racers and had to adjust my course again and go against the stream for the final stretch. My arms ached but I was pleased so see my time at 32:04; I thought it would be much worse. So far I had knocked off 2:48 off my Monticelloman time!
T1: 4:46
The transition from Jamestown beach to the bikes is long: you run about 1/4 of a mile. This is the same course as the Patriot Sprint I did in September, and my T1 for that race was 5:24. Still an improvement. My body felt pretty warm leaving transition with the bike.
BIKE
1:10:56 (2:57/mile)
I felt good, but forced myself to stick with the plan: take the first 10 minutes easy to warm up the legs, then start hammering. I sipped gatorade and took my first caffeine pill, and impatiently watched the clock. Several people passed me. It was tough to watch them speed along while I spin in an easy gear.
10:00 on my watch beeped, and I dropped the hammer. There was a clump of 10-15 people ahead of me, and I passed all of them. There were a few speedy women ahead of me (they started the swim several minutes behind me) and I passed them too. I didn't have a speedometer so I didn't know exactly how fast I was going, but my perceived effort was very high. I didn't think I could keep up this pace until the end, but I would hang on for as long as I could.
I continued to fly by people on the left until we reached the turn-around at the halfway point: 12 miles in 34 minutes. I did the math in my head: even with the first few miles going slow, I was averaging 2:50 per mile! That was faster than any of my speed training rides. Invigorated by my pace, I continued hammering on the way back. I passed more people, including another big clump of guys that were drafting off one-another (drafting isn't allowed: this is cheating). I could feel the fatigue slowly building up in my legs, but I ignored the pain and pushed on. I hammered until my legs felt like they were pumping battery acid. Only one person passed me on the second half of the bike course.
When I had 2 miles left I finally allowed myself to slow down a bit, but I had plenty of time banked. I crossed the mark into transition with a bike time of 1:10:56, 2:57/mile. This crushed my Monticelloman time by 10:57.
T2: 1:35
This was slower than my Patriot Sprint T2 time (0:57), but back then I was wearing Vibrams for both the bike and the run.
RUN
57:39 (9:16/mile)
My legs were great for the first two minutes of the run, but then my calves started cramping. I was paying the price for such a fast bike. I kept myself from walking until the water stops, but it was painful. I didn't have GPS, but I had my watch and clicked the "lap" button at every mile marker. Here were my splits:
Mile 1: 9:05
Mile 2: 9:15
Mile 3: 9:30
Mile 4: 9:45
Mile 5: 9:40
Mile 6: 8:50
I am not a fast runner, and this is where a lot of people made up time on me. In the entirety of the run I passed 2 people, but was passed by dozens. I pushed myself as hard as I could, but I was teetering on the edge of exhaustion and it was all I could do to make it to each water stop. But this was exactly what I had planned, and I was still giddy from crushing the bike portion, so I kept a smile on my face and gave some words of encouragement to everyone who passed me. Triathletes are a friendly bunch.
Most of the run course was on a shady bike path through the woods, which helped keep me somewhat cool. I dumped water over my head at the water stops all the same. One of the larger Pro triathletes wears latex gloves and shoves ice in them to help keep his body temperature down. I would have killed for ice!
 |
| Taking the time to get a fun photo in the last mile. |
I dug deep for the last mile (and the final .22 after that) and finished strong. The time on the finish clock had me yelling with joy.
Swim: 32:04
T1: 4:46
Bike: 1:10:56
T2: 1:35
Run: 57:39
Total: 2:46:58
213 out of 347 (Overall)
160 out of 228 (Men)
13 out of 19 (25-29 Age Group)
Some take-aways from the race:
- I PR'd in every category: 2:48 off my swim, 10:57 off my bike, and 21 seconds off my run, for a total PR of 12:47.
- I could have signed up for this race in the Novice category: you're allowed to retain "novice" status for a year after your first race, and mine was last September. Had I done that I would have come in 2nd place out of 7 novices, and would have been only 24 seconds behind 1st!
- I started the bike in 226th place and finished it in 132nd. Of the 19 men in my age group, I had the 5th fastest bike split.
- I need to do a better job of fighting the river current. My time easily could have been under 30:00 if I hadn't gotten off-course.
Once I finished I grabbed my gear, hopped in the car and drove north to DC for a bachelor/bachelorette party at a Nationals game. My body wasn't tired or sore at all. It was a long but fun day!
