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Race Result

Racer: Richard Gendron
Race: Culpeper Triathlon
Date: Sunday, August 3, 2008
Location: Culpeper, VA
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 40 - 44
Time: 1:29:39
Overall Place: 51 / 338
Age Group Place: 6 / 41
Comment: Engine Blown Beyond Recovery



Race Report:



For some reason - and it doesn't matter why - I had a really bad race/day. I blew my engine on the first hill out of T1 and never got on top of the bike leg - Power numbers confirm. The run was about survival (and not vomiting). This is a race report I really don't want to write, but the ones you don't want to write are the ones that teach you the most.

Pre race went according to plan, arrived at 6:10. Next year, note that it is worth arriving :15 minutes earlier to avoid the packet pickup line. Saw Erik (trirat) and a few other friendly faces before the race. I warmed up on the bike and told myself "the first mile out of T1 is going to take patience, and there is plenty of speed to be had after turn 2". I did not get a swim warm up [mistake].

Course
Swim was about 200 meters out, left around buoy #1, 400 meters across the lake, left around buoy #2 and then 150m to the beach. Bike course was changed at the last minute to a big loop. There were plenty of big ring hills and several technical (for a tri) turns. Run was on grass across the levee and then up a brutal hill, into a neighborhood and back down the hill and across the levee.


Swim (13:37, 8/41, 61/338)
Each time I do a race, I am less happy about starting in wave 4. Today we ran into the back end of Wave 3 in the first 200 meters, before turn 1. I thought I had marked a pink cap properly, but a heel kick to the solar plexus told me I had mistimed the pass. Getting around bouy #1 was hard since I got squeezed in the middle of three women and had to corkscrew out of the body jam to get free. On the exit, I took another kick and swallowed a ton of mucky water - took a while to gt back on track after that. On the back stretch I got my first clue that today was going to suck. I started feeling nauseous and had to ease up. I started to lose confidence and started worrying about making up time on the bike. The rest of the swim was uneventful

T1 (1:08, 4/41, 42/338)
I was feeling urgency from lost time in the water, so I ran through T1 pretty hard, and never let my HR settle. My helmet was too tight on first try (I had used my road helmet for warm up), so I had to adjust and lost about 10 seconds

Bike (48:41, 5/41, 34/338)
This is where I blew up. Out of T1 I started up the big hill. When my PT finally kicked on My HR was pegged at 182 (waaaaayy too high for me). I tried to throttle back, but needed the power to get my large butt up the hill. No prob, now I just relax and let my HR come down so I can motor. It never really happened. No matter how much I soft pedaled, My HR would not come down into something I could stand. Then I got cramps on both sides of my rib cage. I couldn't shake it off. Then I got passed, which actually helped. I held onto my passer (not drafting, just kept him in view). I just matched his pace and tried to ignore my misery. Watching him for a while, I realized I was going to get back some time on the technical turns on the course. He was neither taking good lines nor pedaling through them. So I focused on a technically good ride. I started to feel better with something other than my cramps to focus on. I passed my mark on almost every technical turn and downhill, but he would claw me back on the up hill portions.

I was almost motoring near the end and passed two of my age group in the last mile of the course. the last turn was a downhill leading into a sharp/narrow right hand turn. I set it up pretty well, but never guessed that a slower rider in front of me would brake in the middle of the turn and cross several lines. I had to brake hard to avoid collision and skidded off the course, just inches from A police motorcycle. Lost 30-40 seconds at least getting back on course and up to speed, and only had one shoe undone at the DM line. Oh well.


T2(1:04, 11/41, 89/338)

Run (25:09, 18/41, 149/338)
Misery continued. I felt like each step was a body blow to the ribs. I've not had cramps since high school, so I didn't know what to do cept not vomit, so I just ran slow. I was passed by two of my AG in the last mile, and could not muster a sprint to the line. I ended up in 6th, but 4-6th were separated by less than 30 seconds - ouch.

Vomited water in the parking area after the race and had several potty stops on the way home.

Power numbers don't lie, I never even got to workout level power. I've been averaging 240+ for 30 in - 1hr workouts. My warm up intervals had higher wattage than the race. This will be embarrassing, but here's my best 30 min. I just noticed - Max speed 45mph - wow that was fun

Peak 30min (208 watts):
Duration: 30:01
Work: 375 kJ
TSS: n/a
Norm Power: 217
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: 3.14%
Pa:HR: -3.48%
Distance: 11.108 mi

Min Max Avg
Power: 0 676 208 watts
Heart Rate: 166 177 171 bpm
Cadence: 38 133 85 rpm
Speed: 9.4 44.9 22.2 mph
Pace 1:20 6:21 2:42 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 282 70 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 560 211 lb-in


Ratio to Top 5 - .8557
Race Wt - .92
VTS score - .7873

Should move into 4th in VTS AG standings.