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Race Result

Racer: Matt Taylor
Race: Charleston Sprint Series #3
Date: Sunday, July 31, 2005
Location: James Island, SC
Race Type: Triathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 25 - 29
Time: 1:12:30
Overall Place: 80 / 260
Age Group Place: 6 / 20
Comment: Third times a charm



Race Report:



The Charleston Sprint Triathlon Series (CSTS) is a series of 4 sprint tri's over June, July, and August. I had initially signed up for all four races, but do to injury after columbia, and life in general at the beginning of july, I have not been able to race the series. This past weekend was the third race, and I was determined not to miss this race. I felt primed and ready for the race, and after seeing the second round results, felt that I had a shot of doing well.

Race day came with standard overcast skies. The weather this time of year is storm, sun, storm, sun through out the day. You never know if it will really going rain so you just go about your day. Wendy got up with me to cheer me on and we arrived at the race with plenty of time to spare. On the way over Wendy and I were talking and got into a conversation about her lucky number game. Anything that can have a final result of four is lucky. So it was July 31, 3 + 1 = 4, so a good sign for race day. I set up on transition rack 13, because it was wide open and in a prime spot. No one wanted unlucky 13. I told Wendy and again she said, hey 1+3 = 4. Ok, another good sign. My wave was the last to go off at 7:35am.

Swim

The swim is short in this sprint, only a 1/3 of a mile. I wanted to come in under 10 minutes and felt I could do so without pushing to hard early on. The horn sounded and we were off. Unintentionally, I found myself pulling away with the front pack. Being such a short swim, it stayed fairly crowded. Around the first buoy I found some room and kept on cruising. Nearing the second buoy the water got congested again. I was confused about why all the traffic, and thought I had either gotten off course or was caught by the rest of the group. I quickly discovered that we had caught the wave in front. Working my way through a few more swimmers I found some more room and cruised around the third buoy and into the exit. The swim had taken me 10:29, slower than I had hope, but I felt strong. I have been trying to work on my pace in the water and make a note to continue to do so. In and out of T1 with no issues and I'm on the bike. Wendy would later tell me that I was 6th out of the water from my wave (mental note to know this during the race next time).

Bike

The 13 mile bike consisted of a loop around the park, then out onto some main roads, and then back into the park for a final loop. It is a very fast course, with a long false flat on the main road away form the park. This makes for an even quicker return trip if you have it in your legs. I felt strong on the bike. I was passed by one age grouper, in the first few miles, but after that I was only passing racers from the wave ahead of me. I neither passed or got passed the rest of the ride. 8 miles out into the ride it started to pour. Sheets of water were falling from the sky, and I was on the worse part of the course for this to happen. It was a main road in the area, with heavy traffic regardless of the race. On top of that, the roads were becoming slick, and the potholes and cracks were no longer visible. I got out of my aerobars into my drops for control, but tried not to slow down the pace. About 10 minutes after the storm started it had stopped. I was picking up pace returning to the park and was feeling good about the run. According to the clock it was 39:28 but this includes transition times because you only crossed the bike mat on exit, not re-entry.

Run

I elected to do this race sockless to speed transition and had been training the same over the past few weeks. I was in and out of T2 with no issues and off on the run. After my cramping experience in Columbia, I have been concerened about my legs and diet. I did not want the same thing to keep happening. My hamstrings were a little twitchy at the start of the run. I chalked this up to the bike effort, and kept the cadence up. Within two minutes, my legs had relaxed and I was running a great pace. I actually felt like I was racing this run, not just surviving it. I wanted to catch whoever was in front of me, and looking at my watch I saw that I had a chance. My problem was I had no concept of where anyone else in my AG was. Return to mental note from swim, if I had known my approximate position, I may have had the extra motivation. But like the bike, I was passing plenty of racers, just no on in my AG. At mile two I passed the age grouper who caught me on the bike. I started to pick up the pace more, but did so to rapidly and began to pay. I had enough distance on the runner behind me, but had to slow the pace to recover. A few more hundred meters left, and I picked the pace up again, a little more gradually this time. I dropped a few more from my wave, but no one in the AG. The early push slowed me down a little to much and I crossed the line with a 22:34 5K. The overall finish was 1:12:30 good for sixth place in the AG.

I felt fantastic this whole race, and came out of it with my eyes on a top three finish next race. I can pinpoint the three spots where I lost time. The swim, which is work in progress. The run, where I simply feel I increased pace to quickly, not so much a factor of not being able to hold the pace. The bike, but this was a factor of the severe rain. You have to make safety judgement calls, and the rain was heaviest at the most technical part of the course. It was better to survive the turns then to DNF the race due to a crash. Thanks for reading.