RR: Manchester Star Sprint Triathlon (or 7 seconds from glory)

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<p>Manchester Star Sprint Triathlon (200 yd/14 mi/5k)</p>
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<p>This is a local triathlon in the small town where I live.  It was the second triathlon I did, and the first that I finished the swim without having to swim on my back.  Two years ago that was a huge accomplishment for me.</p>
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<p>I was excited about this race because it is close to home (slept in my own bed), short pool swim (a big plus for me), and the bike was flat and fast and I’ve really focused on the bike since June.  </p>
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<p>I studied the results from last year and figured I would most likely be able to get hardware if I had a good race.  (I tend to overanalyze these things, but I guess there are worse things I could do.)</p>
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<p>The race was limited to 130 people, and this year, unlike last year or the year before, the race reached the cutoff before race day.  I realized later that my girlfriend…who works in a triathlon store near Nashville, had told everyone about the race and my age group had 18 people.  (About twice as many as last year.)  Oh well, I’ll just do the best I can do and see where I end up.</p>
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<p><strong>Summary:</strong></p>
<p>Swim: 4:31</p>
<p>T1: 0:27</p>
<p>Bike (14 mile): 38:27 (21.85 mph avg.)</p>
<p>T2: 0:34</p>
<p>Run (5K): 24:44 (7:59 pace)</p>
<p>TOTAL: 1:08:41</p>
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<p><strong>Swim:</strong></p>
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<p>This was a 200 yd swim in a 25 yd pool, so 8 lengths and out to transition.  I swam 100 yds warmup, then got out and lined up.  The week before I had done a triathlon with a 300 meter swim and found out that if you relax too much on the swim, your time can go from “really slow” to “how can you get lost on a 300 m swim???” – slow.  So I was determined to try to swim this one fast.  200 yds wasn’t that eventful, I felt pretty good and felt like I was going faster than the week before.  When I got out of the water, I hit my watch and it said 4:16.  (The week before, the 300 m swim had been 8:35, so I was happy for the improvement.  Also, the first time I did this tri two years ago, my 200 yd time was 5:25.</p>
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<p>My official time was 4:30 because they put the timing mat just before the T1 entrance, but no big deal, still an improvement. </p>
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<p><strong>T1</strong> -  I was flying through T1.  I had bodyglided my shoes, clipped them into the pedals, and used rubberbands to hold them in place, so I just threw on my sunglasses, helmet, and off I went.  I finally realized, you can run faster with the bike if you hold the back of the seat rather than the middle of the handlebars, so I did this and was on the bike in no time.</p>
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<p>T1 – 0:27 </p>
<p><img alt="Star Triathlon Bike out 2010.jpg" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="14149" data-type="61" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/content/type/61/id/14149/width/720/height/482" style="; width: 720px; height: 482px"></p>
<p><strong>Bike</strong> – The first part of the bike course is about ¼ mile uphill, but not really steep, just enough that you can’t go out of T1 like a rocket.  Still I passed a few people up the hill and then the fun began.  I felt really good on the bike.  Since my swim is so bad, there is always lots of folks ahead of me out of T1.  No one passed me on the bike.  The course was an out and back, and going out there was a little bit of a headwind.  Still I felt like I was making good time, and I reached the turnaround without looking at my watch.  I finally decided to check it, and to my horror I had hit “STOP” instead of “LAP” after the swim!!!!  Oh well, get over it, they’re keeping time, just RACE!  So that’s what I did.  I haven’t been running a lot, so I didn’t hold back because I knew that whether I went slow or fast on the bike…the run would probably not be pretty.</p>
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<p>Bike – 38:27 (21.85 mph)</p>
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<p><strong>T2</strong> – I felt like T2 went well also, but coming off the bike I felt a side stitch.  This would make the run lots of fun.  T2: 0:34</p>
<p><a class="H-lightbox-open" href="http://www.kickrunners.com/content/type/61/id/57841/width/1000/height/800/flags/" target="_blank"><img alt="Star Triathlon Run Start 2010.jpg" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="14150" data-type="61" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/content/type/61/id/14150/width/335/height/500" style="; width: 335px; height: 500px"></a></p>
<p>Run – I came out of transition trying to settle into a good pace I could hold for 5K, but my side was giving me fits.  A friend of mine was taking pictures and told me good job.  In the picture, I’m either having trouble keeping my tongue in my mouth, or I’m saying the “TH” part of “Thank You” Ha!  The first mile was really tough.  I saw my friend who won the thing coming in just as I was heading out…then I started counting people to get a feel for where I was overall.  My side was killing me, and for the whole first mile I felt like I was running some sort of weird side crunch wobble.  During mile 2 I guess I forgot about it because just before the turnaround I heard footsteps behind me.  Oh MAN! I didn’t feel like I had much to hold anyone off.  The footsteps got closer and I decided to kick it up the best I could for 200 footfalls of my right foot, then hang on to what I could for the rest of the run.  As I did this, the footsteps faded behind me until I couldn’t hear them.  I slowed a bit, still trying to keep a good pace, but sure enough, the guy showed up behind me again.  We passed the 2 mile mark and not long after that, he passed me.  I picked it up a little, but just couldn’t hold him off.  With about ¼ mile to go, I thought to myself, “These things sometimes come down to seconds, so don’t slack up now, leave it all on the course.”  I finished the run strong – almost strong enough to throw up, but I held it.  I had thought that anything under 1:10 would be ok.  I ended up with 1:08:??  4^th of 18 in AG, 13^th of 130 overall, and a mere 7 seconds from that elusive first Triathlon hardware.</p>
<p><a class="H-lightbox-open" href="http://www.kickrunners.com/content/type/61/id/57843/width/1000/height/800/flags/" target="_blank"><img alt="Star Triathlon Finish 2010.jpg" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="14151" data-type="61" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/content/type/61/id/14151/width/335/height/500" style="; width: 335px; height: 500px"></a></p>
<p>Compared to 2 years ago:</p>
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<p>Swim: 4:31 vs. 5:26 (55 sec improvement)</p>
<p>T1: 0:27 vs. 1:15 (48 sec improvement)</p>
<p>Bike (14 mile): 38:27 (21.85 mph avg.) vs. 43:43 (5:16 improvement)</p>
<p>T2: 0:34 vs. 0:56 (22 sec improvement)</p>
<p>Run (5K): 24:44 (7:59 pace) vs. 25:31 (47 sec improvement)</p>
<p>TOTAL: 1:08:41 vs. 1:16:48 (8:07 improvement)</p>