2011 Loveland Lake to Lake Triathlon Race Report

I signed up for this race back in January or February--before I knew I would be taking an exam 2 days prior.  History has shown me that I don't typically feel well and race well after an exam week.  Exam weeks are exhausting--my eating, training, and sleeping schedules get out of whack and I feel down right exhausted and zombie like after the exam.  Well,  I passed the exam (this one I actually got to find out right away) and was happy, but was very fatigued.  I kinda didn't want to do the race.  I was wishing I'd signed up for an xterra or was spending the weekend training.  But I had already paid so I was going.

I got up at 3 am and made the drive up to Loveland, CO to find that everyone else was getting there at 5am when transition opened as well.  I had a long time to get ready while I waited for my wave to start at 6:46 am.

Swim: 1500m + long run to transition, 27:13 including stopping to take my wetsuit off before the long run up to the transition area.  My watch read around 25 when I actually got out of the water. 120/723 overall, 33/315 women

I was in the 5th of 5 waves that were spaced 4 minutes apart.  I haven't started this many waves back in many races in the past few years. The 35-39 women were in the first wave, and I almost wished I was older so I could start first. I wanted to pass at least 3 colors of swim caps on the swim (ie catch up to some people by 12+ minutes).

Finally we got to start and it was not too rough.  Females 34 and under are much nicer to start with than any of the men's waves.  I was moving along at a comfortable and relaxed pace.  Perhaps a little too comfortable.  By the second buoy I caught up to dozens of people from the previous wave.   It was a challenging swimming around the sea of people.  Some people would suddenly stop swimming and turn upright right in front of you, others were swimming diagonally and cutting off a direct path.  Now I remember why I hate starting so far back.

By the 3rd buoy I started passing people from two waves ahead and it got more crowded.  I continued to fight my way through the crowd which made it slower and not the straightest swim, but did provide for a good distraction.  Before I knew it I was passed the last buoy and headed for home.  I definitely passed at least 3 swim cap colors.

There were a lot of swimmers when I got to the swim exit, so I ran up past them and started to remove my wetsuit top as I ran up the hill.  For once it came off easily then I remembered to glance at my watch and see 25:20 something. I started my watch 15 seconds prior to the start and ran a few seconds after so I figure my swim was around 25 mins.  Once my wetsuit top was down I moved to the side and took off the rest of my wetsuit since it was a pretty long run to T1, around 1/3 mile I'd guess.  Then off running up the hill and passing lots of people on the way.

T1: :37 seconds--it helps to take your wetsuit off prior to entering the transition area if you want a super fast time. 1/315 women

Bike: 30 miles, 1:31:44, 218/723, 21/315 women

I started out passing a lot of people and riding strong.  I have only ridden my tri bike 3 times since March and two of them were mostly climbing efforts, while the other was my 30 min prerace ride on Friday.  So, 30 miles of a steady effort on rolling hills was going to be interesting.

While on the bike I realized it had been around 11 months since my last road tri (NJ State Olympic). There were many things I forgot about while training and racing for off-road.  I thought I was going to be able to zone out and get into a good rhythm, but instead of worrying about trees or rocks or roots, I had to weave my way around triathletes which are much less predictable.  I saw a lot of drafting and blocking, and it's sort of sad that this is what I have come to expect in a race and part of why I don't really set place goals for myself in road tris anymore.  But since I wasn't concerned about it, I was much more relaxed--if people want to draft to move up or get a PR, that's their problem, I was just there to do my best effort.

The first 5 miles went by quickly and at a fast pace--I thought it was looking good for me to average 21+ mph.   When I got a chance to look around the course was really beautiful.  Especially around the halfway point when we started to climb up a hill that was somewhat long. My favorite part of the ride :)  Then we started down hill for awhile and I was thinking the last 15 miles might not  be so tough.  But then it got windy, and there were lots of rolling hills.  Oh, yeah and my neck starting hating me for wearing the big giant aero

T2: :36, 2/315 women  This could have been a little faster--too many people in my way!

Run: 10k, 43:02, 75/723, 7/315 women

My legs rarely feel junky coming off the bike.  But today they did.  After a few hundred meters they felt better and I was off and running, ready to pass as many people as I could.  One advantage to starting in a later wave--there's always people to chase on the run.  It was getting warm, but not as hot as it had been the past few days (and today-ugh!)  Sometimes I like to count the people I pass, but there were too many.  Before the first mile I passed my EPC teammate Bruce who is a beast in the 65-69 age group.  In the last race I passed him on the run too, but it took me longer.

I made it to the mile mark (the mile markers were of questionable accuracy) in around 6:30.  The volunteers and aid stations were awesome--1 every mile or so.The course wound through some neighborhoods and out along a lake.  I was feeling pretty good, my legs were just not moving as fast as I'd like--kinda of the story for the season so far.  I hit mile 2 around 13:15 and the turnaround around 19:00 (which was definitely not 3 miles or halfway).  I was starting to fatigue a little, but still passing a lot of people.  I only saw one girl that I knew for sure was in my age group-p ahead of me so I didn't give up chasing because you never know--maybe I missed someone or maybe she has a penalty, who knows right?  I always like a good chase.

I was waiting for the 5 mile mark and finally saw a 1 mile to go sign.  thank goodness.   I thought I had an idea of where the course was going to finish.  I thought we were going to run along side the lake.  Well, we did, but we had to run all the way around it first and then back to get to the finish line from the other side.  It's always tough seeing the finish line when you can see that you have awhile to run.  I tried to kick it in as best I could.

I later found out that I was 4th in my age group.  I must not have seen the other girls as they were running back, or they looked a lot younger or a lot older that 30-34.

Overall 122/723, 15/315 women, 4/65 age group

Overall I was happy with my race.  It was a good workout and a good test of fitness. I need to do a bit more work on my swim and open water swimming and getting my run shape back.  But I'm pretty happy with where my bike is.  When it comes to climbing, I'm in shape for that and that is exactly what I want.

The race was very well run I thought.  There were certainly things that could be improved, but many great things as well.  Some of the things I thought were great were:
-the volunteers--there were many and they were all working hard
-the post race food--rice, beans, scrambled eggs, meat, tomatoes, fresh fruit, and Popsicles; probably one of the best post race meals I've seen
-many parts of the bike course were really pretty as were the run
-a decent amount of buoys in the swim
-clear course markings and directions from volunteers, staff
-plenty of port o johns

Some things that could improve the race:
-assigned bike racks--this seems like it would eliminate a lot of prerace confusion
-placing the port o johns on a flat ground vs. on a downhill--they swayed a bit when you stood up and sat down--I don;t like feeling like the port o john might tip over, but maybe that is just me.
-recording time for the swim at the swim exit instead of at the entrance to the far away transition area
-adding a beginners wave or a wave for swimmers that are not confident.  I think this makes for a safer and more enjoyable experience for everyone on the swim.

Overall it was a fun race experience and solidified for me that I think the road tris are fun, but they really aren't for me anymore.

That being said, I have another one coming up in 2 weeks.