The Rehearsal Road Race is the OBRA category championship, but it is not a practice race as the name would imply, and is my last race as a Cat 5. The course was brutal, but I ended up with a 9th place finish. The first lap was pretty fast. The pack fractured on some of the steeper stuff, and in the last 300 meters it split into about three groups. I didn't make the first group but wasn't too worried because the next section was 6 miles of sweeping downhill. My group, the second one, easily caught the first about 500 meters into the descent. The descent was fun and easy. Sitting 5 wheels back you had to do almost no work. The majority of the dropped riders caught us on the descent.
After awhile I was bored just sitting in, so I took a nice long pull on the front; huge mistake. After my pull I drifted back to get some rest. About 30 seconds later the road ticked up and the guys on the front attacked. I was about 20 wheels back, boxed in and had no prayer of going with them. The field totally shattered. The lead group was made up of 5 or 6 riders and the small groups of 2 or 3. I got in with a teammate, and we worked together to catch 2 Fred Meyer guys in front of us. For the majority of the second lap climbing one of the Fred Meyer guys wanted to do all the pulling so we let him. Sitting on his wheel grinding away. The guy who eventually finished 8th bridged up to us, and we were now a group of 5.
The Fred Meyer dude dropped his chain on the last big climb. He looked pretty toast when we all went by him, and I didn't see him the rest of the day. On the downhill section we worked really well together. 30 second pulls on the front then rotating back. As we passed riders they joined our train. By the end of the downhill we had about 10 riders in our group. The rotating pace line was the best pace line I've been a part of in a race situation. Then after 15-20 minutes of awesomeness it all came crashing down. We passed some Cat 4 riders and something happened behind me. I was 4th wheel back and kept up the pace, but the guys behind me suddenly dropped. The road ticked up a bit, and they never caught back on. One of the four guys in out group dropped in the first hill, and soon it was just three.
The three of us worked together up the hills about a mile, but on the top of the final hill the third guy had enough and sat up. Then there was only two of us. We started the last hill together and then started working on the downhill. Working as a group of 2 is a lot different then working as a group of 10 or even 5. You don't get nearly as much rest. We pushed it down the hill and even caught sight of a group of 5 riders ahead of us but simply couldn't catch them. I think the group of 5 split because we picked off a few solo riders in the last 2 miles.
The finish was uphill and hard. I sat on my partner's wheel and could see the guy in front of us. He accelerated in the last 500 meters and I simply didn't have the legs to go with him. Finishing 9th in the Cat 5's is pretty respectable. I thought I was going to be much further down. All and all it was a good day. We finished off the day by taking a "cool down" lap by doing the course again.
Results are here.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Duck Bill Thrill Race Report
Wow Duck Bill Thrill was awesome! The course was much more challenging than I anticipated. Here's the quick rundown:
Total time: 2:36:26.
Swim: 0:33:46,
T1: 0:02:40,
Bike: 1:08:10
T2:0:00:57
Run:0:50:53
I woke up super early Sunday morning at 3:30 am to head down to Eugene. The drive down was pretty uneventful there was some pretty cool mist on parts of the road but I didn't get a picture. I arrived at the race course with plenty of time to spare. Almost too much. I set up my transition area, was last in line for packet pickup, then last in lie for body marking. Next race I'll be bringing my own sharpie to mark myself with. Waiting in the lines meant that I didn't get that much time to warm up in the water. I would have liked to swim 500 yds or so and that's what coach told me to do but I only got about 200.
The start of the swim was a huge cluster. I went out with the side stroke, huge mistake. I was quickly over swam by people then we stopped almost completely as the people in the front were trying to get things figured out. Next time I'm going to go out one arm freestyle. The swim was a 2 loops of 750 meter each. The first look I did side stroke, the second was one arm free. I swam pretty straight for the most part and after the first 500 meters or so did not have any issues with running into other people. I was able to just go out and swim my own race.
The swim to bike transition went well. I felt pretty good getting on the bike and the first part of the course was a major descent. At the bottom there was a T as I approached the turn, I went to grab my front break but it didn't slow me much. I had forgotten to close it after I put my wheel on!! I totally over cooked the corner and almost wrecked. Thankfully I was able to keep the rubber side down and the next section was fairly flat so I was able to reach down and close the break. I guess I learned my lesson. Always check you breaks. The res of the bike was pretty good. I passed a ton of people. The course was much hillier that I thought it was going to be which was nice. I really like a challenging course.
Bike to Run transition went really smoothly. It was pretty fast. I think getting some Tri specific bike shoes would make it even faster. They are easier to get on and off. I was able to find my run legs about 1.5 miles into the run which was also more chalenging that I thought it was going to be. The first section was down hill the on a rocky gravel trail accross a damn. The up through some fairl serious "rolling" hills. and then back again. I tried to run down a few people in the last half mile but was only able to get one of them.
All in all a good strong performance and my first Olympic post ski accident. I'm happy with the bike but want to swim and run faster. I guess we'll have to work on those two things.
Total time: 2:36:26.
Swim: 0:33:46,
T1: 0:02:40,
Bike: 1:08:10
T2:0:00:57
Run:0:50:53
I woke up super early Sunday morning at 3:30 am to head down to Eugene. The drive down was pretty uneventful there was some pretty cool mist on parts of the road but I didn't get a picture. I arrived at the race course with plenty of time to spare. Almost too much. I set up my transition area, was last in line for packet pickup, then last in lie for body marking. Next race I'll be bringing my own sharpie to mark myself with. Waiting in the lines meant that I didn't get that much time to warm up in the water. I would have liked to swim 500 yds or so and that's what coach told me to do but I only got about 200.
The start of the swim was a huge cluster. I went out with the side stroke, huge mistake. I was quickly over swam by people then we stopped almost completely as the people in the front were trying to get things figured out. Next time I'm going to go out one arm freestyle. The swim was a 2 loops of 750 meter each. The first look I did side stroke, the second was one arm free. I swam pretty straight for the most part and after the first 500 meters or so did not have any issues with running into other people. I was able to just go out and swim my own race.
The swim to bike transition went well. I felt pretty good getting on the bike and the first part of the course was a major descent. At the bottom there was a T as I approached the turn, I went to grab my front break but it didn't slow me much. I had forgotten to close it after I put my wheel on!! I totally over cooked the corner and almost wrecked. Thankfully I was able to keep the rubber side down and the next section was fairly flat so I was able to reach down and close the break. I guess I learned my lesson. Always check you breaks. The res of the bike was pretty good. I passed a ton of people. The course was much hillier that I thought it was going to be which was nice. I really like a challenging course.
Bike to Run transition went really smoothly. It was pretty fast. I think getting some Tri specific bike shoes would make it even faster. They are easier to get on and off. I was able to find my run legs about 1.5 miles into the run which was also more chalenging that I thought it was going to be. The first section was down hill the on a rocky gravel trail accross a damn. The up through some fairl serious "rolling" hills. and then back again. I tried to run down a few people in the last half mile but was only able to get one of them.
All in all a good strong performance and my first Olympic post ski accident. I'm happy with the bike but want to swim and run faster. I guess we'll have to work on those two things.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Prepping for Duck Bill Thrill
Duck Bill Thrill starts Sunday at 8am in Eugene. That means I need to be at the race course at 6:30 to get my packet, prep transition and warm up before the race starts. Which means that I need to leave Portland by 4am at the latest to get there on time! Wow that's early! I'm getting all my stuff together today and tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be heading over to Athletes Lounge to pick up a neoprene cap to keep my head warm on the swim and a new set of goggles. I already have a set of gloves to keep my right hand warm. It might be really cold out there.
I'm going to try something different this race in an effort to reduce my T1 transition time. The last two were almost 5 mins long!! The plan is to wear my heart rate monitor, arm brace and top under the wetsuit. This should drastically reduce my transition time. Also I'm going to go sans gloves if its warm enough. Hoipefully this will put me closer to 2 mins instead of 5.
Finally Duck Bill is my first Olympic distance (1.5k/40k/10k) race post skiing accident and I'm a little nervous about it. Now to get back to work and fit in hair cut, yoga, swimming, running and church into the rest of my day. Looks like I'll be working some tomorrow.
I'm going to try something different this race in an effort to reduce my T1 transition time. The last two were almost 5 mins long!! The plan is to wear my heart rate monitor, arm brace and top under the wetsuit. This should drastically reduce my transition time. Also I'm going to go sans gloves if its warm enough. Hoipefully this will put me closer to 2 mins instead of 5.
Finally Duck Bill is my first Olympic distance (1.5k/40k/10k) race post skiing accident and I'm a little nervous about it. Now to get back to work and fit in hair cut, yoga, swimming, running and church into the rest of my day. Looks like I'll be working some tomorrow.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Hawthorn Farm Triathlon : Amazing
Wow, what an awesome weekend! Stellar!!!
Saturday we had a team time trial practice out on Sauvies's Island. The first lap was a little sketchy. Riding my Kuota K-Factor in aero position in a group takes a lot of trust and confidence. You have to trust your teammates and yourself to hold your lines and speed. The breaks are a long ways away when your hands are out on the aero bars. I really needed the practice, but afterward I felt much more confident in my areo position bike handling skills, even if I scared my teammates a few times with a few jerks and some slowing on some of the corners. The adjustments I made to the bike helped out a lot. My shoulder did much better than last week, and I could generate a little more power. I still need to work on my hip flexors. They are not that flexible and are causing some knee pain.
Sunday was the Hawthorn Farm Triathlon . It was amazing. I was late registering, but the race director Rod graciously found me a spot even though it was with the super fast swimmers. The format was a 500 meter pool swim, 13 mile bike (20.9 kilometers), 3 mile run (5 kilometers) point to point. It was the first pool swim triathlon and first point to point race I have done. Point to point means that the transitions and finish are at more than one location. In this case the swim was at the Hawthorn Farm Athletic club while the bike and run both finished at Hilsboro Stadium. With a pool swim you keep doing laps until you reach the distance required. Usually there are 4 swimmers to a lane. Often the faster swimmers need to pass the slower ones so they tap on the feet of the slower ones to go by. I lucked out and there was only one other swimmer in my lane. For a second I thought that I was going to get to be all alone. Here's how the morning went down.
I woke up nice and early and full of nerves. Spent some time around the house, ate breakfast and headed out to the course. The first stop was to setup my T2 area. Chilling out to some good music I took my time getting everything just right. Towel set, shoes set, wrist brace set up, rain shirt ready and then covered the whole thing with a plastic bag to keep the it dry in the event of rain. Then it was off to T1 and the swim start. At T1 I found a spot for my bike and got all my gear arranged. Because of my shoulder disability I need to run in a shoulder brace. I decided to put that on in T1 instead of in T2 because it goes under my top. After getting everything just so it was time to go watch a few heats and eat some Cliff Shot Blocks and mentally prepare.
Just before the swim start I told my lane mate that I was a little slower and to go ahead and pass me which she did, twice. I felt pretty strong on the swim especially since I haven't been swimming that much. I did the whole thing side stroke. I thought about going with the one arm free style but I'm just not confident that I can hold that and transition between side and free when I run out of O2 swimming free style. That's something I need to work on. The swim took 10:21 and I was expecting to be the last one out of the water, but I wasn't. That placed me 127 of 219 swimmers.
Transition 1 went badly again. Trying to put on my shoulder brace while wet just doesn't work. I'm going to have to adjust how I do T1 in the future. It felt like a long time in T1 but, unlike last time, I didn't let it phase me. I built up speed and intensity on the bike course. For the first 2 miles I just let myself settle in. That was a big difference from Elma where I dialed it up to full intensity right away. Letting my legs adjust really paid off. I felt strong and confident the whole bike phase. I probably could have pushed it a little more and hopefully with all the stretching I'm doing my hip flexers will agree in two weeks down at Duck bill.
The bike to run transition was fast and smooth. The only slight issue was the bike dismount. I need to practice that a few times. Coming out of T2 my heart rate strap fell down, and I was without a good reading for the run. This time I built into the run just like I did the bike. What a big difference. The few brick workouts that I've been doing lately are really paying off. I felt super strong for the whole run. Again, I probably could have and should have pushed the second half more. Coming through the finish was awesome. My Dad and a few friends were there to cheer me on! Felt so good to finish strong.
Afterward I hung out for a bit enjoying the nice sunny weather and chatting up my father. I always love it when my family members make it out to a race. Little brother is coming up to visit in May or June so hopefully that comes with a race too.
Next race is Duckbill Thrill in Eugene, OR on May 17. That will be the first Olympic distance race and should produce my qualifying time for PC nationals in New York on July 26th. This week more training and a rest day on Monday!
Saturday we had a team time trial practice out on Sauvies's Island. The first lap was a little sketchy. Riding my Kuota K-Factor in aero position in a group takes a lot of trust and confidence. You have to trust your teammates and yourself to hold your lines and speed. The breaks are a long ways away when your hands are out on the aero bars. I really needed the practice, but afterward I felt much more confident in my areo position bike handling skills, even if I scared my teammates a few times with a few jerks and some slowing on some of the corners. The adjustments I made to the bike helped out a lot. My shoulder did much better than last week, and I could generate a little more power. I still need to work on my hip flexors. They are not that flexible and are causing some knee pain.
Sunday was the Hawthorn Farm Triathlon . It was amazing. I was late registering, but the race director Rod graciously found me a spot even though it was with the super fast swimmers. The format was a 500 meter pool swim, 13 mile bike (20.9 kilometers), 3 mile run (5 kilometers) point to point. It was the first pool swim triathlon and first point to point race I have done. Point to point means that the transitions and finish are at more than one location. In this case the swim was at the Hawthorn Farm Athletic club while the bike and run both finished at Hilsboro Stadium. With a pool swim you keep doing laps until you reach the distance required. Usually there are 4 swimmers to a lane. Often the faster swimmers need to pass the slower ones so they tap on the feet of the slower ones to go by. I lucked out and there was only one other swimmer in my lane. For a second I thought that I was going to get to be all alone. Here's how the morning went down.
I woke up nice and early and full of nerves. Spent some time around the house, ate breakfast and headed out to the course. The first stop was to setup my T2 area. Chilling out to some good music I took my time getting everything just right. Towel set, shoes set, wrist brace set up, rain shirt ready and then covered the whole thing with a plastic bag to keep the it dry in the event of rain. Then it was off to T1 and the swim start. At T1 I found a spot for my bike and got all my gear arranged. Because of my shoulder disability I need to run in a shoulder brace. I decided to put that on in T1 instead of in T2 because it goes under my top. After getting everything just so it was time to go watch a few heats and eat some Cliff Shot Blocks and mentally prepare.Just before the swim start I told my lane mate that I was a little slower and to go ahead and pass me which she did, twice. I felt pretty strong on the swim especially since I haven't been swimming that much. I did the whole thing side stroke. I thought about going with the one arm free style but I'm just not confident that I can hold that and transition between side and free when I run out of O2 swimming free style. That's something I need to work on. The swim took 10:21 and I was expecting to be the last one out of the water, but I wasn't. That placed me 127 of 219 swimmers.
Transition 1 went badly again. Trying to put on my shoulder brace while wet just doesn't work. I'm going to have to adjust how I do T1 in the future. It felt like a long time in T1 but, unlike last time, I didn't let it phase me. I built up speed and intensity on the bike course. For the first 2 miles I just let myself settle in. That was a big difference from Elma where I dialed it up to full intensity right away. Letting my legs adjust really paid off. I felt strong and confident the whole bike phase. I probably could have pushed it a little more and hopefully with all the stretching I'm doing my hip flexers will agree in two weeks down at Duck bill.The bike to run transition was fast and smooth. The only slight issue was the bike dismount. I need to practice that a few times. Coming out of T2 my heart rate strap fell down, and I was without a good reading for the run. This time I built into the run just like I did the bike. What a big difference. The few brick workouts that I've been doing lately are really paying off. I felt super strong for the whole run. Again, I probably could have and should have pushed the second half more. Coming through the finish was awesome. My Dad and a few friends were there to cheer me on! Felt so good to finish strong.
Afterward I hung out for a bit enjoying the nice sunny weather and chatting up my father. I always love it when my family members make it out to a race. Little brother is coming up to visit in May or June so hopefully that comes with a race too.
Next race is Duckbill Thrill in Eugene, OR on May 17. That will be the first Olympic distance race and should produce my qualifying time for PC nationals in New York on July 26th. This week more training and a rest day on Monday!
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