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06-07-06, 11:16 AM
The weather for the 7 AM race start was just about perfect, and overall the race went pretty well. The race sold out (800 signups, I was told) but the size of the age groups was quite uneven, so all the men over 45 (about 85 - 90 of us) were lumped together in the last wave. At least they didn't give us gray swim caps :-). They split us out by age group in the results, but even though their was an actual elite wave, those folks weren't split out from the age groupers in the results.
I had what I thought was a good (14.5 mile) bike leg - nobody passed me, and I passed dozens of people. My bike split of 42:56 was 12th of 44 in my age group. The run leg was 3.5 miles, and I came in just under 31 minutes, for a 8:40 pace or so. That's a faster pace for me than in most past races, so the changes in running posture and increased cadence / reduced stride length appear to be paying off. I passed more people than the few that passed me, and felt better throughout so I thought that went well too. Despite the relative success in the run it was one of the slower times in my AG so the run appears to be my best area for significant improvement.
The swim leg felt a bit more mixed. The consensus on the seattle tri discussion board was that the swim leg may have been a bit long because most people's times (even the elite wave folks) were longer than last year. The swim leg includes a 200 or so yard run from the beach back to the transition area, and I think the timing mats were in different places this year than last, so year-to-year comparisons were difficult. I had high hopes for doing the whole thing on my front, but it didn't quite turn out that way. I may actually have seeded myself too far in the back (not a problem I'm used to having :-) ), since I either kept swimming over those I was drafting on, or would get stuck behind a group of swimmers that would almost come to a stop, especially at the first buoy / turn marker. Somewhere past the first buoy I lost control of my breathing, despite attempts to relax, and at that point (150-175 yds) I simply flipped over and did the rest backstroke. Despite that, I still finished mid-pack in the swim wave, so it didn't appear to hurt me too much.
I had what I thought was a good (14.5 mile) bike leg - nobody passed me, and I passed dozens of people. My bike split of 42:56 was 12th of 44 in my age group. The run leg was 3.5 miles, and I came in just under 31 minutes, for a 8:40 pace or so. That's a faster pace for me than in most past races, so the changes in running posture and increased cadence / reduced stride length appear to be paying off. I passed more people than the few that passed me, and felt better throughout so I thought that went well too. Despite the relative success in the run it was one of the slower times in my AG so the run appears to be my best area for significant improvement.
The swim leg felt a bit more mixed. The consensus on the seattle tri discussion board was that the swim leg may have been a bit long because most people's times (even the elite wave folks) were longer than last year. The swim leg includes a 200 or so yard run from the beach back to the transition area, and I think the timing mats were in different places this year than last, so year-to-year comparisons were difficult. I had high hopes for doing the whole thing on my front, but it didn't quite turn out that way. I may actually have seeded myself too far in the back (not a problem I'm used to having :-) ), since I either kept swimming over those I was drafting on, or would get stuck behind a group of swimmers that would almost come to a stop, especially at the first buoy / turn marker. Somewhere past the first buoy I lost control of my breathing, despite attempts to relax, and at that point (150-175 yds) I simply flipped over and did the rest backstroke. Despite that, I still finished mid-pack in the swim wave, so it didn't appear to hurt me too much.