Willow Creek Triathlon 2011

Below is my race report for the 2011 Willow Creek Triathlon. They had their biggest turnout yet - 360 total participants including teams. 133 men did it individually. The race is a fundraiser for the Disabled American Veterans of McKean and Warren County and they raised over $22,000 this year. Overcast skies with heavy rain before the race. The rain stopped for the start of the race and started back up halfway through the bike leg. It stopped for good about 15 minutes after I finished. Feel free to ask questions or make comments.

Willow Creek Triathlon 2011-08-06 Bradford, Pennsylvania United States Disabled American Veterens Precipitation

Triathlon - Sprint Total Time = 1h 06m 28s Overall Rank = 7/133 Age Group = M30-34 Age Group Rank = 1/6

Pre-race routine: Up at 6am and ate a bowl of cereal with a banana. Took a shower and packed up the car. Made sure to grab a few extra towels as it was lightly raining and the threat of heavier showers were in the forecast.

Met Scott from Warren (scottinpa on BT) before the race. I was hoping to catch up with him after the race, but we missed each other.

Event warmup: The worst part of the rain was getting ready for the race. I wasn't able to get my T1 area set up because I wanted to keep things dry. Everything was in a garbage bag in front of my bike and stayed there until after the swim. I was able to run a mile warmup before the rules meeting. I swam for about 5 minutes before lining up to start.

Swim

Comments: Time trial start. I wasn't sure what to expect as this was my first time trial. I started about halfway through the first group (~30 people). My thought process was that this would give me some people to chase on the bike and run. Ultimately, I believe this helped me to a strong finish on the run. After last year's tri, I was worried about my heart rate after running into the water, but everything went great and I settled right into a smooth rhythm breathing wise and stroke wise.

I wore my Xterra suit even though there weren't many wearing suits. I felt that it would help more than hurt - even with the very short swim. Within 100y I caught the woman that started in front of me (a very experienced swimmer and I felt great about this). My sighting was very good, except for my first 1-2 looks where the bouy was blocked by swimmers ahead. After that I was able to locate it each time and keep on line. I caught two more swimmers at the bouy and had to maneuver around them, but there was no real contact. After rounding the bouy I located the white bouy that is at the corner of the designated swimming area. I thought that this was a good landmark to shoot for although doubts were filling my head that maybe that WASN'T the swim area bouy. I went with my first instinct and turned out to be good. Once I got to that white bouy I started to look for the rope that sets the swim area and used that as my guide coming back towards shore.

Overall I feel as though the swim times were fast. Hard for me to believe that I swam 300y plus a run towards transition in 5:05. Most times seemed fast so I'm guessing that the swim was short. At least all of the times were consistent this year.

OA 37/263; Men 23/133; AG 1/6

What would you do differently?: Can't say that I'd do much more different. I worked hard over the last year to improve my swim and I think that came through in the race. I cut nearly 3 min. off of last years swim. The only little hiccup may be around the bouy and got slightly off line coming back to shore.

T1

Comments: They don't have separate timing mats for the transitions. This is a fundraiser for the Disabled American Veterans and extra mats would reduce proceeds raised.

A timing mat is placed on the paved path in front of the bathhouse. Once you cross that mat your bike time starts. I struggled in transition because all of my items were in the garbage bag in front of my bike. I didn't have time to set my gear out right before the race (transition area does not close) so I had to fumble through the bag. This really took some time. Add to that the struggle I had in removing my wetsuit and it seemed like I was there for an eternity. I ended up having to sit down to finally get the suit off. Once I got everything off and on, I ran with my bike for a bit as the start is uphill. I stopped and got on the bike and once again had a hard time clipping in. This added even more time.

What would you do differently?:Really need to practice this transition. I struggled at ATITB and again here. It cost me 6th overall (3 sec back). Need to practice getting on the bike fast and clipping in.

Bike

Comments: Once I got going the bike leg wasn't too bad. My goal was to average 21.7-22mph. The first few miles are probably the toughest so I knew my speed would be down and that I'd have a chance to bring my average up in the middle to end of the leg. I had my bike computer set to show avg speed so I could monitor it.

There weren't as many bikers in front of me this year so there weren't as many to catch. I did catch a handful though over the course, but felt more in no man's land this year than last. I was passed by two Erie guys with about 6 miles to go. I worked to keep contact with them and they helped me to stay focused on racing. This was when the rain started back up again and it was coming down pretty hard. Those guys both had fancy tri bikes so I figured it might be hard to stay with them.

One of them eventually took off. The other stuck around and I would pass him going up the hills, only to be passed by him on the downhills. We did this for a few miles until the Willow Bay area (~2 miles to go). I passed him again and then put a lot of space on him. It gave me a lot of confidence to drop that guy and I kept thinking to myself how much stronger I was on the bike than he was.

I knew the guy in front of me and the one behind had started their swims after me and that both might beat me overall if I didn't put some time on them in the run. I was also contemplating what to do about wearing socks for the run. My feet were soaked on the bike. I knew that putting socks on wet feet would be tough, but I also remembered the blisters I had after ATITB.

The last 2 miles are pretty flat so I cruised into the bike dismount line.

Gregg Reynolds from Ridecarbon.com allowed me to use a set of Gray wheels for the race. He didn't want any rental fee for them so Amanda and I gave a contribution to the DAV on his behalf.

OA 20/263; Men 19/133; AG 2/6

What would you do differently?: This winter will be a 'sufferfest.' I've had two years to get acclimated to the bike and to put some miles in, now it's time to get fast on the bike. I had the worst bike leg in the top 15 (T1 included here) and the top 5 guys were 5-6 min. better. If I want to compete, this is my next step for improvement.

T2

Comments: Again, no transition times. My dismount wasn't the most graceful. Skidded into the line because of the wet roads. I didn't take my feet out of my shoes because I would have had to run across a gravel parking lot to my run gear. Handed my bike off to a volunteer and shouted to another for my transition bag. Slightly frustrating to have to tear into a garbage bag to get run gear out, but everyone has to do it. Guy that passed me on the bike was there when I came in and the guy behind me came in as well so he wasn't too far behind. They struck up a conversation - "Hey Joe! I didn't know that was you on the bike!"

I let my instincts take over regarding the socks and just left them in the bag. With the two guys there on my tail, I didn't want to lose any more time to them.

I had my watch in one shoe (already on and satellites located!) and socks in the other. Threw the shoes on and was gone. Hit start and strapped up the watch on my way out. I left those guys in the dust and knew that my run leg would be tough for them to overcome.

What would you do differently?: Felt as though this was a great transition. Not as much to fumble with. No race belt needed. Based on my total run/transition time and my watch time I believe that my t-time was about :35.

Run

Comments: My goal was to run 6:10-6:15 pace. According to my watch I ran the 5k in 19:14 for 6:11 pace. I kept my eyes up and worked to catch people. I knew the people in front of me started the race before me so passing them definitely put them behind me overall. The two guys from transition were behind me and I had the confidence to know that my run time would be enough to beat them. I passed only a few people on the run, but kept running hard because I knew every second counted. I didn't drink much at the aid stations. It was raining pretty hard at this point and that was enough to keep me cool.

About halfway through the run, I had a couple twinges in my right hamstring. I backed off slightly so I wouldn't cramp and shortened the stride up. This seemed to keep everything OK but I was concious of it the rest of the race. The long straight stretches make it hard to focus so I used my watch to help me keep my pace and was always trying to catch the person in front of me. I was able to push the pace to sub-6 in the last half mile.

OA 1/263; Men 1/133; AG 1/6

What would you do differently?: I believe that I could have pushed a bit harder, but with a lack of people to catch and to stay focused on it was difficult. The long straight stretches make it tough too. Overall I was happy with the run.

Post race

Warm down: Met up with my family and friends that were there to cheer. Talked with them for a bit and then Gregg Reynolds asked if I wanted to run back to get our bikes. Ran back the 3 miles and cheered on those that were still finishing. It was nice to share our thoughts on how the race went. My feet were really starting to hurt though (wet shoes, no socks). After finding all of my gear, I jumped on the bike and rode back to the finish.

What limited your ability to perform faster:Slow T-1 time. I felt flat on the bike. The miles are good, but there's something still missing. I'm getting to a point where the next step has got to be a tri bike. Get a bike fit and practice riding in aero. In order to compete with the big boys, this will have to happen.