J.F.S. Triathlon Race Report

I know I’ve fallen a month behind with my posts, so I’ll be making an effort to get current over the rest of the week.  More posts coming soon!

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On August 29th I raced at the Journey For Sight Triathlon in Chicopee, MA.  The race was a half mile swim, 17 mile bike, and 3.6 mile run.  The bike and the run were both two loops with an out and back section to the transition area.  This race was a comedy of errors in every phase of the race and not my best performance of the year.  Let’s break it down:

 

Got a prime parking spot right next to transition which was situated in a parking lot at the top of a short but steep paved trail above the lake.  I had plenty of time to get in some swim warm-up before the national anthem. 

 

Unfortunately the starting procedure was completely lacking.  Without warning, they just fired the start gun.  People were all over the place, with some 200 yards offshore, some on the shore and me somewhere in between.  I guess some people knew the lax procedures and they got a huge advantage that left me (and others) scrambling into deeper water.  This definitely cost me up to a minute from the front of the pack as I started about 100 yards behind the first guys.

 

Shots shortly after the start.  The course was a counterclockwise triangle.

I was coming in from the left of the picture, as usual you can see my arm in mid pack to the left of the buoy.

There was a lot of aggressive bumping as the wave size was huge – they just did 2 waves with 175 racers.  My wave was all the men.  By far the most contact of any swim this year.  This became the second issue of the day.  After rounding the first buoy, I had a pretty good leg down to the second buoy.  However, going around the second buoy this guy got senselessly rough throwing punches and trying to swim over me when there was plenty of clear water all around.  I had enough by this point and got equally combative with him.  It came to blows while treading water which was a ridiculous waste of time.  Fighting while treading water is exhausting by the way.  With that idiot behind me it was time to keep moving toward shore.

 

Nice shot approaching T1 and coming out of the water:

 

Out of the water in 11:12, it was clear the swim was short by about 150 yards or so based on my pace.  With the starting position and fighting in the water, I was off the pace in my age group but around the top 25% overall.

 

I struggled up the hill to T1 and went out on to the bike.  The first part of the out and back to the main loop was down the park entrance road which had a few speed bumps.  Right after the last one my aero bottle was knocked loose with the velcro attachment coming undone.  I tried to get it reattached but ultimately had to stop to get it put back together.  This cost me another 30 seconds.  Then I was distracted by my Garmin which was not behaving, but I was able to fix it while still riding.

 

Once I got back underway I had a good bike and enjoyed the loop portion of the course.  The course had a nice uphill to start the loop, followed by a downhill and then a flat section to conclude the lap.  I was making up a lot of time on the uphill and maintaining a quick pace on the flatter sections.  My age group had a bunch of fast guys, but I was in the top 50% age group and top 25% overall.

 

Here are a few shots approaching T2 on the road with the speed bumps:

I had a pretty fast T2 and got out on the run course.  Like the bike course, it started with an out and back section to a mile loop which was done twice.  Here was the next error of the day as I was expecting a gently rolling course based on the course description.  However it was a very steep uphill and then a plateau followed by a steep downhill.  I just wasn’t mentally ready for this type of run.  I suffered up the climb and then tried to get back on pace.  I was moving ok along the flatter sections.  As usual, I struggled the most on the downhill where my knees were screaming.  I pushed on for another lap and then headed for home.  Despite the unexpectedly hilly course I was averaging a decent 8:15ish pace.  But this was only good enough for 12/14 in my age group, illustrating the strength of the field. 

 

Some shots coming back toward the finish line:  

 

I was pretty frustrated after the race, given I had an issue on every leg of the race but in retrospect my times weren’t terrible.  It was just another tune-up race for Montreal and it served that purpose.

 

Thanks to my support crew for the photos (some really great ones at this race!) and encouragement.

 

Final stats:

 

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				14		175
Swim	11:12	1/2 mile	1:16/100 yd	8	57%	47	27%
T1	2:33			9	64%	80	46%
Bike	48:54	17 miles	20.86 mph	6	43%	47	27%
T2	1:12			5	36%	36	21%
Run	29:45	3.6 miles	8:13/mile	12	86%	86	49%
Total	1:33:38			7	50%	56	32%