Amica 19.7 Race Report

Two weeks after Rhode Island, it was time to get back racing again at the Amica 19.7 New London.  Last year I had a two person support crew but this year was a solo trip.  Upon arriving at the site, I was immediately greeted by a brief but strong thunderstorm which delayed the race by about a half hour due to the lightening.  Once the storm pulled out we were left with wet and humid conditions with temps in the mid 70s.

 

Swim – 1/2 mile – 19:39, 2:14/100y (2010 – 14:22, 1:39/100y)

I was hoping for a strong swim and got in a little bit of warm-up before the race.  I started again on the outside but towards the front.  The course was a clockwise rectangle.  I had a pretty uneventful swim, and didn’t get stung by a jellyfish like last year.  I think the swim was certainly a bit longer than 2010, but clearly I was slower too; coming out 15/22 in my age group and 136/355 overall.  This was over 5 minutes slower than last year.

 

Exiting the water:

T1 – 1:35 (2010 – 2:17)

I knew looking at my watch that I was already way behind my time from last year, but at this point didn’t know if the swim was longer or if I was just slower.  I had to get to work on making up time if I was going to get a better result than the prior year.  I did have a quick transition, as it included a long run across the beach, getting out of the wetsuit, and out onto the bike.  I remembered to take it easy on the damp boardwalk with my cycling shoes so I didn’t take a spill like last year.

Bike – 16.1 miles – 44:29, 21.7 mph (2010 – 47:23, 20.4 mph)

The bike course has some technical sections, including 16 90 degree turns and a short but pretty steep hill.  I think the experience of riding the course before was helpful so I could meter my effort properly.  I did have to take the corners slow but really focused on reeling in the faster swimmers on the straight sections.

 

Rounding one of the early corners:

Overall, I was very happy with the bike and knew I was making progress through the field and making up for lost time from the swim.  I ended up with the 4th best bike split in my age group and 26th overall.

Motoring on one of the straightaways:

T2 – 0:46 (2010 – 1:00)

I came back to a relatively empty T2 and quickly got the running shoes on.  T2 was 5th best in age group and 35th overall. 

 

Run – 3.1 miles – 24:15, 7:49/mile (2010 – 25:16, 8:05/mile)

Run training was still not going well as I was nursing my groin strain, but I had managed 4 runs in the 2 weeks since Rhode Island – all less than 3.5 miles.  I had a good run here last year and wanted to better the time.

 

Heading out of T2:

I had a pretty good run, but wasn’t feeling super fast.  I had pulled myself through the field quite a bit on the bike and now the faster runners were putting some time into me on the run.  I did a good job of keeping the HR pegged at right around 180 for most of the race.  Nearing the finish I was close to 3 other runners and put in a big sprint to pass them on the line.  One of the 3 was in my age group so it was worth the effort.

 

Running along the ocean in the second half of the run:

At the end, I couldn’t make up all the lost time on the swim and finished 25 seconds slower than 2010.  I did have faster segments for every other discipline though.  This resulted in better age group (36% vs 50%) and overall placings (14% vs 22%) this year.

 

2010 vs 2011 performance:

 

Final results:

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				22		355
Swim	19:39	1/2 mile	2:14/100yd	15	68%	136	38%
T1	1:34			10	45%	81	23%
Bike	44:29	16.1 miles	21.7 mph	4	18%	26	7%
T2	0:46			5	23%	35	10%
Run	24:15	3.1 miles	7:49/mile	15	68%	108	30%
Total	1:30:41			8	36%	51	14%

 

Top 10 (I’m the red line):

Notice that I really lost no meaningful time against the winner on the bike or in either transition. 

 

I also found this funny photo taken after the race as I was cooling down.  This was my first race in the HEAT uniform.  Got plenty of “Go Heat” from the spectators.