LJCC Super Sprint

Very fun race. Started the morning out calm and collected. I wasn’t too stressed out about this race. I’m usually pretty wound up the morning of a race, but this one was different. I had my HR monitor on at the start, but it started sliding down during the swim and when I tried to adjust it on the bike, the sensor popped off so I don’t have any HR info. These splits are by my watch so they might be off a couple seconds here and there to the official times.

Pre-Race
Up at 5 to eat (turkey smoked sausage) and drink some coffee to get everything going. I loaded up the car, showered, and headed to the LJCC at 6. Ate an apple and sipped on water during the drive. I went and took everything to transition and then got inked. I aired up my tires and set up my gear and just walked around and talked to John and some folks from masters & vulcantri. MH, Lucas, & my parents came up around 740. We headed on back to the pool and waited for the swim start. Only warm-up was some light stretching in the parking lot and 1 lap in the pool.

The Swim
Being #53 it was nice not having to wait long to get in the water. I pushed off the wall and quickly found a comfortable pace. I closed in on the girl in front of me after the first length and passed her at the end of the second. I pulled on through the next couple of lengths and passed another guy. I made my last push off the wall and headed towards the buoy and turned towards the steps. I sprinted a little faster to the end and climbed out of the water in 3:27. Not too bad of a swim time. Off to T1…

T1
I was very pleased with my transition time. I jogged from the pool, thru the building, and into transition. On with my helmet, cleats, glasses, and race belt before I jogged my bike to the mount line and then I was off in 1:39

The Bike
The bike was a good time. I started passing people right off the bat. I decided to just hammer it out since it was only 8 miles. I hit the first turn around and made my way down Montclair. We were riding in the inside lanes so auto traffic could use the outside lanes. As I passed Bruno’s a car pulled up next to me and yelled, “you’re going 25, keep it up.” I kept on hammering and hit the final turnaround. As I made my turn and hit the uphill, I tried to drop into my small chain ring and then my chain popped off. I stopped put it on and then had to try and repass several people I had already whizzed by. I felt strong on the bike today. I turned into the parking lot and hit the dismount line in 24:40 (avg 19.5 mph)

T2
Got to my rack and struggled getting socks and running shoes on. I might forgo socks on anything shorter than Olympic distance. I still managed to get out in under 2 minutes, but this should be closer to 1 minute (1:48)

The Run
My coach wanted me to pull a negative split on the run (faster on the second half). I started out nice and easy for the first mile (12:06 min/mile). When I hit the mile marker on the running trail, I kicked it up a notch. I passed a few people on Montclair. I kicked a little harder for the last 100yds and finished the last mile in 10:30. I felt good on the run, but I know it is my biggest limiter. (22:36)

My final time was 54:10 (54:08 by my watch). This put me 55/176 overall & 3rd in my division, I was pretty psyched about it. I know it wasn’t a huge race and there were lots of beginners, but a similar race last year took me 1:20. That’s a pretty good amount of time to shave off. Plus it was fun to “have to” hang around for the awards ceremony. As cheesy as it was, I loved getting to step up on that podium.

Next up is Buster Britton in two weeks. There is a lot of stuff going on that weekend out at Oak Mountain so come on out if you want. The forecast doesn’t look too promising for training this week. Hopefully the rain will hold off so that I can get my rides in.

Eric’s Quote of the Day: ”Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue"~Dilbert