Race Report - Magrath 'I Swam The Dam' Triathlon

I competed in the Magrath 'I Swam The Dam' triathlon this past weekend. My results were as follows:
53 place overall
Bib #462
Category OLY40-49M
Swim: 00:44:34.00 was 73 overall and 10th in category
Bike: 01:18:27.45 was 39 overall and 8th in category
Run: 00:55:24.40 was 41 overall and 8th in category
Overall: 02:58:25.85, and 9 / 10 in category

The swim was both better and worse than last year. I am showing some progress, and that makes me happy. My friend Gina helped with supervising my only open water swim before the race. we discussed what was making me get wound up and panicy during the swim, and discussed ways for me to handle the swim. What we came up with was a longer warmup, lots of time in the water blowing bubbles before the race starts. Do at least one sprint, so that I can get my heart rate up, then bring it down again. After 20 minutes in the practice swim, I was fine.

So, I made it to 500m doing a combo of front crawl and breast stroke. Was feeling really good. then I got hit by three swells in a row, where I was breathing water instead. I had practiced not getting excited, but just waiting for the next chance when I had a splash in the pool. but the three in a row did me in. I tried to switch to breast stroke, and couldn't do it without getting water in my mouth. Tried backstroke, same thing. I was panicing. I was ready to say 'I'll take the DQ thanks, come get me'. waved a kayak over. They gave me a kickboard. 'I am allowed to use this?' I ask. 'Sure' comes the response. Not like I was in any danger of winning.

So I finished the swim with a kick board. Its not easy to swim this way, so the fact that I beat last years time by 2 minutes tells me that I was doing really good on the swim before I cratered. One other thing I did differently was using both neoprene cap and ear plugs. I felt good, tired but good when I finally came out of the water. No dizzyness like last year.

Finished 73rd of 75 for the swim, keeping alive my triathlon streak, never last in the swim, but 2nd or 3rd last every time. I think I was talking to 74 (Niki Kearl) and 75 (Jacquie Brezovski) at the start, we were the ones hanging out in the back, being nervous about the swim.

Through T1 was fairly quick I thought. Body-glide on socks works like a hot damn. Had minimal T1 anyway. My T1 equipment list is Bike, shoes, socks, helmet, sunglasses, mesh cap, race bib, and garmin. Stowed 1 package of Shot Chomps in the tri-suit, f0r 180 calories on bike.

The bike ride was great. There was a little bit of a breeze from the west, so we had a little headwind on the outbound 7k. This was fine by me, as I was not in the mood, or shape for that matter, to want to crank it up anyway. Had to stop once on th eoutbound, because I could hear the speed sensor magnet making contact with the sensor itself. These sensors dont have a good way to hold position on this bike, so shit happens.

So after the turn-around, I was ready to crank it up. This was first ride of the year on the TT bike, and I love it even more. I had tuned it up a little, to correct 2 problems from last year. First was that I dropped the chain twice when shifting to big ring, and I had some trouble with the Speedo, more on that later. Now, on big ring shifts, you have to just slightly slow the cadence to get it to grab, and had no problem with that adjustment. Now I could go to big ring with confidence, and I did so many times. On two downhills, I hit peak speeds of 60 kmh. I briefly remember thinking that if anything went wrong, I was likely a dead man. but it felt great, and not at all scary. I also removed the bento box, and did not have it bumping my knees, so there was nothing annoying about the bike. Other than some saddle soreness, as I did not have enough time in this saddle before the race.

I also had one 5k segment where I averaged 45kmh. I had a smoking ride, and fun too.

The run was what it was. I knew when I was cranking it on the bike that it would affect the run. My hamstrings were sore, and I was spotted by someone I knew when I was stretching. Funny how those moments catch your brain and say 'hope that doesn't happen to me', and 'been there done that'. Anyway, I was able to keep a reasonable pace, with some walk breaks to stretch it out. I had to pee when I started the run, and decided that I would need it later. Was I ever right. It was Hot Hot Hot. I did not drink anywhere near enough on the bike, and had a constantly dry mouth on the run. Still ran a 55 minute 10k, which is OK by me. I saw Debbie Scott somewhere before the turn-around on the run, and made a valiant effort to catch up to her on the run. Finished a mere 3 seconds behind her. Kudos to her, she had a great race.

So, all in all, I am happy with the results, given the non-specific nature of my training, and knowing that the swim still has my number. I have the following take-aways:

• neoprene cap + ear plugs are excellent accessories
• spending time with the bike, and fixing problems was nice
• need to practice open-water swimming, and also some strategies for handling swells.
  
• my minimal transitions worked fine
• need to hydrate more on the bike. way more. Did not finish 1/4 of my areo bottle, and its only 750ml-ish. Drank most of a dose of e-load heat formula.
• e-load heat formula, despite the name, tastes gross when its warm.
• Electing to not use sunscreen resulted in some painful radiation burns on my shoulder and arms.
  

The bike computer worked this time. Last year, the sensor magnet slipped, and then the computer didn't register speed. Since there was no speed, it decided every 5 minutes to stop showing cadence. Annoying, and fixed for this year.

Still have to look at the garmin traces, and I will update if I find anything interesting.
Update: I walked for between 15 seconds and 1 minute each kilometer.