Saturday, October 19, 2013

RACE REPORT: Mesa Sprint Triathlon

It was a week ago today I took part in the Mesa Sprint Triathlon at Skyline High school. The morning started off pretty cold, with the temperature at 58 degrees.  I got to the site early to set up my bike and warm up.  I ran a few laps around the school's track to get warm and stretched a little.  When I returned to the transition area I found everyone racked their bike on the same side of the rack instead of alternating on both sides of the rack.  It made for a very crowded area.  Off to the start, they had athletes line up by cones according to when they projected they would finish the 400 yard swim.  I had been swimming the distance over the summer in about 10 minutes, yet I lined up in the 13 minute projected finish line.  Swimmers were started every 7 seconds swimming a serpentine course in the pool.  I started by watch when I jumped in.  The swim was great.  I quickly got into a groove using good breathing and technique. After the first 200 yards, I was passing a lot of swimmers.  When I got out of the water I looked at my watch and finished in under 9 minutes.
Onto the bike where I knew I would be cold for the first few miles until I dried off in the air.  The bike course was a four mile loop in which I would do three times.  The first loop was fast, I drank some fluids and focused on maintaining a fast average speed.  With a corner every mile, I needed to slow down just a little.  At one point I looked down at my bike computer and found out I hit a max speed of 26 MPH and averaging a little over 20 MPH.  On the start of my last of three laps my race almost came to an abrupt end. The roads were being controlled by police officers and volunteers.  It was there a volunteer waived a van across the course, not seeing I was headed their way. The driver nor the volunteer seen me as I had to grab the brakes and slide coming very very close to hitting the side of the van.  Needless to say I did not crash into the van. I did however lose a lot of speed and time having to get back up to my race pace. A little shook up, I focused on relaxing and started preparing my mind for the run ahead.  The run was a course around the school and in and around the surrounding neighborhood.  After getting off the bike, I got my legs moving fast and got into a steady pace. I was feeling strong besides have a side stitch off and on.  Everything I did in training was falling into place.  I had projected a finish time of under an hour and 20 minutes. I finished 9th in my age group of 40 to 44.  My swim time 8:42 in my age group had me placed in 9th coming out of the water. My bike time of 37:57 had me at the 5th fasted in my age group. My run time of 31:18 gave me a total time on the course of 1:17:57.  I was very happy with my performance and training put into this race.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

The Aero Jacket from WheelBuilder.com

First off you may note, "Dang, that looks fast" and you would be right, it is fast. I have installed for this weekend's race a AeroJacket by Wheelbuilder.com.  This converts your everyday wheels or wheels you may train on into a disc at smaller price then buying a real disc wheel.  Simply fill out the order form on their website to have them custom cut to fit most wheels.  There are some wheels in which they won't fit, so check out their list first.  Their customer service folks can help answer any questions and help you out to get exactly what you need. They are simple to install, with the only speciality tool needed is a sprocket remover/ chain whip tool.  I have tested them on and off over the past few weeks leading up to my race. My tests, not very scientific, are based off of my average speed and feel while using AeroJacket disc covers show they increase my average speed up to 4 MPH.  Cheat the wind increasing your aerodynamics with an AeroJacket without taking a huge chunk out of your wallet. 
Check them out at WheelBuilder.com

Monday, October 7, 2013

Race week is here

Training is almost done and I am looking forward to getting out on the course Saturday.  I have made a few mechanical adjustments to my bike and just need to start getting my transition bag put together.  The weather should be a little cool at the start, especially after getting out of the water an onto the bike.  A few more training runs and rides and Saturday will be here.