HITS Race Report Thing
The short version of this is that not much went as planned. Which is to say it was a race.
The race had 107 men with 10 in my age group. All men started in one wave which led for a bit of a crowded start. That start was in water so we had to go out and tread water for a few minutes before the starting buzzer went off. The sun had just come up but there was still a full moon up in the sky. While floating there in the water staring at the moon I started to think about how amazing it was to be able to spend my morning swimming in a beautiful lake followed bye a ride and run through the Texas hill country during wildflower season. It is hard to think of a better way to spend a spring morning in central Texas and far to many people in the world aren’t as fortunate and don’t get to spend their mornings or days on something so frivolous. I am a really just lucky guy.
Okay, onto the race.
For whatever reason I had hard time catching my breath in swim and the whole thing seemed slow going. My time was on the slower end of where I have been in training. By the end of the swim I came in at 19th for men and 3rd in my age group.
The bike course was a bit of challenge. It was six and an half miles up hill with ride back down. The up was slow going and at some point I started riding jackass-tastic and dropped my chain. That lead to 48th in men and 5th in age group.
The run was back up the hill and back down again. I actually felt really good and this is where the plan of running on heart rate actually played out. I kept within the range I wanted to and was able to hold a level effort I wasn’t sure that I could prior to the race. For the run I was 17th for men and 1st in my age group.
The net result was 2nd for my age group and 19th for men.
As a take away it looks like my swim and run are progressing well and my bike needs the most work.
The Rookie is up next and I expect the field to be a little stronger but will no doubt enjoy the race. More hills and more wildflowers, how could I not?
HITS pre race ramblings.
Tomorrow kicks off the 2013 race season. It has been about six months since I have had to pack for a race and I am now convinced I am forgetting something.
The HITS is a sprint and is a C race so there isn’t a lot of pressure on performance which is nice and it should make for a good workout session. Going into this race I am trying two new things to see how they go. So, in no particular order, here they are:
1. I am going to race, in part, by HR zone. I have been basing all of my run training on HR this year so I am going to use that as my guide for my run in the race. This may lead to a spectacular blow up on my part.
2. I have never pushed very much in the swim. Well, I did once and it was a disaster but not so much for pushing but for a lack or swim training. (Who knew that if you didn’t practice you would crater when you tried to push?) Anyway, I have always just kind of swam at an easier pace. I am going to try to push a bit more this time around. This one is a mental hurdle for me and in part has to do with saying present and not letting the group start get to me.
2013 - Race Schedule Update Pt.2
3/12 Blue Northern Duathlon - CSkipped- 4/28 HITS Sprint Tri - C
5/4 Cap 2k Swim - CDropped and added Rookie- 5/5 The Rookie Sprint Tri -C
- 5/27 Cap Tex Olympic Tri - B
- 6/2 Route 66 Olympic Tri - B
- 6/16 Lake Pflugerville Sprint Tri - C
- 7/28 TriWaco Olympic - B
- 8/4 Jack’s Generic Sprint Tri -C
- 9/14 Tri Rock Olympic Tri - A
- 9/29 Kerrville Olympic Tri - A
- 10/27 Austin 70.3 - Maybe
