Land Between the Lakes Triathlon (1/4 Mile Swim, 19.8 mile bike, and 4.2 mile run)

May 20, 2007
Albert Lea, Minnesota

Pre-race
I was looking forward to my first triathlon of the 2007 season. I've never been racing this early and all things were going okay for me so far this year. I am not in great shape but I'm not too bad given the fact that it is pretty early.

I came down to Albert Lea on Saturday as I was teaching two different clinics in conjunction with this race. Since I needed to be an expert on the course, I needed to check out the course on Saturday, which was not ideal the day before. The swim was not too bad, but the cumulative total of the swim, bike and the hard training I'd done the day before left me feeling less than fresh. Oh well, I was there to put forth a hard effort, results being whatever they may be.

I briefly awoke at 5am and was happy to see that the forecast of thunderstorms was not a reality. After going back to sleep, I got a rude awakening a mere hour later as I was worken up with the loud sound of thunder clapping overhead. We were under a serious storm and I was not sure the race would be going off at all. I tried hard to get myself motivated but it was hard with the poor weather. Eventually I got my truck loaded up and got some coffee going and things were looking better. After driving through a few spots of minor flooding on my way to the race, I was happy to see that the weather got a lot better by the time I'd gotten to th race site and started getting ready. Maybe we'd be racing after all.

As the weather got better, it looked like we'd be a go and I was happy to hear it. I did a short warm up, and got myself pscyched for some triathlon fun.

I was in the second wave and got into the water a little early to make sure it was not too much of a surprise. Even if the water temp was abnormally high for late May in Minnesota, it was still a good bit cooler than a pool and I didn't want to be too surprised when the race started.

I lined up towards the back of my wave, not confident in my swimming and was soon off. All was going okay for the first couple of minutes as I got moving and kept out of harms way. Then my chest started to bug me in a huge way. Bug is not the right word, I suddently felt an immense amount of pressure in my chest that largely prevented me from breathing well and keeping my face in the water. This is the second race in a row that this has occurred and I've got to figure it out as I was only able to side stroke and/or do the survival stroke through the rest of the swim. I am not a great swimmer but this was not even a swim. I'm not sure what I did but I'm not going to be doing that again at a race.

After what seemed like a long time, I exited the water and headed for the transition area. After getting the wetsuit off in a reasonable amount of time, I was happy to see my bike. I love to ride and the weather had gotten much better so some time on the bike was looking like a nice change of pace. I jumped on my QR, which I like "black beauty" and was off.

After a couple of hundred yards, the course includes a steep hill and I felt pretty good as I went up. The power meter was not crazy high and I was moving along okay. I tried hard to not dwell on the swim fiasco, but it was hard for the first few miles. I eventually got my mind where it needed to be and was moving well. The bike course here is real nice, generally good road surface and not too technical. The interesting thing is that at race pace the course seemed much flatter than it had in training. I stood for several climbs when I checked out the course the day before while on raceday I stayed seated and aero far more. Some of that was diliberate but some of it was the product of the fact that I was going faster and when you're moving quickly, false flats just don't influence you as much as when at training speed.

As I neared the end of the ride, I knew I'd done what I could on the day. I had looked at the average watts on my powertap a few times and while it was a bit lower than I'd thought it would be, I was sure I'd done a good effort on the day. I came into T2 and was feeling pretty good. I got off the bike, grabbed my visor, sunglasses and number after changing my shoes and was off.

Immediately after starting to run, I felt pretty good. I knew I was moving reasonably well and I knew I could keep up the pace for the 4 miles. I was a little disappointed when someone passed me early in the run but he stayed pretty close in the coming miles, and while I was not happy about being passed, I kept him close throughout the rest of the run.

The run course at this race is great! It runs by the lake, with nice views, and includes a good amount of tree cover as well. While I would not say I was enjoying myself, who can when trying to run as fast as you can in a race?, I was doing what I wanted to be throughout the run. After about 1.5 miles, I let myself open up the tri suit all the way and I immediately felt better as breathing got a bit easier. I often hold off opening the tri suit until about halfway throught the run as it has a nice way off making me feel a little better at a point in the race when things start to get a little tougher. As I got close to the finish, I knew I was doing a good job of marshalling my effort. I was not getting passed and I knew that I could not go much faster without blowing up before the line. As I hit the last hill, I gain on a guy and I really want to pass him. As we head down the other side, he gets a little gap on me, which is unusual for me as I am a good downhill runner. I hold tough and push up to his shoulder with about 1/4 mile to go. I speed up to pass and keep the effort going to the line and beat him by a few seconds as he can't respond to the move. When I cross the line, I know I've done what I can. There wasn't any more to give on the day and I'm pleased by that fact.

Post Race Review

All in all this was a good performance. I didn't race as well as I might have with a more appropriate last week of training but that was not the goal here. I wanted to get in some training and race. And that I did. A thorough review of the power file suggests that I did a reasonably good job of marshalling my efforts. The first thing I immediately noticed when I looked at the power file, which you can find here, is that I did not produce that much power during the race. I estimated my Funtional Threshold Power (FTP), the number of watts I could hold for an hour, to be about 265. In a race of this length, I would likely be able to hold close to FTP as the swim and run were relatively short. Well that certainly did not happen. I averaged 244 watts and had a norm power of 251. While these numbers were at first disappointing, I'd hoped to do more, they make sense given the training that I'd done in the days leading into the race. I also find it very important to look at smaller segments of races to see how my power output changed over the course of the event. At first glance, this review suggests that I paced poorly. I averaged 8 more watts for the first half of the ride than I did the 2nd half. In the first half I averaged 248 while in the second half my output had dropped to 240. I am not sure I accept the idea of poor pacing, however, for two reasons. First, my speed increased from the first half to the second half. I averaged almost 2 mph more in the second half of the ride than I did in the first, due to wind. I also did not increase the gap between my average power and my norm power (Variability Index). Typically my athletes will show an increase in VI when in the midst of a power fade brought on by too much work too early in a ride. My VI was constant throughout this whole ride. The final reason that I don't think I rode too hard too early was my run split. It was not fantasitic but was well in line with what I expected it to be. I felt pretty decent and knew I was moving along okay given my training. In short, I was not paying for the bike ride more than I should have been on the run. In the end, I may have been a tad faster if I'd averaged a bit fewer watts earlier in the ride and few more at the end, but that was pretty minor. I did what I could on the bike with the fitness I had on the day and I am happy with that.

I really enjoyed this race, come and give it a try next year. See you at the races.