Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon (June 25, 2006)
Race report: Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon, Sunday, June 25, 2006.
1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.
Swim in Buffalo Springs lake, bike and run in Buffalo Springs Canyon and Ransom Canyon.
Lisa and I drove to Lubbock on Saturday. It rained for about half the drive, so it was slow going. Took about 8 hours to get there. Picked up my race packet at the Holiday Inn, then found our hotel and checked in. We went out to get dinner at an Italian place, and ate pasta and bread. Biked a little around the hotel parking lot, and then I had some oatmeal, and then to bed at about 10 pm.
The day started early, up at 3:15 am, and out of the hotel at 4 am. I just had water and diet coke for breakfast. And then more water. And diet coke. Disgusting I know, but it seems to work for me. No food for me before the race. Got to the lake at 4:30 am and set up my transition area. Then just hung out in the dark, waiting and talking to people and drinking water, and going to the porta-potty every 15 minutes or so. There was a thunder storm off in the distance, but fortunately it went away from us.
The swim was a staggered start, with the professionals going in the first wave at 6:30 am, and other groups going in waves 5 minutes apart. I started in the 5th wave, at 6:50 am, with the other old men plus the 25-29 males. The water was cold enough so that wetsuits were legal, I guess the lake is spring fed. I planned to just follow people on the swim, but a small lead group of swimmers in my wave seemed to not want to swim straight. So rather than follow them, I headed straight for the bouy marking the first turn, and actually got there first. The course was sort of rectangular, and by swimming just about straight, I ended up being the first swimmer in my wave. So I was off to a good start! The swim to bike transition went OK, except I ran past my bike and wasted a few seconds. Oh well.
The course here really favors good bicyclists, which I am not. There were about eight major hills on the 56 mile course, some of which had switch-backs that I found technically difficult. Especially going down. The really good cyclists were just flying on the downhill parts. I am a total wimp on downhills, especially downhill curves, and tend to use my brakes much more than the good cyclists do. I was passed a lot on the downhills. But at least I stayed on the road. It was quite scenic on the hilly parts, with a fair amount of flat over the last 20 miles. It was moderately windy, but not too bad. I passed quite a few people, who were probably from the waves that started the swim ahead of me, but I also got passed by a lot. There were many very strong cyclists here, who I could not stay with at all when they passed me. I took it kind of easy on the last ten miles of the bike, thinking it would be best to save something for the run. Drank a lot on the bike, since the humidity was low. Averaged 20.5 mph for 56 miles, which is about what I expected.
I thought that if I had a really good race, I could finish under 5 hours. When I started the run, my time was 3:14, so I needed a 1:45 half-marathon, which works out to 8 minutes per mile. I ran really easy for the first mile, drinking a bottle of diet coke while I ran. Its weird, but I get diet coke cravings on these long races, so I keep a bottle of it in my transition area, which I drink on the run and drop at the first aid station. Anyway, I expected my first mile of the run to be pretty slow, but it was about 7:30, which was a pleasant surprise. I was passing people pretty steadily. Sometimes I'd run with someone for a little while, and talk a bit. There were some pretty steep up hills at miles 3 and 4.5, and I took a short walking break on the steepest part of each one. I didn't really need to walk, since I was feeling good and running steady 7:30 per mile. But I wanted to be sure I kept feeling good, since I still had a long way to go, so a few seconds of walking seemed a conservative thing to do. The run course was a simple out-and-back, with almost no shade. It was sunny and dry, but fortunately not too hot. Probably about 80 degrees. I ran through almost all the water stops, and sometimes took a cup of water on the run. Had a cup of coke at the turn-around at 6.55 miles. I kept running along and passing people, and very few people were passing me. So this was much better than on the bike part of the course. One guy who passed me at mile 8 was in my age division. Oh well. I walked one more time, for a minute or less, on the last steep hill at mile 9, and then went back to my 7:30 per mile pace for the last 4 miles. So I finished in 4:54, and under my 5 hour goal. My half-marathon was 1:40:15, which I am very pleased with. And I finished in good form, with no staggering across the finish line!
My overall time was 4:54:44.
I was 121st overall out of 777 finishers. I was the 99th in the amateur division.
I was 5th out of 54 finishers in the male age 45 to 49 division.
My splits were:
Swim: 25:09 (ranked 50th overall, including pros, 1st of 54 in my age division)
Bike: 2:44:08 (ranked 197th overall, 12th of 54 in my age division) 20.5 mph average
Run: 1:40:15 (ranked 115th overall, 4th in my age division) 7:39 per mile average
There sure were a lot of fast people here! The race had cash prizes for professionals and Hawaii Ironman qualifying slots for the age-grouper winners, which probably explains the very fast field. In my age division I did pretty well, 5th place. I was just 11 minutes behind the leader in my age group, which isn't very much for a race this long. The people ahead of me are among the best in the country. I had never been in a triathlon where such a large fraction of the field was so fast.
I definitely enjoyed this race, and would like to do it again next year. Hopefully I'll be stronger on the bike by then, but I don't believe I am likely to get technically good enough to ride the downhills well. I just don't enjoy going over 40 miles per hour downhill on a bike. The race was very well organized, and I liked the course. Although I think I would place better on a course that required less bike handling skill. I think my plan to walk for about a minute on each of the 3 hills of the run was a good idea, since it helped me finish strong. I was no worse than about 8 minutes per mile on the run, even on the miles where I walked a little bit.
The part where I could improve the most is the bicycling. Even if I don't ever get the technical skill to ride well down hill, I think I should be able to get stronger so that I can ride better on the flats.
Overall results, amateurs (I'm 99th)
Age group results, male 45-49 (I'm 5th)
Pro division results
1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run.
Swim in Buffalo Springs lake, bike and run in Buffalo Springs Canyon and Ransom Canyon.
Lisa and I drove to Lubbock on Saturday. It rained for about half the drive, so it was slow going. Took about 8 hours to get there. Picked up my race packet at the Holiday Inn, then found our hotel and checked in. We went out to get dinner at an Italian place, and ate pasta and bread. Biked a little around the hotel parking lot, and then I had some oatmeal, and then to bed at about 10 pm.
The day started early, up at 3:15 am, and out of the hotel at 4 am. I just had water and diet coke for breakfast. And then more water. And diet coke. Disgusting I know, but it seems to work for me. No food for me before the race. Got to the lake at 4:30 am and set up my transition area. Then just hung out in the dark, waiting and talking to people and drinking water, and going to the porta-potty every 15 minutes or so. There was a thunder storm off in the distance, but fortunately it went away from us.
The swim was a staggered start, with the professionals going in the first wave at 6:30 am, and other groups going in waves 5 minutes apart. I started in the 5th wave, at 6:50 am, with the other old men plus the 25-29 males. The water was cold enough so that wetsuits were legal, I guess the lake is spring fed. I planned to just follow people on the swim, but a small lead group of swimmers in my wave seemed to not want to swim straight. So rather than follow them, I headed straight for the bouy marking the first turn, and actually got there first. The course was sort of rectangular, and by swimming just about straight, I ended up being the first swimmer in my wave. So I was off to a good start! The swim to bike transition went OK, except I ran past my bike and wasted a few seconds. Oh well.
The course here really favors good bicyclists, which I am not. There were about eight major hills on the 56 mile course, some of which had switch-backs that I found technically difficult. Especially going down. The really good cyclists were just flying on the downhill parts. I am a total wimp on downhills, especially downhill curves, and tend to use my brakes much more than the good cyclists do. I was passed a lot on the downhills. But at least I stayed on the road. It was quite scenic on the hilly parts, with a fair amount of flat over the last 20 miles. It was moderately windy, but not too bad. I passed quite a few people, who were probably from the waves that started the swim ahead of me, but I also got passed by a lot. There were many very strong cyclists here, who I could not stay with at all when they passed me. I took it kind of easy on the last ten miles of the bike, thinking it would be best to save something for the run. Drank a lot on the bike, since the humidity was low. Averaged 20.5 mph for 56 miles, which is about what I expected.
I thought that if I had a really good race, I could finish under 5 hours. When I started the run, my time was 3:14, so I needed a 1:45 half-marathon, which works out to 8 minutes per mile. I ran really easy for the first mile, drinking a bottle of diet coke while I ran. Its weird, but I get diet coke cravings on these long races, so I keep a bottle of it in my transition area, which I drink on the run and drop at the first aid station. Anyway, I expected my first mile of the run to be pretty slow, but it was about 7:30, which was a pleasant surprise. I was passing people pretty steadily. Sometimes I'd run with someone for a little while, and talk a bit. There were some pretty steep up hills at miles 3 and 4.5, and I took a short walking break on the steepest part of each one. I didn't really need to walk, since I was feeling good and running steady 7:30 per mile. But I wanted to be sure I kept feeling good, since I still had a long way to go, so a few seconds of walking seemed a conservative thing to do. The run course was a simple out-and-back, with almost no shade. It was sunny and dry, but fortunately not too hot. Probably about 80 degrees. I ran through almost all the water stops, and sometimes took a cup of water on the run. Had a cup of coke at the turn-around at 6.55 miles. I kept running along and passing people, and very few people were passing me. So this was much better than on the bike part of the course. One guy who passed me at mile 8 was in my age division. Oh well. I walked one more time, for a minute or less, on the last steep hill at mile 9, and then went back to my 7:30 per mile pace for the last 4 miles. So I finished in 4:54, and under my 5 hour goal. My half-marathon was 1:40:15, which I am very pleased with. And I finished in good form, with no staggering across the finish line!
My overall time was 4:54:44.
I was 121st overall out of 777 finishers. I was the 99th in the amateur division.
I was 5th out of 54 finishers in the male age 45 to 49 division.
My splits were:
Swim: 25:09 (ranked 50th overall, including pros, 1st of 54 in my age division)
Bike: 2:44:08 (ranked 197th overall, 12th of 54 in my age division) 20.5 mph average
Run: 1:40:15 (ranked 115th overall, 4th in my age division) 7:39 per mile average
There sure were a lot of fast people here! The race had cash prizes for professionals and Hawaii Ironman qualifying slots for the age-grouper winners, which probably explains the very fast field. In my age division I did pretty well, 5th place. I was just 11 minutes behind the leader in my age group, which isn't very much for a race this long. The people ahead of me are among the best in the country. I had never been in a triathlon where such a large fraction of the field was so fast.
I definitely enjoyed this race, and would like to do it again next year. Hopefully I'll be stronger on the bike by then, but I don't believe I am likely to get technically good enough to ride the downhills well. I just don't enjoy going over 40 miles per hour downhill on a bike. The race was very well organized, and I liked the course. Although I think I would place better on a course that required less bike handling skill. I think my plan to walk for about a minute on each of the 3 hills of the run was a good idea, since it helped me finish strong. I was no worse than about 8 minutes per mile on the run, even on the miles where I walked a little bit.
The part where I could improve the most is the bicycling. Even if I don't ever get the technical skill to ride well down hill, I think I should be able to get stronger so that I can ride better on the flats.
Overall results, amateurs (I'm 99th)
Age group results, male 45-49 (I'm 5th)
Pro division results
posted by David Hoffman at 7:47 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home