Patriots Sprint Tri Race Report
- Race Name: Patriots Sprint Tri
- Race Date: September 11, 2011
- Race Location: Williamsburg, VA (Jamestown Settlement)
- Race Distance: Sprint (750m OWS swim, 12.4 mi bike, 5k run)
- Division: F 30-34
- Total Time: 1:37:38
- Time Breakdown: Swim – 17:15, T1 – 6:34, Bike – 41:35, T2 – 1:56, Run – 30:20
- Age Group Placing: 10/28
- Overall Placing: 115/255 (women only)
Pre-race
Race registration was online, went smoothly. The race was very well organized. We watched the Half the day before and were pretty impressed with how well supported it was with event staff and not we’d be doing the swim because of 4 days of rain we had gotten. They weren’t incredibly clear about their decision until much later than they’d originally said. Not a bad thing, but annoying.
They had plenty of port-a-potties, so that was a good thing. I didn’t really notice any lines for them, but I used them before I’d be looking for a line. The race venue was across from Jamestown Settlement in Williamsburg. The James River was great to swim in, but it was a ¼ mile run from there to transition. It was a bit far. Good amount of parking (always important). The race packet was really just the race numbers, swim cap, shirt, and a pair of socks (YAY!). I enjoyed that there wasn’t a million useless pieces of paper in the bag and that all of that was done electronically. The race fee was $75 – not too bad for a sprint. Course maps were available online.
I didn’t get much sleep Friday or Saturday nights leading up to the race. The hotel room was way too warm for my liking (the air conditioning was blowing straight into the desk). We got to the race right around 5:30, plenty of time for me to pick up my chip, get transition settled, and get body marked. I had my normal Luna Bar for breakfast and did pretty well on it. The weather was good – a bit muggy (turns out it was 94% humidity), but the temperature was in the 70s. There were about 600 people there; making it one of the larger races I’ve done this season.
Swim
It had been raining for 4 days straight in the week leading up to the race, so we weren’t even sure the swim would happen. If it did, would it be wetsuit legal? We were able to have the swim and the water temperature in the James River was 79.8 – so wetsuit optional. I chose not to use it, and found the water temperature to be very comfortable. The race directors had us moving in a direction such that if you were right side only breathing, the sun wasn’t in your face for 2/3 of the swim, which was good. It seemed to me that a lot of the people doing this race didn’t have much experience in open water and it definitely showed. I got kicked about 5 times before finally grabbing the woman’s foot in front of me. Overall, I felt like I had a good swim and could’ve gone longer. I swung the last leg pretty wide to avoid being kicked anymore and it added some time to my swim, but it was worth it.
Bike
The roads for this race were generally good. The first portion and last portion of the road sucked! It was the part leading to/from the rest of the race site for the out and back course. The course was partially closed to traffic, partially not. In the parts that weren’t, generally, the course officials were great… however, there were some areas where there were no officials and the drivers were pretty obnoxious. I had one guy pass a little too close for comfort and in a manner that let us know he was pissed. The course was relatively flat, with a couple of very small hills. The biggest thing I could’ve improved here was that I should’ve drank a LOT more. Thinking back, I don’t think I drank anything, which I paid for over the run.
Run
Surprisingly, my legs felt great! My side did not. I definitely didn’t have enough to eat/drink during the bike and paid for it dearly the last mile of the run. I wore my visor for the first time during a race and was so glad I did. Almost the entire run was out in the sun. There were 2 water stations, one on the way out, and one on the way back in (same location, table on both sides of the trail). It was pretty flat, so that was good. There really wasn’t crowd support, but I expected that. To improve my run, I should’ve had my nutrition and water. I really needed it and totally crashed because I didn’t have it.
Transitions
T1 was a LONG run (1/4 mile) from the water to the transition area. Hence the 6:38 T1 time. Once I got into transition, I got my sandals off, socks and bike shoes on, along with helmet and bike gloves and got moving for the long run back to the other end of transition to get onto my bike. The only thing that was really bugging me was that my glasses were fogged up and I had no way of wiping them off. For some reason, I didn’t eat my Shot Blox, which would come back to kick my butt later.
T2 was ok, but kind of slow. I overshot my transition area by one rack (oops). I sat down to deal with my shoes, which I never do, but for some reason, I was ok with it today. I really need to practice my transitions more, in general. It’s the only way they’ll get faster really.
Post-Race
This was probably one of the best supported post-race venues I’ve been to in a long time. They had all sorts of drinks, pizza, oranges, watermelon, oreos, and jelly beans. We didn’t stick around for the awards since I knew I didn’t place in my age group, but had seen them the day before at the half. They gave away a wine glass and a bottle of local wine, which I thought was pretty cool. Race results were posted later that night or the next day and photos were sent within the week. The distances were pretty accurate, can’t tell about the swim. I didn’t see the race officials out, but they were fair the day before, so I’m assuming they were this day too.
Summary and Lessons Learned
My biggest lesson learned from this race is the need for nutrition and hydration. Above all else, I must remember to get it in. This week, in training, I’ve been using the Honey Stingers products and have had a lot of success with them (in reference to how my stomach deals with them).
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