Giant Acorn International Tri

Giant Acorn International Tri Race Report

• Race Name: Giant Acorn International Triathlon
• Race Date: October 1, 2011
• Race Location: Bumpass, VA
• Race Distance: distance  (1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run)
• Division: W 30-34
• Total Time: 3:09:32
• Time Breakdown: Swim – 35:36, T1 –5:58, Bike – 1:25:28, T2 – 3:25, Run – 58;46
• Age Group Placing: 23/32
• Overall Placing: 184/258 (women only)

Pre-race

Registration was online and was $95.40. Considering I registered for this about 2 months before the race due to TriRock Gettysburg Olympic being canceled, I thought that the fees were decent. I really like the Setup Events group. Both of the races I’ve done that they’ve organized have gone smoothly. The volunteers were great. There were even 2 on the bike course specifically to warn people about a metal grate on a bridge! Pre-race, I got my number, cap, and bag and then went to set up transition. Also in the bag was the shirt and socks (again!). Love the design of the shirt, it was super cute.

They kept the music down for the most part to not disturb people living on the lake, which I thought was nice. They had port-a-potties in several locations, so not everyone was standing in one line, which was pretty helpful. Course maps were provided online and again the week before in our race information packet. The race venue was really nice. One of the prettier I’ve done all season.

We got up at 5:30 or so, left Fredericksburg at 6, stopped at McDonalds for breakfast (I had the fruit and maple oatmeal), and were at the race site by 7, just a wee bit early for a 10am race. Ah well. It gave me plenty of time to use the restroom, get acclimated to the cold and wind, and do packet pickup. There were close to 800 registered, so being there early wasn’t a bad thing!

Swim

The water in Lake Anna was warm – a wonderful 73 degrees, so still wetsuit legal – and also pretty choppy. The power plant that normally heats the lake has been turned off since our earthquake a few months ago, but the water was only 3 degrees cooler than last year, so that was good. The sun was horrible during the middle stretch for all of the right handed breathers. Then again, if you were a left breather, you were taking in water the entire time we were on this stretch. I managed to get way off course on the first part of the course, sighting on the yellow turn buoy instead of the orange ones. Oops. It was ok, I managed to get back on course and still pulled off very close to my estimated time. The last 100m was the worst. I had this guy who swam straight into me and wouldn’t get out of my way. I had to push to pass him just to stop getting hit/kicked. Just annoying when I spent the rest of the time pretty much not having too many of those types of issues. The biggest thing I could’ve done to improve my swim was stay on course!

Bike

The roads were pretty good. There was one part that was pretty bumpy, but nothing major, no potholes to speak of. The course wasn’t closed to traffic, but for the most part, the roads aren’t heavily used, so there were only a few cars. It was a double loop course of about 12 miles each, no food/water stops. I took in shot blox in T1 and then one honey stinger gel toward the end of the bike ride.

I met my goal on the ride. My entire goal was just to do it, save my legs for the run, and to enjoy it. Sometimes, I looked down and was doing 13mph. A bit too slow for a race, but I was taking in the scenery. I averaged just about 17.5 mph over the course, so that’s not too bad. I know I have plenty of room to grow with strength on the bike, but considering my first race this year’s average pace was just under 15 mph, I’m happy with the strength I’ve gained this season.

Run

In T2, I couldn’t get my Garmin to cooperate, so I brought my swim watch with me instead. I’ve decided this might be the way to go during a race. It allowed me to concentrate on overall time instead of obsessing about how fast I was going that very second.

My legs felt surprisingly good. The longest brick I had done was a 25 mile bike ride followed by a 2.5 mile run. Not really a great indicator of what would happen in the race, but it was pretty good. This is the first run that I didn’t really feel like I had Jell-O legs… they felt strong the entire 10k.

I’ve decided I like wearing my headsweats visor during the runs. It really does help keep the sweat out of my eyes. There were 2 water stations, 1 of them you hit on the way out and back. I think three stations over 3 miles is pretty good (it was a double loop course). The course was definitely rolling hills, which normally I would’ve hated, but I loved it this race. It wasn’t easy, per se, but it wasn’t hard either. There were a lot of athletes really struggling. Several with muscles that were cramping, breathing too hard, looked like they were going to puke, etc. I was just happy I had planned out my bike so that I wasn’t one of those people!

One of the best things was seeing Jon after I came out of the woods and him telling me that the finish line was literally down the hill and he’d meet up with me after and then seeing Tracy as I came through the chute. The first thing out of her mouth was “Do you want to cry? I want to cry for you, I’m so proud of you!” I did want to cry, in the happiest sense. I had that “The world is mine today” smile on my face again.

Transitions

Was everything ready for you and in place just like you wanted it to be? What could you have done to improve your transitions?

T1 was horrible for me. The buckle on my bike shoe came off of the top part of the shoe and I spent way too long fussing with it. Should’ve jumped to my conclusion earlier – just put the buckle in as far as it’ll go and GO! No problems with the wetsuit, which was good.

T2 wasn’t bad. The main problem I had was re-racking my bike. The other athletes on my rack didn’t re-rack their bikes correctly and it just made for a difficult time. Part of the problem was the guy 2 down from me, just didn’t set up his transition area efficiently, screwing up pretty much everyone else. Anyhow, bike stuff off; hat, run belt, and shoes on, and out I went.

Post-Race

I felt like a million bucks at the end of the race. I was so happy with my performance. It wasn’t the fastest of times in the world (or even as fast as I could’ve done), but it was exactly what I needed to close out my first tri season. After the race, Tracy and I packed up, went to the cars, changed, and met back up. Apparently the food station ran out of pizza and subs, so I didn’t even bother to try to get anything. Thankfully, I had a Honey Stinger waffle, so I snacked on that until we could get to a place for lunch.

Race results were posted later that night, which was super fast. The photos followed a couple of days later. The distances seemed accurate, and the race officials fair. It’s a good thing they weren’t really handing out drafting penalties on the bike, there were quite a few places you just couldn’t help it with that many people around.

Summary and Lessons Learned

I accomplished everything I set out to in this race. The main goal was to finish before cut-off. Cut-off was 4 hrs from start time for the first loop of the run. Finishing in just over 3 hours, I had plenty of time. I figured setting that kind of goal, I wasn’t setting myself up for disappointment in any sense and it’d allow me to enjoy the race. Sometimes, setting a “just finish” goal is better than any time goal because it relieves the pressure. The only thing I wish I would’ve done differently is the dealing with my bike shoe. It is what it is though. I’ll know next time!