Monday, August 24, 2009

Billy Self @ Tri the Rock Sprint in Rockwall

Green Member: Billy Self

Event: Tri the Rock Sprint by Kiwanis Club of Rockwall

Location: Rockwall YMCA

Class (yours): Male 25-29

Results: 3rd Overall, 1st Age Group. personal record on time: first time under 1 hr. most happy with my run split pace of 6:13.

Local Knowledge and Conditions: The swim has tight lanes with very shallow "shallow end" for flip turns. The bike course starts on a false-flat hill, then turns into truly rolling hills for the first 1/3 and last 1/3 of the course. The run snakes through soccer fields and then out/back on the longest mirage of side walk in Rockwall county.

Pre-Race Strategy & Warm Up: as other teammates have said, Pin it the whole way. Warm-up was light jogging with some foot strike drills to get it in my head, plus some 15 sec pick ups. Swam 250 yards with only one lap as a pick up.

Psychology: I was super nervous about cramping in my calves after T2. Made some changes to cleat position to take pressure off the calf and I wanted to spin with a much faster cadence. I said my prayers asking for no cramping. It worked! No cramping in calves at all! I was able to comfortably get into a hard cruise tempo for the run early and build.

Lessons Learned (Or Re-Learned): From above, I needed to do a higher cadence which will leave me fresher for the run. I learned that my run got too sloppy and jumpy at 1.5 miles due to getting tired....learned that I need to stay relaxed and concentrate on form as much as possible.

Future Goals (include skills executed well and skills needing improvement): Higher cadence on the bike and shorter stride on the run/lean forward more.

Fitness (endurance, nutrition, hydration): Endurance on the bike felt great. I had a reverse rabbit named Jerry Lewis. I did not want him to catch me. He came out of the swim about 20 seconds behind me and I know he's a stronger road racer, so I kept looking forward pretending he was on my tail. Swim was 2 seconds faster than last year, and was hoping to be faster than that, but I'll take the time I got. The run felt great to comfortably get into a pace that was pushing myself to the breaking point. With continued speed work, I believe I can shave some more off the pace.

Something funny that happened: Jerry Lewis grabbed my calf with his whole hand in the pool. He was trying to say hi. Tyler passed me on 552 in my own truck and did a double take. I forgot that he borrowed it for putting out race cones. Nice Job, Tyler, thanks for the yell of encouragement. Also, I saw Steven P. with the other Sag vehicle on 66...he cheered me on as well... thanks buddy. Overall, super happy with the race and the team's results. Well done.

Glad To Be Here!

No comments: