Green member: Peter Barnard
Event: Metroplex Sprint Day 1
Location : Joe Pool Lake, Grand Prairie
Class : 45-49
Results : Overall Masters Winner , 12/243
Local knowledge and conditions : I know the course very well so no surprises there, was actually quite happy to see the lake had some chop as that gives the stronger swimmers an added advantage coming out of the water.
Pre-race strategy : Usually warm-up, easy run, 10 minutes in the water and some light stretching
Splits:
Swim 8:21 Would have been faster but a canoe decided to park itself in between me and one of the buoys forcing me to stop and then go around it
T1: 01:05
Bike: 23.4 mph average
T2: 00.51 (felt really good about that T2, one of the smoothest I've ever executed)
Run: 14:32 (7:16 splits)
Review: Going out in the last wave I had assumed there would be a little traffic on the back side of the swim course so planned on going hard to the first buoy then swinging a little wide to avoid traffic. Worked well until that bloody canoe decided to park itself in front of me and for whatever reason refused to move as I plowed towards it. I felt good about the swim but the comment shouted to me as I came out of the water by Jack Weiss 'what were you doing out there, having a party?' threw me off at first. Within the first mile I passed a guy on the bike from the same wave start that started me thinking that perhaps my swim had not been as good as I had thought and I started to check ages on every bike I passed. I did not come across anyone else from my wave until the turn around. The guy who had actually led our wave group out of the water was US Navy which I guess explained his swim speed and I caught him at the bike turn around. We swapped places a couple of times before I figured that he did not look like a guy I wanted to have a foot race with so I decided that it was time to push it and see what happened. I was able to open up a good size gap between us and after what I felt was a fast T2 I went on the run with my legs feeling good. I have been spending a lot of time working on my run, shortening my stride and increasing the turnover to create a more efficient run. It seems to be working as I find I am able to go hard without my heart rate climbing significantly. I pushed the run hard right up to the finish line which was a good thing as I only won the Masters award by 2 seconds......
Swim 8:21 Would have been faster but a canoe decided to park itself in between me and one of the buoys forcing me to stop and then go around it
T1: 01:05
Bike: 23.4 mph average
T2: 00.51 (felt really good about that T2, one of the smoothest I've ever executed)
Run: 14:32 (7:16 splits)
Review: Going out in the last wave I had assumed there would be a little traffic on the back side of the swim course so planned on going hard to the first buoy then swinging a little wide to avoid traffic. Worked well until that bloody canoe decided to park itself in front of me and for whatever reason refused to move as I plowed towards it. I felt good about the swim but the comment shouted to me as I came out of the water by Jack Weiss 'what were you doing out there, having a party?' threw me off at first. Within the first mile I passed a guy on the bike from the same wave start that started me thinking that perhaps my swim had not been as good as I had thought and I started to check ages on every bike I passed. I did not come across anyone else from my wave until the turn around. The guy who had actually led our wave group out of the water was US Navy which I guess explained his swim speed and I caught him at the bike turn around. We swapped places a couple of times before I figured that he did not look like a guy I wanted to have a foot race with so I decided that it was time to push it and see what happened. I was able to open up a good size gap between us and after what I felt was a fast T2 I went on the run with my legs feeling good. I have been spending a lot of time working on my run, shortening my stride and increasing the turnover to create a more efficient run. It seems to be working as I find I am able to go hard without my heart rate climbing significantly. I pushed the run hard right up to the finish line which was a good thing as I only won the Masters award by 2 seconds......
Thoughts: This has been my best season by far, a number#1 ranking in our region for my age group (granted that will likely last for only a week or so more but I am still claiming it lol) and today I received received confirmation that I'd qualified for US Nationals. I am not what you would call exactly physically gifted, my first Tri was actually this race back in the 1990's where at 210 lbs I was in the Clydesdale division. My aim was to actually finish the event forget about racing! Since then I've been through a marriage, a divorce, started 2 new businesses and will be getting married for the 2nd time within the next year. During that time Triathlon has really played an important part in keeping me sane and focused, I look forward to each racing season and the challenges that it brings. With the variety of event lengths and vast array of event locations both here and around the world there are many ways to enjoy this great sport. I want to thank Tri-ProSoap was allowing me to me a member of the team as there is now doubt that it has helped me to 'go faster' !
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