On June 16th I raced in the 2012 Indianapolis Sprint Triathlon at Eagle Creek. I did this event last year and was looking forward to seeing how much I have improved in a year.
This triathlon is a 500 meter open water swim, 10 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. Overall, it was a great race for me as I beat last year's time by over 5 minutes. I fell a little short of my goal time of 59:59, but I am pretty excited about the personal record.
Race Summary
Swim: 12:24
Transition 1: 1:19
Bike: 27:55 (21.5mph avg)
Transition 2: 1:20
Run: 21:12 (7:04/mi avg)
Total Time: 1:04:10
Overall Place: 87/465
Age Group: 11/47
The Swim
The swim went better than last year by nearly one minute, but I was a bit disappointed in my swim time. The water temp was 76 degrees so it was wetsuit legal. I debated long and hard on whether to wear mine or not. The water temp was comfortable but the air temperature was hot and it was humid. Given those variables I went sans wetsuit.
The open water swim gremlin still gets to me. My open water times are about 30 seconds slower per 100 meters. I wish I could figure these open water swims out, but that just takes practice. My open water swim time should be slower than my pool times, but I don't think they should be that far apart. Who knows, maybe the actual distance was slightly longer than 500M meters. =)
There was some congestion in spots especially around the buoys. There were a few times in traffic where I got hit, pushed, and elbowed, but that's all part of the game. I did my fair share of making space too. You do your best to be as polite as possible, but after a certain point you have to get physical and not be intimidated.
Transition #1
In this race you have assigned racks based on your bib number. I got there early enough that I was able to get the end spot on my rack. Once out of the lake you run about 50 yards to transition. I found my bike with ease and was on my way out of transition and onto the bike course.
The Bike
The 10 mile bike course took you through the park and out on some city streets. It is a out and back course. The course had more hills on it than from what I remember from a year ago. The course was clean and free of traffic and the police and volunteers did a great job controlling traffic. I was able to power up the hills well and had a lot of fun speeding on the declines. My bike times keep improving with each race. Still waiting for that race where I can break out and average 22mph or possibly 23mph.
Transition #2
When you come back to transition from the bike you are flying down the hill a fast speed. I was able to slow my bike enough to get a good dismount and then run to my rack. I got my bike racked quickly and did a good job switching to my running shoes.
The Run
This 3 mile out and back run was flat with the exception of the hill right out of transition. This was my slowest triathlon run this season. I believe I pushed too hard on the hill and was never able to find a good rhythm in the beginning. The humidity was not really noticed up to this point in the race. However, a lot of the run was in the sun and you could really start to feel the humidity. It seemed like the run would never end and there were a few times I wanted to slow down. I had to win the battle between my ears. At this point in the race I knew I wouldn't get my goal time. This mindset and thinking was effecting my run so I told myself, " I can't get my goal, so get over it, and just smash my personal record for this race". After the turnaround at mile 1.5 I was mentally back in the game. I got passed by one guy who was running at the pace I wanted to so I decided to match his pace and follow him. I finished strong.
Summary
I did this race last year and was excited to do it again. It is very well ran and the volunteers do a wonderful job. One of my favorite things about this race is that they serve chocolate milk, amongst other items, after you finish. Nothing beats a cold chocolate milk after a hard race.
Train. Race. Repeat.