PICKING MY SPOT

After winning the novice division in my first triathlon I set my sights on competing in the overall group for my second race. I knew I would not be competing for an overall win but hoped to do well in my age group. More specifically, after looking at the results of last year’s race I decided to focus on certain aspects of this race. For this race, I wanted to hone in on transition 1, the bike and transition 2. My goal was to do not only do well in my age group in this area of the race but overall...this is where I was picking my spot. As you will see focusing on this was the difference between the age group win and a 3rd place finish.

 

T1, BIKE, T2 PERFORMANCE

After looking at the times from my first race it was clear I had some work to do in the areas of transition. I watched how some of the other athletes were going barefoot while leaving their biking shoes clipped into the bike. Also, I saw the quick athletes not wearing any socks. So I practiced mounting and dismounting the bike barefoot and began running with no socks. The dividend was not only time savings but also an age group victory. In race number 1 total time in transition was 0:03:37 in this race total time in transitions was 0:01:38 almost two-minute savings. Had I had the same transition time from the first race I would have come in third or possibly tied for second.

 

Name    Overall Time          Gap                  Interval

Jay        1:18:37

Jon        1:20:26                  +0:01:49          +0:01:49

Adam    1:20:36                  +0:01:59          +0:00:10

 

Another aspect that I am proud of how is how I compared to the overall. On the bike my 0:36:13 was 13th best out 125 competitors for the 12.2-mile course or roughly an average of 20.2 mph. However, what I was really happy with was my aggregate of T1, Bike, and T2 compared to the average of the top 5 and top 6-10.

 

Name                          Aggregate T1, Bike and T2       Gap            Interval

Top 5 Average            0:35:31

Top 6-10 Average      0:37:46                                      +0:02:15     +0:02:15

Jay                              0:37:51                                      +0:02:19     +0:00:05

 

So while I was nearly two minutes and twenty seconds behind the top 5, I was only a mere five seconds behind the average of the those who placed 6th through 10th overall. To be honest I am extremely happy with that because it was only my second race and some these athletes have some nice bikes.

 

WRAPPING UP

In all, it was a great race and a great time. I had a really great battle with a woman on the bike course as we kept trading places back and forth. It made for an absolute thrill for me. I have to say that I was shocked when I learned I won the age group. I actually didn’t take the lead until about a third of a mile into the run. After passing him I decided that I needed to walk in order to bring my heart rate down. I had really pushed on the bike and was now suffering because of it. My heart rate average was nearly 180 bpm which is basically my max heart rate...in other words, I was redlining my heart.

 

Three days before the event our dog, Jed, who was battling congestive heart failure was put to rest. I told him that we would race together on Sunday. To honor him I wrapped his collar on the head tube of the bike.

 

This is win is for you Jeddy! Shanna Parker Gardner and I miss you greatly.

 

Jay Gardner

 

Photo Credit: BB Action Photo