Tri Race Report

So I think that Jim has set a precedence where if you race you have to write a report. I am not nearly as good at racing as Sharp or well basically anyone that races on this site, but I do love triathlons. By the way: Soto needs to write up about four from this year alone. . .

Baumholder triathlon

Race was on Sunday, on Wednesday I was doing some interval running and really hurt my calf. Well, I thought I seriously injured it, I nursed it the rest of the week and decided to give it a go.

Sunday turned out to be a very warm and sunny day, which isn't all that bad in a triathlon.

Swim (0.6m) I have a certain race philosophy that says don't waste too much energy in the swim, you never lose that much time so why bother. I nudged along and finished at the back of my group, beating only a handful of the 61 competitors at my distance. Got a little frazled when someone kicked my goggles off.

Bike (32k) Its a great course to race one because it is not flat for very long, so you can make up some time. First two miles were uphill, fairly steep (will explain more about this later) and then its 5 miles elevating down into a town called Berglagenbach. From here we make a turn straight for the sky, like 600 feet in about 1.2 miles. Tough climbing with the tri bike, but I caught 5 people on this section alone. We make a little turn around, then bomb down a big sweeping hill (I hit 41 mph, and anyone that knows how I descend knows thats fast for me) and headed back to Baumholder, and that 5 mile descent becomes a 5 mile climb. It never feels as steep going down as it does going up. Then the last two, I didn't notice it being steep when climbing, but I was trying to settle the heart rate for the run, and looked at my garmin, I was still riding at 37 mph. Good bike.

Run (8k) Well I took off on the run, and right away I could tell my calf wasn't 100%, but I would be just fine as it didn't hamper my stride at all. It was a 4 lap course, with one little climb, which was a nice change from last years course. The heat and lack of something in my nutrition plan caused me to cramp a bit in the quads. Overall I ran a consistant last leg, but not spectactular.

Overall I finished 27 out of 61, was pretty good on the bike, top 20.

Race season:
Lyon France July 10
Frankfurt Germany August 7
Split Croatia Sept 18

Thanks for the report. It's always nice to read other racers report. Great job on the downhill.

Soto your next!