Going into this event, I was looking forward to racing Doug Clark, last year's winner of the Olympic race. I did the NJ State Sprint last year and really enjoyed the race.
Note: two years ago to help prepare for my first ever triathlon (Brigantine), my Dad and I watched Dave Slavinski win the sprint race in 2011. His winning time was 54:05. So my goal going to into the 2012 Sprint race was to beat his time from the previous year. Even though I went a 53:57, Dave smoked me at US Nationals last year in Vermont by over a minute. I later found out he was taking it easy on the run last year at NJ States.
Also, after racing Mike Gadzinski at the Philly Tri in June, I was looking forward to going head-to-head again. I thought with the flatter and shorter bike course I may have a shot, but quickly realized it wasn't going to happen.
Race Set-Up
Mercer County park is fairly close to my family's house, so it was nice doing a local race. I was familiar with the venue from last year and my Dad and I drove the new bike course the previous day.
Swim
On the swim start I positioned myself to the far right. I breathe to my left every other stroke so I could easily see the field as we began the race. Eventually, I moved over to Dan Feeney closer to the buoys and kept pace with the lead group until the last couple of turns. Ended up coming out of the water in 4th place.
T1
Transition was smooth, and could see I had about the same lead on Gadzinski as I did in Philly. I knew I would have to go out hard to try and hold him off as long as I could.
Bike
As Dan mentioned in his race report, the first two athletes out of the water were strong swimmers, but not terribly fast on the bike; however, as I started riding something did not feel right on the bike. My suspicion was confirmed when Gadzinski flew by me at around the 2 mile mark. At Philly, I was able to at least get to mile 8 before he caught us and was able to go back and forth a little before he eventually pulled away. Here at NJ State, there was no keeping his pace. I don't ride with a power meter, but my second data point was when Matt Coleman passed me as we started the second loop. Last year at the Philly Sprint race, I went up against Matt, who is a solid athlete. We had identical bike splits so I was surprised when I saw him go by me. I’m not sure why my bike split was so slow, but ended up coming into T2 in 5th place.
T2
T2 went fine. I held off on taking a gel, and could see Dan about 30 seconds ahead of me.
Run
Even though my bike was slower than normal, my legs felt good on the run. Also, I was keeping pace with Dan so thought I was going pretty good. Around mile 3, my left knee started to hurt. Last year at NJ State, my hip was giving me problems. Not sure if it is the uneven trail that we run on during the race or the multiple turn-arounds on grass, but this run course has not been kind. Thankfully, I have no experience with a major injury, but my knee is still not 100%. I rested this past week, and could swim and bike fine. Today I tried running. During warm-up, my knee felt fine, but when I started to pick up the pace, the same pain resurfaced. My plan is to focus on my bike and swim for the remainder of the season, and give me knee a rest on the run training.
I finished the race in 5th, and I was happy to beat Doug Clark by 7 seconds. He is a strong athlete, and look forward to racing him again at US Nationals in Milwaukee.
Note: two years ago to help prepare for my first ever triathlon (Brigantine), my Dad and I watched Dave Slavinski win the sprint race in 2011. His winning time was 54:05. So my goal going to into the 2012 Sprint race was to beat his time from the previous year. Even though I went a 53:57, Dave smoked me at US Nationals last year in Vermont by over a minute. I later found out he was taking it easy on the run last year at NJ States.
Also, after racing Mike Gadzinski at the Philly Tri in June, I was looking forward to going head-to-head again. I thought with the flatter and shorter bike course I may have a shot, but quickly realized it wasn't going to happen.
Race Set-Up
Mercer County park is fairly close to my family's house, so it was nice doing a local race. I was familiar with the venue from last year and my Dad and I drove the new bike course the previous day.
Swim
On the swim start I positioned myself to the far right. I breathe to my left every other stroke so I could easily see the field as we began the race. Eventually, I moved over to Dan Feeney closer to the buoys and kept pace with the lead group until the last couple of turns. Ended up coming out of the water in 4th place.
T1
Transition was smooth, and could see I had about the same lead on Gadzinski as I did in Philly. I knew I would have to go out hard to try and hold him off as long as I could.
Bike
As Dan mentioned in his race report, the first two athletes out of the water were strong swimmers, but not terribly fast on the bike; however, as I started riding something did not feel right on the bike. My suspicion was confirmed when Gadzinski flew by me at around the 2 mile mark. At Philly, I was able to at least get to mile 8 before he caught us and was able to go back and forth a little before he eventually pulled away. Here at NJ State, there was no keeping his pace. I don't ride with a power meter, but my second data point was when Matt Coleman passed me as we started the second loop. Last year at the Philly Sprint race, I went up against Matt, who is a solid athlete. We had identical bike splits so I was surprised when I saw him go by me. I’m not sure why my bike split was so slow, but ended up coming into T2 in 5th place.
T2
T2 went fine. I held off on taking a gel, and could see Dan about 30 seconds ahead of me.
Run
Even though my bike was slower than normal, my legs felt good on the run. Also, I was keeping pace with Dan so thought I was going pretty good. Around mile 3, my left knee started to hurt. Last year at NJ State, my hip was giving me problems. Not sure if it is the uneven trail that we run on during the race or the multiple turn-arounds on grass, but this run course has not been kind. Thankfully, I have no experience with a major injury, but my knee is still not 100%. I rested this past week, and could swim and bike fine. Today I tried running. During warm-up, my knee felt fine, but when I started to pick up the pace, the same pain resurfaced. My plan is to focus on my bike and swim for the remainder of the season, and give me knee a rest on the run training.
I finished the race in 5th, and I was happy to beat Doug Clark by 7 seconds. He is a strong athlete, and look forward to racing him again at US Nationals in Milwaukee.