Heart O'Dixie Race Report 2009

2008 10/50 SWIM 13/50 14:27 T1 1:23 BIKE 09/50 1:13:50 22.3 T2 2:05 RUN 09/50 51:55 7:25 2:23:38
2009 13/60 SWIM 10/60 13:10 T1 1:10 BIKE 06/60 1:09:09 23.9 T2 1:57 RUN 16/60 48:21 6:55 2:13:46

I rode up on Friday with Ben for the race. We got to the packet pickup early and then checked in the hotel. We prepped everything for the next day. This is a point to point race. You swim ½ mile and then ride 27.5 miles to T2. And the race then finishes 7 miles from T2. You have to bag your T2 stuff and bag stuff for after the race. My T2 run stuff is just a number belt, shoes and a hat. Pretty light stuff when it comes down to it.

I was starting 419 out of about 435 (not sure of exact number). This is a staggered start so I would be starting about 35 minutes after the start of the race. Also my T1 transition area was at the back (however, this was closer to the exit than almost anyone else).

SWIM

The staggered start really makes the swim easy. The swim was a clockwise horseshoe shape – just the kind that I like. All the buoys were to my right and that made it easy for me to sight. I have said it before: when you start at the back, the only people left in the water are people that you are faster then. I started my old Timex stop watch and I ran out into the water and just started my swim cruise mode. However, within the first 200 yards the Velcro on the watch started to slip and the watch was gone – oh well – nothing to do about it. As I swam I came upon a few people back stroking and breast stroking. I know that they were just trying to get through the swim – I can empathize. I tried to give everyone a wide berth and tried not to disrupt them. Like I said, I empathize – I have been there. I just cruise along the outer perimeter of the swim and finished faster than last. The swim was 1:17 faster. My age group swim rank was 13/50 last year – a really good swim for me. This year it was 10/60 – even better. Also, I have not yet begun to push the swim. I have a lot of time to gain as soon as I am more comfortable during the swim part of the race.

T1

I had a little bit of trouble getting my wet feet into my cycling shoes. It felt like it was taking forever. T1 was 17 seconds faster than last year.

BIKE

Starting at the end of the race there are only people to pass. I think that this is actually good for my race strategy. There is always someone that is in front of you and that you can overtake. With my personality I think that this pushes me. However, once again the traffic on the course was difficult. This is two lane blacktop and when there is a slower rider the cars back up trying to pass. You have to ride aggressively. I was passing cars and cyclist in many sections. I bet that I was passed and re-passed by the same group of 10 cars about 5 times before the road widen so that the cars could get away. I found it easy to keep my heart rate up in a high zone and keep the speed up. This course is rolling hills and it actually finishes at a slightly lower elevation than the start (a hundred feet or so). These are not steep rolling hills and you can really fly down the backsides. There were miles that I averaged 28 MPH for the entire mile. I pushed the bike hard for the first and last 40%. Reviewing my race data, I’m not sure why – probably stuck behind some cars crawling up hills, my heart rate dropped in the middle of the race. I passed Keith in the last few miles of the bike. Last year I had my best bike, here – it is a fast course and finished in my age group 9/50. This year I improved that to 6/60 and bettered my time by 4:41 and averaged 23.9 MPH. As a side note – doing the math I was about 10 seconds from the website reporting 24.0 MPH – damn. 24 seems so much faster than 23.9.

T2

I thought that my bike was a long way to run to in T1. I wish that I had a photograph to show you what a nearly 2 minute transition time looks like. I am always pretty good in the transitions – easy speed. However, I do not do a flying dismount and I run in my cycling shoes (LOOK type cleats). So I had to clip clop to the far end of a parking area before racking my bike. It took forever and seemed even longer. That being said my T2 time was 8 seconds faster than last year with a 1:57.

RUN

Last year I had to walk within the first few hundred yards and watch some of my age group rabbits pull away. This year I felt fine. I was running a comfortably hard pace. I was running a pace like a good tempo run. I could have, well should have, pushed harder. I had the overhead but I just did not push it. My cardio capacity was there but my legs were tired and a little sore. I was passing everyone (once again that is what happens when you start almost last). At about mile 2 a 16 year old kid passed me – His race number was in the 300’s – I had about 5 minutes on him. He was running a little faster than I was. He said something like – ‘Looking good’ when he passed. I latched onto him about 20 feet back. I was still running comfortable but a little faster than before. At about the 4 mile mark I caught back up to the kid. I got beside him and told him that I was not running any faster. We ran together side by side for about a mile and then I told him to ‘PICK IT UP – LETS GO!’ I surged forward and accelerated. The kid came with me and I let him get just in front of me. These were my fastest miles. The run was now becoming hard – like it should be. Once the run enters the fairgrounds you follow a white chalk line on the packed red earth. The route winds through ‘Victorian Style’ cabins. The chalk line is so old school. The race finishes on a packed clay horse track. You run about a lap and a quarter on this track. It is hard to guess when you should kick – The track is wide open and you have to make sure that when you kick you can finish it. I brought myself side by side with the kid. I told him that he did not want to be out kicked by me. He didn’t budge. A little bit farther down the track and his dad was telling him to pick it up. The kid kicked it up and finished strong. I kicked a little and finished well. Last year my run was 9/50 and it dropped to 16/60 even though I was 3:34 faster. I was looking at the race results when the kid came up to me and shook my hand. He said that he finished second in his age group and was very excited. I congratulated him. He asked me how I had done – I beat him by about 6 minutes. He said something like wow and asked my where I placed – I told him 13th and said that it was a tough age group.

Total
I was faster in every aspect of the race: SWIM / T1 / BIKE / T2 / RUN. I finished with a total time of nearly 10 minutes faster – 9:52 faster. A lot of this time gain can be attributed to the cooler temperature and different equipment but it was a very good race for me. To win my age group last year I would have need to be 12:24 minutes faster – this year only 8:09 minutes. In addition, to podium last year I would have needed 7:09 minutes and this year only 5:53 minutes. I finished 55 in males and this year 37th even though there were about 100 more participants. This is also the first time that I finished in front of Mike L. – by about 2 minutes.

Post Race

I wore my racing flat Zoot’s for this hilly 7 miles. I think that is pushing the distance for these shoes. At one of the water stops on the run they were giving out ice chilled towels. I grabbed one and put it on the back on my neck and then on my chest. It felt great for about a minute, however, my shoes were soaked by then. I started to get a couple of hot spots on my left foot. Nothing major but my feet hurt for a little bit after the race. As soon as I showered and put socks and fresh shoes on all was better. I got a post race massage for my quads and hamstrings. It felt good. We hitched a ride back to Ben's car with the pinebeltpacer gang. I enjoyed swapping race stories with Becky, Raul and Susan.

Heart O'Dixie - PREVIEW / 2008 REVIEW

Thursday morning was an easy morning trace ride. Normally it would be a group ride but it was only Robin and I that showed up. No matter. We still had a good 25 mile ride. We talked a lot about upcoming races and time trails. It seems like the boys of summer have dropped off for a little bit.

Friday morning I got a little swimming in at the pool - 3 sets of 300 yards + 200 yards with paddles – for a good 1500 yards. The swim felt good. I was really trying to over emphasize the roll – starting with my hips. A few weeks ago this felt very awkward but now it is not so bad. Starting the roll with my hips is allowing for my entire body to roll – not just my shoulders. It feels like my body is much longer and I am grabbing bigger chunks of water. Although, I have not seen any speed improvement, I do believe that I am swimming more efficiently.

From the Meridian Star:

“The Heart o’ Dixie is the oldest triathlon in the continental U.S.

This year’s race officially sold out some two weeks ago.

We normally don’t hit 300 until the week of the race and this year we’ve got 400 two weeks before the race,” said race director John David Williams. “It’s a growing sport. Everybody wants to do this race. It’s going to be a good day. I’m absolutely looking forward to it.”

I’m leaving for the Heart O’Dixie race a little later today – Ben is picking me up from work and we are heading out. This will be the 30th Annual Heart O’Dixie Triathlon – I am amazed that this race the oldest triathlon in the continental US – In the middle of Mississippi. I bet you would not have guessed that!

The start is staggered – you start every 5 seconds unless you are seeded in the top 10. Your start number is determined by went you register. I registered last week – I will start 419th. Last year I started 325. The good news is that my friends Keith, Raul and Tony will be starting 355, 430 and 431 (Tony is last) respectively – maybe we will go have some breakfast before the race (I’ll be starting about 35 minutes after the start of the race). On the other hand Ben and Mike will be starting 88 and 178 – I hope they save me some food. The race is a point to point ½ mile swim, 27.5 mile bike and 7 mile run.

2008 Heart O’Dixie Race Report
Total Time: 2:23:38
Overall Rank: 55/338
Age Group Rank: 10/50
Pre-race routine:

Ate 3 packages of oatmeal and drove to race. Set up transition.

Event warm-up:

Quick dip in lake for a swim. I cut my foot on something in the mud. Decide to wear socks during the bike and run because of this. I registered late for this race. It was a staggered start - every 5 seconds. I started at number 325. I got to see many people complete the swim before I even jumped in.

Swim: 14:27 - 1:38s / 100 yards – AG RANK – 13/50

I am not strong in the swim; however, I now realize that I am better than some. It was difficult passing the many people ahead of me. Starting so far in the back of the pack meant that everyone that swims better than me was out of the water. The only people left on the course were struggling. All in all I still had a decent swim for me. Still working on this.

What would you do differently?

Try to start earlier. Continue to work on breathing, sighting and speed. I AM A MUCH BETTER SWIMMER – I WILL TRY AND JUST PICK MY OWN LINE LIKE I DID IN THE SUNFISH AND CRUISE THE SWIM.

T1: 1:23

Bike was farthest from swim exit / bike start. Had to put socks on and run through grassy transition.

What would you do differently?

Work on running bike mount. STILL NOT DOING THE FLYING MOUNT – NO SOCKS THIS YEAR!

Bike: 1:13:50 – 22.35 MPH - AG RANK – 9/50

The bike was fast. However, once all the bikes had left transition the traffic picked up on the road. These cars were all of the racers families and friends going to meet the racers at the fairgrounds. This created a lot of traffic. This is 2 lane blacktop. I was travelling faster than the cars at many places. Got held up.

What would you do differently?

Remain in the zone. Keep concentration up. This was still a very good bike for me. WITH SO MANY RACERS IN FRONT OF ME I MUST USE THEM AS RABBITS AND KEEP IN THE PASSING ZONE. I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO KEEP MY CONCENTRATION UP IN THE LAST 2 RACES!

T2: 2:05

Transition placement was again poor. Legs shaky. Dropped a gel and stopped to get it.

What would you do differently?

Practice dismount and riding with feet on top of shoes. STILL NO FLYING DISMOUNT.

Run: 51:55 – 7:25 min/mile - AG RANK – 9/50

First mile was a killer. I was with a group of fast runners in my age group that were also numbered near me. I tried to hang with them but I was not doing well. Had to take two 10 second walk breaks. Choked down a gel and picked up the pace. Found someone to pace with and kept going. Walked the water stops. Got some support back from a friend that is a good runner. He came by and I was able to use him as my rabbit.

What would you do differently?

Tough out the run. Remain focused. More bricks and speed work in training. STILL NEED THE MENTAL TOUGHNESS TO KEEP THE RUN HARD – REAL HARD.

Post race

Warm down:

Stopped cold and grabbed a wet towel and a water bottle. Ate some cookies and got in line for a massage. They worked on my calves and it felt great. Ate a whole lot of pizza (I had a long drive home and did not want to get spacey). Jumped on bus to take me back to race start. Grabbed my goggles and then drove to T2 to get bike. Started to rain - a real downpour for most of the 2.5 hour drive home. I was so glad that the rain did not hit during the race.

What limited your ability to perform faster?

Still building swim / bike / run. Become more comfortable during the swim so that the bike / run do not suffer. Pick the pace up on the run and become strong at hills on the bike. HOPEFULLY THE SWIM IS BECOME A NON-ISSUE. SURE I AM NOT GOING TO WIN IN SWIM SPRINTS BUT I SHOULD BE ABLE TO PUSH THE BIKE. NOW IF I CAN JUST FIND THE BALANCE BETWEEN THE BIKE AND RUN!

Travel and carrotbelly

Went for a near 40 mile bike ride ( 38 miles) this morning. Hit a few hills with Chris and Ted (from Jackson). I think that I have seen Ted at nearly every triathlon I have been to. I went to the 29th annual 'Heart of Dixie' triathlon with Jim earlier this year. Ted was at the very first one in 1980. He told me that he has only missed 2 of the races (because he was living out of state.) Ted will be 55 this year and he beat me at the Heart of Dixie by 2 minutes. He is a fast guy.

I ended up getting a slow leaking flat on the ride and hit the tire with a shot of CO2. It lasted for about 10 miles and then I hit it again. I saw JD doing a run on the trace a few miles from my house and that gave me so motivation to go ahead and do a brick. I ended up having to use the little remain CO2 and hit the tire again just to get home. This probably was a good thing since I had to soft pedal the last few miles.

I slipped on my running shoes and headed down to the trace towards where I saw JD. I saw him in about a 1/2 mile. I turned around and ran with him to finish his 7 mile run. I caught him at the end of his run and the pace was slower than I normally would have run. An easy 2 mile run was just what I needed. After I left JD at Jackson I proceeded to put another 5 miles in - not really pushing the pace.

I finished the brick tired but satisfied with the run.

Took a cool 'ice' bath and ate some chicken and oatmeal when I got home. Jodie and I went to the grocery store for her to get stuff for next week. I'm going to be out all of next week so I was already prepared for my food needs - oatmeal and tuna. That is just what I am on right now. Quick, easy and not too bad for you.

I also picked up some strange yellow baby carrots for the rode trip to Altanta. As most people know - when I travel I get the carrotbelly.