Beaver Lake - Lee

[Lee]

This is only the second sprint distance race I have done in my short career. The fact that I swim like a slug along with not being the quickest in transitions has kept me away from the sprint races. The other sprint race I have done was this same Beaver Lake race in 2006.

Swim – When I picked up my packet on Friday I noticed I was in wave #8 and did not like the looks of that. I mentioned to the race coordinator that I am not an elite swimmer but I am pretty descent on the bike and she thought it would be safer for me to start in the elite way to avoid congestion on the bike course. I set a simple goal of not being the last elite swimmer out of the water. Low and behold when I finished the swim there was still one red cap in the water so I had accomplished my goal.

Swim time – 8:35
2006 swim time – 10:19
Delta – 1:44

T1- This was not the smoothest. I left my cleat covers on my shoes so I had to deal with that and had the usual problem of getting my wetsuit over my sasquatch feet.
T1 time – 1:54
2006 T1 time – 3:00
Delta – 1:06

Bike – My decision to start in the elite wave paid off. The bike course was wide open. I only saw a few cyclists the entire time. I was not feeling the groove on the bike but I kept hammering and reminding myself this is a sprint race. I hit 44 MPH riding off the plateau but now I had to get back to the top of it. I was fortunate I did not have a big breakfast because what NUUN I had consumed on the bike came up as I climbed up the hill.

Bike time – 40:40
Bike pace – 20.36 MPH
2006 bike time – 41:46
2006 bike pace – 19.82 MPH
Delta – 1:06

T2 – 1:09
2006 T2 – 1:50
Delta - :31

Run – This is the only time I was looking forward to the run while as I was still on the bike as the bike portion of the race was miserable. I hit the first mile marker at 8:04 so I wasn’t expecting a descent run. I was running with the 3rd guy out of the water who I passed on the bike and the pace seemed to increase but the effort seemed the same. I obviously picked up my pace after mile 1 based on my run split.

Run time – 31:48
Run pace – 7:22
2006 run time – 37:53
2006 run pace – 8:47
Delta – 5:05

Overall – 1:24:06
2006 overall – 1:34:49
Delta – 10:43

This was a good experience all and all. It sure was nice having lots of teammates and their families supporting me throughout the race.
Results courtesy of www.racecenter.com

[halvard]

Good work Lee!!
I think you said something about a compact crank in the hill. Trust me, I saw a lot of tired athletes up that hill.
Halvard

[Cindybigglestone]

That hill destroyed me....great race Lee!

[max]

It was great to see everyone today - loads of support all around the course. I loved starting in wave 10 as I got to feel really fast on the hill as I managed to pass loads of people Shame most of them were on mountain bikes or had shoppping baskets on the front....still I was happy.

[jrplatt]

Nice race Lee!

Did you get any of your Nuun on those behind you as you were climbing the hill! You must have been putting the power to the pedals!

[Lee]

Originally Posted by jrplatt

Nice race Lee!

Did you get any of your Nuun on those behind you as you were climbing the hill! You must have been putting the power to the pedals!

There was nobody in site in front or behind me. That may have been why I was in such a hurry. I did catch a couple of people towards the top of the hill though.

[alexis]

great work lee!!

[benbiggles]

Very solid race Lee and a nice PR good work.