The Rush Tri Race Results

Results from today's race at Rexburg, "The Rush Tri." I don't have the official results, and I didn't hang out for awards because I was pretty sure I didn't get any hardware. Also, "results" implies placing and all that, but for me it's just how I do against my goals....everything else is secondary. Below is a quick review of the whole thing, some splits, and a "goals vs reality" section to see if I did what I wanted to do (in that section, black text is the goal, blue text is a note on the reality).

Review: Race went as planned. Goal times were changed during the Friday night bike course drive when I saw how tough "the hill" was going to be. Ultimately, I missed my swim goal, the bike goal, but beat the run goal. Transitions were slow. This was my best swim yet, but I still missed the goal. The bike was fun and scenic but cold (my feet felt frozen at the end of the bike). The run was much better than expected. This was my second olympic distance race and first "Rush Tri." I really like this course and plan to do it again (it's only an hour ten minute drive from home, too!). Good day overall.


Total Time: 2:28:30 at elevation of 4900 - 5200ft
Avg Heart Rate: 160
Peak Heart Rate: 174
Calories: 2896

Swim and T1 together: AHR 155, Time 28:11:47
Bike first 12 miles: 39:00:05 AHR 162 (tough uphill on this section)
Bike last 12 miles + T2 : AHR 157 36:29:31 (long downhill cruise)
Total Bike + T2: 1:15:20 Avg Cad=86 Avg MPH=21.8
1st Mile Run: AHR 157 7:43:04
2nd Mile Run: 165 9:07:63 (hard uphill)
3d Mile Run: 164 7:32:14
4th Mile Run: 165 7:07:67 (flat w/ some rollers)
5th Mile Run: 166 6:43:08 (downhill)
6th Mile Run + remainder to finish: 167 6:35.13 (downhill and/or flat)
Total Run= 44:48.47
Total: 2:28:30

Note: AHR= Average Heart Rate

Reality vs Goals:

Overall Time:
2:24 - realistic (23+2.5+70+.5+48=144)
Best Possible = 2:19 20+2.5+70+.5+46=139
2:28:30 is a little slower than best possible realistic time. While driving the bike course, I lowered this to 2:28 plus my transitions, so I did beat that changed goal (just barely!).
Race record for men is 2:13, so I doubt I'll get that fast. Going for five minutes slower.

Swim: 23:00 1,500 meters (20:00) Not sure what my swim split was. I think I came in around 24:00 so missed this goal. Swim plus transition of about 3-4 minutes was 28:11:47.

T1: 2:30 (2:30) don't know. I think I was slower than this. In any case swim of 23 plus T1 of 2:30 was not met.

Bike: 1:10:00 (1:06:00) Didn't meet. I think my T2 time was around 3 minutes (took a while to put socks on frozen feet!), so take away three minutes from 1:15 and I get 1:12. This was not met. The altered goal of 1:10 after driving the course was not met, either. Bike computers shoed 25.47 miles at the end...so might have been a bit long, accounting for maybe a minute at the most.

T2: :30 (:30) Did not meet this goal. Feet were frozen!

Run: 48:00 (46:00) Beat even the "best possible goal" with a 44:48! Go figure…I figured the run would be the worst part of this race, but I did much better than expected. I had an altered goal of 52:00 after seeing the hill during the bike-course-drive, so I blew that away…I was concerned my bike ride would blow out my legs.

Note: Time in black text parenthesis is the "best possible" I think I could do. The time in black text is the original goal. Altered goals after the bike-course-drive are in the blue text notes.


Lessons Learned:
- My run is faster than expected right now.
- Gotta put duct tape on my feet so I don't have to use socks. I can do the no socks bit except for one area of my left foot that gets cut by my shoe. Duct tape can solve this problem.
- I should be able to push the whole swim and not worry about how it's going to affect the rest of the race. Current OWS capability is good, I just need to increase endurance by getting into the pool. Wetsuit is working well.
- Get a bright colored tape of some sort to put by my bike for easy ID.
- The hill workouts I'm doing for the bike are working.
- Next year, only one race per month max. Schedule fishing trips accordingly so I can continue to peak two weeks prior to a race.
- Ensure source of very strong coffee in the morning. Take a coffee pot?