Colonial Beach Sprint 2016 Race Report

Colonial Beach Sprint is the only race this year where I get to compare myself and see my accomplishments for the amount of training I have done since December, as this is the only race that I have previously done. All other races in 2016 are brand new to me (thus setting expectations for the years to come). I knew I could PR (Personal Record) the course due to my fitness levels improving in all three disciplines, but this year we had MUCH better weather to endure compared to last year Colonial Beach Sprint race. And to note, I did PR in all three sections! But of course, something irritated me and I’m having to take time to calm down and put things back into perspective and congratulate myself on a good performance.

First, I would like to note that the course has improved compared to last year as the last right hand turn is now a completely new intersection which is nicely paved and slightly less than the 120˚ turn¹.

Swim

• Another poor swim. Had to hang on two paddle boats this time which is simply not acceptable anymore. Teammate and Superstar Madi stated she thought the waves were harder this year than last year, but I had the opposite memory as I KNOW I wanted to quit at the 350m mark (see 2015 race report), and this time I was able to swim all the way to the 500m mark before I wanted to quit! HASHTAG WINNING! I did swim faster this year by almost four minutes so there was an improvement, but I think I’m going to stick with pools or lakes from this point forward (Sorry AlaskaMan).
  • Training Peaks Swim Data

Bike

• Another PR for me for total course times and average speed. I beat last year’s time by 8 MINUTES AND 39 SECONDS! This is not quite fair as I had a transition issue on my bike last year plus the conditions were completely different, however, it’s significant enough for me to confidently state I killed that bike course. How much? I averaged 23.5 MPR over the entire course! Also, check these stats:

  • Age Group: 2nd Fastest
  • Men (and Overall): 14th fastest
  • Training Peaks Bike Data

Run

• 

  This year’s run was so much better than last year in terms of pure enjoyment. Don’t get me wrong… watching the angry mob of ducks SWIMMING by the route in 2015 was entertaining, but not having waterlogged shoes stomping through a 5k definitely helped. I beat last year’s time by 20 seconds², but again different race conditions should have resulted in better times regardless. My run has not nearly improved over the year as my bike skills. I will have to work on that for next year (YES and swimming needs work… I didn’t forget that! UGH! GET OFF MY CASE!!! HASHTAG StompsAway).

• Training Peaks Run Data

Post Race

You may be wondering with a Bike and Run Course PR, epic results on those two, and everyone knows by now you can’t swim for $hit… why am I pissed? Because I received my first penalty. I don’t know the official reason for the penalty, but I believe it was on the bike segment and it would be for drafting³. Four of us were matched for speed on the back half of the course and somehow we started leapfrogging each other. I’m sure we were too close, thus we got dinged for drafting. Because of this penalty, I was awarded two minutes on my total time, bringing me from Fourth place to Seventh. It may not seem like much, but that is three spots and I’m trying for Super Series points for 2016 so I need all the help I can get, and now this race is almost worthless in terms of points. I won’t know for sure for another week or so until the Super Series points page is updated.

Race Results

Rankings

• Overall: Placed 64th out of 337nd (top 19%).
• Gender: Placed 50th out of 202 (top 25%).
• Male 40-44: Placed 7th out of 23 (top 30%; and that excludes the three Overall winners who were in my age group. If only I could swim).

Among the Male 40-44 category there were 23 athletes (excluding the Overall winners)

• Swim: Ranked 21st (I should just race duathlons).
• Bike: Ranked 2nd (1st place beat me by 12 seconds)
• Run: Ranked 4th (1st place beat me by 3 minutes and 18 seconds)

Updated 2016-07-13 (Race Photos)

Splits

Colonial Sprint	750m Swim	T1	14 Mile Bike	T2	5k Run	Total
Goal Times4	19:30	2:00	35:30	2:00	22:50	1:21:50
Actual Times5	20:38	1:44	34:52	1:07	22:19	1:22:386

Footnotes

1. Last year I nearly had a head on collision with a car last year, but fortunately traffic was stopped and I could safely maneuver around their front bumper. ↩

2. I would like to give a shout-out to the teenage girl behind me towards the finish line. I thought you were the dude in my Age Group that I just passed at mile 2.5, and I could hear you sprinting to the finish line. You had me scared… I sprinted too… and my HR data show my HR peaked to 193. You almost killed me, but thanks for the push. ↩

3. “‘Drafting’ is riding right behind another competitor on the bike course. By drafting behind someone you gain an unfair advantage because it allows you to ride at the same speed as the person you’re following without exerting as much energy. In the sport of triathlon for age group events here in the U.S. drafting is not allowed” - VTS/MTS website FAQ ↩

4. Goal Times were based on: 2:36 /100m swim (based on Jamestown horrible performance, then minus 20s /100m), 21mph ride, 7:21 /mi run. ↩

5. Official Race Results available at VTS/MTS Colonial Beach Sprint Results page. ↩

6. With two minute penalty. ↩