Yesterday I raced Tri Indy (olympic distance). It’s a great race located right in downtown Indianapolis. Between the Olympic, Sprint, Duathlon, Team, and Kids events there are well over 1000 participants, so it has that big-race feel without the big-race price. I’ve raced this one once before, but as a Sprint.
Overall I did pretty well, with a new Olympic PR of 2:32 - though my previous PR was 2:40 on a much more difficult course (the course I’ll be racing again in 5 weeks as my A-Race for the year). I finished 92nd overall and 12th in my age group. Race recap below the cut...
Swim 26:56 (1:38/100)
Given that the canal the swim is in is only 4 feet deep it has very quick temperature fluctuations and so 2 days of cooler nights brought it down to 75F. Yey! Wetsuit legal. Also, while probably only psychological, colder water always seems fresher and hence cleaner to me. I was surprised that only about a quarter of the Oly field chose to wear wetsuits, but it made me feel super strong and fast. I probably passed 20-30 people at least (it was a time trial start).
T1 1:32
I had a pretty good rack location and my flying mount (only the second time I’ve used it in a race) went off just fine. As I went to thank the volunteer manning the end of the transition chute I couldn’t hear myself and realized I had left in my ear plugs from the swim, haha.
Bike 1:06:32 (22.4mph)
Felt really strong (as usual) on the bike - by far my strongest discipline. I passed countless people (seriously probably > 100), especially on the 2nd lap when the people from the Sprint were also on the course. I believe I was only passed by 2 people (actually 4, but since I later re-passed 2 of them they don’t count :)
T2 2:43
Funny I don’t remember this transition taking that long, but the results say I had the 36th fastest. Perfectly executed bike dismount - and it’s a good thing too because there were 3 of us coming in together. If any of us messed it up we’d probably all have crashed.
Run 54:50 (8:49/mi)
A little bit disappointed that I couldn’t never find my speed here. I did injure my calf earlier in the week, but really after the first mile (which was probably one of the fastest) I didn’t notice it hurting much. I just kept feeling the need to hold back so I didn’t blow up (HR stayed right in high Z4 all run). I did manage to barely negatively split and did have a slight (fairly weak) kick in the last half mile. I guess even though I know I can run better than that, I think I really got the most my body had to give on that day at that time.
This was only a B-race for me. I had actually planned on training straight through it, though with my calf I did end up resting 2 days prior to the race. So I’m thrilled to have grabbed a new PR. Next race is in 3 weeks (just a fun Sprint) and then my A Tri Race for the year in 5 weeks (another Olympic).
