All in all it was a good race. it was my first open water swim race in almost a year. I should have had an OWS in April in New Orleans but the swim was canceled due to high winds. With the high winds the safety and rescue craft could not safely be on the water, so the swim had to be canceled. There are many factors that go into a successful open water swim; positioning yourself at the start, sighting, drafting etc. They say that nobody wins a triathlon on the swim but you can lose it there. Ideally you want to be close to the front but not wear yourself out. Speed wise it was not my best effort. I should be around 13 and change for the 750 meters. I got a little lost at the beginning and could not find the lead pack. I usually try and swim just behind the lead swimmers in my heat. Looking at the results there were 2 guys that finished the swim in 14:30, they are the ones I should have swam with. One of the issues could be that I did not wear contacts and I have trouble seeing things quickly. I think I will go back to using contacts when I race. I have talked to people who use prescription swim goggles. I do not think I will go that route unless I have problems with contacts (easy to lose the goggles).
The bike was my best leg! 34 minutes! My strategy going in was to go really hard on the bike, and I did. My HR was in Race pace for almost the entire ride. I think it was my best bike leg ever. The only problem I had was T1 and getting my shoes on after mounting the bike. Coming of the bike was really smooth. I undid my shoes and dismounted without much of a slowdown.
As good as the bike was the run was the polar opposite. Starting off I forgot my watch. Without my watch I cannot monitor my HR properly. Fortunately my Race strategy did not have any absolute goals as far as HR values. The basic strategy was to run at a comfortable pace to the turn around. Then after the turn run for 1 minute hard and one minute easy. Then repeat this cycle until finished. So I had to estimate 1 minute intervals. I started off trying to count. It is pretty hard to count consistently when you are running at different intensities. So I decided to pick a spot ahead of my and run hard to that spot. Then pick another spot and run easy, then another spot ahead and run hard to it, and so on. this seemed a little better. I also had problems with shoe laces coming undone. Well better next time. I really would like to get the 5K under 24 minutes.
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