Chicopee race report

Dave and I decided to do Chicopee earlier in the week - weather permitting. The weather turned out perfect for a race so off we went.

Dave has not been swimming much since LP, so I thought I had a chance to actually beat him in the swim. I got to T1 and guess who was already there with his wetsuit off. Perhaps if I swam a little harder I would have at least equalled his time. I still have not figured out the perfect pacing for the swim portion - I definately could have swam harder and finished a little better (but not much). This was probably the best T1 I ever had - the wetsuit came off very fast and I geared up and got out of there quick - I did not want Dave to have too much lead time on me. Well - I never saw him again in the race. I honestly gave the bike everything I had - stood on the hills, cornered very well and hammered the flats. I only got passed once (near the beginning of the bike) by a guy with ginourmous legs - I was pretty sure I was not going to see him again (though you never know - some of these guys can't climb).

I got to T2 and changed to my running gear pretty quick. No socks on a sprint (I'm paying for that now). I started the run easy just to see how my legs would react after a hard bike effort - they felt fine so I started to run hard as soon as I hit the flats after the steep downhill from transition to the run course. This course has a good hill in it that you have to climb twice. I was breathing heavy the first time up the hill, but actually felt stronger and faster the second time up.

My overall time was 1:36:something - about five minutes better than last year. Unfortunately the timing chip they gave me was defective so I may not be able to get all of my splits; however, they are trying to put it together with other data that they have (manual timing data). They had my swim split listed as 13:47 which is comparable to last year so it is probably right. They had my run posted as 29:30 which looks reasonable (actually - my target almost to the second). my T1 and bike splits did not look right at all.

I was targeting 1:34 and hit 1:36 so I am pretty happy with the result. I think perhaps I could have shaved :30 off of the swim, but that is all. I feel good knowing that I did not leave much on the table.

This was tehnology-less race for me. My HR monitor/stop watch was left over my in-laws house and my bike computer did not work during the race. I do not look at either one that much when I am racing (HR more than computer to make sure I control my effort), however, I like to get my stats after the race (plus today it would have come in handy due to the timing chip issue).

Overall, this was a great race. Unfortunately for me, Dave raced very well too. I would have liked to beat him in at least one discipline. THAT DAY IS COMING!!!