Naperville Sprint Triathlon Race Report

 No matter the season, I try to make it a priority to get back to the Naperville Sprint Triathlon.  It is a great event and a race that I have enjoyed with my Dad for 4 years straight.  Below is the race report from my 3^rd place overall effort!

Naperville is about 45 minutes away from my house, which makes for an easy morning drive up 294.  The alarm was set for 3:45am and I had devoured my usual rice cake/ peanut butter and jelly breakfast by 4:15am.  I got my bottles together and we were on the road by 4:30am.   Parking is really easy and it took all of about 2 minutes to walk down to the transition area to rack my bike. 

I set my things down and made a quick B-line straight to the port-o-potty before the lines got long (I usually get too impatient to wait in line which ends in a tantrum and inability to “relax” before the race start). After a successful trip, I was able to take my bike out of the transition area and warm up with a quick spin on the course. I started off pretty easy and out of my aero bars but built in some speed towards the end and added a few accelerations.  My bike and legs were feeling good as I rolled back in the transition area to get things set up.

I put my transition area together and then went for a short run on the course once again. I like to warm up on the race routes to avoid any repeats of my Tri Indy disaster-extravaganza. (See here, it was no fun). I came back from my run and then quickly made my way down to the swim start. Once I got there, I had plenty of time to do a full loop of the swim course to get the arms nice and loose (and re-familiarize myself with the sharp turns). After the swim, I met up with my extended family that had come out to see the race.  They proceeded to give me a multitude of air-fives and blown kisses, which made me feel great heading down to the swim start. Nothing like a grandma’s kisses.

The short 400-meter swim is in a pool-beach-contraption and has three FULL turns following an M shape route. The turns make it tough to get up to speed without having to slow down to go around the buoys. I went off with the first group of 4 and was able to hold their feet for the first 100m.  They really picked it up for the later portions of the swim and I was not able to hold on.  One of the swimmers from the second group (4 seconds back) came up and passed me. I was able to latch onto his feet and get through the rest of the swim with no problems. I exited the water in a respectable 5^th place in a time of 6:32.

My bike was racked in the far right corner, which made for a pretty long run through transition.  I quickly made it over to my bike while passing 2 people in the process. I put the helmet on and was out on the road in a stealthy 1:23.

The 22k bike course is 2 loops and sets up to be very fast.  I usually race with a speedometer and watch but opted to not wear either for this race.  My strategy was simple; GO HARD from start to finish. I passed one of the faster swimmers within the first minute of the bike ride and then settled into a good threshold pace.  I battled back and forth with one guy but held my position pretty steady until the 20k mark.  Right at the end, the guy I was battling with and 1 other guy, who came out of nowhere, blazed past me.  I did not panic; I picked it up a little but did not go over the line.  I quickly reeled in one of them and the other was not too far ahead coming into T2. I finished the ride in a time of 32:24.

I had no problems in T2; I got the shoes on and headed out for the 5k run in 1:17. 

Now… I knew I had some good run training under my belt but I also was aware that I pretty much went into this race with no taper at all.  I ran out onto the course in fourth place and was not too far behind the 3^rd place guy.  I took the first half-mile steady, matching the pace of the guy ahead of me. Right around the 0.75-mile mark, I came up on the racer ahead of me and went into what I like to call super-turbo-worrier mode. The goal was to make him feel bad and drop him quickly, which I was successful in doing. But the super-turbo-worrier mode did not fade, I just stuck with the pace all the way through.  I was feeling great and pushed it hard through the last 2 miles, knowing I had to be close to a 5k PR. I crossed the line in 58:38 with a new 5k personal best time of 17:05.  I had run my way onto the podium, improved my time from last year by nearly 2:00 and had done it in front of 2-sets of out-of-town grandparents who could not have been more ecstatic.

C'mon finish line! 

That is not a smile, that is my grimacing face. Get with the program. 

I was really happy with my result but did realized that the Naperville Sprint Triathlon was not the focus of my training as of late. The real goal lies roughly 4 weeks away at the 5150 National Championship at the HyVee Triathlon on September 2^nd. I will also race the Revolution 3 Wisconsin Dells Olympic triathlon next Sunday and I am preparing for a fast race.

I would like to thank my Mom for being the mastermind behind all Team Metzler operations, she is really the best! And a big shout out to my grandparents who made their way from New Jersey to Chicago to watch the race, having your support is always amazing.

Super-mom

Poppop and Grammy

Grandma Shirley (Papa Joe not pictured) 

Thank Craig Strong from Precision Multisport for some kick-ass coaching and Cycleops power for letting me nerd-out over wattage improvements and personal best training stress scores (both of which I have been doing a lot of lately J).  Consider checking out the Eleonore Rocks Foundation, any donation is much appreciated, great things are coming from out of this organization. 

And to all of my other supports, I would not be able to improve at the rate I have throughout my 2012 season campaign without each and every one of you!

I am off for a nice little 40 mile ride to shake out the legs, like I said, HyVee is right around the corner! 

When stretching turns into a party.