Athlete Series: Jason’s First Tri Back
As training for Ironman Maryland starts to get serious (15 weeks away!), Jason and I decided it was time for him to get some race experience. First up on the calendar for this year was Frantic Frog Sprint Triathlon. Some of you may be wondering why he’s doing a sprint when his main focus for the year is a full distance triathlon. Let’s dive into that just a little bit.
Season Race “Plan”
To get Jason back into the swing of things, we are building him from sprint to olympic distance events. Reason one for this is race availability within his work and family schedules, and reason two is just to get some racing in. The more you race, the more comfortable you are with being uncomfortable, no matter the distance.
Here is what he has coming up:
Frantic Frog (Completed)
Wet Dog Sprint (June 10)
Mountain Lakes Olympic (July 8)
Buster Britton Olympic (August 12)
I know, as does Jason, that the systems we are taxing in a sprint race versus a full are completely different. Jason knows that he might not have that top end speed to race in sprint as our main area of focus is not all out speed! We are approaching these events as really high intensity training days that he doesn’t always get in his build up to IMMD. We will have specific workouts designed within his training to simulate his Ironman paces. Anyone else familiar with the Big Day?!
While there are a lot of differences between sprint and Ironman races, there are similarities that are also helpful. First, Jason has the opportunity to work on transitions. Sprint or full, we always want these to be efficient. The more times you get to do this in a race, the less flustered you are as you move from swim to bike and bike to run. Second, Jason has the opportunity to practice sighting. Race swimming is always different than training open water swims and pool swimming, so being comfortable sighting and maneuvering around other racers is critical. This reduces anxiety in the water and he can focus on his swim without nerves. Bonus, if it is wetsuit swim practice getting it off when trying to be quick is nice. Third, you get that race day flow. From breakfast pre-race, to getting to transition race morning, to the race itself, you get to practice how you’ll flow and get everything nailed down and worked out.
Frantic Frog Race Recap
First I’ll start out by saying Jason had a great first race! He placed 4th in his age group, missing the podium by 24 seconds. As we go through the race, can we find where he could have shaved off 25 seconds to get himself on the podium?!
The Swim: Here’s what Jason had to say - “I felt good on the swim. However, I wouldn't have started off that fast nor held that pace for 2.4 miles. I know that and I think at the next event (Wet Dog Sprint) in two weeks, I want to try to emulate what I will need to do for IMMD.” Jason held a solid 1:35 per 100 for the 400 meter swim, which is faster than his swim threshold, perfect for a sprint triathlon!
T1: “…Still it was 2:37 and for a Sprint with a small transition area and no congestion. I would have liked for this to have been quicker.” Agreed. Jason probably could have shaved off some of those seconds to reach the podium in T1. We’ll discuss proper T1 set up and make sure that his items are in the best possible order for the next race.
The BIke: Jason impressed me on the ride. We have not been doing a lot of higher intensity riding because we’ve been focused on building his volume and endurance but he came out and held really solid power for the entire bike course. “I gave most of my attention to power and tried to average high Z3 - low Z4.” His NP was 159, which is just shy of threshold power. His VI was a bit high for a triathlon, but he did have to make some surges as he passed other riders on course.
T2: Went smooth. Jason felt he maximized T2 and couldn’t have had a cleaner in and out here.
The Run: Again Jason did so well on the run. He’s been able to be pretty consistent with his running through training so I knew he had good run legs on him. He still beat the goal time I had set for him after a hard ride. “I focused on trying to hit that pace you had in TP (8:45). Felt good during the run. I didn't pay much attention to HR but focused on pace.” This was great. For a sprint I typically tell my athletes not to worry too much about HR. It’s going to get high for such a short event. For IM Jason knows we’ll put a little more emphasis on HR because 26.2 miles is a bit longer than 5k! Jason averaged 8:29 pace for the 5k, faster than his Threshold pace. Perfect for a sprint.
Looking through his notes and the data uploaded to Training Peaks, Jason did everything well. I couldn’t really ask him to swim, bike, or run faster as he was pushing his limits as it was. Our area of focus to shave off time on this needs to come from T1…and probably T2. What do you think? Based on the information you have, do you think he could have gone faster somewhere else?!
Up Next
Next up is Wet Dog Sprint Triathlon. We’ll try to tweak a few things to make Jason more efficient for that race. Then, he has a five week block where training is going to get Very Real! Stay tuned.