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Race Result

Racer: Fabrice Guillaume
Race: Spirit of Morgantown Half
Date: Sunday, June 29, 2008
Location: Morgantown, WV
Race Type: Triathlon - Half Ironman
Age Group: Male 30 - 34
Time: 5:25:59
Overall Place: 86 / 252
Age Group Place: 10 / 25
Comment: First HIM - Nice Race with a few hills to spice it up



Race Report:



Time: 5:25:59
30-34 AG Rank: 10 / 25
Overall Rank: 86 / 252

This is my firs A race of the season and my very first HIM race.

Pre-race:
==========
Drove up to Morgantown and checked in at the Water Front hotel. The hotel is just 1 block away from the transition area which makes things very easy.
Spent the afternoon playing with the kids outside and in the pool.
I also checked my bike in the transition area (in a garage which meahs evthg stayed dryed despite numerous rain showers).

In the evening, I also drove through the bike portion of the course to check on it.
This is where I realized how badly in shape were some portions of the road (especially the first 4-5 miles).
I also checked on a couple of nice long hills and came back to the hotel.
We eventually ended up in a very good italian restaurant to spend the evening with some good bread, cheese, wine and pasta...


Race Day:
==========
Woke up at 4:45 am, had a bar, banana and coffee and headed out to the transition area.
The weather was so so, a bit hot and humid with some storms coming our way. But the mood was excellent (at least for me!)


Swim: 37:12 for 1.2 miles (1:56/100m pace) 139/252
=====
I started in wave #4. The course was a rectangle shape in the Monongahela River.
Nice thing is that Morgantown arranged for the upriver Damn to be turned off wich made the river very calm (no current).

My goal was to start nice and easy and pick up the pace. I wanted to do sub 1:35. I executed this strategy but I took it a bit too easy and for too long.
I enjoyed my swim however, never being out of breath, keeping my focus on my stroke and balance.
In the last 3rd of the race, someone from the previous wave passed me and I picked up his pace and followed his lead till the end.
That's the first time I use the "drag effect". Quite fun.

When I saw my time, while running to T1 I was quite disappointing as I could probably have gone faster.
At least I have a baseline now and I can work towards pushing harder next race...


T1: 3:50
==
Took out the wetsuit, put my sock + bike shoes on, grabbed the helmet + glass and ran away.


Bike: 2:49:12 for 56 miles (19.9 mph) 99/252
=====
The bike portion of the race was a 2 loops course, with a couple of nice long hills and some portions of roads quite in bad shape.
I rode conservatively each time the road was in bad condition to avoid any flat. I have seen many riders on the side with flats and other issues (some fell).
And I am glad I did not have any pb.
I rode the first lap by keeping some energy for the second and I focussed a lot on my hydration and nutrition. I leaped frog with a few.
I also saw my friend Mike from Ashburn passing me. Towards the end of the first loop, it started to rain really hard and it lasted about 10mn.
I had to take my glass off as I could not see a thing. I obvisouly slowed down a bit too.

When i hit the end of the first loop and saw I rode in 1:26, I thought I could maybe ride the whole bike portion under 3 hours.
I pushed a bit more in the second loop aas I still had some stamina.
I passed the same Mike and a few other bikes in the second loop and kept on focussing on my hydration and nutrition.

I finished the bike just below 2:50.
This time I was very happy with this part of the race, especially knowing that the race was not flat. I managed to do almost 20mph average (19.9).
I think that all my sunday bike workouts at Mt Weather and around Purcellville helped me quite a lot strengthen my legs and gets used to hills.


T2: 0:00?
==
Not sure why there is no time logged here. It may be included in the Run portion...
No pb in the transition. took out the shoes, slipped in the running shoes, put some sun cream and grabbed my hat + a few gels.



Run: 1:55:45 for 13.1 miles (8:50/mile pace) 89/252
====
I started the run feeling great. The run portion was a 2 loop course with a gigantic hill and a few others.
I did not do a good job with my technique. Although my heart and legs were ok, I did not really kept the fast cadence of the steps, until a lady passed me.
I followed hear lead for a mile or so and then just focussed on my cadence, counting up to 6 like my metronome and forcing myself to keep a high cadence.

The hill of hell was a monster that I could not run. Like probably 90% of the triathletes, I ended up walking this hill.
Nice thing of the run was seing my kids running along the way with me in the first loop for some time.
I also talked to all the volunteers, thanking them. =I joked a bit with them asking them for a beer instead of water.
Towards the end, when I saw I could maybe do a sub 5:30, I picked up the pace and finshed my last 1.5 miles at a tempo pace.
My wife and kids were waiting for me a 100m before the finish line.
That was the best part of the run, finishing with both my sons runing on each side towards the finish line.


Post race:
==========
I drunk a bit and ate some water lemo. I was not hungry and I knew it was not recommended to eat right after.
But the post race activities were well prepared. They had some pasta ready for anyone in need of carbs.
I did not wait too long as we had to go back to the hotel to get a shower and come back to our home.




Lessons learnt:
===============
1- don't wait too long on the swim to get into an efficient stroke and push aharder
2- keep a high cadence during the run portion


Overall:
========
I was happy about the race. It's a low profile race with a good number of supporters.
The first part of the bike race is the only thing that should probably be revisited (there are probably other roads we could take that are not as damaged).

My weakest part of the race was the swim. I am disapointed but I now have a baseline to work against.
My personal achievment was on the bike as I rode faster than what I had planned.
And the run portion was well.... not good enough but I'll take it as is as I enjoyed it with all supporters and my kids waiting for me at the finish line. Nothing better!


I am now ready to do a better time in my next A race (Patriot's half in September).
But before that, I am heading out to Republican Dominic, then France, Italy and Romania for some leisure and business matters.
That's a good way of kicking off summer and relaxing a bit after these 4-5 months of training.... :)