Parris Island Recap

The 2012 Parris Island Triathlon was great, as always. Setup always produces great races, and actually, they've been able to keep registration costs down while other, smaller, race production companies have not. I appreciate all that I get for a very affordable $50 registration fee. In fact, I would go as far as saying I have brand loyalty. If you are going to provide me with 15 plus, first class, races around the state, and do so at a low cost, you have the bulk of my race budget.

Now for some complaining. The swim portion of this race is in a pool. We are seeded by 100 yard swim times, and go off in 15 second intervals. It's critical that people submit the correct swim time so that slow swimmers don't create log jams, causing others to have to swim around the log jam. It's hard to pass in a lane with swimmers going in both directions. It can be every bit as chaotic as a open water swim start, and it shouldn't be.

Setup has done a wonderful job of ensuring people submit the correct swim time. When you register there is a lot of instruction for how to enter your swim time. You also get an email prior to the race stating your swim time and asking if you sure about it. They make it hard to be wrong.

I was thrilled to see all the efforts made to ensure correct swim seeding this year. I was flabbergasted when I got in line for the swim start and was told not to worry about the seeding. What? A fellow race participant said that things had gotten screwed up and they were letting people go whenever. What?

When I got to the start I asked two staffers why the order got messed up, and the dude said, "Don't worry about it." Great thanks. I've seen tons of people go off who are seeded in the bottom half of the race. Now I'm the one who has to deal with 6-person pile ups on lap turns and head on collisions as I try to pass. That affects my time. Plus I don't like revving up to pass. It takes me off my rhythm.

I'll stop there. Just a little ranting. Overall I had a great day, so I'll just move on and, 'not worry about it.'

Race Predictions
Well I wasn't too far off my race predictions, which I posted in my last blog post. Check it out:

                                Prediction           Actual
500 mtr swim         9:20                       9:19
T1                          50 secs                  42 secs
Bike                       30:00                     31:40
T2                          50 secs                  46 secs
5k                          20:50                     21:03
Total                      1.01:47                  1.03:28

So I was a total of 1.41 seconds off my predicted time. My biggest miss was on the bike, but I have to say, my bike CPU had the course at slightly over 10 miles. So basically, I nailed it with my predictions, because I averaged 20 MPH.

I will also state for the record that racing 10 lbs over my normal weight makes a difference. That slower 5k split, and sluggish bike, has a direct correlation to that weight. It's time to back off the chips and carbs and get serious about my unhealthy eating habits. This weight, apparently, isn't going to magically disappear just because I exercise a lot.