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Hagg Lake Race Report

Yesterday’s sprint race at Hagg Lake was my best triathlon so far, which took me by surprised since I didn’t mark it as a high-priority event. I’ve focused on longer and more endurance-specific workouts this season in preparation for the Olympic distance.

The weather was not optimal for a fast race. It was overcast and 60-something the whole time and I felt stiff on the bike. Comfortable running temperature, though.

A brief race report below the pictures.

Swim – 14:15 – 50th Place
Had secret hopes of breaking 14 minutes but was very pleased with 14:15, which put me in 50th place overall.

T1 – ?
The reason why I don’t have an official time is that I lost my timing chip during a fall on the way up to the transition area. Fortunately, my trusted Timex watch still works, so I was able to keep time myself.

Bike – Right around 34:00 (unofficial) – 5th or 6th Place
Didn’t feel great and held back a bit, trying to save some for the run. Still improved by about half a minute from last year.

T2 – ?

Run – 19:02 (unofficial) – 2nd Place
My best triathlon run ever. Felt OK coming out of T2 and really hit my stride at the 2 km mark. The final kilometer was awesome and I chased down a couple of competitors.

Final Time: 1:11:10 (official) – 4th Overall and 1st in my age group (35-39)!

Off to Portugal tomorrow. Will try to squeeze in a few runs but otherwise take it easy for a week between business appointments.

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Hagg Lake 2009 – Video

Here’s a short video from yesterday’s race at Hagg Lake. A race report will follow.

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Hagg Lake – 1 Week Before The Race

Next week I have my second race of the season, the sprint distance at Hagg Lake. This was the first race I ever did (in 2007) and my goal is to keep doing it for as long as I can. It’s a fun way to track my progress over the years, plus the venue is just great. It’s close to home and just ten minutes away from my in-laws, so the family can come out and watch.

This year I’m not training specifically for this race but throw it in as a B-priority event to get some more race experience under my belt. It’ll be interesting to see how the focus on longer distance (Olympic) training will impact my ability to go all-out for roughly an hour.

I expect improvement on the swim from last year, a marginal improvement on the bike, and more or less the same run time. But you never know. Maybe I’ll surprise myself.

Sven and I went to Hagg Lake this morning for a swim/bike/run session. The weather was perfect, but very hot. If it stays the same for a week, the race conditions will be very similar to last year, which was fine. Just have to make sure to hydrate properly.

Time for 4th of July festivities now and a week of decreased training volume.

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