2008 Pioneer Power Sprint Tri

Don, Jarrod, and I completed the Second Annual Pioneer Power Sprint Tri at Texas Woman's University this morning. The race gets its name from the "Pioneer Hall" athletic building which houses the pool for the tri's first part. Pretty good turnout and the field was a little larger than last year – 280 finishers vs. 204 last year – despite that the event was held during the holiday weekend.

I had a time of 1:15:49, which got me 49th place out of 280 finishers and 11th out of 25 in the Men 35-39 age group. Jarrod finished in 1:24:40 and Don rolled in with 1:34:44. We had nice weather for the race though it was getting warm after we had finished (and were munching on bagels and bananas).

Here were my official splits:

• Swim (300m): 5:39 (1:53/100m pace, 67th place)
• T1: 2:17
• Bike (20K): 37:55 (19.6 mph average, 33rd place)
• T2: 0:44
• Run (3.3mi): 29:12 (8:51/mi pace, 87th place)
• TOTAL: 1:15:49

Note: Per my Garmin 305 GPS watch, the bike course was actually 12.54 miles, and the run distance was actually 3.48 miles; so the tallied bike speed and run pace are quite a bit slower than actual – e.g., 19.8 MPH vs. 19.6 MPH and 8:22/mi vs. 8:51/mi for me.

The course was the same as last year - so for comparision, here's how I did in 2007:

• Swim (300m): 6:31.2 (2:10.4/100m pace)
• T1: 2:29.6
• Bike (20K): 39:50.5 (18.7 mph average)
• T2: 1:01
• Run (3.3mi): 35:34.2 (10:47/mi pace)
• TOTAL: 1:25:26.7

As you can see, I improved in every category and shaved almost 10 minutes off my time overall! Quite an improvement.

Compared with my sprint tri PR time/pace for the Old College Tri (splits listed below), my times were consistent (overall slower, but with some caveats):

• Swim: 5:43 (1:55/100m pace)
• T1: 1:38
• Bike: 34:38 (20.8 mph average)
• T2: 1:37
• Run: 25:09 (8:07/mi pace)
• TOTAL: 1:08:42

As I went near the edge of the pool about ready to start, I got my watch reset and prepared to jump into the water (diving is not allowed, but jumping in feet-first is okay). Then the timer volunteer (actually the race director's wife) helpfully asked, "you're planning to wear your googles for the swim, right?" Oops.

My TWU swim was faster than OCT and could have been faster still if I wasn't hampered by the layout of the TWU pool. Since each length was only 25 meters, the middle five lanes were bi-directional, which made it very difficult to pass. I passed about five people in the pool, swimming along the center line like an action hero in a movie weaving in and out of traffic to catch the bad guy - but a lot less fun.

My T1 time was a bit slower than my OCT T1, but that was mainly because it is such a long run between the pool exit and the transition area - about an 1/8 mile of running to get there. I did do a fast sprint from the pool to the transition area and shaved 12 seconds from last year's T1 time despite taking time to eat two SaltStick pills and gulp down an AccelGel.

My bike speed was more about 1 MPH slower than OCT and I think that was mostly due to the rough roads. I had a hard time even getting to 20 MPH on a downhill section due to the bumpiness. The race director said in the previous meeting that the roads wouldn't be a problem and was similar to a rough chip-seal country road. I have to disagree. That section of the road was extremely jarring - much more so than any chip-seal that I have ever ridden.

As you can see from the elevation profile below, the course was mostly downhill until the U-turn. I was averaging close to 22 MPH for the first half of the course, but got slowed down as I came back in to the transition area.


Bike course: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/PioneerPowerSprint-Bike2008-07-0612m.kml

My T2 was fast. The transition area was smaller than OCT and I was able to fly through the process.

The run was tough for me. I thought about walking a few times, but I was able to push through it. As you can see below, the course was not flat.


Run course: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/PioneerPowerSprint-Run2008-07-063mi2.kml

Each lap of the two-loop run course, started down the hill on Bell Avenue. So I was able to have a good brick transition from bike to run. The backside of the course was mostly uphill and so I had a physical and mental battle to fight as I tried to keep a fast pace.

On my second lap, I came up to Don (he had started the swim about 4 minutes after me) who was walking about 2/3 of the way through his first lap. We jogged together for about 100 yards but then I took off to "git 'er done."

At the finish line, I greeted Jarrod and Don as they finished the race. A job well done.

Race Review: As mentioned above, the middle five bi-directional lanes in the pool swim were a whip. And the construction on FM428 made for about 1.5 miles of hellacious riding (I feel I need to pay someone for the massage my hand/arms/butt received from the vibrations via the ground-up pavement). But aside from that, it was a good race. I still need to work on my running - that is the main thing holding me back.

I'll do this race again next year because it's close, it's at a nice venue (except for that darn pool), and it's at a good time of year.