Race Report: 2018 Dunedin Rotary Triathlon
This season my approach has been a renewed focus on short distances, in triathlon and road running. I'm still doing a 70.3 near the end of the year, but I've selected several key short course races leading up. This month is the Dunedin Rotary Sprint Triathlon. This is my second time doing the event on Honeymoon Island. Two years ago it was not a USA Triathlon sanctioned race, which lead to a lot of disappointment when I realized it would not count in the USAT rankings. Last year, new race management took over and it was a sanctioned event. I skipped last year but returned when they moved the race a month earlier, from June to May.
My wife called this "Dunedin Sprint, or I didn't get bit by a rattlesnake". This is due to the large sign as you enter that says "Caution, rattlesnakes common on the island". Great. I am glad we missed the purple flag on the beach when we entered, indicating dangerous marine life present. I assume it was for stingrays, which are very common this time of the year but still not the greatest sign for an open water swim.
Race Week
The lead up to this race was a lot of weather watching. The forecast did not look good for this race at all. Rain chances were forecast anywhere from 80%-100% depending on where you looked. I debated heavily during the week whether I would ride my TT bike or my road bike, and whether I would use my clipless pedals or opt for flat pedals with running shoes. The course has a few hairpins and is crowded. There is also a steel drawbridge that organizers have made riders dismount to cross in the past. In fact, the race instructions said if it was raining, we would have to dismount at the steel bridge. Since it's two loops, that means a total of four dismounts plus the final dismount. I made the decision the night before to run my road bike with flat pedals. I'd be slower on the bike due to lost power and lost aerodynamics on my Roubiax but I'd feel safer. Ironically, it was on my road bike that I crashed out in the wet a few weeks ago. With that crash still in mind, I was pretty nervous about racing in that type of weather.
Race Day
It was not raining at 4am and the roads were half dry/half wet. So we made our way over to Honeymoon Island. It is only 20 minutes away from us. That means a later wake up call than we might have elsewhere. Horray! I still brought along my Shimano pedals and Mavic shoes just in case it was a normal race. We set ourselves up in transition and I made the decision to remain with flat pedals. It was starting to mist and I sided with caution. The radar did not look good either. I got in the water to adjust to the temperature and see if there were rocks (smooth but painful stones) along the beach. They are common to the beaches on the island due to erosion.
Swim (8:15)
The swim was moved from the last time I did the race. It was on the beach closer to transition and away from the larger portion of beach rocks. We still had to contend with them to get in but they had raked them away from most of the exit. The start was waist deep since you could not run over the rocks from the beach. Once we got in, off we went.
The course was a trapezoid type course with two turns. I set up near the inside at the back of the wave. We were the first wave off. I took my time and tried to find clear water. Mostly, I had clear sailing except for around the turn buoys. This was a pretty uneventful swim. Just keep swimming. I probably had done 5000 yds total of swimming this season until this point so I was just happy to be able to swim. I think my aerobic base from biking and running helped as I never felt like it was hard despite the lack of swimming sessions this season.
T1 (1:21)
It was weird putting my run shoes and helmet on but there I was. I did a cyclocross-style flying mount to my bike (Why? Because I could with no clipless pedals!) and off I went.
Bike (36:21)
The bike course is two loops out and back on the Dunedin Causeway. It gets very crowded since it's a two lane road and you have others merging on their first lap as the first waves are coming onto their second lap. The good thing is that it is a completely closed bike course. So traffic would only be emergency or race vehicles that had an official purpose.
This wasn't the fastest bike but we were hit with an easterly wind and a driving rain for most of it. There was water on the road and puddles in some areas. On the way out, there was a significant headwind, but that meant a tailwind for the return. I made my way with caution since it was obvious some people were not as comfortable in the rain. With the crowded course, I made a valiant effort to give way to people and avoid drafting. I'll say I did a pretty good job. I had to sacrifice some speed at points and coast for a little to avoid going into draft zones but overall I didn't see that much drafting going on in the race.
I learned that I am not a fan of flat pedals. My feet kept slipping off of the pedals. It wasn't bad to maintain speed and power but I was forced to concentrate a lot on making my feet not slip. That was the bad part. The good part is that my Roubaix handles significantly better than my Orbea Ordu. The road bike is really just so fun to ride. It is very obviously not aerodynamic into a headwind.
T2 (0:43)
Since I didn't have to change shoes, this was a wicked fast transition. Just plop the bike down and go.
Run (20:46)
The run is billed as part road and part trail. It's 90% trail/sand/beach and only a very short jaunt through the parking lot on actual asphalt. It is also a pretty technical course with turns, roots, narrow sections, and soft gravel/sand in a lot of places. While it might not be exactly a "trail" run, it certainly is the running equivalent of gravel or off-road adventure biking. Certainly, it was not paved.
I never found a rhythm in the run. This was probably due to the obstacles and trying not to trip. Not one single person passed me in the run and I made my way up through the field. In the end, this was my fastest run leg of a triathlon ever (based on average pace) and actually just six seconds off of my road 5k personal best. The course was a little short at 3 miles on the GPS but it was a difficult 3 miles. My run split was top 15 overall. I'll take it.
Overall (1:07:25)
Compared to last time on this course, this was almost 4 minutes faster. I ended up 5th in my age group and 43rd overall. My age group is just so competitive that it really takes a lot to podium. I would have had to go sub-1 hour in order to secure a spot. I'm very happy with this performance, given the weather conditions. Now to register for Rev3 Williamsburg in July and move on with my season.
I'll leave you with this. I had already dried off and my wife, who had just finished in an utter downpour, decided I needed to be wet again.
My wife called this "Dunedin Sprint, or I didn't get bit by a rattlesnake". This is due to the large sign as you enter that says "Caution, rattlesnakes common on the island". Great. I am glad we missed the purple flag on the beach when we entered, indicating dangerous marine life present. I assume it was for stingrays, which are very common this time of the year but still not the greatest sign for an open water swim.
Race Week
The lead up to this race was a lot of weather watching. The forecast did not look good for this race at all. Rain chances were forecast anywhere from 80%-100% depending on where you looked. I debated heavily during the week whether I would ride my TT bike or my road bike, and whether I would use my clipless pedals or opt for flat pedals with running shoes. The course has a few hairpins and is crowded. There is also a steel drawbridge that organizers have made riders dismount to cross in the past. In fact, the race instructions said if it was raining, we would have to dismount at the steel bridge. Since it's two loops, that means a total of four dismounts plus the final dismount. I made the decision the night before to run my road bike with flat pedals. I'd be slower on the bike due to lost power and lost aerodynamics on my Roubiax but I'd feel safer. Ironically, it was on my road bike that I crashed out in the wet a few weeks ago. With that crash still in mind, I was pretty nervous about racing in that type of weather.
Race Day
It was not raining at 4am and the roads were half dry/half wet. So we made our way over to Honeymoon Island. It is only 20 minutes away from us. That means a later wake up call than we might have elsewhere. Horray! I still brought along my Shimano pedals and Mavic shoes just in case it was a normal race. We set ourselves up in transition and I made the decision to remain with flat pedals. It was starting to mist and I sided with caution. The radar did not look good either. I got in the water to adjust to the temperature and see if there were rocks (smooth but painful stones) along the beach. They are common to the beaches on the island due to erosion.
Swim (8:15)
The swim was moved from the last time I did the race. It was on the beach closer to transition and away from the larger portion of beach rocks. We still had to contend with them to get in but they had raked them away from most of the exit. The start was waist deep since you could not run over the rocks from the beach. Once we got in, off we went.
The course was a trapezoid type course with two turns. I set up near the inside at the back of the wave. We were the first wave off. I took my time and tried to find clear water. Mostly, I had clear sailing except for around the turn buoys. This was a pretty uneventful swim. Just keep swimming. I probably had done 5000 yds total of swimming this season until this point so I was just happy to be able to swim. I think my aerobic base from biking and running helped as I never felt like it was hard despite the lack of swimming sessions this season.
T1 (1:21)
It was weird putting my run shoes and helmet on but there I was. I did a cyclocross-style flying mount to my bike (Why? Because I could with no clipless pedals!) and off I went.
Bike (36:21)
The bike course is two loops out and back on the Dunedin Causeway. It gets very crowded since it's a two lane road and you have others merging on their first lap as the first waves are coming onto their second lap. The good thing is that it is a completely closed bike course. So traffic would only be emergency or race vehicles that had an official purpose.
This wasn't the fastest bike but we were hit with an easterly wind and a driving rain for most of it. There was water on the road and puddles in some areas. On the way out, there was a significant headwind, but that meant a tailwind for the return. I made my way with caution since it was obvious some people were not as comfortable in the rain. With the crowded course, I made a valiant effort to give way to people and avoid drafting. I'll say I did a pretty good job. I had to sacrifice some speed at points and coast for a little to avoid going into draft zones but overall I didn't see that much drafting going on in the race.
I learned that I am not a fan of flat pedals. My feet kept slipping off of the pedals. It wasn't bad to maintain speed and power but I was forced to concentrate a lot on making my feet not slip. That was the bad part. The good part is that my Roubaix handles significantly better than my Orbea Ordu. The road bike is really just so fun to ride. It is very obviously not aerodynamic into a headwind.
T2 (0:43)
Since I didn't have to change shoes, this was a wicked fast transition. Just plop the bike down and go.
Run (20:46)
The run is billed as part road and part trail. It's 90% trail/sand/beach and only a very short jaunt through the parking lot on actual asphalt. It is also a pretty technical course with turns, roots, narrow sections, and soft gravel/sand in a lot of places. While it might not be exactly a "trail" run, it certainly is the running equivalent of gravel or off-road adventure biking. Certainly, it was not paved.
I never found a rhythm in the run. This was probably due to the obstacles and trying not to trip. Not one single person passed me in the run and I made my way up through the field. In the end, this was my fastest run leg of a triathlon ever (based on average pace) and actually just six seconds off of my road 5k personal best. The course was a little short at 3 miles on the GPS but it was a difficult 3 miles. My run split was top 15 overall. I'll take it.
Overall (1:07:25)
Compared to last time on this course, this was almost 4 minutes faster. I ended up 5th in my age group and 43rd overall. My age group is just so competitive that it really takes a lot to podium. I would have had to go sub-1 hour in order to secure a spot. I'm very happy with this performance, given the weather conditions. Now to register for Rev3 Williamsburg in July and move on with my season.
I'll leave you with this. I had already dried off and my wife, who had just finished in an utter downpour, decided I needed to be wet again.
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