I read her Strava report. In T1, someone (apparently) took her sunglasses so she wasted some time looking for them. She also had trouble clicking her helmet and commented how hard it was to put on shoes.
In my (extremely) limited experience with duathlons, I learned that there were tricks to putting on shoes, tricks to laying out your gear, even which hand to use to pick up the helmet. If she trained under a pro coach, shouldn't she have been taught all this? Shouldn't he have required her to practice transitions over and over?
I imagine that racing a bike without sunglasses would be difficult. Plus, from her comments, it appears that she might have ridden solo instead of in a paceline. Riding solo could have cost her a couple of minutes or more.
I see how not being able to find your sunglasses would slow down T1, but there's no excuse for T2. Either she gave up or she simply didn't practice it enough.
Anyway, hopefully, this is a wakeup call.
And one other question... shouldn't a pro coach have prepared her to avoid these rookie problems... shoes, helmet, swimming wide, transitions, legs heavy after the bike?
Her transitions were below average, but not abysmal. Sounds like her race was over after the swim, which is not easy to practice outside of a race.
A crowded draft legal sprint tri seems like the most difficult type of race to be competitive in if you're new
I believe it's just the event format. A lot of triathlons will have multiday events (Saturday/Sunday, some have Friday/Saturday/Sunday -- the races are often different distances, like Fri-super sprint, Sat-sprint, Sun-intermediate distance), or even same day back-to-back races (a sprint immediately followed by a intermediate distance event). I always thought it was just a way to sucker more money out of recreational competitors.
2) WHy are there races on back to back days? Do the distances vary?
Same reason a triathlon is back to back swim-bike-run. In this case, the distances are the same on both days but doesn't necessarily have to be. These are supposed to be development races, it's not anywhere near the level of Ironman
I'm just calling you out on your misrepresentation of the article. You bash for no good reason.
Despite the Triathlete article specifically saying: "Now officially part of Sousa’s squad, Cain says she is ready to re-enter the arena of professional athletics. Meaning Mary Cain told the reporter she is a professional athlete (again).
So I just saw this thread about the race. Someone says we need to write an article. I may be able to summarize it if you all help me out.
A few questions.
1) What does getting your pro card mean? There isn't a pro-car in running so I don't understand the term.
2) WHy are there races on back to back days? Do the distances vary?
If you are writing an article, you should talk about Andy Trouard also (who won on the men side). That will put Cain’s performance in context.
I believe he started triathlon training more recently than Cain.
To answer your question on multi day. They do that often in triathlon. You have to travel a long way, so they often give 2 opportunities. Triathletes recover fast. Also, so many things can go wrong. A flat, a crash on bike, a wetsuit malfunction, going off course, a mechanical issue, missing the pack on the bike because you followed the wrong set of feet on the swim.., It’s great to have 2 shots. more specifically when you can assemble a quality field.
No it's not the same Mary Cain, since she didn't say anything like that.
Yes she did. From the Triathlete article:
Now officially part of Sousa’s squad, Cain says she is ready to re-enter the arena of professional athletics—and accept the intense scrutiny that can come along with it. And after months of remaining reticent about her plans, finally publicizing her triathlon journey, she said, is a “monkey off her back.”
How delicate and fragile are you to read that as boasting and bragging?
So I just saw this thread about the race. Someone says we need to write an article. I may be able to summarize it if you all help me out.
A few questions.
1) What does getting your pro card mean? There isn't a pro-car in running so I don't understand the term.
2) WHy are there races on back to back days? Do the distances vary?
If you are writing an article, you should talk about Andy Trouard also (who won on the men side). That will put Cain’s performance in context.
I believe he started triathlon training more recently than Cain.
To answer your question on multi day. They do that often in triathlon. You have to travel a long way, so they often give 2 opportunities. Triathletes recover fast. Also, so many things can go wrong. A flat, a crash on bike, a wetsuit malfunction, going off course, a mechanical issue, missing the pack on the bike because you followed the wrong set of feet on the swim.., It’s great to have 2 shots. more specifically when you can assemble a quality field.
Uh no, Trouard has been on the triathlon path for quite some time.
Clara James-Heer just recently became the 2nd fastest HS 5000m indoor runner.
Left out "frosh" in there. 2nd fastest frosh girl 5000m indoors.
And without concentrating on running! Lots of aerobic work for sure. Maybe we all should be X training as primary workouts! Between her and the Eastbay Girls winner im starting to think about it.
If you are writing an article, you should talk about Andy Trouard also (who won on the men side). That will put Cain’s performance in context.
I believe he started triathlon training more recently than Cain.
To answer your question on multi day. They do that often in triathlon. You have to travel a long way, so they often give 2 opportunities. Triathletes recover fast. Also, so many things can go wrong. A flat, a crash on bike, a wetsuit malfunction, going off course, a mechanical issue, missing the pack on the bike because you followed the wrong set of feet on the swim.., It’s great to have 2 shots. more specifically when you can assemble a quality field.
Uh no, Trouard has been on the triathlon path for quite some time.
So I just saw this thread about the race. Someone says we need to write an article. I may be able to summarize it if you all help me out.
A few questions.
1) What does getting your pro card mean? There isn't a pro-car in running so I don't understand the term.
2) WHy are there races on back to back days? Do the distances vary?
Been answering these questions for a week.
In triathlon, you race as pro or age group. You're age group unless you earn your pro card. There are a number of different ways to do that -- placing high at select events, achieving two score ratings at races that hit a certain threshold of participants, etc.
Cain chose a unique, early season event. Clermont has elite development races on back to back days, where the top-3 earn their pro card. But say you finish 4th both days, you still might have hit the score rating you need to turn pro. You get a score rating after every race you complete. Last fall, Cain did a (non-draft legal) Sprint Tri off of little training. She scored ~97. Elite threshold was 104. That told her she has a shot at turning pro with more training. Now the elite threshold is 105, almost 106. Cain's 97 would have put her top-10-15 range at Clermont last year. She finished 23rd, which means the field was either deeper or she wasn't as good relative to her Sprint Tri. It's evident that she swam/ran well enough to go after her pro card. Transitions seemed to weigh her down & her bike needs some work.
But remember, draft-legal racing is different from non-draft legal racing. Transitions matter more. Biking matters more because you get the benefit of drafting. Cain fumbling in T1 & missing the bike path cost her minutes versus it maybe being negligible in a non-draft race. It's a lot harder to bike solo when others are working together in a pack.
Dialogue on this topic should be civil. The result should be seen as encouraging because she has 2 of the 3 disciplines in a good place, without a lot of specific triathlon preparation. Getting her pro card is going to be all about the bike. I think she should try non-draft legal races. Take away some of the learned triathlon-specific skills that don't come as naturally.
Dialogue on this topic should be civil. The result should be seen as encouraging because she has 2 of the 3 disciplines in a good place, without a lot of specific triathlon preparation. Getting her pro card is going to be all about the bike. I think she should try non-draft legal races. Take away some of the learned triathlon-specific skills that don't come as naturally.
The weekend triathlon wasn't international level elite, it was high schoolers and college athletes and still Mary Cain got soundly beaten by lots of girls and women 5-10 years younger than her. Why do you keep assuming biking is easy? Just because you rode a rusting huffy cruiser bike as a kid is in no way comparable to real bike racing. You have no clue of the immense skills and strength needed to be a good bike rider, it is a lot more difficult than running. There is a reason why many cyclists make fun of triathletes crashing so often. Being a good runner means squat to being a good biker, and a lot of people simply don't have the coordination or nerve to ride closely in peletons, which is likely what you see here with Mary Cain. She doesn't have any sporting background requiring split second judgement and fine movement that is the difference between riding in a pack and riding in the back of an ambulance.
Mary Cain is washed up. And at this point? She’s had enough years of separation from NOP to wash the smell off. It’s on her professional and career decisions, and she didn’t make the right ones once she finally got the reigns.
Dialogue on this topic should be civil. The result should be seen as encouraging because she has 2 of the 3 disciplines in a good place, without a lot of specific triathlon preparation. Getting her pro card is going to be all about the bike. I think she should try non-draft legal races. Take away some of the learned triathlon-specific skills that don't come as naturally.
The weekend triathlon wasn't international level elite, it was high schoolers and college athletes and still Mary Cain got soundly beaten by lots of girls and women 5-10 years younger than her. Why do you keep assuming biking is easy? Just because you rode a rusting huffy cruiser bike as a kid is in no way comparable to real bike racing. You have no clue of the immense skills and strength needed to be a good bike rider, it is a lot more difficult than running. There is a reason why many cyclists make fun of triathletes crashing so often. Being a good runner means squat to being a good biker, and a lot of people simply don't have the coordination or nerve to ride closely in peletons, which is likely what you see here with Mary Cain. She doesn't have any sporting background requiring split second judgement and fine movement that is the difference between riding in a pack and riding in the back of an ambulance.
I know triathlon & I know how to train for the bike coming at it from a running background. I have never said it was easy. I am saying that a 97 score rating off of little training is encouraging. Whether she gets her pro card & finds success as a pro depends on how much she can improve on the bike. Nothing in here is outlandish. It's rational.
Looking at the data details, she didn't do too bad, simply cleaning up a few things and she will do much better. I am not sure at what level she wants to compete; at the top level the athletes are as good as she is at her best event and much better in the water and bike. With that said, with a slightly better bike and better trans she can be competitive in 2nd tier or sub-elite races right now.
Trouard 3rd today. Faster on the swim. Faster in T1. Faster on the bike. Faster in T2. Faster on the run. Overall faster 57:40 (vs 58:30 yesterday).
However, his 5k was still only a 16:10. We know that he was not holding back today. A simple 15:20 would have given him the win.
Six months in triathlon training, Klau could go sub 15 on the run.
I’m guessing that Trouard is not as naturally gifted on the bike.
it’s still good however. Maybe he does not have 6 months of triathlon training yet.
Is the run exactly 5000? A 13:20 guy only runs 16:10?
Yes he did. course was probably not long since a woman did 16:58 on it on Saturday (her 5000m PB is 16:01)
Trouard is obviously not in 13:21 shape
He still did ok. He came 1st on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday.
Someone here said that he started with triathlons a while ago. I don’t see anything that indicates that. I know that he was thinking about it a couple of years ago. thinking about it is not equal to doing it.
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