Patriot Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Slow start. It seems to take me forever to warm up lately. Shaun was well ahead of me until the final 800 yards or so when I passed him and pulled away. Swam up into people from three waves in front of me (so picked up about 9 minutes on some people). The last 500 yards was a traffic jam with people from four different waves swimming to the same end point.

Get in a real swim warm up. Probably need at least 500 yards and maybe a short bike/run as well. Its nice to negative split, but I should have been able to swim the whole length faster.

Time inside transition area was wicked fast.

Took 1 GU and a mouthful of Vitalyte. Pulled off the bottle towels and got out as quick as possible. Saw Shaun on my way out and he promised to catch up with me.

There was a decent little run over wet surfaces between transition and the bike mount line. Moved about as quickly as I could have.



Nothing.

Best. Bike. Ever.

Shaun and I practiced this the weekend before and the practice paid off. Held an even pace of between 19 and 20 throughout. Shaun stayed about 25 meters in front of me throughout so I could use him as a pace bunny.

The only slow down was the number of people that needed to be passed during the first loop. By the second loop we foun a group of riders going about the same speed and held together as a group for the remainder of the ride.

Had a little trouble with nutrition. It was warm out and my bottle warmed up, which made keeping the Infinit down a little hard. Drank every 15 minutes and finished almost three bottles. A few times it came back up but I seemed to keep enough fluids and calories in me.

More bike volume. All the riding has paid off, I just need to keep the bike volume high, be consistent and get my key workouts in. I want to be able to consistently average about 20 mph.

Long-ish run from the timing mat back to the rack. Took extra time to put on socks and make sure I had everything for the run.

Move quicker. Work on running sock-less.

Headed out strong and help high 9s initially. Took a GU at mile 1 and then asked for water and ice at each rest stop. Took a second GU at mile 5 and more water and ice. By mile 6 or so, I started to develop a nasty side stitch. Ended up doing some walking between miles 6 and 8 so at that point started taking coke with ice, which helped. Decided to forgo the GU at mile 9 and continue with the coke and ice routine. Began to pick up the pace again. Shaun met me at mile 11 and ran in with me. Overall I wanted to be faster but the heat and the side stitch prevented that.

Be able to suffer more and keep up pace. I need to realize that while it hurts, I can keep going. Seriously picked up the pace over the last three miles, but I had enough coming into the finish that I know I could have gone faster out on the course.

Drank a bottle of water and went back to wait for Erica to finish. While waiting Shaun stretched out my legs and got me some fruit punch and a clif bar. Saw Erica finish, grabbed the bikes and then drank R4. Post-awards ceremony (I got and award AND won a raffle prize) went to Friendly's -- southwest chicken salad and shared an ice cream with Shaun.


Body Mass. I need to loose 40 lbs to get down to a real racing weight. No excuses.

Run training. The ankle sprain / achilles tendonitis limited my run training over the last month. I think more consistency in training would have helped out today.


Good race. Came in first for Athena but was 90 minutes ahead of the 2nd place Athena. Its no fun to win when you're clubbing baby seals. Would have placed 4/26 if I raced AG (30-34). Think that if I want to "race" I made need to register as AG but its a hard call because I like tchotchkies.