Jay Benson Triathlon - Triathlon

I think this is the first tri I didn't lose places on the swim!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I jumped in and started swimming. I got in a groove pretty quickly, then my goggles filled up. I pulled to the side and quick let the water out and started again. I was actually gaining on people! I'm going to have to calculate my overall for the swim and bike to see how many I actually passed.

DS2 said later he thought I'd go crazy at all the slow people and congestion and people doing "weird" strokes. I'm kinda used to it in pool swims so I just tried to get around the mobs and do my thing.

During my 4th leg of the pool I was able to grab on to a pair of feet and draft for the whole 50. Man could I feel a difference! Unfortunately my goggles filled up again (maybe because of the turbulence) and she got away as I emtied.

The last couple times I was at the far end of the pool DS2 was kneeling down yelling encouragement at me. That really motivated me to finish strong. And I kept pulling hard throught that last 50. I'm pretty happy with this swim!

Keep working on that swim fitness

This is a reverse tri so T1 was out of run shoes and in to bike shoes/helmet. Went smoothly and I ran to my bike and with my bike to the mount line. Taking of from the mount line was smooth as well.

pretty happy with this

I felt good running with the new cleats and getting clipped in on the bike. The first mile or so was on empty streets in a warehouse district so it was a nice start to get rolling. Before too long we turned on to a major street where the right lane was closed for us. As I turned on to this first major street (Unser) I saw at least one car ignore the police officer's direction to stop. I was able to make my turn without any issue and headed on down the road. I passed several people and chuckled as I thought of the opening scene of Captain America where he repeatedly says "on your left".

I knew the turn on to Central (another busy street, also with a lane blocked) and the start of the climb was coming. APD was in full force on these busy streets and did an awesome job of controlling traffic. I made sure to thank each of them, especially since they've been under a lot of heat lately from the public.

Anyway, Central proceeded to climb, and climb, and climb, up hill, in to the wind. I kept passing people and tried to encourage each as I did so. I also tried to follow correct passing rules which was tough when I was doing 6mph!!!
Once I FINALLY crested the hill there was a right turn and a short out and back before I got to come back and FLY down that same %^&* hill. The fastest I saw on my bike computer was 40mph but according to Strava that I made it to 44.1! When I ran out of gears I just tucked in as low as I could get. Once I could pedal again I tried to continue to use the hill and tailwind to my advantage and continue the higher speed. This worked great and I was still passing people... until I had to come to a complete stop at Central and Unser until the officers got traffic stopped again. There was one girl already there and two or three people caught up while I waited. ARGH!

Once we took off from the light I left them behind again and was happy to be back on the industrial streets again, even for a short while. As I turned back in to the parking lot toward transition (really long parking lot) I heard an encouraging yell from DH. Such motivation.

Unfortunately I did hear later that a lady from one of the local tri clubs did have an accident with a car during the race. Fortunately she had no head injuries and "only" a separated shoulder.

I think I gave it everything I had. No doubt my bike fitness is down as I've had trouble getting all of my training in lately but that hill, with the addition of the wind, was brutal!

Again, reverse tri so this was bike stuff off, goggles on. Went smoothly but was a bit of a run to the pool which accounts for a lot of the time, I think. Also, as I was leaving the transition gate I got held up a bit by the volunteer checking the bike of someone who was leaving. I'm sure it only cost me a few seconds but that frustrates me. I know you're a fastie so you're all done but GET OUT THE WAY OF PEOPLE STILL RACING!

nothing

The whole group started off at a decent pace. I was comfortable with it and thought some of them might drop back after a while (which they did). I kept Coach Andie in sight and gained on her a bit as we "climbed" up to the pedestrian bridge. It was a nice course but mile markers would have been nice. As we went back over the pedestrian bridge I caught up to Coach Andie and asked her about the distance because I knew she'd be wearing her GPS. The RD had mentioned before the start that the run was long but hadn't said how long. (My distance calculation above is based on the total run time and average/mile that they posted as my results).
I ran in just behind Andie and heard DH and DS2 yelling for me.
Good run. Maybe I could have pushed it more but I knew I had quite a climb ahead of me on the bike.

Maybe push a bit more to test my running fitness.

As I came out of the water I got a high five from Coach Andie and smiles from DS2 and DH. DH also had a cooler with a couple bottles of chocolate milk. Love that man. We watched the swimmers and talked about my race. We talked with Coach Andie a bit about Santa Rosa (my next tri) as she is the RD. She commented about wishing her family were there and wishing she had a chocolate milk. Lo and behold DH pulled another chocolate milk out of the cooler for Coach Andie. What a guy!

After a while we headed outside and while I packed up my gear DH got me a dirty chai from my fave food truck which happened to be at the race!


Training, gravity, genetics ;)


I'm going with average on this one for a couple reasons... this race used to be held on base but after Boston it was cancelled last year and had to move this year. So they had to find a new location, I get that. They did a nice job of having a police presence and closing a lane. But stupid Albuquerque drivers make being on busy streets like this unsafe. And having essentially half the bike course be one big hill, not really digging that either. I appreciate their attempt to relocate this race but I'm not sure I'd do this one again with this same course.