turns out I was 56 out of 98 overall. The 13 mile bike section was only 7 1/2, which was nice. It was more thechnical than I expected, which was a nice suprise since I really dont like riding through the flat grass. Within age group I was 10th in swim, 14th on bike, and 10th on run. Good for 13th in AG. I did start the swim too fast. Between that and my apparent inability to swim in a strait line
(probably swam an extra 150 [really]
) I was really questioning my sanity 2/3 of the way through the swim. The last 150 truely seemed to take an eternity. I was wondering if I was even going forward.
Thankfully, when I got out of the water I didn't really need my arms any more...or so I thought...
Bike trans was good, better than I had practiced. 1st mile and a half was mainly riding through the grass on a slight uphill. Then about 5 mile of mixed fast single track and newly cleared paths through the woods and kudzoo. This is where I realized that I was going to be using my arms again. At least it was demanding enough that I didn't have time to think about it. The last mile and a half was back in the grass with lots of hills, which gave me plenty of time to think about how much riding uphill in the grass sucked.
Run trans went well.
The run was the same as the beginning and end of the bike except for the last 400 or so, which was thankfully down hill. At times I was running only 4.5 mph, but made up for it by pushing a little harded on the downhills. After getting out of breath in the swim, I stayed that way, never really got to a comfortable breathing rythym.
Curiuosly, every time I looked at my hrm, I was between 179 and 182...bike and run. I guess now I know that I can maintain that heart rate for 60+ minutes.
All in all, I am pleased with my first performance. I did well enough that I am no longer traing just to finish.
(unless I do longer races
)
next race, Dragonflytri...
http://www.dragonfly.racesonline.com/
United States
Memphis In May
76F / 24C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 56/98
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 13/24
Oatmeal for breakfast
Rode the 1st and last miles of the course. streched. Ran about 5 min. streched, swam 200 yards.