Barqhead's Group - FULL (Page 21)

Just had my last ride before my first race.....man, I felt really good on the bike today.  Unfortunately the rain kept me indoors on a trainer but my legs felt great, focused on alternating between sprints and hill climbs.  Even at the peaks when my quads were screaming, I still felt like there was plenty of horsepower left.

I am not sure about tomorrow, I am scheduled for a 1 hr 10 min run.  I am not tapering because I am using this sprints as kind of a measuring stick for the Oly in June.  I just don't want to overtrain this week and end up being sore on race day.  I am taking Friday off and gonna load a little carbs and make my final preps, Saturday is travel day and the race is Sunday morning.

I am stoked, been rehearsing my transitions, mount bike, ride around the block, dismount (transition) then run around the block.  My neighbors probably think I have lost my mind with me running up to my bike with swim cap and goggles on.....lol  With all the "pregame" hype, you would think I was running a full IM.  Maybe it's just my type A personality, but I want to know all the bases are covered.  The way I see it, I can work all year and not cut 2 minutes off my run time, or I can execute well in transition and cut 2 minutes with just a little prep work.

I will keep you all posted and have a full report after the race.

barqhead - 2009-03-26 8:13 AM Actually, transition practice is more important in a short race, because every second counts! A good goal to shoot for are transition times under a minute. Sounds like you are doing all the right things to ensure a good race. I am so jealous! You are going to have so much fun

 What would be your advice as far as a long run today.  I am scheduled for an hour and ten minute run.  I just don't want to be sore on race day.  I may just take a nice pace and shoot for 5 miles to to get my blood flowing.

Ok guys, so far so good.  Got checked in and through packet pick up with no hitches.  I didn't lose my bike on the drive up.

The only problem is the weather too a turn for the worse and the race time temps are going to be about 39-40 degrees.  Way too cold!  Either way, I can't wait to get started.

Ok guys, here it is!  I finished!!!  My official time was 1:50:02.  I set a goal for myself of 1:45, so I wasn't too far off.

When I got to Oford, MS, the weather took a turn for the worse.  The temps in the days leading up to the race were running in the upper 60's to lower 70's.   The predicted temp on the morning of the race was 38 degrees.  SO you can imagine the mad scramble to find cold weather gear at the last minute.

The pool was an indoor pool, room temp was 73 degrees or so, water temp was about 80 ish degrees.  Running out the door of the natatorium was like running into a brick wall.  Man, it was cold!  There was a really long run to get to the transition area, seemed like it took me forever, even though it was only a hundred yards or so.  But being wet and barefeet, in wet muddy grass, made the that distance seem much longer.  My swim time was officially 10:10.  Not as good as I had hoped, but considering we had some issues with the lanes markers and some of the swimmers were bunched up, it was a decent time.

T1 wasn't nearly as fast as I had hoped because I took that extra bit of time to put on some tights, a couple long sleeve shirts and my socks.  Then there was about a 60-70 yard run  to get to the mount line, I was okay with my time.  T1- 3:37

The bike was horrific!  I found out quickly that something happened to my bike, I had no high gears and could not get the gear to shift onto the large chain ring in the front.  It didn't make a huge difference other than when I was travel downhill I could not build momentum because I couldnt shift into the higher gear and keep grinding.  Therefore, I pretty much had to settle for coasting downhill.  In addition to the gear issue and the 38 degree weather, there was a 15-20 mph headwind on the out portion of the bike.  So your probably thinking great, you had the wind to your back coming back in.... that is true, but coming back in is mostly uphill so the wind didnt help much.  My bike time was officially 56:49.

T2 was better than T1, smooth and fast considering the distance to the rack.  Time was 2:10

The run....ha ha ha, was probably the worst run time I have logged to date.  By this point I was pretty much spent from fighting that head wind and the cold, I was just in survival mode at this point.  The run course was very hilly, but scenic..lol.  My run time was 37:17.

So, even though I felt like just about everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, I had a great time!  I can say that I am officially hooked and I assure you, I will shave 30 minutes off that time next year! 

Now I am off to soak in the hot tub and get a bite to eat.  Thanks guys for all the encouragement!!!

Nothing like some zombie legs to let you know you raced hard!  Great job!

Thanks, they are definitely Zombie!  And I don't know where the bruises came from on my inner thighs!

Okay, so it's now official.  I just signed up for Augusta 70.3. 

That is awesome.... I have several friends going to Augusta.