I was really looking forward to this race for the simple fact that I hadn't been able to do a tri in quite some time. I had been working a lot on training for a marathon so I felt confident in my running legs but wasn't sure how the bike was going to go. This tri is a little different and they like to do it backwards here, since it "gets to hot" by 0700 when most people would be out on the run. It was only in the high 80's by this time, but it was nice to jump in the pool after being all sweaty and hot. The one thing I do not like though is people do not have to go from the bike to the run, which is where you pay for it the most. I learned last year that you could run hard and still have a good bike time and the legs didn't pay for it to much.
Run-
I wanted to push hard on the run and stay up front with the lead runner. We knew there was a guy that was pretty fast but we thought he was going to fade. Off the start I let him go and he pushed out pretty hard. I kept back with Elissa and Berlin hoping the other guy would fade. He held strong for the first 2 miles and I tried to pull him back in with a mile to go and I ran good just not good enough. He had about 30 seconds on me and I put 20-30secs on the people behind me. I ran some good mile splits (5:50/5:59/5:50), and had a total time of 18:18.
T1-
I knew this is where I could make up time and put time on everyone else due to the fact I have slowly figured out how to transition and have some of the tricks down now. I have finally got the hang of jumping on the bike with the shoes clipped in and strapping in on the move. I wasted no time in transition and was in and out in no time.
Bike-
The bike course changed a little bit from last year for the better and had a good stretch of tailwind. The only bad thing was it was a loop so that tailwind only lasted for so long and then the head wind hit. I felt good on the bike and have my position dialed in pretty good. I caught the guy that lead the run within the first 1/4 mile (he was on an MTB), and never looked back after that.
T2-
Went just as well as T1 and felt really good about it. After the race someone said "You were so fast I didn't even see you take your shoes off". I told her the secret of taking them off while riding so it saved time and she seemed pretty amused by it and had to think about it for awhile.
Swim-
225 meters is SO short, which I enjoy very much since I am pretty much a brick in the water. I think I swam mid 3mins, someone was suppose to clock my swim time but forgot so I am not really sure. I did some math of my bike time and run time and total swim including T2 was right around 4mins, so mid 3's sound about right.
Run- 18:18-5:53min/mil
Bike- 29:34-24.8mph/avg
Swim- 3:xx
Total- 51:51
Overall- 1st place/55 Age Group- 1st/11
Overall I was very pleased with the race and was happy that 55 people showed up to race. The most rewarding thing for me about this event was not winning but watching other people enjoy their first triathlon. I rounded up 6 bikes and loaned them out to some people that were TDY (Temporarily Deployed) giving them the opportunity to race. I hope giving those individuals the opportunity to race hopefully inspired them to want to do another triathlon. My goal with racing and training is to inspire people to want to change their lifestyle and live a healthy and active lifestyle. If this weekend I was able to inspire or motivate one person to do another tri then it was a success!
Thanks to Alisha for taking some great photos and to everyone else that showed up and volunteered! Below are some pics from the race!
The start of the race
Coming in from the run
Heading out on the bike
Coming by the first lap, heading out to the turn around
Getting my medal
Myself and Berlin
Myself and TJ
Berlin, myself, Chad, Elissa, and Jim. Everyone was top 3 in their Age Groups!
