Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Incirlik Sprint Tri

25 Aug 10- Incirlik AB Turkey-

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!

A Few Races and Updates

25 Aug 2010- Incirlik Turkey-

Well since getting back from the states and Germany quite a bit has happened. I haven't been updating the blog as much because I have not really raced anything noteworthy of updating the blog with. I have waited till now and will throw a few races in here and a few updates on life in general.

I got back from leave beginning of May and did not have another race until the 22nd of May. It just so happened to be sponsored by New Balance and they were giving away a FREE pair of shoes to the winner of each division. They had 5K men/women and 10K men/women. My friend Seth and I are known to be the "fast" runners on base so we discussed who wanted to run what all in hopes of winning the shoes. He decided to run the 10K so I stuck with the 5K. I ran a pretty slow time of 19:40 but was still able to win the shoes which was nice. I ended up giving them to a friend who is just getting into running as I have way to many pairs of shoes.

They also held a track meet end of June which was a fun event. I ran the 1.5 mile and took 2nd, behind Seth. I ran 8:13 and he went 7:40's, not sure exactly what his time was. I then helped out another team and ran the 4X400 with them since our Squadron didn't have a team. I ran anchor and we pulled a big lead so I didn't have to run that hard and still ran a 1:02 which I was happy with. After that things settled down and there was no more racing for a while :(

I ended up starting back up the weekly Time Trials and have had a good showing ever since. Now that I am leaving it is sad as it has turned into a fun thing to show up too and see others starting to get better as the summer goes on. We have had 5-8 people every week which has been great and if everyone would show up one week we could have 15+ which would be awesome, but my time has come and I will be gone :( I have passed off the torch too two other dedicated riders who will do a great job keeping the TT's going. I broke my record from last year by 8 seconds and haven't really been on the bike that much, so I was happy with that. Hopefully by the time I leave Osan I can break 18 mins :)

I applied to the USAFEurope Marathon team again this year in hopes of being selected. I found out back in June that I was selected so then the process of trying to get extended started. I put in all my paperwork to get "stuck" in Turkey for an extra month so that I could go run, but it was denied so I will not be able to attend with the USAFEurope Team :( I was pretty disappointed as there were quite a few of us returning from last year and it would of been a great time. Guess I will have to wait till I get out to Germany to apply again.

Well there was one more race that I was able to compete in before I had to leave which was a Sprint Tri this past weekend. I will blog more about that in the next blog and add some pictures as well. I will be leaving Turkey 31 August and head straight to Korea. I am looking forward to Korea and can't wait to get back to a country that is focused on fitness. It is a bitter sweet departure though as some very talented athletes have showed up here and have been great mentors the past couple of months. I have been fortunate enough to have an Armed Forces/USAF/X-College runner take me under "her" guidance the past 2 months. Yes I said HER, she is a bad ass and has been a great mentor, constantly kicking my butt on our runs and holding me accountable to our early morning workouts. It has been a great last couple of months of training with a great runner, THANKS Elissa!

Speaking of Korea being so focused on fitness here is what my race schedule looks like over the next two months:

5 Sept- Sokcho Olympic Distance Triathlon
12 Sept- DMZ Half Marathon
18 Sept- Camp Humphreys Sprint Triathlon
10 Oct- Pyeongtaek Port Half Marathon
17 Oct- Tongeyong Olympic Distance Triathlon
24 Oct- Chuncheon Marathon

Can't wait to get back to Korea and finish out the year on a strong note! 5 days and a wakeup :)

Here are some pictures from the New Balance 5K/Track Meet/Time Trial

Coming to the finish line of the 5k
Myself, Jen, Angie, and Seth. All the WINNERS :)
At the track meet running the 1.5 mile.
Myself and Berlin
The TT Group!