The past couple of months have really been building up to today for me. Yes, I was looking forward to Mexico and stuff, but I was really looking forward to this weekend for two reasons - 1. My last final was yesterday and this summer semester has been like the most time intensive semester ever. 2. I haven't done a tri for some time and I just needed something to really get me going. Unfortunately, due to reason #1 I was not able to train as much as I would have liked (I trained next to nothing) for this tri. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. I was wavering back and forth and then on Sunday I decided that I really wanted to do this and I signed up (they have a no refund policy). Ryan wavered a bit too much and didn't decide to sign up until registration was closed - so he didn't make it. Stacy and I went to bed early last night because we then w
oke up at 4:15am. Ugh. We had breakfast, loaded up the car, and made our way to Hyrum Reservoir. I really wanted to make sure I was there plenty early this time since last time was so hectic and I wasn't able to do all I wanted before the race. We did. We were among the first people there. This gave me ample time to pre
pare my transition station, get all the information I needed, use the restroom, etc - which are all things I was lacking last time. The olympic distance race started at 8:00 so I was glad to watch the open water start and see how it was all going to go down (this is my first time swimming in open water - other than just like off a boat or near the beach). I then made my way down into what I thought was going to be freezing water. It wasn't. It was actually really nice. In fact, I probably could have done
it in just a swim suit - without the wetsuit - but after I began warming up a little I soon found out that a wetsuit is like the best thing that ever happened to a triathlon. It keeps you so buoyant. It made swimming much easier. From now on, any tri that allows wetsuits - I will be wearing one (please take time to notice in the picture above the
muscley arms of the gentleman in the water - yeah, that's me). It was difficult to hear the announcer dude from the water due to all the people and everything going on, so I just started when everyone else around me started. It was actually pretty cool to be running into peopl
e and stuff. Thanks to the wetsuit, the swim was remarkably easier than I thought it was going to be. I came out toward the front of the pack and made my way to T1. This took an extra 30 seconds or so in order to remove the wetsuit, but I am telling you - it is worth it. My bike was a little bit slower than last time. I am sure this is due to the lack of training I have had. I felt pretty good, but I definitely could have gone faster. I passed some 12 year old kid while biking who was doing the sprint race as well. After looking later I found that he had a way faster swim time than myself! I figured I was then leaving him in the dust. The bike route was relatively flat with a few hills here and there. Not bad,
though. I came off the bike and had a good T2 time (remarkably better than last time since I didn't forget my race number). Now this is where the race began to look grim. The first half of the run was uphill and I was feeling it. It wasn't long before that 12 year old passed me and left me lagging behind. I am not going to lie - a little part of me died inside right then. I found myself slowing down every now and then to try to recoup. After the turn around we just went back the same route so it was all downhill. This didn't prove to be as delightful as I would
have liked it to have been. At this point I was just really watching the people passing me and trying my best to not let anyone in my age division do so. One did. Then as I neared the end another tried his best. I wasn't going to allow that sort of behavior. I paced him for a while and as we neared the finish line I really turned it on and beat him by only like a split second (he is the dude in the red in the picture where I am approaching the finish line). The clock in that picture began when the olympic races started. My total time was 1hr 25min. Overall, I feel good about today. I came in 6th out of 15 in my age division, and 57th out of 288 in the sprint distance. There is definitely room for improvement, but I am so glad I did this today. I had a blast, and now I can't wait until the next one. Peace.
The past couple of months have really been building up to today for me. Yes, I was looking forward to Mexico and stuff, but I was really looking forward to this weekend for two reasons - 1. My last final was yesterday and this summer semester has been like the most time intensive semester ever. 2. I haven't done a tri for some time and I just needed something to really get me going. Unfortunately, due to reason #1 I was not able to train as much as I would have liked (I trained next to nothing) for this tri. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. I was wavering back and forth and then on Sunday I decided that I really wanted to do this and I signed up (they have a no refund policy). Ryan wavered a bit too much and didn't decide to sign up until registration was closed - so he didn't make it. Stacy and I went to bed early last night because we then w
oke up at 4:15am. Ugh. We had breakfast, loaded up the car, and made our way to Hyrum Reservoir. I really wanted to make sure I was there plenty early this time since last time was so hectic and I wasn't able to do all I wanted before the race. We did. We were among the first people there. This gave me ample time to pre
pare my transition station, get all the information I needed, use the restroom, etc - which are all things I was lacking last time. The olympic distance race started at 8:00 so I was glad to watch the open water start and see how it was all going to go down (this is my first time swimming in open water - other than just like off a boat or near the beach). I then made my way down into what I thought was going to be freezing water. It wasn't. It was actually really nice. In fact, I probably could have done 
it in just a swim suit - without the wetsuit - but after I began warming up a little I soon found out that a wetsuit is like the best thing that ever happened to a triathlon. It keeps you so buoyant. It made swimming much easier. From now on, any tri that allows wetsuits - I will be wearing one (please take time to notice in the picture above the muscley arms of the gentleman in the water - yeah, that's me). It was difficult to hear the announcer dude from the water due to all the people and everything going on, so I just started when everyone else around me started. It was actually pretty cool to be running into peopl
e and stuff. Thanks to the wetsuit, the swim was remarkably easier than I thought it was going to be. I came out toward the front of the pack and made my way to T1. This took an extra 30 seconds or so in order to remove the wetsuit, but I am telling you - it is worth it. My bike was a little bit slower than last time. I am sure this is due to the lack of training I have had. I felt pretty good, but I definitely could have gone faster. I passed some 12 year old kid while biking who was doing the sprint race as well. After looking later I found that he had a way faster swim time than myself! I figured I was then leaving him in the dust. The bike route was relatively flat with a few hills here and there. Not bad,
though. I came off the bike and had a good T2 time (remarkably better than last time since I didn't forget my race number). Now this is where the race began to look grim. The first half of the run was uphill and I was feeling it. It wasn't long before that 12 year old passed me and left me lagging behind. I am not going to lie - a little part of me died inside right then. I found myself slowing down every now and then to try to recoup. After the turn around we just went back the same route so it was all downhill. This didn't prove to be as delightful as I would 
have liked it to have been. At this point I was just really watching the people passing me and trying my best to not let anyone in my age division do so. One did. Then as I neared the end another tried his best. I wasn't going to allow that sort of behavior. I paced him for a while and as we neared the finish line I really turned it on and beat him by only like a split second (he is the dude in the red in the picture where I am approaching the finish line). The clock in that picture began when the olympic races started. My total time was 1hr 25min. Overall, I feel good about today. I came in 6th out of 15 in my age division, and 57th out of 288 in the sprint distance. There is definitely room for improvement, but I am so glad I did this today. I had a blast, and now I can't wait until the next one. Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment