It had been a while since we had raced. There remains another month before the Half. We wanted to do an olympic distance race with the time we had. The Xango Echo Tri proved to be the best fit. I was feeling good about this race since we have been able to get out in the water a few times recently to mentally prepare. I have been pretty busy lately with just a lot of different stuff going on, so I haven't been able to train as much as I would like, but I was ready nonetheless. Stacy and I woke up this morning at 4:30. We packed up our st
uff and were out of the house by 5. We arrived in Coalville, UT around 6. Due to limited parking at the lake, we had to park in town and ride our bikes down to the race site. This was a good way to get blood flowing and everything, but the problem was that it was COLD outside. I had brought a jacket, but I was sporting shorts and flip-flops at this point. My feet were freezing. We signed in, got our transition areas ready, met up with Jer and Mallory, then headed down to the
water. We stood on the beach for a while before we got in thinking that would be even colder. We were wrong. When we finally did get in the water we found that it was much warmer than the air outside. We did a little warming up and we were ready for the race. My wave start was second only to the elite men's division. We started five minutes after they did. I had a great swim. I cut like seven minutes off my last olympic distance time at Pumpkinman. I only got lost on the swim once, but that's okay because that was probably another 2 minutes or so I can easily shed off my time
in the future. I came out of the water in a little over 28 minutes. I struggled a bit in transition, but not too bad. I just haven't had the chance to really work on these yet this year. Here was another minute I can cut. The bike felt good. It took me a little while before I passed Mallory (who started her swim 10 minutes later than me, but came out of the water a good amount of time before me). I kept expecting to see Jer. I could have sworn I saw
him at the transition area when I came out of the water. I finally saw him after I had turned around on the bike and he was still heading out. It wasn't much longer before he passed me. I tried to keep up for a while, but couldn't do it for long. I passed Stacy a little while later on her way out. She had a great swim for her and was busy pushing hard on the bike. I don't think she would have even noticed me had I not cheered. I was able to pass a number of people on th
e final couple of hills on the bike. Hill climbing has always been my strongest point in biking simply because of all the hill climbing I do on my skis in the winter. My second transition was a bit faster, but I almost bit the dust while running my bike in. Running out is always a weird feeling. Your body just is not prepped to start running. It is in bike mode. You usually have to just push through the awkwardness for the first mile, then you can start to get into a groove. I pac
ed myself on the run as I wanted to be able to run the whole thing. With the exception of a couple of times walking to take a drink of water, this was the case. As I was nearing the turn around point, Jer passed me on his way back. He was going strong, and I knew I had no chance of catching up. I turned around and passed Mallory at about the same point Jer had passed me. A little while later, I passed Stacy on her way out on the run. It was nice to keep seeing her. I had paced m
yself a bit too much since I had a lot left in me for the last mile. I cranked it that last mile, but I need to figure out my ideal speed for that distance so I don't waste as much time. Oh, well. I crossed the finish line 2hr and 46min after I had started. Stacy's time was: 3:32:01. Jer: 2:34:47. And Mallory: 2:49:10. It was a great race. We all had a great time. The race was well put together and there was a lot of good competition. I think I will try to do this race again next year. I must apo
logize for the lack of photos. It wasn't until we were past Park City on the drive up that I realized I had forgotten a camera. I will try to post any photos I can find as time goes on, but I don't know if I will be able to find any. Thanks for reading. On Tri.
It had been a while since we had raced. There remains another month before the Half. We wanted to do an olympic distance race with the time we had. The Xango Echo Tri proved to be the best fit. I was feeling good about this race since we have been able to get out in the water a few times recently to mentally prepare. I have been pretty busy lately with just a lot of different stuff going on, so I haven't been able to train as much as I would like, but I was ready nonetheless. Stacy and I woke up this morning at 4:30. We packed up our st
uff and were out of the house by 5. We arrived in Coalville, UT around 6. Due to limited parking at the lake, we had to park in town and ride our bikes down to the race site. This was a good way to get blood flowing and everything, but the problem was that it was COLD outside. I had brought a jacket, but I was sporting shorts and flip-flops at this point. My feet were freezing. We signed in, got our transition areas ready, met up with Jer and Mallory, then headed down to the 
water. We stood on the beach for a while before we got in thinking that would be even colder. We were wrong. When we finally did get in the water we found that it was much warmer than the air outside. We did a little warming up and we were ready for the race. My wave start was second only to the elite men's division. We started five minutes after they did. I had a great swim. I cut like seven minutes off my last olympic distance time at Pumpkinman. I only got lost on the swim once, but that's okay because that was probably another 2 minutes or so I can easily shed off my time
in the future. I came out of the water in a little over 28 minutes. I struggled a bit in transition, but not too bad. I just haven't had the chance to really work on these yet this year. Here was another minute I can cut. The bike felt good. It took me a little while before I passed Mallory (who started her swim 10 minutes later than me, but came out of the water a good amount of time before me). I kept expecting to see Jer. I could have sworn I saw 
him at the transition area when I came out of the water. I finally saw him after I had turned around on the bike and he was still heading out. It wasn't much longer before he passed me. I tried to keep up for a while, but couldn't do it for long. I passed Stacy a little while later on her way out. She had a great swim for her and was busy pushing hard on the bike. I don't think she would have even noticed me had I not cheered. I was able to pass a number of people on th
e final couple of hills on the bike. Hill climbing has always been my strongest point in biking simply because of all the hill climbing I do on my skis in the winter. My second transition was a bit faster, but I almost bit the dust while running my bike in. Running out is always a weird feeling. Your body just is not prepped to start running. It is in bike mode. You usually have to just push through the awkwardness for the first mile, then you can start to get into a groove. I pac
ed myself on the run as I wanted to be able to run the whole thing. With the exception of a couple of times walking to take a drink of water, this was the case. As I was nearing the turn around point, Jer passed me on his way back. He was going strong, and I knew I had no chance of catching up. I turned around and passed Mallory at about the same point Jer had passed me. A little while later, I passed Stacy on her way out on the run. It was nice to keep seeing her. I had paced m
yself a bit too much since I had a lot left in me for the last mile. I cranked it that last mile, but I need to figure out my ideal speed for that distance so I don't waste as much time. Oh, well. I crossed the finish line 2hr and 46min after I had started. Stacy's time was: 3:32:01. Jer: 2:34:47. And Mallory: 2:49:10. It was a great race. We all had a great time. The race was well put together and there was a lot of good competition. I think I will try to do this race again next year. I must apo
logize for the lack of photos. It wasn't until we were past Park City on the drive up that I realized I had forgotten a camera. I will try to post any photos I can find as time goes on, but I don't know if I will be able to find any. Thanks for reading. On Tri.
Hey Dustin~ We ran across your blog tonight. You're quite the outdoors man! Does anyone else in your family blog? It was really good to run into you on Sunday. Tell your family hello from the Hofhines :)
ReplyDeleteShari
How 'come Jer don't stick his tongue out when he be racin' but he done it when he bin skiin'?
ReplyDeleteCJ-
ReplyDeleteI believe if you look a little more closely at the final photo of Jer as he nears the finish line, you will see that his tongue is, indeed, out.
Shari-
Nice to hear from you. No, no one else in the family blogs. I suppose they don't want to lose on all levels of coolness when compared to this one.
Peace.
Dust