Second try at Triathlon

Yeah I know this one's a little late and it's being posted after my third race, but beggars can't be choosers :)

Race report!

The Clear Lake International was this past Saturday (08/22/09), it was my second triathlon and what an improvement over my first. They had two races an Olympic (1.2K swim, 40K bike, 10K run) and a Sprint (750M Swim, 30K bike, 5K run), seeing as I just started this sport I raced in the Sprint. Also since this sprint was much longer then my first I am basing my comparison on average speed in each part of the race. Overall I did very well considering I estimated the race would take me 1hour and 45 minutes but I finished in just 1:34:12, I was totally shocked when I crossed that finish line and looked down at my watch. I finished up in 63^rd place out of approx. 235 racers in the sprint and I was 8^th in my age group (Male 25-29) out of 26. So all in all I really can’t complain about my performance.

My swim wave was the very last swim wave of the day to hit the water. This was my first open water swim so I positioned myself near the back left of the group. I was hoping this position would keep me from getting kicked or punched when the gun went off, boy was I wrong. After the first 100 meters or so things cleared up until I felt my hand smack the top of a rock. I found out after the race I wasn’t the only person to have a close encounter with this rock, and I was one of the more fortunate ones to have only a minor injury (more on that later). Other than that I only ran into the occasional person either swimming across my path or swimming slower then I (I passed quite a few people from the wave before ours), but I excited the water in 00:15:20. This was just as fast as my previous race (approx. 00:02:03 per 100M) except this time I wasn’t gasping for air and my transition from swim to bike went very smooth and I was out on the bike in 00:01:33.

As I hopped onto the bike I was feeling pretty good, I hadn’t forgotten my water bottle this time (the one big mistake of my first race) so I quickly downed a few ounces to wash out some of the nasty salt water I drank on the swim. That’s when I realized my hand felt weird (the one that hit the rock), and I looked down to see a nice gash down the middle of my palm. It wasn’t too deep and it wasn’t bleeding, well not anymore at least, so I just kept on going. Around mile 12 I was able to get a gel down with a few more ounces of water to start the run well hydrated. I slipped my feet out of the shoes as I came to the last 400 meters or so of the bike portion and prepared myself for transition 2.

After slipping on my running shoes I grabbed my race number and hat and took off on the run. Upon exciting the transition area I checked my watch and saw my T2 (transition 2) time of 00:00:52 with a total time of 1hour 8 minutes, all I remember thinking was “that can’t be right!” J My 30K bike time was 00:49:51!!!! I averaged 22.4mph which was a 6mph difference from my first race (I averaged 16.4 in my first tri). Talk about an improvement, I was expecting to keep my speed around 19mph.

So off I go with good ol’ spaghetti legs on the run, the first half mile is the worst. If you have ever seen one of those National Geographic videos where the new born giraffe tries to walk for the first time; well that’s about how I feel for the first half mile. Finally the blood works it’s way back down my legs and I start to pick up the pace, all I can think about at this point is the turn around at 2.5K. Finally just up ahead I can see the turn around and looking down at my watch it’s only been 12 minutes, which means I am also beating my estimated 30 minute run time! As I pass back through the water/Gatorade area I grab one last cup of water drink half and pour the other half over my head, my mind is set on the last mile that lays ahead. The 7^thplace finisher must have passed me during that last mile of the run because he was only about 30 seconds ahead of me, and I was ahead of him when we started the run. Crossing the finish line felt great, especially when I saw a total time of 01:34:12, 11 minutes ahead of my estimated finish. My 5K run time was 00:26:35 which means I was running 00:08:35 miles (I ran 00:09:29 miles during my first race), and it was apparent my training has me headed in the right direction.