Forgive me for the length of this one. I had to include my race report and training for the week.
GJCC Memorial Day Tri Well, my first triathlon is in the books. I didn’t meet my goal of 53 minutes, I finished last in my division, and I got beat by a 5 yr old girl (no, I’m not kidding), but I had a blast and can’t wait for the next one. Here is how it all played out…
We rolled into the parking lot around 6:45 to a field of cars that would rival many game day parking lots. I knew that there were about 400 people racing this weekend, I just didn’t translate that to so many cars. We found a spot on the street. After I aired up my tires, we headed towards the transition area for body marking and transition setup. I racked my bike and arranged all of my gear so I could make a smooth transition from swim to bike then bike to run. I thought I had a pretty good set up, just sorry I didn’t get the camera from MH to take a picture. All the racers started heading to the pool deck to do a quick warm up swim and get in line for the start of the race.
I jumped in to see how the water was. Frigid just doesn’t do it justice. I donned my swim cap and goggles as if I was getting ready to get on the block for the 200m medley in Beijing and then waited for the better part of 30 minutes for the first 189 people to start swimming. My time finally arrived and off I jumped into the water as instructed (no comments on my lack of grace). All I really wanted to do was a Ron Burgundy style cannonball but thought other wise as my feet hit the blue timing mat. Once in the water, I just kept going over my form in my head…chest down, legs up, keep rotating, use your core not just your arms, oh and don’t forget to breath. Here is a clip of the swim below and no, that is not Michael Phelps swimming in the silver cap and goggles, it’s me, but I can see why you might make that mistake.
The bike course was pretty fun. It roamed through a neighborhood then through a busy part of town before going through a gorgeous valley surrounded by huge hard woods. For the first 6 miles, I was booking it. I would hone in on the person in front of me with the song “Danger Zone” from Top Gun playing in my head (I know, I’m cheesy) and reel them in and fly on by. Then around mile 7 I saw it, the hill that I was dreading. Here is what happened in my head, “OK Eric, you got this, don’t shift to early, save a few gears for near the top,” then as I got about ¾ of the way up “you got it, almost there….woops maybe not.” I had gone through my gears to quickly and had to stop to push the rest of the way. It was definitely a little humbling to see all the people I passed earlier climb on up the hill. The low point was when an 8 year old passed me. Oh well. I jumped back on my bike at the top and got up some momentum for the fastest portion of the loop. I got up to around 37 mph coming down that hill. It was awesome. I rounded the corner and finished up the last mile. I cut into the transition area to change shoes and take off on the run. Here is a shot of Maverick, I mean me, coming into the transition area.
I racked my bike in transition, changed my shoes and headed out for the 2 mile run. I have got to get better at running after biking. My legs were stiff. I ended up walking a good bit of the first mile (which I’m pretty certain was the longest mile ever). There were families out in there yards cheering everyone on. One dude had his hose pipe out near the street and would spray you down if you wanted…I wanted. I jogged to the turnaround and trotted back through the neighborhood. Once you got a few blocks away, you could here the echoes of names being called as they crossed the finished line…definitely a motivator. I dug a little deeper and ran a little faster trying to keep good form and not give an encore performance of my impression of the Scarecrow on his way to see the wizard.
So here we are, 1:12:17 later and I feel fine. What did I take away from this race? Well, let’s see…get there earlier; work harder to be a middle of the packer; work more on biking up hills; work more on running after biking; keep going to masters b/c it is definitely paying off; and keep dropping the lbs b/c everything was a lot easier this race than Magic City and I can’t help but think being a little lighter has something to do with it.
Team-Magic puts on an awesome event. Everything was very well organized. Even the pool swim went smoothly. I wasn’t too sure how they would get 380 people in and out of the pool, but they did it.
I also need to give mad props to my new friend Kevin. This was his first triathlon as well. He ended up getting a flat on the bike course. This would probably spell disaster for most people and make them call it a day. Some ACME crew members came and changed his tire and Kevin went on to finish the race. The bike portion ended up taking a lot longer than it would have if a tire hadn’t blown. It would have been easy to throw in the towel and get a lift back to the transition area, but Kevin got back on and finished the bike leg. Awesome job!
Once again, I want to say thanks to my awesome wife. Here we are 15 weeks from having a little dude running around and she is up early and out on the course cheering me on…love ya babe! Now, onto the training.
Tuesday 5-28 Recovery Day
Wednesday 5-27
Didn’t go to Master Swim this AM b/c I still feel a little under the weather.
Lunchtime Elliptical: 25mins; 2.72 miles; 472 cals burned
Thursday 5-28
I am determined to make it up the hill at Oak Mountain before Buster Britton so that is what I focused on today. I rode a bit and got partway up the hill a couple of times. I didn’t check my computer to see distance or speeds, but I did ride for about 40 minutes. It’s starting to get a little frustrating. The worst part is that I know it is more of a mental thing rather than a physical thing.
Friday 5-29
I don’t know what happened this morning, but I don’t even remember my alarm going off for Master Swim.
Lunchtime Run
Felt pretty good on the run. Probably going to start taking longer lunches and running a bit more. Outside running will be on Tues, Thurs, Sat, & Sun.
Dist 2.40/Time 30mins/480 cals burned
Once again, I apologize for the lengthiness of this post. I’ll be better about posting more often.
Eric’s Quote of the Day: “Could Lassie find little Timmy in an abandoned mine shaft?” ~ Keith, when asked if he could hit his ball on the green on a Par 3
