Active Spine and Sport Therapy Triathlon 2015

8.16.15

Race day! 

My mindset has shifted over the past few races. I've moved from "complete" to "compete". 

Fair sleep last night at best. Up at 4 with no alarm.  Plenty of time to prep this morning.  

Out the door at about 5:30 and to race site quickly. 

Transition set up in the dark and plenty of time to visit with Tri friends and Butler pre-race.  

Swim:  I was too far back in swim line.  I was 92 of 117. As I entered the pool area and watched swimmers struggling I realized I was way too far back. No more.  Swim was fairly uneventful. I was passed by a strong kid swimmer who dolphin kicked under me at a turn and took off.  No big deal.  I passed a guy that started several swimmers before me and was terribly slow.  Total time:  6:17.  This spring I was 7:25 in this pool and I was 7:52 last spring.  The pool workouts are paying off.  

Bike:  I was determined to mash the pedals hard on this one.  With "nice hill" back in play, I knew there would be challenging moments, but, I wanted my bike to be a strong leg.   I felt good about my pace.  It's interesting to see how my HR spiked on nice hill (below).  Strava showed me at 18.5 mph for 13.2 miles. Last year, on the "same" route, I averaged 15.3 mph for 13 miles.  A significant improvement.  Lot's of PR's on the bike today.  While on the bike I set a mental goal of 1:20 total for the race.   I need to be about 2 mph faster on the bike to feel good about bike pace...

Run:  I really wanted to have a run with an average pace in the "8's". I got off to a comfortable start, but, my 1st mile was in the low 9's. I needed to speed up.  Unfortunately, mile 1 was the easiest, as there were significant hills on miles 2 and 3. Per Strava, my average as 9:19 for 3.1 miles.

I slightly missed my target time, booking a 1:21:02.  I could have been faster on the run for sure.  

However, 12 minutes faster than last year on same course.  That's huge.  6 of 9 in AG, but, that's ok.  I'm getting faster.  If I upgrade my bike and push harder on the run, I will be a stronger contender.  

Good day.