One week after running with an ultra team in the Blue Ridge Relay, I raced my last triathlon of the year. During the week I did zero training to allow my legs some time to recover. I felt that they had recovered well, so I set my sights on a respectable time in the race.
The Swim
This was my first swim in a wetsuit, so I didn’t know quite what to expect. The suit did make me feel lighter in the water. It also made the slightly chilly water a bit more comfortable. I am not a strong swimmer at all and I felt especially slow on this one. I had expected a time of 19 minutes on the swim and I crossed the mat at 25:27.
Glad to be out of the water!
The Bike
After a slow swim, I looked forward to getting on the bike. I passed several people on the bike and that felt good. I don’t think anyone passed me that kept the lead. There were a few that would catch me on the up hills and I would pass them again going down. I forgot to start my Garmin watch until about mile 5, but here is the last part of the ride. Total time was 46:41, I had anticipated 45, so not too far off.
Going into transition after the bike
The Run
As soon as I got off the bike, I knew my legs were going to hurt. My hamstrings and calves started to cramp. As I changed into my running shoes, I stretched a little and my wife walked over to the fence and reminded me not to overdo it since I had to cut the grass later. I thanked her for that and went on the run. About a quarter mile in, my legs were yelling at me to stop. I did some more stretching and continued on. I managed to keep a decent pace for the rest of the run, walking at the water stops. The last quarter mile was full of pain! My final run time was 29:46, I had hoped for 27. Here are the Garmin’s stats on the run.
Heading to the finish line - that is the biggest smile I could give!
All in all it was a fun race. I shouldn’t have raced a week after the Blue Ridge Relay, but it was still fun. The lake was beautiful and the bike course was scenic too. The run was a very boring out and back two laps though. They should think about changing the run route to something more interesting. My final time with transitions was 1:46:34, good enough for 227th out of 296. I ended up 31st out of 35 in my age group. So nothing extraordinary or anything, but I finished. The best thing was seeing my people that came to watch me as I am heading to the finish. Mia yelling “Go Daddy go!” is always wonderful and my wife and Sadie were there too. My sister, Melissa and her husband Jeff and my Mom and Dad came out too! It is always wonderful when your friends and family come to watch. And now two days after, my right calf is cramping and telling me I was stupid for doing that. I got some IcyHot patches and hopefully that will help! Thanks to Melissa for the pictures! Check out her blog post here.
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“Pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit.”
Having said that… you did awesome
I will help you with your planning and organizing skills from now if you would like hahaha. Like Melissa said, probably no one in that race ran the Blue Ridge Relay last week!!!!
ROFL at Jenn’s reminder to cut the grass! That is so freakin awesome!
You did great. A week after the BRR, you certainly weren’t up to being competitive – you were in there for a good workout, and that’s it. And that’s what you did!
Re: Your planning skills. Just think: On Saturday you’ll be in the mountains. And you get to run 12 miles. On the hills!
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