My 2008 tri season is now over. This past weekend’s Tri for Sight in Lexington, KY was the 6th and final race of the season. It went alright for me all things considered, but was a great day overall for my family. We had 5 competitors in the race, as I mentioned before…and everyone did well. But first, my race report.
Pre-race: I’ve had some congestion for the past week and a slightly sore throat so had not had as good a week of training as I’d hoped. Since this was a C race, there was no taper. Instead, I ran 8 miles with hills at sub-marathon pace on Saturday morning to get a decent workout in for my A marathon in 3 weeks. I completed the run faster than I’d hoped, but it just didn’t feel good. I was hoping it wasn’t the cold, but was ready to back off the race intensity if I felt similar during the tri.
Anyways, not terribly exciting race morning…had a banana before leaving the hotel and a bottle of water while setting up transition, helped the wife with some last minute fixes for the bike and setting up her transition, and huddled with the family as we all got nervous before the race start. At about 6:40, my wife, dad, sister and I headed to the pool for the pre-race meeting and start. My mom stayed back with the other duathletes for their upcoming run start. Downed a gel about 25 minutes before takeoff.
Swim: It was a snake style 800m pool swim with competitors starting every 10 seconds. This was the shortest time between starters I had experienced in a pool swim, and the congestion in the pool was noticeable. I stayed relatively clear of most people, passed about 4 people and was passed by about the same number. This is definitely where I need the most work to improve, but I said that last year as well and actually got slower. Funny how it’s easier to work on the stuff we’re better at. Anyways, I finished the swim w/o too much exertion and headed out to T1.
Time: 16:56 (7/20 in age group…Goal 16:30, +0:26 overall)
T1: This T1 was long, it included a quarter mile run from the pool to the actual transition area (barefoot) along with everything else. Still went pretty smoothly, but should have run a little faster I guess.
Time: 3:44 (2/20 in AG…Goal 3:30, +0:40 overall)
Bike: I have done this race 3 times before (’04-’06), but I guess the year away made me underestimate the bike course difficulty. I was hoping to really push it and go for 22.5mph avg for 18 miles. Well, first the course is actually 18.4 miles, and second the easy rollers were more substantial than I recalled. It was nothing I couldn’t deal with, but it slowed the average. Also, what I felt worst about was that I had misrepresented it to my mom and wife who hadn’t done the course before. Either way, I used perceived effort to guide me and stuck to my usual bike nutrition plan. Pretty smooth overall, and a very nice course BTW. I saw my wife just getting ready to start the rollers my way back and waved, but I wanted to apologize. She ended up not being angry with me though.
Time: 54:08 (3/20 in AG…Goal 50:00, +4:48 overall, 20.4mph avg)
T2: Uneventful, but lost a little time
Time: 1:32 (8/20 in AG…Goal 1:30, +4:50 overall)
Run: At this point I was obviously certain I wouldn’t hit my goal, but still wanted to get a good run in. My legs transitioned pretty quickly and I had a solid first quarter mile (of the 4 mile run). Then, my legs all of a sudden felt like lead, I struggled with the majority of the rest of the 1st mile. Once I got into the arboretum at mile 2 things opened up a bit and I was able to hit my stride. I never felt great on the run, but felt I was moving pretty good, so I was happy with it. I passed my sister in the last ½ mile, she thought she would hold me off with her head start. It was almost at the same time that we passed our mom heading out on mile 1. It was neat with 3 of us being that close (in proximity) at one point in the race.
Time: 27:44 (2/20 in AG…Goal 28:00, +4:34 overall, 6:56/mile pace)
Anyways, I was happy to be done, and it is a PR by about 4 minutes, but I was hoping for a little more. Either way, I can’t be too upset since it was a C race and I was more focused on my mom and wife’s performances since they are the beginners of the bunch.
Post race I talked to my sister for a bit since she came in about a minute behind me, then headed to the bike return to look for Susan (wife) to get back. I was hoping everything went well since she sometimes gets overwhelmed by too many hills. She actually came in a few minutes before I thought she would on the easier course I had imagined. She killed the bike, and seemed to be in pretty good spirits too. I then headed around to see her off on the run. I moved from point to point on the run course to cheer her on and find my parents coming in. Caught both of them looking strong in the last mile. Susan came back in about a ½ hour later…well faster than her projected time. My disappointing race was erased immediately by her and my mom’s successes. I do love this sport.
The breakdown (for everyone) in order of crossing the finish line:
Me: 1:44:03 (42/323 overall, 3/20 in Clydesdale AG)
Sister: 2:02:13 (7/23 in AG)
Mom: 2:20:08 in Du (1/1 in AG…a dominating victory)
Dad: 2:00:30 (5/15 in AG)
Wife: 2:36:51 (12/14 in AG)
Without family photographers, we have no personal pics, but I’m hoping the race pictures will have some good ones. They had plenty of opportunities to catch at least one of us. I’ll post good ones if I can find them. My next event is the Marine Corps Marathon, so focusing on running for the next few weeks…then the winter off-season build.
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