Three weeks after my most recent Tri, I Tri'd again.
I had done this event in February and like usual, I was looking for improvement. They made some changes in the course (shorter swim, longer run), so I base the comparisons on pace, not clock time. The other thing that was different, is that in Feb, it was colder, and they ran the race in reverse (run/bike/swim). This was traditional swim/bike/run. 275 yards/15 miles/3.5 miles.
It was a beautiful day for racing, except for the 15 MPH wind. Temp around 65F rising to about 72F. The wind that ate my lunch in Feb, was lighter this time and came from a more favorable direction.
It was a tough week for me and training time was lost in living the rest of my life. I made a severe taper that resulted in 4 days rest. I've never laid off that much before a tri. So I convincing myself to lower expectations a bit, relax, and have fun. But once the race started, I was loaded for bear and pumped, and had a great time.
My bike computer worked fine, but my HR monitor didn't. I don't wear it in lap swims, because is slips when pushing off the wall. When I put it on after the swim, I should have reset the watch, so I lost my HR's. I used perceived exertion. Must confess I kept my eye on the speedometer and pushed. I didn't feel in any health danger, but risked burning up in the run (happened before).
The swim was only 275 yards, but I'll take my 10% pace improvement and deposit it in the "bank". Swimmers went into the water about 15 seconds apart, all sequenced based on every one's selp-appointed 100m times. I passed several and no one passed me.
It was my fastest bike pace ever (17.7 MPH for 15 miles). 18% improvement from Feb. Again, not one mountain bike passed me.
My extra bike effort impacted the run with a mental error, but not with run performance. I had to backtrack in T2 and lost about a minute on the run time (jogged back into transition after crossing the timing mat). Absent the mental mistake my pace was similar to 3 weeks ago and 7.5% faster then Feb (again a longer course, and Feb run was first when fresh).
As the race volunteer/official took off my ankle timing chip, he looked up and said "not bad for a mountain bike".
Finished 59th out of 93 overall.
Finished 4th out of 5 in my age group 50-54.
Would have finished 3rd (hardware alert.....darn) in the Clydesdales division if I had registered as a Clydesdale.
Here's a new one..............at 53, I was the oldest male participant!
All in all, I was 3 for 3 (that's a first) and had a great time. Feel great physically. So much for low expectations.
I had done this event in February and like usual, I was looking for improvement. They made some changes in the course (shorter swim, longer run), so I base the comparisons on pace, not clock time. The other thing that was different, is that in Feb, it was colder, and they ran the race in reverse (run/bike/swim). This was traditional swim/bike/run. 275 yards/15 miles/3.5 miles.
It was a beautiful day for racing, except for the 15 MPH wind. Temp around 65F rising to about 72F. The wind that ate my lunch in Feb, was lighter this time and came from a more favorable direction.
It was a tough week for me and training time was lost in living the rest of my life. I made a severe taper that resulted in 4 days rest. I've never laid off that much before a tri. So I convincing myself to lower expectations a bit, relax, and have fun. But once the race started, I was loaded for bear and pumped, and had a great time.
My bike computer worked fine, but my HR monitor didn't. I don't wear it in lap swims, because is slips when pushing off the wall. When I put it on after the swim, I should have reset the watch, so I lost my HR's. I used perceived exertion. Must confess I kept my eye on the speedometer and pushed. I didn't feel in any health danger, but risked burning up in the run (happened before).
The swim was only 275 yards, but I'll take my 10% pace improvement and deposit it in the "bank". Swimmers went into the water about 15 seconds apart, all sequenced based on every one's selp-appointed 100m times. I passed several and no one passed me.
It was my fastest bike pace ever (17.7 MPH for 15 miles). 18% improvement from Feb. Again, not one mountain bike passed me.
My extra bike effort impacted the run with a mental error, but not with run performance. I had to backtrack in T2 and lost about a minute on the run time (jogged back into transition after crossing the timing mat). Absent the mental mistake my pace was similar to 3 weeks ago and 7.5% faster then Feb (again a longer course, and Feb run was first when fresh).
As the race volunteer/official took off my ankle timing chip, he looked up and said "not bad for a mountain bike".
Finished 59th out of 93 overall.
Finished 4th out of 5 in my age group 50-54.
Would have finished 3rd (hardware alert.....darn) in the Clydesdales division if I had registered as a Clydesdale.
Here's a new one..............at 53, I was the oldest male participant!
All in all, I was 3 for 3 (that's a first) and had a great time. Feel great physically. So much for low expectations.
