I wanted to PR (personal record) in the Patriot Triathlon that I did on Sunday September 13th. I wanted, specifically, to PR on the race overall, meaning, the fastest time I’ve ever had in a sprint distance triathlon. When I got my results, I didn’t PR in the race overall, but what I realized is that no matter which way I sliced it, I was comparing apples to oranges.
I had never done this tri before, so right off the bat I was comparing this tri to other not so similar tris. I had however ridden the bike route of this tri last year when I did the Jingle Bell Tri as a relay, however, the route was cut short this year by a mile, so to compare this years bike ride to last years bike ride made it not the same. (I will say though, that if I wasn’t faster doing 14 miles than last years 15 miles, that’d be a problem.)
They also told us that this route was one of the hardest routes in the state. The bike and the run were practically all up hill or all down hill, there was next to no flats. Well, except the swim, the swim was flat.
Swim
This swim created the 3rd kind of swim that I’ve ever done in a triathlon. I’ve done open water, I’ve done a swim in a olympic size pool (4 laps total for 400m) and I’ve now done a swim in a miniature pool (8 laps for a total of 400 yds). This was my least favorite. It’s my least favorite because in each lane you have people heading both directions so it makes it hard to pass. Which means it’s really important that we’re seeded correctly. Something that didn’t happen this race and so we were told that we could reseed ourselves but I think that was a bit disasterous.
I had a good swim overall. I was very happy with my swim. I did swim my fastest race time for the swim. Right off the bat when I got in the pool I had to pass a friend. It took about 100yds before someone passed me. I passed several more people, let another guy pass me, I swam over a chick, well, not completely, but almost. I felt good and strong during my swim. I was very pleased, there was only one mishap and that was that my goggles fogged up. Had it been a longer swim, I would’ve had to take care of that, but since this was a short swim I swam about 200yds all fogged up. (11:31)
T1
I was a little wobbly coming out of the water and thought for sure I was low. Turns out my blood sugar was high but I left it, didn’t correct or anything. I think this transition took me a little long because of fumbling with my glucometer and the general setup of my area. I was unable to set up my area like I normally would because of unnecessary space constraints. I was really irked by the transition area at this race, we weren’t racked by number so it was fend for yourself and some people were taking up space for 2 people, so some of us were cramped into the space of 1 person; it made it hard to operate. (3:07)
Bike
The bike ride starts going up hill. Well, down a drive way and then up a hill. The entire ride is all hill, either up or down. Last year, I did this ride as part of a relay team and it kicked my butt. This year was different, I was stronger on the bike (which isn’t due to training because I’ve not done much of that this year.) There’s this hill we call Devil Of A Hill because it’s a horrible hill. Last year people were flying (yes, flying) past me on this hill, this year, I’m happy to report that I was passing people, maybe not flying, but yes, passing. It excited me. I remember last year, when I decided that with all the hills, that my hour fifteen minute time was good. I just laugh at that now, and to think, I was trained last year…this year, fairly untrained, I blew my old time out of the water; granted, the ride was a mile less, but it woudn’t have taken me 20 min to ride that mile either. (57:48)
T2
T2 might be my most favorite transition just because of the way I get to come into it. In my socks, with my fancy leave the shoes clipped to my pedals move. I love that move. Next race, I’m trying that move, but I’m adding a flying dismount to it. So again, this transition took me a little long in fumbling for my stuff. My blood sugar was coming down so that was good. I think I’m going to change some things for the future to shave time off this transition, mainly by getting pull ties for my shoes. (1:55)
Run
The run was all hills and partially a trail run. I knew I didn’t have too much time to walk and that I had to run because I wanted to get to church. That means, my little untrained running legs had to come out of hibernation and run a little. I ran as much as I could up the hills, I decided to not run down the hills because I didn’t need another injury from running down them hills. I did ok, I was doing a little over 13 minutes. I know that if I train I can get those down to 10 min miles or even faster. (41:17)
Overall
The biggest highlight of this race wasn’t the times in which I completed each piece. It wasn’t that I had my fastest swim ever. It wasn’t that I rocked the bike ride that really sucked last year. The biggest highlight happened in my head. In races, it doesn’t typically take me too long into the bike ride to go down a path of thoughts that is detrimental to my performance. This race, that wasn’t an issue, where I PR’d was mentally. I didn’t have one negative thought the entire race. That’s massive for me and it’s something that I’ll attribute to God. My mind was with Him the entire race. On the bike ride I was singing worship songs and on the run I was just talkin’ to Him. It was good. (1:55:35.6)
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