Alright ladies and gents. The 3sports sprint was today, and first let me say that the weather was beautiful! I was a little chilly before the race but once I got going everything felt great. I was seeded number 104 out of 437 people. I found that a little interesting since I put the same swim time as the Power Sprint (same course) and was seeded 54.
Anyways, I woke up at 5 as usual and went for a quick 1-2 mile warmup jog. My legs were feeling good which is sort of abnormal for me. But hey, I'm not going to complain. Got back to Amanda's, got the bike, and my bag and was out the door. On the way I picked up an oatmeal cookie and a banana and downed a water bottle of Heed. I got to the race at just before 6. Just in time, not to many people there yet so no worries about getting marked and set up. I jumped in the pool for a warmup and felt good there too. I was getting excited because usually my swim and run warmup are painful for whatever reason. Even better, my stomach wasn't mad at me.
I was set to start at 7:21. The one thing I don't like about pool swim tris is the staggered start. I like starting with all of my competitors. It makes it more fun and easier to push yourself because you know the guy in front of you is really just in front of you. Once 7:21 rolled around I was in the pool and off. I felt good. Nobody passed me and I passed one person. Some jackass almost swam directly into me 3 times! The first 2 times I didn't really mind. The third time I stood up and pushed him. I was pissed. He really could have hurt someone. I'm really not sure why he was so far over in the lane. Yet another reason I don't like pool swims. You get stuck swimming near people like him.
I hopped out of the water and ran to my bike. Once I got there I put on my HRM (which I really need to do faster next time), got my glasses, helmet and I was gone. I wish I could tell you I was flying on the bike but I really have no clue. My computer was not working so I was just pushing the whole time. I will say I passed a whole bunch of people and was only passed by one person, who just so happened to be on my cycling team and comes to time trial practice every week. With that in mind I didn't feel too bad. My mount and dismount were fluid. The dangling shoes are very awkward but it works and saves time so it probably just needs practice.
Here was the moment of truth. I was off the bike, my helmet was off and shoes on. This is usually where my legs feel like cement. This time it wasn't the case. I felt great on the run! No pain, no cramps, nothing. I was able to keep about a 7 min pace for the whole 5k, which I was happy with. Now I just need to break into the sub 7 category.
In the end I had a time of 1:01:01, over 4 min better than the power sprint and over 8 min better than last year. I'm feeling great about this improvement. It's personal validation for all of the training. I was 5th in my age group out of 21 and 41 out 437 so I was in the top 10% as I had hoped. Some of these shorter races are starting to feel too short. I'm looking forward to the longer races coming up. I don't know if this is just me being cocky, but I really think I'll be solid at longer distances. My endurance is good. In these shorter races you've got guys runing 16 min 5k's! That's just over a 5 min mile. That doesn't make a good triathlete, it just makes a good runner. Not to put them down, but I feel like there are 2 different kind of triathletes, those who are endurance triathletes, and those who are sprint triathletes. One isn't better than the other. It's just a clear difference. Not to say the longer races will be easier, but it'll be interesting to see how my endurance matches up against others.
My heart rate was just at 180 +/- 3-4 bpm which is reasonable since I train at 155-170. It's really handy to have it and be able to see where you're at in terms of how hard you're working. It's a good gauge for your performance and fine tuning your efforts.
Next weekend, Peter L. Teeuwin Memorial Time Trial. It'll be my first chance to wear my team uniform in a race. It should be fun. 24 miles of pure fun... haha. Time to do some laundry. Have a good evening folks!
Listening to: Tech:no
Feeling: Hungry
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