Tri-ing for Children's Triathlon

Well, finally got my second tri of the season in this past weekend.  I had two others on my list to do but scheduling kept me from doing them.  Anyway, I was excited to do this race because I heard the bike and run course was pretty flat and fast.  I signed up for the sprint race for two reasons.  First off, it's been about 5 to 6 weeks since I did a triathlon ( I have done a 1 mile swim race and 2 running races over this time) and secondly, the this long course (Oly) simply did a second loop of the same for the bike and run which I don't care for.  Anyway, this race was one of the earliest starts I've done with the Oly swimmers sarting at 7AM.  The transition was closed by 6:45.  Ann had meetings in Madison which was a little over an hour away so I had to get up at 4AM to make it on time with the drive.  Left the hotel a little late and had to speed to get there.  The parking lot was a ways away and I debated on taking the wetsuit due to water temps.  I hurried and got checked in, marked and got my timing chip.  I only had about 15 min to get my transition area ready and felt rushed.  I saw a fair number of people with wetsuits so I debated on wearing mine.  One problem....I forgot it in the car a mile away in the parking lot!  I told myself this will be a good challenge for me since I've never done a race without one and my swimming needs some work.  My wave started and I stayed towards the back knowing I would be slow.  Felt ok at first then my form started getting poor.  I struggled and it felt like it was taking forever.  About 2/3rds through, the wave that started after mine caught up to me and over took me.  I wasn't happy with my performance at all.  Saw bottom and stood up looking at my watch.  It read 11:30ish which was about 3 min slower than my usual time.  I felt much more tired also.  Ran to T1, grabbed sunglasses, race belt and helmet and took off.  After catching my breath on the bike I was able to get a good average speed going.  My goal....pass and don't get passed.  I knew I had to make up a lot of time on the bike for my poor swim performance.  In total, I was passed 3 times by guys on super bikes that looked like they did this for a living (LOL) and I passed what seemed like 50 people or more so I felt good about this.  Average MPH was 20.5.  Had a decent T2 and started off.  This was my second race on the tri bike and for only the second time I had no leg cramps at all.  maintained a good run pace and finished pretty strong.  Overall, I was happy with the race performance overall but need substantially more swim work.

 

Hodag Run For Your Life 10K!

Saturday June 30th, I had a chance to run a 10K down in Rhinelander that was put on by the YMCA.  I was concerned about the heat and humidity since the whole week it was warm and I was having a difficult time training.  Got up Saturday morning, had a couple cups of coffee, some oatmeal and got ready to go.  Got down to the race about an hour before start.  Did some warm up exercises, stretched, had a protein shake and banana and waited for the start.  My hip has been bugging me over the last few weeks so I was concerned about it holding up for the duration but knew I would push myself regardless.  The gun went off and I was able to maintain a nice pace for the first couple miles.  I felt the heat starting to get to me about mile 3 but kept telling myself  "I'm a machine and I must simply push through the heat and hip".  Was happy to see water stations about every mile or so and took advantage of it but had to remind myself not to drink too much or I would get stomach cramps.  About 3 miles in I found someone that was about my age and thought I would pace myself about 3 steps behind him and it worked well.  As I passed the 5 mile mark I started to game plan.  I didn't know if this person was in my age group but he could have been so I wanted to wait and push it the last couple blocks before the finish.  As I got about 4 blocks from the finish line the person I was pacing with seemed to slow down and I passed him quite easily.  I looked at my watch and had a chance to PR so I pushed it HARD.  As I crossed the finish line I saw I was about 38 seconds slower than my best 10K time and I was out of gas.  I searched out the shade and someone handed me a cold water and said "You look like you need this more than I do..."  At that point she was my savior!  LOL!  As the results came in I was disappointed to see that I didn't place either so I had a quick massage and headed home.  Good race overall considering my hip was bugging me and I almost PR'd.  Halfway through the race the heat was getting bad and despite my week of so-so training it wasn't as big of a factor as I thought it might be.