Pterodactyl Triathlon RR (updated with official results/placements)
Edited time in bold
OK -- disclaimer, there were no pine cones used in the completion of this race
As many of you have read I've been really suffering with my arthritis lately even skipping my long ride/run this weekend. The pain was tolerable but I was completely exhausted all the time (yeah it's a side effect of my arthritis) Tuesday I got a cortisone shot and my last night I already had a lot more energy. Today I've felt great and haven't taking any Celebrex. Hopefully it continue!
Well, I got to the park 2 hours before the race and had maybe too much time. But it was great to be able to relax, change out my race wheels on my bike, and then ride 1/2 the bike course to get warmed up. Like I said I was feeling good and things went great during my warm-up ride so I thought maybe, just maybe this is gonna be a good race.
The water temperature was 75 and unlike Dan I REALLY prefer wetsuits even though I went into today thinking it would probably not be a wetsuit legal race. When I got in the water I did about a 5 minute warm-up swim and it felt good. I was actually surprised that the water clarity was significantly higher than last time. I was starting in the second wave and after the first wave left they counted us getting in the water (can't leave a swimmer out there!) While we were waiting I listened to a lot of the people talking and realized there were a lot of first time racers so I decided I needed to start towards the front of the pack. Didn't want to repeat my last race and get caught up with people just trying to survive. They counted us down and off we went -- I stayed to the outside and told myself just swim at your pace. Felt like a lot of people were passing me but I just said to myself you'll catch them in about 200 yards or so. At the first turn I did about 15 seconds of side stroke and thought -- I don't need to be doing this and proceeded in doing freestyle for the ENTIRE course. Yeah I'm really pumped about this! I had an incredible swim for me. I knew I was going strong when I was passing a lot of the first wave people before the turn buoy and about 60% into the course I couldn't see many orange caps in front of me and I was primarily in with the green caps (the first wave). Got out of the water and my time was 16:01 -- yep, 16:01 I knocked 2 minutes off that time in a months worth of work. Now the race splits aren't up and the swim was the only one they posted BUT if I had done this swim last race that would've put me 4th out of the water in my age group and 5th for the wave! WOW, I just looked that up, now I know I'm not the only one that got faster :(
Got into T1 and saw bikes everywhere -- wow I've never been this early into transition. I knew I had a great swim and was feeling great. Get on the bike and head out. Forgot to mention -- it was raining again! Not a big problem but had to go extra slow on the corners. I heard the race leader crashed early, I wondered what was happening when I saw him walking his bike back in shortly after I started the course.
Again, the bike is where I do really well. Passed lots of people and got passed only a handful of times. My Garmin data shows a 34:25 split with an average of 20.6/mph. Now I didn't hit start until I was already going a little and I forgot to switch it to the run until I was leaving the transition so I got all of the T1 time in there too. Probably gonna be close to accurate though. I will say there are some strong bikers out here!
Quick transition and out for the run. The plan was to stay around 9:30/miles for the first mile or mile and a half and then increase tempo. Felt a little cramp coming in early on and just focused on keep running and relax the body. The cramp worked itself out pretty quickly and I was feeling good. Overall it SUCKS to get passed by people on the run!!!!!!! Very frustrating for me -- I ended up doing a 29:04 5k with an average of 9:17/miles. I'm hoping to keep 9:30 - 10:00 miles at my HIM next weekend and feel like it's an achievable goal. A lot of people that passed me on the run were from the first wave that went out -- even more discouraging to know I had 5 minutes on them and they caught back up (maybe not for their overall time). ironically I didn't feel bad about the older waves going be me -- the podium winners from those divisions are just FAST people and I enjoyed watching them go by. I dream of being able to do 8:30/miles at one of these.
So the cliff notes:
Pterodactyl Triathlon (Sprint)
.5 mile swim: 16:12 7/30
12.4 mile bike: 34:38 9/30 (only 1:20 separated us though)
5k Rune: 28:36 27/30 (hmmm, wonder what I need to work on most??)
Total time 1:22:48. Basically I've knocked 7 minutes off my time in a month.
I'll update when they post the results with the 'official' splits. Wasn't planning on writing this up but I'm still pumped from the race. Got to get to bed though so I can do a long ride tomorrow morning!
--Dan
(edit to say I haven't proofed this at all and often I discover my writing on here is often full of errors so be kind, I'll try to fix them tomorrow before anyone really notices:)
OK -- disclaimer, there were no pine cones used in the completion of this race
As many of you have read I've been really suffering with my arthritis lately even skipping my long ride/run this weekend. The pain was tolerable but I was completely exhausted all the time (yeah it's a side effect of my arthritis) Tuesday I got a cortisone shot and my last night I already had a lot more energy. Today I've felt great and haven't taking any Celebrex. Hopefully it continue!
Well, I got to the park 2 hours before the race and had maybe too much time. But it was great to be able to relax, change out my race wheels on my bike, and then ride 1/2 the bike course to get warmed up. Like I said I was feeling good and things went great during my warm-up ride so I thought maybe, just maybe this is gonna be a good race.
The water temperature was 75 and unlike Dan I REALLY prefer wetsuits even though I went into today thinking it would probably not be a wetsuit legal race. When I got in the water I did about a 5 minute warm-up swim and it felt good. I was actually surprised that the water clarity was significantly higher than last time. I was starting in the second wave and after the first wave left they counted us getting in the water (can't leave a swimmer out there!) While we were waiting I listened to a lot of the people talking and realized there were a lot of first time racers so I decided I needed to start towards the front of the pack. Didn't want to repeat my last race and get caught up with people just trying to survive. They counted us down and off we went -- I stayed to the outside and told myself just swim at your pace. Felt like a lot of people were passing me but I just said to myself you'll catch them in about 200 yards or so. At the first turn I did about 15 seconds of side stroke and thought -- I don't need to be doing this and proceeded in doing freestyle for the ENTIRE course. Yeah I'm really pumped about this! I had an incredible swim for me. I knew I was going strong when I was passing a lot of the first wave people before the turn buoy and about 60% into the course I couldn't see many orange caps in front of me and I was primarily in with the green caps (the first wave). Got out of the water and my time was 16:01 -- yep, 16:01 I knocked 2 minutes off that time in a months worth of work. Now the race splits aren't up and the swim was the only one they posted BUT if I had done this swim last race that would've put me 4th out of the water in my age group and 5th for the wave! WOW, I just looked that up, now I know I'm not the only one that got faster :(
Got into T1 and saw bikes everywhere -- wow I've never been this early into transition. I knew I had a great swim and was feeling great. Get on the bike and head out. Forgot to mention -- it was raining again! Not a big problem but had to go extra slow on the corners. I heard the race leader crashed early, I wondered what was happening when I saw him walking his bike back in shortly after I started the course.
Again, the bike is where I do really well. Passed lots of people and got passed only a handful of times. My Garmin data shows a 34:25 split with an average of 20.6/mph. Now I didn't hit start until I was already going a little and I forgot to switch it to the run until I was leaving the transition so I got all of the T1 time in there too. Probably gonna be close to accurate though. I will say there are some strong bikers out here!
Quick transition and out for the run. The plan was to stay around 9:30/miles for the first mile or mile and a half and then increase tempo. Felt a little cramp coming in early on and just focused on keep running and relax the body. The cramp worked itself out pretty quickly and I was feeling good. Overall it SUCKS to get passed by people on the run!!!!!!! Very frustrating for me -- I ended up doing a 29:04 5k with an average of 9:17/miles. I'm hoping to keep 9:30 - 10:00 miles at my HIM next weekend and feel like it's an achievable goal. A lot of people that passed me on the run were from the first wave that went out -- even more discouraging to know I had 5 minutes on them and they caught back up (maybe not for their overall time). ironically I didn't feel bad about the older waves going be me -- the podium winners from those divisions are just FAST people and I enjoyed watching them go by. I dream of being able to do 8:30/miles at one of these.
So the cliff notes:
Pterodactyl Triathlon (Sprint)
.5 mile swim: 16:12 7/30
12.4 mile bike: 34:38 9/30 (only 1:20 separated us though)
5k Rune: 28:36 27/30 (hmmm, wonder what I need to work on most??)
Total time 1:22:48. Basically I've knocked 7 minutes off my time in a month.
I'll update when they post the results with the 'official' splits. Wasn't planning on writing this up but I'm still pumped from the race. Got to get to bed though so I can do a long ride tomorrow morning!
--Dan
(edit to say I haven't proofed this at all and often I discover my writing on here is often full of errors so be kind, I'll try to fix them tomorrow before anyone really notices:)
Sounds like you had a great race!
HW - 225 SW - 191 GW - 132 CW - 122
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Great race bro!!! You are getting stronger all the time!
Your Friend In Health & Sport,
Dan Benintendi - OH Support Group Leader
www.trimywill.com
www.swimfromobesity.com
www.trimywill.blogspot.com
Support Group: www.obesityhelp.com/group/Post_Op_PRs/
Dan Benintendi - OH Support Group Leader
www.trimywill.com
www.swimfromobesity.com
www.trimywill.blogspot.com
Support Group: www.obesityhelp.com/group/Post_Op_PRs/
Awesome race. Keep up the good work.
Tri Daring Greatly! www.tridaringgreatly.com
I will no longer be a spectator, a dreamer, a wonderer. I AM a doer; not only a goal setter, but a goal achiever. I will lead by example rather than word. I will "DARE GREATLY!"
I will no longer be a spectator, a dreamer, a wonderer. I AM a doer; not only a goal setter, but a goal achiever. I will lead by example rather than word. I will "DARE GREATLY!"
nice! congrats on the PR and strong performance... can't wait to start writing up my own, i think i'm going to try my first at the end of August in Peachtree City GA, then one each in Sept, and Oct.
Where are we going?? And why am I in this handbasket??
right now. somewhere. somebody is working harder than you.
right now. somewhere. somebody is working harder than you.
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