Hello readers! It's been too long since I've blogged, but I promise to get caught up and keep em comin! I have about three blogs to do to catch up to today so bear with me. The first: Buffalo tri!
What a fun race! This event is definitely becoming my favorite race. The atmosphere, organization, and sheer size of the event make it such a great experience. And this year I had the added bonus of having family members race along side me. I challenged my Mary, Bill, and Andrew to make a relay to race me and they were all for it! Also my parents jumped into the event and did a relay with one of my sister's friends. Making for a wonderful family experience!
The race: Buffalo Triathlon: 1/4 mile swim; 13 mile bike; 3 mile run
Goal 1: Finish in 1:08
Goal 2: Finish in top 100
Once again it was a big sprint course with just under 1000 athletes. My goal for a 1:08 finish was outlined with a swim/T1 time of 7:30 a bike/T2 time of 41:00 and a run time of 20:00. Going into the race I knew these would be tough goals for various reasons. First of all, working all day every day at a bible camp left little time for training, so my biking and running was limited and my swimming was nonexistent. Another was the bike course. For the season I had worked on improving the bike leg as well as purchased a new bike, however the course was changed due to construction at the last minute causing us to race on a hilly course. With that in mind my strategy changed. I decided to all out attack the bike to get through those hills. After all, it's a sprint course...
Lining up for the start I knew my strength (the swim) would not be as good as in the past but I still had confidence to be one of the first out of the water. My sister and her friend started in a wave 4 minutes before me so I knew I had someone to chase. I was out of the water in 6:04 (29th)... ouch! I hustled into transition and was out of there with a swim/T1 time of 8:29. Time to ride! Like I planned I attacked the course, which for me, means I was still getting passed plenty. I caught my mom before the two mile and flew past, now I had to get Andrew. The hills were brutal but I didn't let up, after the swim I'd already lost a minute on my goal. No time to relax. I caught Andrew after mile 7 and kept surging. I could tell as was working but it was my plan, I was gonna stick to it. I hit the finish line in just under 40 minutes feeling great about the bike split. I exited T2 with a bike/T2 time of 40:58. With the tough bike course and still hitting my bike goal, I felt good.
I hit the run ready to make up more lost time fro. the swim, but found my bike legs were not disappearing as fast as I would like. I tried to stretch out the stride but everything stayed tight. Holy crap! I was tired and tight. Oh well, screw it! I shortened my stride and settled to run on biking legs. Almost immediately I was losing ground and I knew it, but the muscles just were not gonna fire. I held on, did what I could, and finished with a run of 21:21, not even under 7 minute miles... Lesson learned: Don't use it all on the bike.
I finished the race in 88th place, 10th in my AG. My final time was 1:10:45, 2 minutes slower than I wanted to be, but not every race is your best.
Breakdown:
Swim: 6:04 (29th) T1: 2:25 Bike: 39:50 (212th) T2: 1:08 Run: 21:21 (73rd)
My family all finished and loved the experience, I hope they want to do do it again. Overall it was great event although my finishing time wasn't what I had hoped. But hey! I dropped nearly 4 minutes from last year's time, so that is something to be proud of. Next year I will be back and I have even higher hopes! I am really looking forward to taking things to the next level and having a serious time cut at Buffalo!
Next up: Superior Man Triathlon. My first 70.3!!!
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