Sprint Triathlon @ Island lake
As mentioned in a previous post, I over-trained and/or essentially was not stretching my IT bands which started to cause knee pain. So I took time off from running to heal, about two months. All is doing much better after some good stretching and some foam rollers. With some planned bike rides coming up, this is my second and last triathlon for the year. I look for next year to include 8-10 triathlon events. 🙂
The weather was just awesome, nice sunny 70 degree morning. This being my second triathlon, I felt more prepared?! The goal that my father and I set was to finish under 1hr 30 minutes. We did some training triathlons and the times were close for myself to finish under 1hr 30 minutes. My father did not improve on his swim enough, so we knew he would be about 10 minutes or more behind me.
Swim | .5 Mile | 20:02
WOW! I stayed to the left, out of trouble and not once had an issue getting trampled. The swim route was back to the triangular format that Element Events normally uses, which for some reason looked longer! Regardless of the mental game in my head, I came out of the water 7 minutes faster than before. I felt refreshed, but had the feeling I was going to throw up. That feeling hit me midway through my swim, all nerves of course but we pushed on to the bike!
Bike | 12.1 Miles | 40:05
It was amazing to get out of the water that much sooner, there were so many less people on the bike! I did not see many people at all, only passed a few and finally after about 20 minutes of biking the throwing up feeling subsided. In my training I was finishing around 35 minutes, yet still and 5 minutes behind my normal bike pace. There is always something to work on I guess!
Run | 3.1 Miles | 30:48
8 minutes faster than my previous time! The run felt so much better, I had way more energy and there was no walking involved this time. My knees were free from pain and I pushed as I knew it was going to be close for 1hr 30 minutes. I even caught and passed a few people running!!! Still need to work on running for next year.
Total Time | 1:33:38
Well…the goal was not met, disappointed? Initially yes, but as Kelly pointed out to me…I shaved some 17 minutes off my previous triathlon! I love my wife, she was so proud of me and gave me a nice sweaty hug!