Monday, August 27, 2007
I Did It!
To paraphrase Hall & Oats:
I did it, I did it,
I did it, I did it,
I did it in 100 minutes
Yesterday was The Triathlon. You know, the one for which I've been training for the last eight or nine months. My original goal was to complete the darn thing. Then I said I wanted to finish in 1:45. I managed to beat both goals and finished in 1:40. (Technically, it was 1:39:59. I'm rounding up.)
The weather couldn't have been any better yesterday. It was sunny and in the 60's or 70's by race time. The water temperature was 68, which doesn't sound too bad. But, really, it's freezing. It was so cold, I couldn't catch my breath. And when you're in a race, breathing is kind of important. Come to think of it, it's pretty important even when you're not racing. I'm going to have to make a mental note to keep doing it.
I came into the race thinking that the swim was my best event. I've been swimming quite a bit at the pool. I developed a pretty good stroke and a good pace. I was actually looking forward to the swim. But once I got into the lake, it was another story entirely. Since it was so cold, I could hardly breathe. Plus, I put myself in the back of my heat with all the "bad" swimmers. Bad idea. Apparently, these swimmers are REALLY bad. It took me way too long to get around them and make any headway. But I never really developed a good pace because I was always trying to get around people (and still in shock from keeping my face in the cold water for more than 10 seconds). I ended up doing a lot more breaststroke than freestyle swimming. The problem with that (other than being slower) is that it tires out your legs more. My swim time was about 22 minutes. I honestly think I could have cut 5 minutes off my time if I had a wetsuit, had a better starting position, and got used to the cold water. Something to strive for next time.
The bike portion went extremely well. I made up quite a bit of time overall there. I'm glad I decided to spend $1000 on my bike. It was well worth it. I was about average in the swim (about 950 out of 1900 participants), but my bike time was about 300 overall. Quite an improvement. Unfortunately, I probably overdid it on the bike because my run suffered.
I came out of the bike transition with a pretty solid running pace. That lasted about 1/4 of a mile. I ended up spending way too much time walking so I could catch my breath. I ended up doing the 3.1 miles in 29 minutes, which was again near the middle of the pack. The hardest part of the run for me was that it seemed so damn LONG. I've been running 3 miles quite a bit. Longer sometimes. But it's easier because I know how far every quarter mile is. So I've got a mental idea of how far I've run and how far I have to go. But there were no markers other than the 1- and 2-mile marker. And because I was SO tired, those mile markers seemed like they were twice as far away as they should have been.
Ideally, I could have cut another 5 minutes from my running time. Combine that with 5 minutes from the swim and that would get me to 1:30 overall, which is my goal for next year. And, yes, I will be doing this again next year. I've actually really enjoyed training for this. I didn't quite get in as much time as I wanted. Hurting my shoulder and my feet didn't help.
I did manage to get down to 175 pounds though. In fact, this morning (after all the eating yesterday), I still only weighed 175.2. My goal for next year is a very reasonable 170. Basically, I want to lose 10 pounds of fat and gain 5 pounds of muscle. I've already got a training plan for the year that adds weightlifting to my usual cardio stuff. I'm hoping that I can gain some strength without losing any of the cardio conditioning I've built up. We'll see if I have any luck there.
I'm also planning on doing at least 3 triathlons next year. My sister's talking about going up to Minneapolis to do that triathlon, which would be great because that's where one of my brothers lives. And I'm sure he'd be doing that triathlon too. There's also a triathlon near my family's cabin in Wisconsin. And then the Chicago triathlon. The Wife is pushing for me to do one in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, she'll have to wait until I do the Ironman in Hawaii. Which should be never.
I did it, I did it,
I did it, I did it,
I did it in 100 minutes
Yesterday was The Triathlon. You know, the one for which I've been training for the last eight or nine months. My original goal was to complete the darn thing. Then I said I wanted to finish in 1:45. I managed to beat both goals and finished in 1:40. (Technically, it was 1:39:59. I'm rounding up.)
The weather couldn't have been any better yesterday. It was sunny and in the 60's or 70's by race time. The water temperature was 68, which doesn't sound too bad. But, really, it's freezing. It was so cold, I couldn't catch my breath. And when you're in a race, breathing is kind of important. Come to think of it, it's pretty important even when you're not racing. I'm going to have to make a mental note to keep doing it.
I came into the race thinking that the swim was my best event. I've been swimming quite a bit at the pool. I developed a pretty good stroke and a good pace. I was actually looking forward to the swim. But once I got into the lake, it was another story entirely. Since it was so cold, I could hardly breathe. Plus, I put myself in the back of my heat with all the "bad" swimmers. Bad idea. Apparently, these swimmers are REALLY bad. It took me way too long to get around them and make any headway. But I never really developed a good pace because I was always trying to get around people (and still in shock from keeping my face in the cold water for more than 10 seconds). I ended up doing a lot more breaststroke than freestyle swimming. The problem with that (other than being slower) is that it tires out your legs more. My swim time was about 22 minutes. I honestly think I could have cut 5 minutes off my time if I had a wetsuit, had a better starting position, and got used to the cold water. Something to strive for next time.
The bike portion went extremely well. I made up quite a bit of time overall there. I'm glad I decided to spend $1000 on my bike. It was well worth it. I was about average in the swim (about 950 out of 1900 participants), but my bike time was about 300 overall. Quite an improvement. Unfortunately, I probably overdid it on the bike because my run suffered.
I came out of the bike transition with a pretty solid running pace. That lasted about 1/4 of a mile. I ended up spending way too much time walking so I could catch my breath. I ended up doing the 3.1 miles in 29 minutes, which was again near the middle of the pack. The hardest part of the run for me was that it seemed so damn LONG. I've been running 3 miles quite a bit. Longer sometimes. But it's easier because I know how far every quarter mile is. So I've got a mental idea of how far I've run and how far I have to go. But there were no markers other than the 1- and 2-mile marker. And because I was SO tired, those mile markers seemed like they were twice as far away as they should have been.
Ideally, I could have cut another 5 minutes from my running time. Combine that with 5 minutes from the swim and that would get me to 1:30 overall, which is my goal for next year. And, yes, I will be doing this again next year. I've actually really enjoyed training for this. I didn't quite get in as much time as I wanted. Hurting my shoulder and my feet didn't help.
I did manage to get down to 175 pounds though. In fact, this morning (after all the eating yesterday), I still only weighed 175.2. My goal for next year is a very reasonable 170. Basically, I want to lose 10 pounds of fat and gain 5 pounds of muscle. I've already got a training plan for the year that adds weightlifting to my usual cardio stuff. I'm hoping that I can gain some strength without losing any of the cardio conditioning I've built up. We'll see if I have any luck there.
I'm also planning on doing at least 3 triathlons next year. My sister's talking about going up to Minneapolis to do that triathlon, which would be great because that's where one of my brothers lives. And I'm sure he'd be doing that triathlon too. There's also a triathlon near my family's cabin in Wisconsin. And then the Chicago triathlon. The Wife is pushing for me to do one in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, she'll have to wait until I do the Ironman in Hawaii. Which should be never.
