It Is Done

The final triathlon of the year is done. Overall, it was a great race and I beat last years time on the same course by 6 minutes. I finished 169th out of 640 and came in 26th in my age group. I absolutely love this race and the location.

Swim

The dreaded Pleasant Prairie swim. A beautiful lake, 76 degree temperatures and the sun beating off the water as soon as you turn that first buoy. It is extremely hard to see. I started off great. I had a nice calm pace going. Swim was pretty tight out to the first buoy. A little contact here and there, but nothing to bad. I made the turn at the first buoy and completely lost sight of everything except the smoke stack that I was planning on keeping in front of me. I was going good and then my goggles fogged up to where I couldn’t see a thing. I kept pushing forward. I looked back every now and then, but didn’t see anything and nobody was around me. I started getting caught in the sea weed and thought that wasn’t a good sign. Finally, I decided to tread and remove my goggles. Thank the Lord I did. The turn buoy was directly to my right and only about 100 yards away. I put my goggles back on, but forgot to clean them. Then, in one of my more technical moments, I went into a side stroke removed the goggles, wiped the lenses and then swam hard to the finish. I beat last years time by 3 minutes. After the race, my friend who also did the race had a little issue in the swim as well. His being much worse. He made the first turn and was going along great until he started smelling gas and exhaust. He stopped and a guy in a boat right next to him was shouting, “BUDDY, YOU GOTTA GO WAY LEFT!!!” He was a good 3-5 minutes back to the buoy. Absolutely hilarious. I was still laughing about it today.

T1

I still have yet to get a great transition. Maybe next year? It was a little bit of a run to my bike out of the water. Probably about a minute. Anyway, I don’t know. I am going to practice these next year.

Bike

I knew the course had some hills, but what I wasn’t planning on was the wind. I started off the bike not feeling good at all. I thought for sure it was going to be a crappy bike. After a few miles, I started feeling good. Then the wind and hills started coming into play. There were times I was down to 11mph, but I was also up to about 32mph. I rode my butt off, but not to the point where my legs were sacrificed. I knew I had a 6.2 mile run ahead of me and it was heating up. I finished 2 minutes plus ahead of last year.

T2

Again, I need some work.

Run

I was about ½ a mile into the run and knew it was going to be rough. It was way hot. I hate running in the heat. I couldn’t figure out how the temperature got so hot so early. Everyone around me was feeling it as well. I kept pushing. Taking one mile at a time. Towards the end, I was breaking it down into half mile segments. The fire department opened the hydrant and that was a welcomed relief. They also had a sprinkler going which was nice. Once I hit the 5 mile marker, I picked it up. I finished feeling terrible, but ahead of last years run by about 2 minutes.

The Numbers…

Total Time - 2:33:52
Swim - 32:52
T1 - 3:10
Bike - 1:06:52, 22.3mph
T2 - 2:41
Run – 48:18, 7:47 pace

In good health,
Joe
www.eeathlete.com
joe@eeathlete.com