TandemHearts

My second triathlon was an Olympic Distance event – the Tri for Real at Rancho Seco Park and I finished second in my division!

When you say an Olympic Distance event most triathletes know what that means – 1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike and a 10 kilometer run. In English, .9 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike and 6.2 mile run. It is the same distance all around the world and what the triathletes will be doing in Beijing.

My training has really been focused on running and it’s coming along. When I first started running I was doing about 11:30 miles. Now over a 4 mile mile run I’m averaging about 10:20 per mile. But that is when I just go out and run – after swimming and biking, it’s a little bit different.

My swim at this event went about as I had expected, right around 29 minutes. I’m still not sighting as well as I would like, which leads me to zigzag some. However, I am also not doing much swimming. In fact I did not swim at all in the two weeks prior to the event.

My bike time was also what I had expected. This is a pretty flat course and I did it in 1 hour 24 minutes for an average speed of 17.5 miles per hour.

My run started off pretty well. I did the first three miles in 33 minutes. But I was drinking way too much and I started having stomach issues between miles 3 and 4. I ended up walking a good chunk of the last three miles. I had hoped to do the run in one hour, 12 minutes or better. Instead it took me 1:17. It was good enough for second in the Athena division. Since most triathletes are on the slender side, there is a weight category. For the men it’s called Clydesdale and they need to weigh more than 200 pounds. Women weighing more than 150 pounds can race as Athenas. It’s nice because the top woman in my age group finished 45 minutes ahead of me.

I learned a few things though, which was the whole reason for doing this race. I do need to swim a little more often. My lats were a little sore the day after the race. Running in your wet suit is not easy. It seemed like it took forever to get from the beach to my transition area. Instead of setting my transition area close to the exit for the bike, I may start putting it closer to the beach. When someone hands you a cup of water, don’t drink the whole thing. I also need to practice running on gravel more. Fortunately, for my next race the run is on roads.

Next up is the BIG ONE. Barb’s race is a Half Ironman distance event on Aug. 2. I’ll be swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles and running 13.1 miles. I get tired just typing it.