Memphis in May Sprint Tri Race Report

It has been a while since I had raced a sprint race, actually it had been 3 years since I have done this distance so I was really looking forward to this race. Another reason I was looking forward to this race was because it would be the first time I got the chance to race alongside my bride, and a third reason I was looking forward to this race was that a lot of my friends were doing this race as their first triathlon! So it was a big day for all!

To bad the weather decided to make this day a lot harder than it needed to be. It rained ya'll!  Hard. The day before and even into race morning, it was a mess. The expo tent was ankle deep water and honestly, it would have been very easy to say "forget it". I have raced in the rain before and I hated it! Thank God for radar apps on the iPhone! We were checking it  often waiting for the rain to move out, which it finally did. We were then able to get our transition areas setup and get in the water for a swim. I was mulling over the decision of whether or not to wear a wetsuit because they said the water was 75 degrees at race time and I leaned more to the short swim vs. time to take off wetsuit and decided to go without the wetsuit, which  in hindsight was the right decision for me. It started raining once again once we started to line up for the race and I was shivering, I couldn't wait to get into the water. So, with no further delay, let's get into the race itself:

Swim: 13:57

Finally a race picture I like!

The swim was a basic triangle shaped swim that was said to measure 580 yards. We all started on a time trial start going off every 3 seconds. The line moved pretty fast and before I knew it I was jumping between people that were walking and wading into the swim. I felt very little bumping heading towards the first buoy and was doing OK. It was a little tough to sight due to the weather conditions and I brought the wrong goggles. I meant to bring my clear lenses but for some reason, they did not make the trip. As I got to the first green buoy, there was a lot of bumping. It was awesome! We all made it around the buoy and started heading for the next green buoy. There was about 8-10 of us I am guessing that were all in a group. Out of nowhere, I see a canoe near me and someone yelling, so I stop to see what's up and they are yelling that we are suppose to go around the orange buoy before hitting the next green one! So I make a 90 degree turn and head back to the buoy!  I know!  What was I thinking? I should have just kept swimming. This really cost me some time and added an additional 100 yards or so to my swim. I was very upset at myself for messing up the swim. I just did what I could and I knew my time was going to suck. As I was running up the ramp, a friend of mine yelled that my wife was about 10 seconds ahead of me! My reply was "you kidding me?" and he assured me she was already in transition. Now, my wife is a strong swimmer, but I had a good minute or two on her and while she might beat me in a pool swim, I am more at ease in open water, so yeah, I was surprised. It was only later that I found out my swim time and it was no where close to the 10-11 minute time I was expecting. Swim pace: 2:23/100

 

T1: 1:06

Knowing that I was already behind my expectations, I think I had one of my fastest transitions ever. I was slamming things down and getting out of there. I really wanted to beat my wife out of T1, which I did because she opted to wear the wetsuit.

Bike: 39:34

After the crappy swim, I decided I needed to crush the bike, so I went out harder than normal. I knew it might affect my run, but I did not care. I was able to pass a ton of people and felt fast! I stayed in aero a lot. The roads were wet with some flowing water going all the way across the roads, wasn't an issue but it made me nervous. My max speed got up to 27 mph and I tried to hang on to top speed as long as I could. I averaged 18.2, which I was happy with. I felt good on the bike, I felt fast.

T2: 1:30

My feet were so wet from all the water on the road that I had trouble slipping my feet out of my shoes as I was riding in, so I just kicked out of my pedals and ran it in my bike shoes to rack my bike. I had my shoes tied up in bag incase it rained some more and I had trouble getting my shoes out. I made a bonehead decision to go without socks on the run. My thinking was that my feet were already so wet that shoes probably would give me an issue for the 3 mile run. Yes, this will come into play shortly.

Run: 29:42

Yeah, I can't believe I was under 30 minutes either. This run was tough because (1. I was undertrained and (2. I made the bonehead call to run without socks. My watch never picked up after T2 and that messed with my head also. The 1st turnaround seemed really close and I thought that was a good thing, but since I did not know the run course well, I did not know about a 2nd turnaround point. After the 2nd turnaround point, it was much hillier and my feet were blistering up pretty good, so yeah I was hating life. I think the one thing that turned my attitude around was that I was talking to someone along the course, telling them about my bad swim and how I went harder on the bike, they simply said, "those are over, run this race". True words indeed. I knew I needed to suck it up and finish strong, so I quit worrying about the other legs and hit the levy and ran it home.

Finish time: 1:25:52

All in all, it was not a bad overall time, it was only a few minutes off my sprint PR time. Yes, I wish I had a better swim, and yes I wish I had worn socks on the run, and yes, I wish it had been dryer, but that's the way it goes sometimes. That is what is great about triathlon, you never get what you expect and then sometimes it works out better. I expected to do better, but I was right on the mark of where I wanted to finish. I also found joy in doing sprint races. It doesn't have to be long races anymore for me to feel like a triathlete.

Another win for me was racing with my wife. She always has a big smile on her face when she hits that finish line and truly looks like she is having a great time. Sometimes I wish I had that joy of finishing rather than the disgust of missing a buoy!

And Congrats to my friends who did their first triathlon!  Jay, Jason, Philip and Dwight!  Proud of you guys and I hope you enjoyed the sport as much as I do, and I must warn you, my journey started with a sprint race...just say'n.

Proud of my Slowest 13.1 Ever!

So here I am writing the day after the St Jude Marathon Weekend where I ran the half marathon. This was the first time I have ever run the half, and I am so glad I was not signed up for the full. This is one of the premier races in the South in my opinion and I love doing it, it benefits St Jude Hospital in Memphis. No family ever pays for medical treatment at St Jude due to donation from all over the world.  So the first weekend in December, over 18,000 runners come to Memphis to run this race. The Marathon weekend offers a 5K, 13.1, 26.2 and a 26.2 relay option!

Now I knew going in that this was going to be a tough race for me. My last long run was an 11 mile run on November 1st and it took me 1:55, so I felt I was on track to have a great race. Well, things happen. Some things you can foresee and other things you can't. For some reason, I always seem to think I can train through the Christmas "Black Friday" rush and everything that goes into planning for those 2 wonderful days (and yes, that is sarcasm). Due to travel with work, I had a hard time keeping the training schedule going, but I decided I was still doing the race anyways.

So here we were on Saturday morning waiting to start. I started in Corral 8, which was a 10:07 mile. I was really unsure of how long I would be able to hold that pace, but I was game. I was running with 3 other friends and I knew that would help me. I also knew I was going in with no expectation except to finish the race and enjoy making that turn to the finish line.

The first 6 miles were awesome. Tons of people cheering and runners were everywhere. Our foursome stuck together, which you know is tough in a race this size. we were hitting a 10:07 pace which was getting tougher each mile, so I pulled back alittle and let the guys go on. I was able to keep a steady pace for the first 9 miles or so before I knew I needed to focus on finishing.

So I did some walking through the water stations and then ran tot he next one for the next few miles. My calves started tweaking around 11, but  managed to push through and get to the finish line. I crossed the line at 2:31:23.

2:31:23...my PR is 1:54.

Here is the thing. I am more proud of this 2:31 than I would have thought. I knew going in that I was not trained for it and even had thoughts of ditching the race, but I didn't. I pushed through. It hurt and my legs are still sore. I didn't listen to the voices. I maintained, I persevered and I finished. When you think about the reason this race exists, to raise money for kids battling cancer, my leg cramps seem trivial. So like I said, I am probably more proud of my 2:31 and everything it took for me to get there than I am my 1:54.

4 Years Ago???

This happens to me a lot. When people learn that I am doing a race, or realistically when I tell people who don't really ask me that I am doing a race, one of the first questions I am asked is this? What is your goal time? Normally it is not a big deal and without hesitation I always fall back on my PR for that distance. But lately, I have been asking myself, How long can I hang on to the PR?

For those of you that might not know, PR stands for "personal record". It is the fastest time that one has raced that particular distance of a race.

I started looking back at my PR's. While they are not that impressive to many, here they are as best I could locate them (who am I trying to fool, every runner/triathlete KNOWS their PR's better than the kids birthdays right?)

5K-   23:43  March 2012
10K- 52:26  February 2012
1/2 Marathon- 1:56 March 2010
Marathon- 5:01 December 2012

Olympic Triathlon- 2:47 May 2012
Half Ironman - 6:09 Sept 2012
Ironman - 15:53 Sept 2013 (1st one is always a PR)

So here is my question. Can I still claim a PR for something 4 years ago? And if I can, how depressing is that? Maybe I should just change it to PB (personal best) and forget the whole 4 year old personal record. I know the old saying that records are meant to be broken, but 4 years ago I was 4 years younger than I am now! :)  So is it fair to hang on to it?

I know in the long run, this does not matter, and it shouldn't really I guess. This is just something that crossed my mind and got stuck. So let me ask you blog reader, how long do you claim your PR??? 

 



 I think I want a new PR...

4 for 4 PR's and I'm a what???

First off, I want to brag on my bride. She entered her first ever indoor triathlon last week and she crushed it! She won the overall female beginner division! I am really happy and proud for her!

Second thing is this, I know this picture as nothing to do with anything I will blog about, but I love this picture and wanted to somehow work it into a post, but was having trouble, so this picture is in this post because it is simply awesome!

Thirdly, when in the heck did I come into the Master's division? I need to give you some background data first I guess, so please continue reading, then we will address me being in the Master's group.

At the end of 2011, I was asked to be the wellness captain for Memphis for my company. They knew of my love for running and exercise and figured I would be a good fit, so I accepted! One of the things I tackled head-on, was getting everyone to commit to doing a 5k race. I started putting this together in January by getting the word out and there was alot of interest. The next thing I did was to pick a race I figured everyone could get behind and support. The race I choose was the Race for Life 5K, a race against childhood obesity. we had approximately 30 people sign up from work and I would say that about 25 of them had never run 3 miles before, or much less ever run a race. So this race was small enough that no one felt intimidated. I really think that everyone had a great time running and it was a huge success for everyone.

As for my race, it went well. I did feel some pressure from everyone to do well since I was the organizer and I wasn't sure if I would race this competitively or as a fun run. Once we lined up to start the race, my adrenaline kicked in and I knew I was going to race it.

So I took off and ran. I ran hard. I finished 5th overall and 1st in my Age Group! My time was 23:43, which is a new PR for me!  4 for 4 in 2012!!! It felt awesome also! So of course, I waited around for the awards ceremony to hear my name called!

So of course, they started out with the overall winners, like they normally do, then they should have gone on to Age Group winners, but they didn't. After the Overall winner, she said this." Now we are giving the award for the Master's Category" Again, it didn't bother me until the next few words came out of her mouth. "This is the 40 and over winner". Crap. Master's winner? Really? When did I hit the Master's division? I thought that was 50 and up. I mean I was grateful to win my AG, and I was thrilled to set a PR, but calling me Master's winner hurt. (no offense to anyone over 50).

So once my name was called, I went up to get my award. I expected a certificate, but instead, I got an exercise ball, a $20 gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods, a 1st place medal and a plaque of my win! SCORE!!! I had never won anything like this before, so it was major cool!