June 2, 2013
Its race day! I am up nice and early...somewhere in the 4:00am area. Today, Honey will be coming to the race along with Derek. However, I told them last night that if they delay me in leaving, they are getting left behind! Luckily, that was not the case and they were ready on time.
We drove over to the race and parked without much trouble. I left them to fend for themselves as I had to get body marked and my transition area all set up. They soon arrived at transition and cheered me while I set up my stuff. A bit over exuberant, Derek was. Very cute though.
I'll say right up front here that I did not feel like I had a good race. I don't know what it was, but every step of the way I felt like I could have done better. Lots to improve on in this race next year. Ok, let's get started.
The swim started in the water. Well, obviously, but what I mean is it was a water start. We did not start on the shore. The water was fairly low. The gun went off and I dove forward with zeal! I made it to the first turn without much incident, but I was already struggling. I was getting jostled quite a bit at this point, and I could not catch my breath. Could have something to do with the fact that I swam like three times all year!
I finally got out of the water, and I thought I had swam well, but my numbers show I did not do as well as I usually do. I got to transition and got on my bike and took off!!
At the first turn, before I had even put my feet in my bike shoes, I almost ran over a poor turtle crossing the road.
"Why did the turtle cross the road"
"Why"
"Because he wanted to get squished, that's why!"
I hope he was ok, but he was a turtle and moving turtlelike across the street. It didn't look good.
I got out on the main road and there was a headwind. It wasn't really bad, but I could just about keep a 19 - 20 mph pace going, if even. I was hurting after a few miles. I suck in a headwind. It completely neutralizes me. At least, I thought, I will have a wind at my back on the way in. I did, but it did not help me as much as I would have liked.
I was able to get my average speed up above 20mph, but that is pathetic in a flat course like that. I should have done better.
Once I was back in transition, it took me a while to get my shoes on. They are not built for speed and since they are new, they do not slip on all that easily. I got them on and off I went.
I kept a steady pace of 7:34 exactly for the first three miles. Not sure how I did that, but ok. Normally, I pick up speed by the third mile, but I was unable to do that today. It was getting pretty hot. The last .4 miles I ran at a 6:35 pace. I passed a guy in my age group with less than a quarter mile to go and he started gaining on me as we approached the finish line, but I shut that down with a nice sprint of my own! Yeah!
Of course, if I was able to go that fast at the end and pull off a 6:35 pace, that means that I should have been able to push the last mile too. Just couldn't do it...
I will post my numbers, but they are not great. There is much better competition in this race due to its location and longevity, so I never expected to win. In fact, the top guy in my age group finished 12 minutes ahead of me! Most of it was from the bike and a good portion from the run.
Here are my bike numbers as far as my GPS told me:
Time: 44:12
We drove over to the race and parked without much trouble. I left them to fend for themselves as I had to get body marked and my transition area all set up. They soon arrived at transition and cheered me while I set up my stuff. A bit over exuberant, Derek was. Very cute though.
I'll say right up front here that I did not feel like I had a good race. I don't know what it was, but every step of the way I felt like I could have done better. Lots to improve on in this race next year. Ok, let's get started.
The swim started in the water. Well, obviously, but what I mean is it was a water start. We did not start on the shore. The water was fairly low. The gun went off and I dove forward with zeal! I made it to the first turn without much incident, but I was already struggling. I was getting jostled quite a bit at this point, and I could not catch my breath. Could have something to do with the fact that I swam like three times all year!
I finally got out of the water, and I thought I had swam well, but my numbers show I did not do as well as I usually do. I got to transition and got on my bike and took off!!
At the first turn, before I had even put my feet in my bike shoes, I almost ran over a poor turtle crossing the road.
"Why did the turtle cross the road"
"Why"
"Because he wanted to get squished, that's why!"
I hope he was ok, but he was a turtle and moving turtlelike across the street. It didn't look good.
I got out on the main road and there was a headwind. It wasn't really bad, but I could just about keep a 19 - 20 mph pace going, if even. I was hurting after a few miles. I suck in a headwind. It completely neutralizes me. At least, I thought, I will have a wind at my back on the way in. I did, but it did not help me as much as I would have liked.
I was able to get my average speed up above 20mph, but that is pathetic in a flat course like that. I should have done better.
Once I was back in transition, it took me a while to get my shoes on. They are not built for speed and since they are new, they do not slip on all that easily. I got them on and off I went.
I kept a steady pace of 7:34 exactly for the first three miles. Not sure how I did that, but ok. Normally, I pick up speed by the third mile, but I was unable to do that today. It was getting pretty hot. The last .4 miles I ran at a 6:35 pace. I passed a guy in my age group with less than a quarter mile to go and he started gaining on me as we approached the finish line, but I shut that down with a nice sprint of my own! Yeah!
Of course, if I was able to go that fast at the end and pull off a 6:35 pace, that means that I should have been able to push the last mile too. Just couldn't do it...
I will post my numbers, but they are not great. There is much better competition in this race due to its location and longevity, so I never expected to win. In fact, the top guy in my age group finished 12 minutes ahead of me! Most of it was from the bike and a good portion from the run.
Here are my bike numbers as far as my GPS told me:
Time: 44:12
Distance: 15.22 miles
Pace: 20.66mph
Max Pace: 34.24mph
Calories: 1,057
Avg HR: xxx
No clue where that 34.24 mph came from. Probably a fluke as I never really got that fast.
Here are my GPS numbers for the run:
Time: 25:19
Distance: 3.40 miles
Pace: 7:27/m
Max Pace: 4:47/m
Calories: 445
Avg HR: xxx
Avg HR: xxx
Below are the numbers they provided as part of the race. I have to say, I love what they gave us. Most companies who do the timing just give you basic stuff and I end up doing a lot of manipulation myself. They did it all for me! You will see some discrepancies in my numbers and the official numbers. That is to be expected as I may not have started and stopped my watch at the right place.
I have also posted the link for the full race numbers in case any of you want to try your hand at this race next year, you can see what the competition is up to!
Total Time: 01:22:39.44
Swim Time: 10:26
T1 Time: 0:50
Bike Time: 44:53
T2 Time: 1:11
Run Time: 25:19
Overall Place: 100 out of 595
Overall Percentile: 83
Gender Place: 86 out of 343
Gender Percentile: 75
Category Place: 17 out of 48
Category Percentile: 66
Series Points Earned: 0
Swim Details:
Time: 10:26
Pace: 30:41
Overall Place: 132
Percentile: 78
Gender Place: 98
Gender Percentile: 72
Category Place: 18
Category Percentile: 64
Transition 1 Details:
Time: 0:50
Overall Place: 99
Percentile: 84
Gender Place: 73
Gender Percentile: 79
Category Place: 13
Category Percentile: 74
Bike Details:
Time: 44:53
Speed: 20.58671
Overall Place: 186
Percentile: 69
Gender Place: 159
Gender Percentile: 54
Category Place: 27
Category Percentile: 45
Transition 2 Details:
Time: 1:11
Overall Place: 303
Percentile: 49
Gender Place: 191
Gender Percentile: 44
Category Place: 29
Category Percentile: 40
Run Details:
Time: 25:19
Pace: 7:26
Overall Place: 65
Percentile: 89
Gender Place: 56
Gender Percentile: 84
Category Place: 11
Category Percentile: 79
Full Race Results: http://www.multirace.com/
Run for Life!!
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