Monday, May 22, 2006

5/21/2006 Tri for Joe Race Day!!


I think about the Tri for Joe with a mixture of joy and frustration. I am very happy with my performance and once again exceeded my own expecations and goals set. On the other hand, I go back to look at the results and see that I finished 61 seconds behind the leader in my age group. I see that 61 seconds and I start to tear apart my performance to see if there is anywhere that could have made a difference. In the end though, I realize that I put forth my very best effort, and yesterday he was just 61 seconds faster than myself. I will take this experience and hopefully learn from it for future races.

The goals I had established:

1st 5K= 24:00
Transition 1= 1:00
Bicycle= 60:00
Transition 2= 1:00
2nd 5K= 24:00

Total: 1:50:00

Here are the results:

1st 5K= 21:25.52 Pace= 6:55
Transition 1= 01:06.87
Bicycle= 53:23.48 Avg= 19.7 mph
Transition 2= 01:05.85
2nd 5K= 24:25.28 Pace= 7:53

Total= 1:41:27

For the record this was a very flat course. There was an announcement before the race stating that this was the fastest tri/du course in Ohio. This is true in theory, but what this course lacked in hills it more than made up for with head wind.

I decided before the race started that I was going to put it all out there this race and go as fast as I can. The first 5K pace and time pretty much proves that. The first 2 miles of the race I ran a 6:50 and 6:51 respectively. It was the fastest beginning of a race and the fastest 5K that I've run in a long time. It was an excellent beginning.

The bicycling portions of the races are beginning to frustrate me a bit. I am happy with my pace compared to what I was riding at last year and that should be enough. But, when I am out on the course and being passed by people riding at a 22-25 mph pace it gets a bit frustrating. I have to keep in mind that I'm still fairly early in my training. It's all about perspective at this point. I did have a very good ride as shown by the 19.7 mph average. One thing that did concern me was that I started to get some pain deep in my chest about 10 miles into the ride. It may have just been the beginnings of exhaustion but, I will have to keep an eye on it.

The second 5K was a test in pain. I thought I was in big trouble when I first got off the bike and back into my running shoes. My legs were aching and stiff unlike the Ceaser Creek race. It was probably due to the simple fact that I was pushing myself much harder this race. The first mile was agonizing and was making me wonder whether I was going to finish the race. It's all the fun of the duathlon. Anyway, somehow I managed to keep up a sub-8 minute pace. All in all, I am very satisfied with the results!

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