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09-20-09, 12:15 PM
I just got back the Angels race, here in Winston-Salem, NC, and I loved every second of it. I am seriously hooked and will do tri's for the rest of my life. The Angels races are sprint tri's devoted to people who have been lost to cancer. There were a ton of people with amazing stories, which just made the whole day even more memorable. The total turnout was about 600.
Swim - 300 M, pool swim. This is by far my weakest leg since I don't really know how to freestyle well enough to make it more than about 100m. So, after about 50 meters, I ended up switching over to the combat side stroke, which is a bit slow, but is incredibly energy efficient, so it worked out okay. I actually set a PR for 300 m, right around 7:30, but I was a bit more winded than I expected, so my first transition took a bit longer than I wanted to. It was also about a 200 m run to the transition zone, then out the far side on the bike.
Bike - 20K. This is by far my strongest leg, and I smoked it. Passed 30-40 people got passed by two guys who won the event and won their age groups, respectively. It was a rolling course, with the uphills long and sloping, and the downhills short and fast. Two loops of the same course. The only problem I had was that at about 6, when it was pitch black, I somehow lost a screw for my clip-on bars in the grass, which was about 5 inches deep. I looked for quite a while, but no luck, so no bars. They would have helped out since I could have spent almost the whole time riding in the tuck, but oh well.
Run - The run went very well. I was on pace for about 21 minutes for the 5k, but about 1/2 - 2/3 of a mile out from the finish, there was a very big hill that killed my pace and I ended up getting somewhere around mid-23's. I am still very happy with the time, but it definitely could have been better. It was amazing how much better I felt during the run than I expected I would.
Overall, 1:15:34. I am very happy with that time, and I know that I can shave at least 5 minutes off of that with some proper swim coaching, transition work, aero bars, and some more brick workouts. I finished 91st or 92nd (can't remember) out of about 600, and missed the podium for my age group (20-24) by less than two minutes. I think I finished up 4th or 5th, although they only announced times for the top 3.
Swim - 300 M, pool swim. This is by far my weakest leg since I don't really know how to freestyle well enough to make it more than about 100m. So, after about 50 meters, I ended up switching over to the combat side stroke, which is a bit slow, but is incredibly energy efficient, so it worked out okay. I actually set a PR for 300 m, right around 7:30, but I was a bit more winded than I expected, so my first transition took a bit longer than I wanted to. It was also about a 200 m run to the transition zone, then out the far side on the bike.
Bike - 20K. This is by far my strongest leg, and I smoked it. Passed 30-40 people got passed by two guys who won the event and won their age groups, respectively. It was a rolling course, with the uphills long and sloping, and the downhills short and fast. Two loops of the same course. The only problem I had was that at about 6, when it was pitch black, I somehow lost a screw for my clip-on bars in the grass, which was about 5 inches deep. I looked for quite a while, but no luck, so no bars. They would have helped out since I could have spent almost the whole time riding in the tuck, but oh well.
Run - The run went very well. I was on pace for about 21 minutes for the 5k, but about 1/2 - 2/3 of a mile out from the finish, there was a very big hill that killed my pace and I ended up getting somewhere around mid-23's. I am still very happy with the time, but it definitely could have been better. It was amazing how much better I felt during the run than I expected I would.
Overall, 1:15:34. I am very happy with that time, and I know that I can shave at least 5 minutes off of that with some proper swim coaching, transition work, aero bars, and some more brick workouts. I finished 91st or 92nd (can't remember) out of about 600, and missed the podium for my age group (20-24) by less than two minutes. I think I finished up 4th or 5th, although they only announced times for the top 3.