What a training week! Monday was a huge rest day for me. I realized on Monday that I had two training races coming up on back to back weekends. This Sunday 9-4 I had a sprint Tri and the following Sunday 9-11 I have a ½ Ironman. This made me a bit nervous because I knew I would have to juggle my training schedule around to be able to do the events.
I was a bit reluctant and almost did not go to my sprint tri event on 9-4 because I really wanted to stick to my training. I went ahead and decided to make it work. Fortunately this week was an easy week. I was able to use Tuesday and Wednesday to help aid my recovery from the previous week’s 287 mile three day bike ride. I finally started feeling my energy level and leg strength coming back on Thursday. I moved my long Saturday ride to Friday morning to allow me to get a rest day in before my sprint tri and long run on 9-4.
Race morning came and I was soon in the pool getting my race on the way. I had a pretty solid race. I felt pretty good in the swim, good on the bike and solid on my run. The run course was pretty flat and I had a good rhythm going.
In a sprint tri there really is no way to tell how you are doing in the race as the athletes start their swim one racer at time. I crossed the finish line and was happy with my effort. I quickly headed to my car to get a fresh pair of shoes on for my 1 hr 30 minute brick run.
I was hoping to place in my age group so I wanted to be back before the 10 a.m. awards. I ended up cutting my run short by 15 minutes and was able to get back to the awards as they were announcing the male age group winners. I headed over to see the posted results and found that I had finished second over all. Bonus..! I also noted that the person who finished 1st over all beat me by 13.5 seconds. The “what if” started to run through my head. I knew there were places on that race where I could have made up 13.5 seconds. I was a bit upset at first but, I quickly let it go. It would have been nice to have been an overall winner but, I feel my time will come. I still walked away with a 1st place age group award and the satisfaction of getting a 10 mile run in after the race.
Next week I have a ½ Ironman which I’m also using as a training day. I have a few fellow triathlete friends who are also using it as a training day. This event is known to be very flat and hot. I know we are all hoping for good weather. It will be my second ½ Ironman event. I’m hoping for a PR. We’ll see how the cards pay out on 9-11.
As always it was good to see several fellow triathletes out there at the sprint tri. It was also good to meet new people and see all the newbies give the sport ago. Congratulations to all who competed this weekend and who are going to compete tomorrow on Labor Day.
..ej
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