4 RP's and 1st Place!

I have this thing before a race where I get really nervous. I mean, I eat a lot of fiber so I'm used to going #2 a lot, but race mornings are out of control. My stomach gets nervous and I have to empty the gas tank often. This morning for the Dilloman triathlon, I have 4 RP's (race poos). My record is 5 before the Cap Tex triathlon, but 4 is a usual number.

So, today's race was interesting. I was expecting to finish in 5th-10th place compared to last year's results. I had a lot of stuff going against me. I didn't get much sleep the night before the race or even the entire week before the race since I was moving. I've been drinking beer and eating like crap all week. I was tired from moving and I hadn't worked out in a week. I've been injured and I'm currently running only 4 miles at a Zone 1 pace since I got hurt in April. I was out drinking the night before the race and I loaded up on fish and chips.

I won my age group.

It was awesome. I had a decent swim and I passed a lot of people. Whenever I sighted, I didn't see many people in front of me. I came out of the water and went into T1 at a fairly leisurely pace. I got on the bike and it wasn't pretty. It started sprinkling all morning and by the time I was 5 minutes into the bike, it was hard to see. I kept going and I was actually very kamikaze. I figured that the chances of me crashing riding cautiously were still pretty high, so I just went nuts. I was going fast but still staying careful. I kept my heart rate up as well. The roads were really wet, but they weren't that slick. The first lap had few people on the course, but the second lap had a lot more people. I was getting tired so I was slower plus I was slower with people in the way as well. I went into T2 feeling like I had a good bike. I went through T2 and I heard that there were only 8 men and 1 woman on the run leg already. I was the 9th man. I went out on the run and I felt like crap. The usual post bike feeling. It took me about 6-7 minutes before I started feeling better. I passed the 1 Mile marker and checked my time. I was on a 7:45 pace! I was shocked. Considering my fitness levels and my injury status, I was flying! I kept going and at Mile 2, I was still on the same pace. At one water station, the people said there were only 6 guys ahead of us. I was running with this one guy and we were going back and forth a bit, but he finally pulled ahead. That put me in 8th place. I walked a few times during the race. I just had to stop and get my heart rate down. At one point, I had to pee, but I didn't want to stop. There was no one around so I just whipped it out, kept walking, and peed. At Mile 3, I was still on pace for 7:45 miles. There was no one behind me and the people in front were too far away so I didn't have to battle for any spots at the moment. I went ahead and sprinted to the end. I crossed the line with a time of 1:19:06.

After that, I was pretty sure that I was the 8th person to finish. I kept looking around and all I kept seeing were guys in other age groups. There was no one else in my age group. That was when I realized that I might have won my age group. I grabbed a few beers and some food and talked to people. About 60 minutes later, the unofficial results were posted and I had come in first in my age group! I couldn't believe it. I stuck around to get my award which was a stuffed armadillo. The weather was nasty since it was at least sprinkling pretty much all day and it was almost an outright downpour a couple of times.

Now, I'm back at home and eating pizza as my reward. I'm tired and I'm going to take a shower and then go to bed.

Recent Update

Well, here is an update over the last few weeks. I'm not training nearly as much as I should. Life is getting in the way. Work is up and down. I just bought a house which is taking up a lot of time. I went to Atlanta this past weekend and travelling always throws off my schedule for a few days.

I rode yesterday and today. Yesterday was the first day that I rode in almost 2 weeks. I just got my bike back from my LBS and had a tuneup done on it. It was shifting like butter. It was great. Today, I dropped from my group to go water the bushes. After I finished, I got on my horse to catch up with my riding group. I was hammering with my head down when I hit something in the road. Nothing happened, but after about a minute, I heard a hiss. Damnit, I flatted. I pulled over and changed the flat. I had my bike upright resting on the end of the fork. Some cars drove by and blew my bike over. After I got the flat changed, I started riding and my derailleur was fucked up. Goddamnit. I've had a freshly tuned up bike for less than 2 days and now my derailleur is out of whack. Fuck.

I also jacked up my shoulder in my sleep the other night. We'll see how that is swimming tomorrow.