Fatletes can podium!

Well, I guess I'm proof that fat athletes can get on the podium. Ok, I'm just kidding. I finished 3rd place in my age group in the Jack's Generic Tri today. Now, here is my race report from last year. I guess it worked out that I didn't work out hard yesterday. I got 7 hours of sleep last night and woke up pretty rested this morning. I also wasn't very stressed about this race. I got to the race site and got everything set up. I still find it amazing how little stuff that I have in my transition setup compared to most other people. I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen in awhile. I went for a swim to warm up. I never run or do anything like that for a warmup swim. I almost always just go for a short swim and that's it. I just waited around until the gun went off.

The Swim
The water was warm, but not that bad. Obviously no wetsuits were allowed. The warmup swim helped me to figure out to sight better on the swim. It was kind of rough at the start but I need to get used to that. Actually, there were people around almost the entire time. I got kicked in the calf a few times and it felt like my calves were going cramp but they didn't. Also, I didn't kick anyone in the nuts like I did last year. I came out of the water in 8:35 which is about 30 seconds slower than last year, and it was a pace of 1:43/m for 500 meters. However, I was 6th in my age group so that's not bad and I was 69th overall.

T1
My T1 time was 1:18. My T1 times are usually pretty fast and I was actually the fastest T1 time in my age group. I'm pretty happy with that. All I had to do was put on my helmet and go. I had my shoes on the pedals. I didn't go with sunglasses today because it wasn't that sunny and they tend to get covered in sweat. I didn't feel like dealing with that today. I grabbed my bike and was out of T1.

The Bike
The last time I raced, I had issues with my shoes and pedaling and crap. This time, I was able to actually start moving and not nearly crashing 4 times. That was actually the guy in front of me. I started out on the bike and I kept remembering to take it easy because that was my goal. The bike was pretty uneventful. I passed a few people in my age group and I was passed a few times. Overall, I didn't drop any places on the bike. I kept my heart rate at around 155bpm for most of the way. It would go up on the hills but that's to be expected. Nothing really hurt since I'm used to my left lower back hurting. When I go hard on the bike, my legs get tired and crampy. That didn't happen at all today. It was different. I came off the bike in 41:15 for a pace of 21.5mph. That was good enough for 6th in my AG and 68th overall. Avg HR was 154bpm or something like that. My time was only about 9 seconds slower than last year.

T2
I came into T2 and noticed something was different immediately. I didn't have jello legs when I got off the bike. Oh, it was kind of cool at the dismount line. I came in hard and fast and scared the crap out of people. I also locked up my rear wheel and fish tailed a bit. That was fun. I got to my spot and saw Noah right behind me. I put on my socks, my shoes, grabbed my race belt and hat and started running. Noah ended up passing me in T2 and was on the run course before me. Damnit. T2 time was 1:06 which was 7th in my AG. Not bad, but I could shave a few seconds off my T2 time. I just need to figure out how since I don't think I could shave off more time besides putting on socks or just running faster. Socks do take up a lot of time, though. Fastest T2 was 0:56. Ok, back to the run.

The Run
I was on Noah's heels the entire first half. He would get about 10 yards in front of him and then I would get back to about 2 yards. He passed me within the last mile at The Rookie Tri. I was expecting him to break me but that didn't happen. I just kept him in my sights and I was exactly where I wanted to be. I run a lot faster chasing someone than when I'm getting chased. I noticed that I would gain on him on the uphills, too. This course isn't flat and has a few small rises on the course. The last rise is up to the turn around point and I closed to within a few feet of him. He stopped to get some water and I grabbed a cup, poured it on my head, and didn't stop. I dropped Noah very quickly after that and I dropped him pretty quickly on the subsequent downhill. I'm pretty good at the downhills because I know how to use my weight to gain moment and get going quickly without taking up to much additional energy. I kept running expecting someone else to catch me but I kept pushing myself. I got passed but it was by people in other age groups. I just kept running and I never stopped to run the entire run. It seems like my experiment with going easier on the bike paid off. I came off the bike with fresh legs, I felt good, and I had a great run. I crossed the line at 21:27 for a 3 mile run. That's a pace of 7:09 which is the fastest I've ever run in a race, including The Rookie Tri back in April which was 7:14 pace for 2 mile run. I just can't express how good I felt this run and it shows. I was also 1:40 than my run time from last year's Jack's Generic. However, I still need to work on my running because I was 17th in my AG and 98th overall. That doesn't matter as much as me having a great run for me! I'll get there. I'm sure of it.

Overall
Like I said, I came in 3rd in my AG with a time of 1:13:43. 1st place ran a 15:43 run and was just smoking. 2nd was 5 minutes in front of me so no chance of running him down soon. My time was 49th overall out of 755 people. I did a lot better compared to last year's race. I'm just really happy with my race today and I was able to get on the podium. Also, I just want to note that I was 6th on the swim, 6th on the bike, and 17th on the run but I was 3rd in my AG. I think a lot of it was my transitions and that I'm pretty consistent across all 3 sports. Oh, I was about 30 seconds faster than last year. What other numbers can I put up here? Oh, I was top 5% of my AG with 59 people in it. I was also top 7% overall because I was 49th out of about 755 people.

Ok, I'm done now. I'm going to bed pretty happy tonight.