This morning I went down to Hammond, Indiana to race the Leon's Triathlon. Leon's is an olympic distance race which used to be one of the best races in the country (back in the 90's). Last year was the first time that the race was held after I'm not even sure how long. I met Leon back in January up at the multisport expo that was in Milwaukee. He shared with me that they were going to make this race bigger and better and wanted to include a "team" concept where you have teams of 10 people (you put together the team) and then the teams would compete against each other. Sounded like a really cool idea. And Zoot was one of the sponsors at the race, so I felt that it would be great to get out there and support them as well!
So the crew from Endure It ended up putting together three teams, and we had well over 30 athletes out on the course today which was awesome to see! I don't usually like the olympic distance, as that swim is way too far for someone who isn't the best swimmer (that would be me) and then the bike and run aren't long enough for me to catch all of those swimmers. But seeing as I wanted to do things out of my comfort zone this would be a good test for me. And besides it's fun to race right!
The Race...results haven't been posted yet so times are a guess.
Swim - ~23 minutes
I felt like I was capable of swimming around 25 minutes based upon my training. What I didn't factor in is just how awesome the Zoot Prophet wetsuit is. The race had beer kegs as buoy's and had them all numbered. There were 19 total...so needless to say I was counting down each one. There were times I would get a good draft...but most of the time I swam solo, I know not the best but the line I took was pretty solid.
T1 - ??
Pretty uneventful...
Bike - No idea of time...
It took me a while to get the motor going. It wasn't until about half way through that my legs started to feel like they were ready to do damage. There were some nasty bumps out on the roads, and 10 pretty decent turns (if not 180 degrees, you really had to slow down) for each loop...so 20 turns like that...ouch! And the bike was about 3 miles long (according to my Garmin). I don't mind the added length, seeing as cycling is a strength for me. However I would have liked to have an accurate time over the Olympic distance, oh well no biggie.
T2 - ??
I started to run out the wrong way, my fault, only cost a second or two though.
Run - 35:38
I felt good on the run right from the start. It has to be the Zoot Speeds! I love those shoes! I saw some people up the road, and just used them as my targets. Since I've been at those hard paces relatively frequently in training I felt comfortable staying there for 6 miles. Here's what was going through my head the whole run, "It's only 6 miles, this is just a normal training day for it, you can push harder than you think." I don't want to say that I completely pushed it though, because I didn't. I'm not sure what was going on but it felt as if it was kind of a cruise pace. Sure there were times where it hurt (every run has those) but I felt good on the run...the best I felt all day! I never felt like I had that extra gear though. I haven't really done speed work though so that's the reason I'm sure.
Overall - 2:06:56 (with a long bike, I think I would have broken 2 hours with a "normal" distance bike)
I ended up 7th place overall, which I'm happy with though there is still work to do, mainly on the bike. Strange I know!
A special thanks to my Mom, she is the ultimate super fan and I love having her at my races. Thanks MOM you're the best!!! Also I need to thank my amazing sponsors: Zoot Sports, Ridley, Zipp, Garmin, CycleOps, Endure It, Kyle Zake, and GU. The Endure It crew was amazing as always and it was great to have them cheering me on all day! Also congrats to fellow Zoot Ultra Team Member Matt Ancona! He had a great race, especially considering he had no drink on the bike since it bounced off on one of the nasty potholes. Thanks Theresa for all of the cheering, and at least you could find Matt right away after this race.
I think I'll be getting some pictures soon, so when I do I'll put them up here. Next up is Ironman Kansas 70.3 next Sunday, that should be another great test, and three weeks from now is the first really big show of the year. Can't wait!!!
So the crew from Endure It ended up putting together three teams, and we had well over 30 athletes out on the course today which was awesome to see! I don't usually like the olympic distance, as that swim is way too far for someone who isn't the best swimmer (that would be me) and then the bike and run aren't long enough for me to catch all of those swimmers. But seeing as I wanted to do things out of my comfort zone this would be a good test for me. And besides it's fun to race right!
The Race...results haven't been posted yet so times are a guess.
Swim - ~23 minutes
I felt like I was capable of swimming around 25 minutes based upon my training. What I didn't factor in is just how awesome the Zoot Prophet wetsuit is. The race had beer kegs as buoy's and had them all numbered. There were 19 total...so needless to say I was counting down each one. There were times I would get a good draft...but most of the time I swam solo, I know not the best but the line I took was pretty solid.
T1 - ??
Pretty uneventful...
Bike - No idea of time...
It took me a while to get the motor going. It wasn't until about half way through that my legs started to feel like they were ready to do damage. There were some nasty bumps out on the roads, and 10 pretty decent turns (if not 180 degrees, you really had to slow down) for each loop...so 20 turns like that...ouch! And the bike was about 3 miles long (according to my Garmin). I don't mind the added length, seeing as cycling is a strength for me. However I would have liked to have an accurate time over the Olympic distance, oh well no biggie.
T2 - ??
I started to run out the wrong way, my fault, only cost a second or two though.
Run - 35:38
I felt good on the run right from the start. It has to be the Zoot Speeds! I love those shoes! I saw some people up the road, and just used them as my targets. Since I've been at those hard paces relatively frequently in training I felt comfortable staying there for 6 miles. Here's what was going through my head the whole run, "It's only 6 miles, this is just a normal training day for it, you can push harder than you think." I don't want to say that I completely pushed it though, because I didn't. I'm not sure what was going on but it felt as if it was kind of a cruise pace. Sure there were times where it hurt (every run has those) but I felt good on the run...the best I felt all day! I never felt like I had that extra gear though. I haven't really done speed work though so that's the reason I'm sure.
Overall - 2:06:56 (with a long bike, I think I would have broken 2 hours with a "normal" distance bike)
I ended up 7th place overall, which I'm happy with though there is still work to do, mainly on the bike. Strange I know!
A special thanks to my Mom, she is the ultimate super fan and I love having her at my races. Thanks MOM you're the best!!! Also I need to thank my amazing sponsors: Zoot Sports, Ridley, Zipp, Garmin, CycleOps, Endure It, Kyle Zake, and GU. The Endure It crew was amazing as always and it was great to have them cheering me on all day! Also congrats to fellow Zoot Ultra Team Member Matt Ancona! He had a great race, especially considering he had no drink on the bike since it bounced off on one of the nasty potholes. Thanks Theresa for all of the cheering, and at least you could find Matt right away after this race.
I think I'll be getting some pictures soon, so when I do I'll put them up here. Next up is Ironman Kansas 70.3 next Sunday, that should be another great test, and three weeks from now is the first really big show of the year. Can't wait!!!
1 comment:
Way to Rock, seriously. Way to Rock. And, the pictures I have, have been emailed to you :)
Cannot wait to hear how Kansas and CDA goes. I know you'll rock there as well.
And, it was a blast cheering you on, its a bummer that this was the only one (I think?) that I get to cheer in person for.
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