This past weekend I jumped into a local sprint triathlon put on by the Leaning Tower YMCA in Niles, IL. I grew up in Niles, and have known about this race for quite a few years, just haven't done it. No real reason, just haven't. So this year one our L3 Endurance Athletes (and friend) wanted a race prior to his first half ironman of the season, so I agreed that this would be a good way to knock the rust off and to get a race in. If you want the short version of the race report here you go...I swam alright (did get lapped by the dude in my lane who was FLYING), rode well (thinking the Ceepo Viper rode well and I was just along for the ride), and ran crappy (the Zoot Kiawe's were ready to run...if only I was ready to go with them). I was able to win the race by about 2 minutes, so that's a positive. That's the quick version...the longer version is below:
"The Ehh..." aka the swim. I've been swimming a lot! But for some reason I don't feel that it really showed in this race. I guess the thing is that I don't have that "fast" in any sport right now so I swam the pace I always swim. So not fast, not slow, but I could have been the last one out of the water in wave 2...slightly embarrassing I guess...but I don't know if I was or not. T1 was uneventful and I passed quite a few people there.
"Nice" aka the bike. 5 loops on any course is annoying...though this didn't seem bad. I thought it was going to get super crowded, it didn't! The worst part was going over the timing mat which was like a speed bump. The first (of 5) times that I went over it I thought for sure I was going to either flat or get launched since I hit it at 30+mph. The Ceepo Viper was spot on and I ended up with the fastest bike split of the day by about 2 minutes. Not too shabby for an 18k bike course I suppose. T2 was once again uneventful, grabbed my other Spy sunglasses, through on my Zoot Kiawe's, SRAM truckers hat and was on my way.
"The Ugly" aka the run. I ran slow, not because of the shoes, not sure what it was but I just didn't have that extra gear. It didn't hurt, and a 5k is supposed to hurt. For whatever reason I couldn't get the legs going, I couldn't get to that place where it hurts. I was comfortable, and I was ok with that. The good is that I did feel comfortable, so holding onto that pace for longer was sustainable, I have that going for me...but I wanted to run faster, it was upsetting at the time and a definite wake up call.
The next few weeks I'm going to run, and then run some more, and hopefully run some more.
Special thanks has to go out to my awesome sponsors and support crew: Zoot, Ceepo, GU, Spy, Garmin, PR Bar, SRAM, Zipp, Speedfil. And thanks Mom for riding with me to the race, and cheering me on as always!!!!!!!
"The Ehh..." aka the swim. I've been swimming a lot! But for some reason I don't feel that it really showed in this race. I guess the thing is that I don't have that "fast" in any sport right now so I swam the pace I always swim. So not fast, not slow, but I could have been the last one out of the water in wave 2...slightly embarrassing I guess...but I don't know if I was or not. T1 was uneventful and I passed quite a few people there.
"Nice" aka the bike. 5 loops on any course is annoying...though this didn't seem bad. I thought it was going to get super crowded, it didn't! The worst part was going over the timing mat which was like a speed bump. The first (of 5) times that I went over it I thought for sure I was going to either flat or get launched since I hit it at 30+mph. The Ceepo Viper was spot on and I ended up with the fastest bike split of the day by about 2 minutes. Not too shabby for an 18k bike course I suppose. T2 was once again uneventful, grabbed my other Spy sunglasses, through on my Zoot Kiawe's, SRAM truckers hat and was on my way.
"The Ugly" aka the run. I ran slow, not because of the shoes, not sure what it was but I just didn't have that extra gear. It didn't hurt, and a 5k is supposed to hurt. For whatever reason I couldn't get the legs going, I couldn't get to that place where it hurts. I was comfortable, and I was ok with that. The good is that I did feel comfortable, so holding onto that pace for longer was sustainable, I have that going for me...but I wanted to run faster, it was upsetting at the time and a definite wake up call.
The next few weeks I'm going to run, and then run some more, and hopefully run some more.
Special thanks has to go out to my awesome sponsors and support crew: Zoot, Ceepo, GU, Spy, Garmin, PR Bar, SRAM, Zipp, Speedfil. And thanks Mom for riding with me to the race, and cheering me on as always!!!!!!!
