The odd triathlon

I did it! But it was a struggle. So I woke up this morning to rain, and temperatures in the low 40's. I was really concerned that they were going to cancel the race. So much so that I let Bridget go back to bed and let the kids sleep in, I ventured out on my own. Of course, it stopped raining and the sun even poked out for a while. So the Triathlon had already set plans in place to race in inclement weather, so even though the weather was OK (it was still really windy and cool, still in the 40's) they did a "reverse" triathlon. So we ran first, then biked, then swam. I was a little upset at first because the weather wasn't that bad, I thought we should go in the correct order and swim first. But no. So then to make matters worse they staggered the start in waves of 100 based on your race number. Your race number was assigned based on your estimated swim time, so all of us fast swimmers were the LAST to leave on the run. I really don't understand their thinking, I'll explain in a minute. So the run went really well, probably because I wasn't all tired out from having ran and swam. It was a 5K, and I hauled butt. I didn't have a watch on so I don't have an exact number, but I'd be surprised if it was over 25 minutes. The bike was awesome as usual, despite the wind. The wind was head on for all of the uphill sections and at our backs for the downhill. It was nice because it really killed a lot of bikers! I flew through it though, nobody passed me...and I passed a TON! I was a little disappointed in my MPH average of 19.5, but blame that on the head wind when I was only doing 12 or 14 MPH uphill. So then came the swim. So the nice part about swimming with people who correctly estimate their swim time is that you swim with people who are more or less going the same speed as you. Not the case with the jumbled start, I was stuck in spots....kicked in the face (twice)...elbowed more times than I can remember...and I had to wait at two of the turns (indoor pool) for slower swimmers to get out of my way just so I could turn. And forget about flip turns they were out of the question. On the final lap I was just content to finish next to this other guy, then as I was next to him I noticed his age division on his calf...he was in my age division! So I wasted time thinking the chances of him being in the same age group were remote, I only had about 15 meters to pass him. I went all out, he put up a fight. We exited at the same time but I mis-stepped over the finish line (only about 2 feet long, sensor cord to the race computers) and my finishing time didn't record, some lady grabbed my arm and made me go back over and it stopped. He beat me by 2 seconds on the final results, I was upset cause I could have just passed him easily at the start of the lap....don't know what I was thinking.

So the official results have not been published yet, I'll get them up as soon as I find out. Preliminary results have me in 9th place in my age group (30 - 34 is typically the most competitive because that it the "peak" for endurance athletes), with a time of 1:07 and change. I don't know where that pus me overall or my exact times in each sport. Last year on the same course in perfect conditions I finished in 1:16:36, so I was about 9 minutes faster in the wind even! Also if I would have entered the Clydesdale division (guys over 200 pounds) , I would have won the division by better than 5 minutes! But I refuse to enter as a Clydesdale because it seems like handicapping for larger or overweight people, and that's pretty much the opposite of where I am at right now in my life! So I'll post the official results in a day or two, should have a better idea of how I did overall then. I also won a raffle at the end of the race! I won 2 pounds of TwinLabs protein powder to make shakes out of. Says on the bottle, "great way to add mass"....just what I need! I'm trying to lose weight here people! I tried to trade with some guy who won $100 sunglasses but no go. Oh well, I might try some this winter in the off-season or when ever I hit my goal weight and need to start adding calories to maintain that weight. Since I don't have a goal weight in mind yet, I don't foresee me eating it anytime in the near future. And I don't want to take it and like it since it is expensive, $20 for 27 servings!