Last in division, last in age group.
Today was my first international distance triathlon and my second tri (since the Belews Lake International turned into a duathlon). It was another gutsy performance -- in that I finished. And it was another dead last finish. The way I look at it, I'm actually getting pretty good at triathlon but only if you measure something other than "speed". Whenever I get frustrated with how slow I am, I try to remember where I was almost exactly a year ago -- newly diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and could barely climb a flight of stairs. A year later, here I am.
Pre-race I had a granola bar, a banana and a handful of raisins. There were two rain showers before the swim start, but no rain at all on the course, which was lucky considering the forecast.
Swim (40:43, 2:15/100 yds). My biggest improvement was in the swim -- 40 minutes for 1500m and it was a steady and calm, consistent effort. Good sighting throughout and got to draft off people here and there.
Another cold, gloomy day.
T1 (5:00). uneventful except for getting the wetsuit off, which I haven't really practiced, and putting on socks, which I don't usually do but have some lingering blisters on my heels.
Bike (2:19:44, 12.7 mph) The bike course was hard -- lots of hills, much like Charlotte, and until I lose the weight built up in my sedentary years, gravity will not be my friend. Just as I was thinking how uneventful the bike was, my wheel got stuck in a rut in the side of the road and I went down. Fortunately, as I was climbing, I was barely moving so I didn't get hurt but my chain slipped down and got stuck badly between the bottom bracket and the cranks, which cost a few minutes and clean fingers. And then when I got back to transition I forgot to dismount before the line so in a panic I rushed to get off my bike and forgot to unclip. Helpful tip: always unclip before trying to dismount. You heard it here first. To sum up, hills don't like me. Nutrition on the bike was efficient and effective. In my water bottles I had 250 cals of reg Tailwind and 250 cals of caffeinated Tailwind. I had a stinger waffle at the start of the bike and 3 Huma gels and 1 stinger waffle every 7-8 miles of the bike. About 1100 cals.
Everything but the kitchen sink.
T2 (1:57). Uneventful. Bike to run is pretty quick.
Run (1:23:13, 13:11 pace). The run course was, not to put too fine a point on it, ridiculous. Hill after hill after hill. I spent the entire run with lots of leg soreness watching the tenths of miles slowly tick by. There was lots of walking up the steeper hills and through the water stations as I just struggled to get to each mile marker. I had water at each water stop and doused myself to cool down. I had a Huma gel at mile 3.
A hilly, hilly run.