OSU Triathlon

Just like the Olympic flame currently in Asia, there was a passing of the torch yesterday. Yes, yesterday, I lost to Dave.

Sure there are a lot of excuses I could make, but hands down he’s a better biker and that’s going to make all the difference. Of course, my sister says that Dave should put a big sign in the yard proclaiming he beat me and have people honk as they go by. Such a nice sister!

It didn’t start well for me. I don’t know what it is about a triathlon swim, but it just freaks me out. And this was in a pool! I couldn’t get my heart rate down and therefore, backstroked half of it. HALF OF IT! Funny part is, I’m a really strong backstroker and I started catching people, so I turned over and stuck my face in the water just went. I caught Dave and was right on his toes. We got out of the water at the same time and I beat him to the transition. And I beat him out of the transition very quickly.

I actually thought the bike was going pretty well. I probably only had about 10 people pass me—much better than normal. One of those people was Dave and he passed me within the first three miles. But I should have known I wasn’t doing that well as the only people I passed were mountain bikers. Finally the bike was over and I made a good transition to the run.

I got shoelace clip-thingies for my laces, but I like my laces pretty tight and had plenty left over so I had to stop a few minutes into my run and tuck my extra laces. That’s when the one and only person passed me on the run. I caught him again later, but he passed me back up. Anyway, I had a great run even though I think the miles were short. My first mile was a 7:47 and I thought that was good. HA! My second mile was a 6:58. It was in that second mile that I saw Dave. I gave him a high five and said, “You proved you’re more superior.” The woman behind him (his dentist, by the way) smiles. I kept catching people and getting faster. I sprinted my way to the finish. My last mile was 6:42. I was cooking on that run!

I must say, it was a bit discouraging. I gave up trying to tri three years ago because I couldn’t figure out the bike mystery and wasn’t willing to put in the time to solve it. This time I’m a little more willing to put in the work on the bike, but I don’t want to sacrifice my running. A longer race, and I would have done pretty good, but the truth is—I’m a runner trying to fake it as a triathlete. We’ll give it the summer and then really decide if I want to try Ironman.

Oh, but I did beat my goal yesterday which was 1:30. I ran a 1:19:51.

Swim (400m) = 9:32
T1 = 1:33
Bike (20K) = 45:45 (16.3 pace)
T2 = 1:27
Run (3 mi) = 21:34 (7:11 pace)
Total = 1:19:51