Official race results and split times can be viewed here.
Let me just say first off this was one of my favorite races I've done to date, I'm really glad I decided to do this event. I was nervous going in to this race since it was my first multi sport event, I've only been cycling for 2 months, I had no idea how transitions would work, and I've only done one run/bike brick workout so I had no real idea how my legs would handle the transition from cycling to running.
The race is held out at Loud Thunder which is a 40 minute drive so I left the house about 6 am after a light breakfast, I've found that I much rather prefer to arrive early and let all the pre-race jitters run their course before the race while I warm up and wait. I've found that seems to help me avoid going out to fast and experiencing that adrenalin dump a few minutes into a race. So after checking in and figuring out the transition area, I set my bike at the furthest corral, my biggest fear was having a collision with someone coming in or out that was "really" racing the event and thus causing them to have a bad time. This was a first time event for me so I wasn't worried about my time, or how fast I moved through the transition area, I just wanted to have fun and get some experience at a multi sport event.
Run #1
After lining up and receiving some pre race instructions and cautions about gravel on the bike course we were ready to start. I headed out at a pretty easy pace, I was hoping to go around 8:30/mile, I didn't want to go to fast and burn my legs out before the bike portion, especially since I got a pre race warning from a friend about the hills and their level of difficulty. After about half a mile I looked at my GPS and saw that I was right at 8 min pace and it was feeling pretty comfortable so I decided to hold that through the turn around at the 1 mile mark and picked it up a little on the way back in, I finished the first run leg in 15:26, avg pace of 7:57 and 66th overall which I am very happy with since in this field by comparison I am not nearly as strong a runner.
The first transition was kind of a blur, I certainly now understand why most Tri shoes are slip on's or quick release laces, trying to untie your shoes immediately after a hard run isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world. After getting my cycling shoes on and taking my bike off the rack I was headed out for the bike portion.
Bike
Heading out on the bike I was a little nervous, I've never competed in a cycling event and going out of the transition area with your bike in tow is a bit hectic, I made my way to the opposite side of the exit as to be out of the way. After mounting my bike and getting my shoes locked in I was off, I started off slow just to see how my legs would respond and to navigate the exiting area without incident. Once we got past the area where they had warned us about the gravel, I started to pick up speed and was actually surprised at how easy I was passing people. I'm not a very fast runner, my build and size just work against me to much in that area but I think on the bike I can at least overcome that some with the leg strength I have from years of sports and heavy lifting. All that being said I was still concerned about burning up quickly, after all I was only 2 miles in to what would be 19 mile event and I knew there were some major hill climbs to come. The first hill wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected, I carried a lot of momentum from the down hill and was able to climb fairly easy, even passing a couple more people, in fact I was only passed by one person on the bike portion and I ended up passing that person a few minutes later. The second major hill was the one I was warned about and it lived up to and surpassed my expectations, easily the toughest hill I've gone up. As I was making my way towards and up the hill, the leaders were flying by going the other direction, it is truly amazing to watch some of these athletes do what they can do running and cycling. After making the turnaround it was a nice long flat stretch before heading down the hill and I was looking forward to flying down it, according to my GPS I hit a top speed of 40 mph, and let me tell you what if you don't feel a rush going 40 mph on road bike you just ain't alive my friend. The last and final climb in my opinion was the worst, it was so much steep as it was long and winding, you could never get any momentum going so it was a grind the whole way. I was able to catch and pass a couple more people before making the turn and the home stretch to the next transition. I finished the bike portion in 49:25 avg speed of 17.9 mph and a very surprising 51st overall fastest bike.
The transition from the bike to the run was only slightly more difficult then run to bike, trying to tie your shoes on wobbly legs with a thumping heart trying to jump right out of your chest while sucking wind is some what of a challenge, once again those Tri shoes sure looked good at that point.
Run #2
I left the transition area on what can only be described as rubber chicken legs, how I managed to run at that point was beyond me. I was almost certain that I was moving at a 10-12 min pace, it certainly felt that way. I resisted the temptation to look at my GPS right away, because I was afraid of the demoralizing effect confirming my sluggish pace might have on me. I have often been on a long run of 16-20+ miles and had to make that final 1-2 mile push home and I am always able to convince myself that there is nothing to it, you can do that in your sleep. Well that certainly doesn't hold true for a multi sport event, the sheer difference in how your muscle work in each separate discipline and the overall fatigue, with 2 more miles to go, if I would have confirmed how slow I thought I was going it might as well have been 20 more, at that point all I could do was keep pushing forward and hope for the best. Luckily that didn't take to long, about half a mile into the run the rubber chicken leg feeling started to go away and I decided to sneak a peek at the GPS, and boy was I shocked out of my skull when I saw I was moving at a 8 min mile pace. That was all the confidence I needed to finish strong, suddenly another mile plus didn't seem so far and after I made the turn around and headed back I picked up the pace and even passed a couple people. I finished the last run in 13:49 with a 7:38 min/mile pace which was the 42 fastest second run. I finished 60th Overall and 6th in my age group (30-34) with an official time of 1:21:24, I am extremely proud that I was able to improve my position in each leg of the race, by comparison by transition times were much slower than the people who finished around me, which is just my inexperience and something I can easily improve upon for next time...oh yes there will be a next time!
Let me just say first off this was one of my favorite races I've done to date, I'm really glad I decided to do this event. I was nervous going in to this race since it was my first multi sport event, I've only been cycling for 2 months, I had no idea how transitions would work, and I've only done one run/bike brick workout so I had no real idea how my legs would handle the transition from cycling to running.
The race is held out at Loud Thunder which is a 40 minute drive so I left the house about 6 am after a light breakfast, I've found that I much rather prefer to arrive early and let all the pre-race jitters run their course before the race while I warm up and wait. I've found that seems to help me avoid going out to fast and experiencing that adrenalin dump a few minutes into a race. So after checking in and figuring out the transition area, I set my bike at the furthest corral, my biggest fear was having a collision with someone coming in or out that was "really" racing the event and thus causing them to have a bad time. This was a first time event for me so I wasn't worried about my time, or how fast I moved through the transition area, I just wanted to have fun and get some experience at a multi sport event.
Run #1
After lining up and receiving some pre race instructions and cautions about gravel on the bike course we were ready to start. I headed out at a pretty easy pace, I was hoping to go around 8:30/mile, I didn't want to go to fast and burn my legs out before the bike portion, especially since I got a pre race warning from a friend about the hills and their level of difficulty. After about half a mile I looked at my GPS and saw that I was right at 8 min pace and it was feeling pretty comfortable so I decided to hold that through the turn around at the 1 mile mark and picked it up a little on the way back in, I finished the first run leg in 15:26, avg pace of 7:57 and 66th overall which I am very happy with since in this field by comparison I am not nearly as strong a runner.
The first transition was kind of a blur, I certainly now understand why most Tri shoes are slip on's or quick release laces, trying to untie your shoes immediately after a hard run isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world. After getting my cycling shoes on and taking my bike off the rack I was headed out for the bike portion.
Bike
Heading out on the bike I was a little nervous, I've never competed in a cycling event and going out of the transition area with your bike in tow is a bit hectic, I made my way to the opposite side of the exit as to be out of the way. After mounting my bike and getting my shoes locked in I was off, I started off slow just to see how my legs would respond and to navigate the exiting area without incident. Once we got past the area where they had warned us about the gravel, I started to pick up speed and was actually surprised at how easy I was passing people. I'm not a very fast runner, my build and size just work against me to much in that area but I think on the bike I can at least overcome that some with the leg strength I have from years of sports and heavy lifting. All that being said I was still concerned about burning up quickly, after all I was only 2 miles in to what would be 19 mile event and I knew there were some major hill climbs to come. The first hill wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected, I carried a lot of momentum from the down hill and was able to climb fairly easy, even passing a couple more people, in fact I was only passed by one person on the bike portion and I ended up passing that person a few minutes later. The second major hill was the one I was warned about and it lived up to and surpassed my expectations, easily the toughest hill I've gone up. As I was making my way towards and up the hill, the leaders were flying by going the other direction, it is truly amazing to watch some of these athletes do what they can do running and cycling. After making the turnaround it was a nice long flat stretch before heading down the hill and I was looking forward to flying down it, according to my GPS I hit a top speed of 40 mph, and let me tell you what if you don't feel a rush going 40 mph on road bike you just ain't alive my friend. The last and final climb in my opinion was the worst, it was so much steep as it was long and winding, you could never get any momentum going so it was a grind the whole way. I was able to catch and pass a couple more people before making the turn and the home stretch to the next transition. I finished the bike portion in 49:25 avg speed of 17.9 mph and a very surprising 51st overall fastest bike.
The transition from the bike to the run was only slightly more difficult then run to bike, trying to tie your shoes on wobbly legs with a thumping heart trying to jump right out of your chest while sucking wind is some what of a challenge, once again those Tri shoes sure looked good at that point.
Run #2
I left the transition area on what can only be described as rubber chicken legs, how I managed to run at that point was beyond me. I was almost certain that I was moving at a 10-12 min pace, it certainly felt that way. I resisted the temptation to look at my GPS right away, because I was afraid of the demoralizing effect confirming my sluggish pace might have on me. I have often been on a long run of 16-20+ miles and had to make that final 1-2 mile push home and I am always able to convince myself that there is nothing to it, you can do that in your sleep. Well that certainly doesn't hold true for a multi sport event, the sheer difference in how your muscle work in each separate discipline and the overall fatigue, with 2 more miles to go, if I would have confirmed how slow I thought I was going it might as well have been 20 more, at that point all I could do was keep pushing forward and hope for the best. Luckily that didn't take to long, about half a mile into the run the rubber chicken leg feeling started to go away and I decided to sneak a peek at the GPS, and boy was I shocked out of my skull when I saw I was moving at a 8 min mile pace. That was all the confidence I needed to finish strong, suddenly another mile plus didn't seem so far and after I made the turn around and headed back I picked up the pace and even passed a couple people. I finished the last run in 13:49 with a 7:38 min/mile pace which was the 42 fastest second run. I finished 60th Overall and 6th in my age group (30-34) with an official time of 1:21:24, I am extremely proud that I was able to improve my position in each leg of the race, by comparison by transition times were much slower than the people who finished around me, which is just my inexperience and something I can easily improve upon for next time...oh yes there will be a next time!
I'm also glad that I was able to represent team Live Uncommon well, this is a group I came across a few months back that embodies the spirit of giving back by being an example of what living a healthy balanced lifestyle is all about. As I've gone on my journey to change my life physically I have realized that I'm also changing who I am at my core and what kind of example I want to be for my children and Live Uncommon is a perfect representation of that life I want to lead. For example each time I passed someone through out the race I tried to give them encouragement or tell them good job, as I found out yesterday, this is an extremely hard sport and just lining up for the race is a testament to the dedication and hard work one needs to put in to be successful, no matter what level that is. I know in past races I've had someone give me encouragement, a perfect stranger passing me on their way to the finish line, they could of just gone on and not said anything but those few words always seem to motivate me to push a little harder to get through to the end, I just hope I can do the same for others and remember...
...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.
Me with overall winner Jeff Paul check out his blog @ Dream Big JP
Awesome, job! Congrats on doing so well.
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