RAGE

I finished. Awfully slow but I set my PR in the Olympic or international distance. 1K (0.9 mile) swim, 40K (25 mile) bike, 10K (6 mile) run. I am pleased with the result since I am very new to this training, lifestyle, and culture. It was fun. I would like to say thank you to the people who made it out to support me. Stephen, Karl, Cheryl, Jake, Kristin, Art, and Isabelle. YOU GUYS ROCK! There will be pictures and video posted in the next few days. Here is how the race went:

Swim: I arrived at lake mead a little later than I wanted to. I anticipated not sleeping and actually slept very soundly. I asked some dudes to move over on the rack and got my transition area set up. Said hello to my friends/family who showed up to support me. THANKS AGAIN. Got into my wetsuit and proceeded down to the water. Didn't really have a lot of time to get warmed up and I wasn't really confident with how much actual time I had before the start. This time I was ready to mix it up with the rest of the masses. The gun went off and I began the swim. I was able to stick at the back of the pack for the first 300 yards or so but then started to get a little freaked out. I had a guy trying to draft and he kept hitting my calf messing up my rhythm. I almost elbowed him but he finally left after the 3rd time. I took a lot of breaks in the water and my goggles were bugging me. A fast time for me since the best I did in the pool was 42:00 or so. My official time for the swim 37:04. What can I do to get faster? First of all don't take breaks. A kin to walking during a run. I can get right up in the mix and try to stay with the group. My body felt great though during the swim. I was not tired at all.

Transition 1 (T1): Swim to bike
A bit slow by design. Official time: 5:02. Don't crash trying to go too fast. Get hydrated, get all the right things in place as far as equipment goes. What can I do to get faster? Practice, practice, practice.

Bike: As I headed north onto lakeshore drive we experienced a little of a head wind for the first 8 miles or so. My legs were sluggish. I couldnt get into a rhythm. When I analyze the bike course compared to training I went faster per hill then I ever did. I did reach my maximum speed ever on a bike at 36.0 mph. But I did not have my best ride time compared to me during training. I got passed like I was standing still. Stellar bikes with fit athletes=much faster than me. Overall I rode my race. My back and my thighs were very tired and sore. My Official time was: 1:47:50. What can I do to get faster? I think I need to spend a lot more time on the bike. May be even incorporate a cycling coach. May be a step up in bike. I dont know I want him to evaluate me and let me know. I would like to hang out with some ride groups and surround myself with faster riders.

T2:
The heat started to pour on. At no time in my training did I experience heat like today. It is a sign of things to come but I was hot. I hydrated, got into my running sneaks, and I was out. This one was slower than I hoped. Official time was: 4:31. What can I do to get faster? Practice, practice, practice.

RUN:
My best discipline. Can I get back on track? I got into the first 1/2 mile and the R quad starts to rebel. Cramping. I looked down and realized my trishorts were riding up. It ended up working out real nice. No trouble with the quad after that. The majority of the run is up or down. Nothing flat. Mostly dirt too. They spaced out water stations well. I was tired. I ended up only walking during the cramp and a little at the water stations. I arrived at the finish line excited to see my friends so happy for me. I am proud of my accopmlishment but eager to get back out there to get faster. My official time: 1:03:36. What can I do to get better? Keep progressing using the speed techniqes I know so well. I am making the most progress in this side of things. I have the Santa Barbara Half to PR in my 1/2 marathon. Hopefully a 10 min PR. May be even break the 2 hour mark.

OVERALL:
My overall time was 3:38:02. 198th place overall in the individual olympic of 233. 20th place out of 24 in the clydesdale division. Those of us over 200 pounds that is. If I would have not been in the clydesdale division I would have been second to last place. They guy who won the clydesdales also was second overall. May be us big guys can compete! He beat me by 1 hour and 15 min or so. I am happy for the experience and really its a starting point. Next year can I beat it by 30 minutes? an hour? Who knows but I sure will have fun training. Congratulations to my friend and hopefully future training partner JENNIFER GRUBE. 2nd in her age group, right under 3 hours in 2:57:48. Nice work girl. I watched a special on last years silverman and a lot of it surrounded Chris McCormack. A professional triathlete from austratlia who has won Kona. (hes good) I took this quote from his website:

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." —Mohammed Ali

Hopefully he will compete again this year so I can say we raced in the same race together.