Yes, here we are almost at the end of September! It has been a busy month. A bit late for my review of my last triathlon but here it is!A few weeks ago, the Championship Tri was here in Innsbrook again. I and some friends of mine took the challenge and competed in the QuarterMax on September 16h. The HalfMax (a half IronMan) was the previous day but that will have to wait for next year!
Overall it was similar to the Tri in June, same course but now twice as long. I stayed with a friend at one of the condos at the private resort so I didn't have to make the 1 1/2 drive to the private resort out in Wright City, MO from Illinois. It was already a long day as earlier that day I was up in Springfield, IL visiting my brother's family for a birthday. After all of that I went home and checked all of my stuff and drove out to Innsbrook that evening. We relaxed and watched some previous Ironman videos to inspire us to greatness for the big event.
Sunday was warmer than the previous morning, and as we arrived at the transition there were a few dawning their wetsuits for the swim. I had no wetsuit and the water was still a warm 73 degrees so I wasn't worried. There was a moment of silence for former Triathlete Kevin Hunt who had died in previous Triathlon in June. His father was there to say a few words which had to take lots of courage but showed great respect for the sport.
After all of the prep work and training it was time to test ourselves and push our bodies to the limit once again. As we wading in the water anticipating the start (now there was a new option to start after the mass wave now) I wondered how I would do and if I could finish before 3 hours. It was possible, the temp was cooler so our heart rates would be lower, therefore resulting in a faster time.
After all of the prep work and training it was time to test ourselves and push our bodies to the limit once again. As we wading in the water anticipating the start (now there was a new option to start after the mass wave now) I wondered how I would do and if I could finish before 3 hours. It was possible, the temp was cooler so our heart rates would be lower, therefore resulting in a faster time.
The swim went okay, still having problems with the goggles (leaking during the swim) I managed to finish in little over 20 minutes (1000 meter) and off to the T1 transition were I dawned my helmet and bike shoes to tackle the 28 mile bike loop of undulating hills. The bike part is my strongest and I did well although I lost time behind a tractor trailer (ugggg!) trying to pass two other bikers so that slowed me down but still managed a 19.6 avg for the entire ride. Then it was off to the T2 for the fun run of 6.5 miles. I wanted a quicker transition this time and ran with no socks! I paid a bit for that at the end as I started some blisters on my right foot (doh!). I managed a sub 9 minute pace (8:46 to be exact) and that was more than 30 seconds faster than my June Tri at Innsbook with all of the hills and gravel on this run so that was an improvent (boo yahh!). My total time was 2:42:05 about 32 minutes behind the leader in my age group so I was 12th out 17 in my age group, which is not good but this was the championship weekend so this brought out all of the tri studs, which, as a beginner, am not.
Lots of fun, good food and lesson learned for the next Tri race. I enjoy the course there at Innsbrook although it would be nice if those country roads we biked on were closed as this can cause problems sometimes. Overall I gained some more experience and hope to fine tune my T1 and T2 times for the next Triathlon in the future. For now, I will concentrate on my run as this is my biggest weakness and where I lose most of my time.
till next time....
Red Horse - Brett
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