I finished! That was my goal. Not coming in dead last was just a bonus. (And in fact, I was last in my age group. Someone has to be.)
Tri the Illini Oct 2, 2011
overall 329/350 (number) 418/442 (place) (I have no idea what the difference is)
swim (300m) 11:14.6 (3:45 per 100m) – This includes the jog from the pool to the transition area. By my watch, the swim was about 9:49, which is still super slow. I did manage to pass two people: one guy stopped at the wall for no reason, and another guy was swimming across the deep part and walking the shallow ends, so I passed him while he was walking. I didn’t even try to count the people who passed me. Swimming is not my thing.
bike (14.5mi) 1:04:35.5 (13.4 mph) – Biking isn’t my thing either. This killed me. It was mostly flat (welcome to Illinois), but a little windy (welcome to Illinois), and we managed to be going into the wind in more than one direction. Still, it wasn’t much over an hour, which was what I’d expected. My legs were hurting, though, which doesn’t usually happen on long rides. Also, I had forgotten both my water bottles at home, so I didn’t have anything to drink until I started running. I don’t recommend that…
run (5k) 43:23.7 (14 min/mi) – Running is also not my thing (triathlon: where you get to be bad at three sports). My legs were killing me the whole time, so I did lots of walking, and eventually everything except one spot stopped hurting.
final 2:01:57.2 – The person who came in one place ahead of me beat me by about 45 seconds. She was in my age group, too, so I was only 45 s away from being not-last there.
This graph makes me laugh. Apparently not tying my shoes (I have elastic laces) or putting on a shirt after the swim means I gained 60 places after the first transition. And then lost them again on the bike.
Will I do this again next year? Maybe. I want to keep running, swimming, and biking, so why not. Next year I will remember my water, and should be a little faster at everything. And should have more endurance in general, because I’m signed up for a 10k next spring–I need to get my stamina up for tennis.
Good for you! It’s the effort we make to keep in shape that counts, not how many people we beat. Oh and I’d like to recommend the book Chi Running to you. I checked it out of the library on a recommendation from a friend. I’d been trying to run and couldn’t even run the couch potato program because of horrible shin splints. I started reading this book, figured a few things out, and now I’m running pain free. I’m even LIKING it, which I never expected.
I’ll see if I can find it next time I’m at the library. I think the main culprit here was kicking too much in the swim and not drinking on the bike, but that sounds like a helpful book anyway.