CommentaryMy second race; also, how you can help me make triathlon about helping others
This past weekend I competed in the White Lake Sprint II, which is a half-mile swim, a 14.5-mile bike ride and a 5K run.
When I finished, I was glad to be done but felt a little disappointed that I hadn’t done better. I finished number 144 out of 301 men and with a time of 1:30:59.
Then I reviewed my times from each leg of the race and was quite pleasantly surprised with how well I actually did.
Each leg went as I expected. The swim was by far the most stressful; the bike, by far the most fun; the run, by far the most painful and most demanding.
Quick thoughts on each leg:
The Swim
This video sums up, entirely, the only way to truly prepare for an open-water swim to start a triathlon. And I’ll just leave it at that.
My swim time: 19:24. Solid. I will do better in the future now that I have that experience under my wetsuit, but I expected it to take about 20 minutes, so that was right on track.
The Bike
The wind was killer. Everyone said so. I was initially a little disappointed at not being able to meet my goal of staying above 20 mph for the whole course. Then I saw my time: 42:23. I think my best 14.5-mile time during training was around 45 minutes. And that was without a half-mile swim on my body.
The Run
I spent the first mile-and-a-half trying to keep my calves from cramping. I was trying to run on the balls of my feet, a trick I learned from Greg Koenig at Fitness For Life. He said that for us bigger guys, the less time our feet spend on the ground the better. I’ve been a midfoot striker most of my life. When I try to sprint I usually get up on the balls of my feet, and am always surprised at how much easier it is to run fast like that. On Friday, I ran 3 miles on the balls of my feet and it felt completely effortless.
All that said, running on the balls of your feet after swimming a half-mile then biking 14.5 miles when you haven’t trained much with that running form leads to cramps. Well, almost cramps.
I stopped to walk at the turnaround mark, drank some water, stretched a little bit, and ran the last half of the course much better. I ended with a sprint, which I couldn’t do in my first sprint triathlon a month ago. So that was cool.
I was disappointed with my run, though. Like with the bike, I thought it would be better. Then, again like with the bike, I saw my time and was happily surprised: 25:41. That’s not going to win anything, but it’s better than the 27:39 I posted at my first race, and again, this was after a much more difficult first two legs.
So whaddya know, training works.
New Stuff
Give me your money. OK, not really me – send me money to give to Hope 127. This is that to which I'm attaching my triathlon, in hopes of doing more through triathlon than simply helping myself.
Hope 127 is a ministry in Wilmington that supports Kenyan outreach to orphans and destitute children through Mama Hellen’s Rehabilitation Center. I’ll post more about this in the coming week, but the nuts and bolts of everything can be found by clicking the “Tri More” link in the overhead navigation up there. Basically, make checks out to PC3 (Port City Community Church, which facilitates the ministry) and write Hope 127 in the memo line. Mail those to me. I’ll get them to the right people.
Also, if you’re interested in sponsoring my efforts to help people, you can reimburse my gear costs or simply reimburse past entry fees or fund future competition entry fees. The more I can race, the more money I can raise. If you want to attach your sponsorship of me to a company or business or anything like that, I can arrange for you to advertise here and even write a promo post in exchange.
Thanks a ton – it means the world to me, and I can’t imagine how much it helps those kids. Katie – that is, The Gorgeous Wife – and I have decided to sponsor a child at Mama Hellen’s, and dude, it’s awesome just seeing their face and knowing Hey, we’re giving this kid a life he never imagined having. This stuff is real, and Hope 127 is a truly noble and trustworthy organization, which is why I picked them. Trust is huge, and I absolutely trust them.
Also….
This week I’m going to begin training with the aforementioned Greg Koenig on a new bike and run program he’s developed. I’m not entirely positive yet what we’ll be doing – I actually need to call him right now – but basically, he’s going to make me beastly. At least, he’ll do his best. I’ll train with him on that for a month and write about it here and perhaps in a local or regional magazine. Not sure about that yet; still waiting to contact and/or hear back from some people. But stay tuned.
Reader Comments (2)
Congrats on a another triathlon. I meant to say something last time but it seemed inconsiderate, but a triathlon that starts in a pool is a poor substitute for an open water swim Tri. But with this under your belt, you're golden! Do you or your group use heart rate for pacing workouts? I've started to do it and realize that especially on the bike where you kind of have no time to assess the wind's affect on your pace, you need to be going off HR, not MPH. You could spend lots of energy aiming for 20mph and not realize you're going into an 8 mph headwind. Keep up the good work for your cause.
Thanks man. And yeah, I feel the same way about the pool. I mean the WAC was an awesome first race and the club put on a great event, but there's nothing like that open-water wave start. Definitely like it way too much. Can't afford to keep dumping money on these entry fees. But man, it's a blast. Well, finishing is a blast.
And no, I don't have a heart rate monitor. I've seen lots of people use them and I'm sure I would benefit greatly from one, but that's just one more thing I don't want to spend money on right now. Maybe down the road. But right now I'm just happy to have a computer that tells me my MPH, haha.