Results: Overall Men and Age Group
Highlights:
49 out 342 men overall
37 fastest men's bike
42 fastest men's run (20:06 for a 5K)
10th in age group 40 - 44
I was expecting big things. I bought a wetsuit and it drastically improved my swim times. What I did not plan on were the waves and they punished me. I was hoping for a 14:30 swim and I end up with a 16:30 swim. Even Worse, I got out of the water and I was tired so I started the bike slow.
It was a two 7 mile bike course, the first lap was 22 mph and after I recovered from the swim I was able to average over 24 mph on the second loop. If there was a positive (and there always is) I clocked in a 20:07 in the 5K run which is a great time. I was hoping for a 21:00 run so I smashed that goal. But without the Bike time to strengthen my performance I was relegated to 10th place in my class which is not the top 5 that I was hoping for. I think that splits will show that the swim cost me a top five and bike cost me a top three.
You can see from the splits the first lap (red) was way slower then second (blue)On a personal level, I was happy that even though I did not have a great result I had a great time. I was also thrilled by the support - Margo, Rosemary, Mike Beaman and many others were there cheering for me. Stacey Richardson (Elite Female Winner) even offered some on course advise as she zipped past me on the bike. She said "Diesel Tip" - You got to have the RPM up high. Running in a high gear especially after the swim is too tiring. GEAR IT LOW AND GO.
I am going to take a few weeks off from racing. The next NC Series (points) race is in 6 weeks, the Tri Latta race. I will probably race one time in between. In the meantime, I will be practicing my swimming and trying to get out into the open water.
