 What a totally awesome triathlon. This surpassed all my expectations.
The Prospect Lake Traithlon was held in Colorado Springs, CO. It is the 1st Annual event that is sure to grow to incredible size in a short time. The race was held within the borders of Memorial Park. I think there were about 290 participants including age groupers (like myself), military and elite athletes.
The weather was cool to start with clear skies. Water temperature was about 68 degrees. The lake was calm except for the wake from the rescue vehicles. The general mood of the crowd before the race was excitement and anticipation. I felt really good for the morning of a race. My anxiety level was low, which is really wierd.
Pre-Race warmups. My support crew kept asking me how I was feeling, all I could say was I was feeling great. I think they expected me to be nervous or wacked out, but I felt calm. I got a great spot for my transition area and had everything set up just the way I like it. I checked my bike out and went through my transition area 3-4 times to make sure everything was where is should be. I got on my wetsuit and headed out to the water for a quick warm-up before race time. My wave started on time, everything was timed using Champion Chips. As I started swimming I did feel a rush of anxiety come over me as my face hit the water. Looking up and sighting the first buoy, I felt out of breath and out of rhythm. I slowed for a few strokes and remembered an article I read about calming down on the swim and relaxing. I counted my strokes, took in good breaths and concentrated on my technique. After a few more stokes I did finally relax and the swimming took over. The 750 meters took me a little over 16 minutes. I still have work to do with my swim but I am really proud of my time. My T1 looked a little slow on paper but the timing mat was set next to the water and the  transition area was long. I did have trouble taking off my wetsuit which did slow me down. I got on the bike and headed out. The bike portion went great. it was a pretty hilly course. I felt strong on the bike, my past cycling training helped with the tight corners and fast downhills. I reached speeds of 39mph and pushed every portion of the 13.1 miles finishing in 46.07 and back into transition. T2 was alot faster - 1.49. And off I was on a great run. The route was flat with a few rollers. The weather was still pretty cool. My legs felt like rubber for the first mile, and felt tight for most of the rest of the run. I started picking off other runners by mile 2 and kept up a good pace till the end. Although not my fastest time on a 5K run I did well finishing in 27:21. 
Overall I placed 8/20 for my age division. Not bad for a newbie. I know where my weaknesses are and plan on working on them for the next month. I plan on competing at this same course the 1st of August with the Rocky Mountain Games. I want to be able to show improvement by then. Now that I know the course I will be able to plan my strategy out better. |
