The Prospect Lake Triathlon took place over the weekend. Although not my A-Race this year I would consider it one of my milestones for training prior to my half-iron.
The race was pretty awesome. There were around 300 or so participants. The were 24 male elite and 9 female elite triathletes. The most well known being Hunter Kemper. Who by the way finished overall number one - no doubt, the guy just looked so awesome as he passed by me on the bike. I could only hope and pray to get to his level of competition.
The age groupers totaled 180 men and 144 women. The weather was superb - water temps at 68-69 degrees. the air temp at the start was around 56 but warmed up quickly with the sun. There was no wind to speak of and no signs of rain either. The transition area was a little more crowded this year than last but everyone seemed to work together to get the space they needed. The air was full of anticipation, newbies and veterans mixed together and stories of past triathlons were numerous.
The swim was 750 meters. This was a beach start so it was a little more exciting than last year which was a water start. The newbies seemed a little leery of being in the mix but I don't think anyone got hurt. For the first time I jumped into the mix near the front. I wanted to be part of the close quarters swimming and I think I swam over the top of someone. OOPS :-( 
After the crowd thinned a little I found my groove and kept of a pretty good pace through the first and second buoy. The last leg I pushed my stroke faster and pulled away from a lot of the swimmers in my wave. I finished my swim with a time of 16:56, or 14th out of a wave of 42 men. That is my fastest swim yet and I felt great after getting out of the water. I was not completely wasted after the swim and got into transition right away.
My T1 was the fastest yet for me at 1:56. My wetsuit stripped off easily and I got into my bike shoes and off I went. I recently purchased a new Louis Garneau Helmet and I used it for this race. I felt good getting on the bike and had no problems mounting.
The bike was a 4 loop 13.2 mile course. It is moderately hilly. The road conditions were fair with quite a few creases in the road and there were some rocks in the road. The bike ride went well although I did throw a chain to the inside of the crank while shifting but I was able to recover with a little creative shifting. My time on the bike was 39:44 which placed me 5th in my age group, out of 26th. I am pretty happy with my progress on the bike. I came into T2 out of my shoes and had no problems dismounting. My T2 time was only 1:13.
The run was a 5K around the lake. It seemed a lot longer. My legs did not feel as rubbery for this run but I just could not get my speed going. I felt a little wasted, washed out. I did take a gel while out on the bike but I think I should have taken in more calories than I did. I finished the run in 25:45 an 8:17 min/mi that was a slower than my last triathlon run. I will be looking at my training schedule and modifying it to work more on my running before I head out for my half.
I finished with a total of 1:25:35. That placed me 9th out of 26 men 40-44 and 80th overall out of 180 men. I still have a lot of work to do before Timberman. But at least now I know that I am improving. Some day I may get a chance to stand on the podium - I always have my podium clothes packed. Don't you? Ciao! |
