September 2008 Archives
I try to avoid politics on my blog because they are so emotional and seem so "throw-away" but watching our system fall apart these past weeks has pissed me off beyond anything since Bush stole the election.
I'll be kicking you out of the soup line.
I just couldn't call it good at one triathlon this year, plus the bike route for the Kirkland Triathlon goes right by my house and starts/ends where I work! How could I resist?
This time I was less concerned with surviving and remembering to put my helmet on so I focused on beating my times and pushing myself. I'm quite happy with the results. MLEIV commented that I seemed happier the rest of that day than I had been in a long time. Something about competition like that really feels good. I don't know if its the brutal honesty of it (no talking your way to a better finish), the fact that winning isn't even on the list of options, so I am forced to focus only on my own performance, or just the crowds and pure social connections. Probably some combination of all 3.
Anyway, here are my times:
| Overall Time: | 1:47:29 |
| Place in my division (Males, 35-39): | 74 out of 79 |
| Swim time: | 18:10 |
| T1: | 3:43 |
| Bike time: | 49:18 |
| T2: | 3:31 |
| Run time: | 32:06 |
The swim time isn't much improved over Seafair, but I didn't panic and was passing people all the way in. My place after the swim was better than it was after the Seafair swim.
I shaved time off the first transition by staying focused. I could still do better.
The bike ride started off with me dropping my water bottle in front of the officials. They disqualify you if you don't pick it up so I lost 30 seconds while I swore up a storm and went back for it. The course is much more hilly than Seafair and I had been practicing it weekly for the last month in preparation. My time is 6 minutes faster than my fastest practice. So though its not super, its really good for me!
Funny story: as I'm huffing it up the last hill, a guy passes me. He weighs more than I do and puts out his fist saying "go Clydes!" I give him a bump as I try to figure out what he means. Kirkland tri has a "Clydesdale" category for men who are over 200 lbs. I decided not to register in that group and just go with my age. This guy thought I was in his Clydesdale group and was cheering me on. I was amazed he was passing me so fast. I looked him up after the race and he placed 27th overall!!! Freaking amazing. I guess there is such a thing as a healthy fat person...
As I came back to the transition area to switch to running, I got misdirected by well-intended volunteers. The result is I lost a good 30 seconds as I went the long way around.
Finally on the run my month of weekly "brick" workouts paid off. I actually managed to shave almost 2 minutes off! Again, not great overall, but very good for me.
As I said, it was one of the most positive experiences of my year and a great way lead up to my birthday. The trainers at the gym are trying to talk me into a half marathon at the end of November... maybe, but for sure I'm doing more triathlons next year with my eye on an Olympic distance one (double the length of the Sprint distance ones). I have a lot of training to do this winter...
