Moss Park Tri - Complete. I am writing this note to you in my post-race funk, and boy, let-me-tell-ya, I have not had a funk like this since my first big workout back in February. I am way dehydrated, and so I have a headache, and I woke up at 4:20 this morning so I could eat something, so I am tired. I also had two pieces of peanut-butter toast for breakfast at 4:30, and did not eat anything else until I was done with the race at 10:00. Then I had a banana and a piece of pizza at the race, then waited until I got cleaned up at home before eating anything else. Then, I also raced as hard as I freaking could for 3 straight hours. That alone is enough to put someone in a hurt locker, and coupled with the other stuff gives me a race-hangover. Enough on that, I have to let you know something important.
My family is the most friggin awesome-est family in the WORLD!. I told them that they did not have to get up this morning to come watch, but they insisted that they wanted to. They proceeded to come, cheer me on, and also to cheer on all of my friends!
I have suspicions that my wife is the main reason Kate completed the race today! (She had a really bad day, flat tire, accident on corner caused by said flat tire, then she had to replace the tire and get back into into it. Enough to make a lesser man throw in the towel, but she is not a lesser man!) After the race, I found out that once she was able to make it back, Josy helped her focus through transition 2 and get back out on the course for the run. She got goal C instead of D! ( I think C was finishing with a smile, and D was finishing.) And you can't not smile when everyone is cheering for you at the end! Brandi and Rick went out and paced her to the finish. We were proud to do it. She is an awesome person.
On to the race info! Moss Park is a great place to have a race. It is very pretty in the morning, just as the sun peaks out over the trees, 3, 2, 1, GO! My swim goal was to split the difference between what I think really good swimmers can do, and what I swam in May at Miami. I was looking for about a 30 minute swim. I am going to call 30 minutes and one second ACHIEVED! Especially since they were talking about the swim being a little long. It sure did seem like a long way, but honestly, every leg seems longer when you string them all together. There was my family, cheering me on. Chokes me up a little bit... hold on....
T1 was alright. Not great. I decided for this race to wear my hot weather UnderArmour full sleeved top. That was kinda tough to get into wet, but I am glad I wore it. I was cool the entire time, and I am not talking cool Fonzi cool, I am talking cool blood not boiling like MAGMA cool. So, even though that took a second, I put on all my stuff, and took off. I thought it was a good transition, but it was still a little long. I need to work on the OCD thang so I don't check off my checklists so much during the race, once is enough.
Today was my first flying mount onto the bike. That was a good time. I was on the bike in a jiffy. I was not necessarily flying when I got on, but it was pretty quick. It was more like a quick horse mount, but not the kind where you see them bounce. Only problem I had was getting the friggin shoes on my feet afterwards. I had some of this problem last night when I was practicing, but I did not realize how long it would take to get my stupid shoes on! So, after struggling to get the tongues not stuck under my foot, and trying to get them fastened. Pain in the butt! Anyway, I finally got them situated, and rode the bike, FOREVER! I was trying to keep between 18 and 20 the entire time, and since there were no hills or obstacles the only time I went slower was turning the corners. Goal of 1:15, guess what my time was? 1 hour 15 minutes! Goal: ACHIEVED!
I am better at dismount than at the mount, so I looked pretty cool (if I do say so myself) coming in to the transition area at a few miles an hour and passing people who were struggling to get off the bike or running in their bike shoes. Anyway, this transition was not a hard one, since all i really had to do was drop off the bike, take off my helmet, and put on my running shoes. Still slow, but not horrible. Then I started the run. This is about where the race stretched to eternity.
Running for me is not so easy. During my practices running is uncomfortable at best, and I can not go very fast, even when I do not do other things like biking or swimming before. When I do a BRICK, (Bike-Run-Ick) Running is not so good, so a race speed bike, and a race speed swim (both of which I got a PR in by the way...) does not a recipe for a successful run make. (Ever notice how old sayings sound like they are spoken by Yoda?) I started out slow and out of breath, and I really never caught my stride. The first water stop was 1 mile in, and I was carrying a bottle of electolyte drinks because I know I get overheated and run out of water, so my plan was to drink a whole sportsbottle of electrolytes and get water at every stop. First stop, got a water, took a nice drink, it was a full cup of COOL water. I thought how nice it would be to dump it on my head. That is what people do! I dumped on my head, and could not breathe for a few. It was COLD! So, running, running, running, running. Finally, I got to the second lap. I heard some footsteps behind me, and on a whim I said, "Does this trail ever end??" It was Kate, and I think I surprised her out of a run induced stupor, cause she said " ACK! ". I learned a little about her problems, and we ran most of my second lap together. Unfortunately, it was still her first lap, and she was not in the groove with the run either, so at about 1 mile from finish, I kept running while she took a break. This is probably a good thing, since this is when my shoes started to squeek. If it isn't one thing it is another. At one point in the run half of my right foot went numb, and somewhere in there my HR monitor went haywire and started beeping at me like mad. Kinda disconcerting to look down and see you are doing 103% of your max heart rate! I hope that the monitor was just mis-firing. It did that twice during the race. 222 beats per minute. Max heart rate should be 220- your age, so mine should be like 185. Anyway, I finished to loud yells from family and friends. Enough so that the announcer mentioned, "Ryan, it sounds like you have a lot of fans." or something of that nature. I do not know what she said. I was exhausted. 1 hour 7 minutes for the run. I beat my last run by a bit, but the distances were skewed. Miami was a 12:48 minute mile which I know is snail slow. Today was an 11:55 minute mile average, which is about a minute per mile faster. I did not hit my goal of sub 50 minute run, but I did improve substantially over last time, which I appreciate. So I am curious what I was thinking setting a goal of 8.5 minute miles after all that other stuff. I don't even run that fast when I am running by itself.. Goal: WHAT WAS I THINKING!
And my total time was good - figuring that I pooched my goal for the run. Get this total time 2 hours 58 minutes 23 seconds, and Second place in the Super-Clydesdale division. The other guy beat me by a half hour. I think he was 225lbs of more muscle than I have. I am not too concerned. I will either beat him at the next race, OR will not be able to register for this division. Honestly, I hope it is both.
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