Lititz Triathlon Recap
I do have one regret from last weekend’s triathlon…I should have gone harder. I’ve had the mentality lately of showing up and doing the work without pushing myself. Sunday’s race was no different. I swam and biked with minimal effort.
I am competitive but I’ve tried to keep it under control the last few years. It is more with myself than it is with other people. However, a little friendly competition isn’t going to hurt. The friend that got me into triathlons was doing this one. We both signed up last minute without any true training for the tri. But CrossFit trains you for anything, right?!
Our assumptions were: I had the swim, he had he bike, and the run would be a toss up. I hadn’t swam since the beginning of June so I was slightly worried. The swim was serpentine style and I had entered with a slower time since I really wasn’t sure how I would stack up…I didn’t want to be he bottleneck. Well that was mistake number one…although I’m not sure putting a faster time for the 300m swim would’ve helped. It was difficult to pass people and the man I was behind did not let me pass, even tho I was breast stroking behind him VERY SLOWLY and hit his foot/leg every stroke.
Going for the PASS!
MOVE!!!
T1 was fast, for me. Not sure how that happened, maybe knowing I had to keep the lead and every little bit would help?
Holy hell the 15.8 mile bike course was hilly AF. Didn’t expect that…also did no research for the race…typical. Fortunately, I figured out how the gears worked on the first few hills. Some of those hills were steep (going up and going down!), it was slightly intimidating. I’m proud of myself for getting up all of them and not having to walk up! 10 miles in – I kept looking behind me. I knew my friend should be catching up to me soon. 12 miles in – FUCKIN’ A there are his bright orange shorts behind me. Once he passed I was determined to not let him out of my sight. And for the next 3 miles , that is exactly what I did. I shocked him by keeping up. Breaking it down – the first 10 miles were in the 15 MPH range. The last 5 averaged 17 MPH! Guess I had it in me to go a little harder on that course…mistake 2…he wouldn’t have been able to gain so much time on me!
Chomping down on a coconut fat ball
Not giving up that easily on the run
We were in T2 at the same time and set off on the run together. This is where I fell apart. My legs felt like lead weights and I know he was hurting. I did edge in front of him for like 10 feet and then instantly lost it. I HAD to walk….I switched up my strategy 30 second walk and 3 minute run. It works! Third mistake – letting him know my plan so he was able to push himself to stay a head. I was right on him for most of the 5K. The last quarter of a mile, I cramped up BAD! I’ve never been in that much pain! My friend had made the turn to the finish line and I was not going to let him win that easily. I pushed myself through the cramps in my knees, almost crying, and “sprinted” to the finish…and then basically collapsed after finishing…almost on top of my friend HAHAHA! I think we killed each other, but all in good fun!
Finishing strong
I am bummed my friend beat me. But I’m also DAMN PROUD of myself. I didn’t train for this tri. I conquered that hilly course at the same pace, if better, than what I would do if I went out on my own on FLAT trails. Yes, I ran/walked the run but I still managed finishing it in 27 minutes!
June 2016 was my first tri and my friend beat me by 6 minutes. This year, he beat me by 4 minutes. 2018 I’m coming for ya!
Course time:
- Total: 1:38:39
- Swim: 7:18
- T1: 3:10
- Bike: 59:32
- T2: 1:10
- Run: 27:27