Medals

After my little sprint triathlon last Sunday I was presented with a medal. Of course I took it, but it doesn't really mean anything to me. I guess I'm asking for your perspective. In my opinion I really don't think a race needs (should?) give out a medal unless it's at least a marathon and at least a half iron triathlon. Maybe a half marathon? Maybe. Or not. I made this statement to my wife and she said that is an elitist point of view and that even people who can only do shorter races deserve medals. Really? I say, inspire them to go further.

Does this go all the way down to the participation award trophies that every little boy or girl in America gets when they play any kind of organized sport regardless of their win/loss record? I don't know. I know I didn't receive any thing unless we won the championship game.

Anyway, I made the statement and I stand by it. Most people can do more than they think they can, maybe a medal out there will motivate them to do it. Am I way off base?

By the way, this cold I have is really putting a buzzkill on my running jones.

8/18 3.33 @ 9:00
8/20 4.33 @ 8:46

Again I Tri'd

You know, I really need to start training if I'm going to keep doing all these triathlons. The problem is, even if I only swim or bike once every 2 weeks, I can still finish comfortably. Sure I'm slower than I would be if I trained but I guess I'm too lazy to do that. Actually that's not entirely true. I would definitely train more if the kids were in school. A few more weeks I guess.

The tri I did a couple weeks ago was weighted toward the bike and the next had a longer run. Well this one had a longer swim, 800m versus 400m. Nothing that would trouble me but not good since that is probably my weakest event (could be the bike too, cuz I'm not so swift on that either).

Besides the training I was sufficiently prepared behind the 8 ball in other respects. I spent last weekend at a cub scout camp with my son complete with nutritious plenty of food and old canvas tents. Think of a mosquito breeding ground in a greenhouse. Ever since I've been feeling under the weather. Then yesterday the family went to the county fair which means lots of walking around and lots of fried foods. Meh, if'n I was serious about these I'd be better prepared so it's all just for fun.

It's pretty normal for me to question why I do endurance sports when I stand in the early morning chill waiting for the race to begin and today was no different. Well, maybe a little different; I was freezing my ass off. The wind was pretty cold and was mucking up the lake too. The start of the race brought relief from the cold since the water temperature was actually higher than the air temperature but also caused breathing problems. Seems like every few times I tried to breath I caught a mouthful of a wave. Not just a little, a MOUTHFUL. It's hard to swim/cough/burp/breath all at the same time and underwater. Try it once. Also the wind and waves conspired to blow me off course by several thousand meters (at least). Relieved I was to finish the swim in 22 minutes. Yes already, I know I'm slow.

The bike portion solved my breathing problems but not the wind. But what are you going to do? (Bike more readily comes to mind.) I took one gel on the bike. Usually I take two but I just couldn't force myself to do it this time. Just couldn't handle the nasty wad of sweet stuff in my mouth again. My bike was just a bit slower than the ride I did two years ago on this same course on a 20 year old 10 speed. Yes, I was riding my state-of-the-art, carbon fiber triathlon bike this year. So what was the difference? Try the engine.

I took off on the run forgetting my race number and having to retreat for it, obviously that cost me several hours seconds. I fell into my 7:45 pace that I've been hitting lately and that lasted for two miles. I finally figured out that, for some reason, I've been afraid to push things. Afraid I'd blow up on the run. So I just decided to push it and see what happened; it was only a mile or so anyway. I finished that last 1.1 at 7:16 pace so I was happy with that. It's either be happy or cry and since I'm such a manly man crying is not an option. What I wasn't happy with was coughing up a gallon of phlegm every few hundred yards. What was that I said about a nasty wad?

At the end of the day I once again realize why I do endurance sports and why I'll continue to do them in the future. Already looking forward to the next one.

8/11 9 miles at 8:50ish
8/12 1,200m at 2:27
8/14 3.33 miles at 9:00ish (full affects of the cold)
8/15 Lake Marion Triathlon

Kicking It

I got to do another triathlon on Sunday. Sort of a whole kick off to my year of training for next year's Ironman. Of course it was a sprint since that is pretty much all my swimming training could handle. Bike and run wise I could handle an Olympic distance. That's about it though.

Again the swim was painfully slow. Even slower than last week, somewhere around 11:30. Jeesh. I know I'm definitely not that slow. Long course maybe? I'm desperately starting to need some excuses. Bike was good the first half but then I started to slow and get passed. Run was mediocre even though it should be a strength. Well, it's not. All in all it was fun to do though. I really have to say my transitions are improving. Averaging a minute or less for all of them. Maybe that's how I'll make my name, focusing on the transitions.

Anyway, the good news is that I got 2nd in the 40-44 age group. Bad news is that they went by decades for the age groups and I got like 7th in the 40-49 age group. No prize for me. I did hit the random goal of 1:30 though. That's one thing about sprints, all the distances are so variable that you really can't compare them. Like this one had a 400m swim (same as last week), 14 mile ride, about normal but much shorter than last week, and a 4.4 mile run which is a fair bit farther than the normal 5k. I don't care about all that though, right? I'm concentrating on my transitions.

8/1 sprint tri 1:30:28
8/3 8 miles at 8:50