Saturday, May 2, 2009

CB&I Triathlon

First off, this was the 6th year for this race and it appeared to be well run and well coordinated with the local community.

I racked my bike in the transition area Friday evening with no problems. (Doesn't my bike look a little lonely at this point?)

I also arrived early race morning to set up my stuff in transition, also no problems there. I found some friends from some races last fall and winter, and chatted with them for awhile before finishing my preparations

I was in the second wave and started out slow so I didn't get caught in the mass of swimmers in the lake before I really took off with the wave. I did have an occasional problem with contact with other swimmers, but nothing serious. The transition area was well-organized and caused no issues for me, I also had what I felt was a good transition area location and had no problems with the exit/entry points. The bike route was good and traffic control was excellent, I never once had to so much as slow down for or worry about road traffic. Another rider from my wave and I were pretty much moving at the same pace and leapfrogged each other every couple miles, finishing the bike at the same time. The run was a slightly new course this year (although I hadn't run this event before I had volunteered for it) but it was a nice out and back, looping through a new community. I saw several friends of mine volunteering during the run portion, so I was well-cheered for during the run.



Here's a photo of me snapped by a friend just after I entered the run course.




I'm not one to be confused with a speedster, and I finished well back in my age group, but I did beat my personal goals for each of the 500 meter swim, 15 mile bike and 5K run events. My stated goal for the race was to be under 2 hours, and I had really hoped to beat 1:50:00. In the end, my official finishing time was 1:43:54.5!
Afterwards, the post-race food and party was definitely better than average (at least the average of my experiences), and I got to sit around with my friends some more and discuss the course, future events and other stuff like that.

Looking back over the whole event, I am really excited about moving forward into other triathlons. I have generally not been very confident of my swimming skills, but I did just fine in my first event with a (somewhat) crowded open water swim. I really had not been quite properly prepared on my bike, but I still posted a time better than I expected, and I have certainly have lots of room for improvement on the bike. I felt strong on my run and was able to run and maintain a solid pace for the run, I hadn't expected to still feel strong by this point. I feel good about this as part of my overall endurance and expect my triathlon run time to improve as I also improve my run time in general.

I had a great time at the CB&I Tri and I can't wait for my next one!

3 comments:

K said...

Great job, Richard! I saw some pictures on FB!

Heather and Jeff said...

Way to go Richard! You smashed your goals!

Amanda said...

That's amazing - you beat your goal and by a lot...You have every right to be completely proud of that!!!

I'm so glad you hear that you enjoyed it and will be doing more. I've been hesitant to try the Tri, but one of these days I hope to and I know you're experience will certainly help me :)!