I slept surprisingly well and got a solid 7 hours so I woke up feeling really good. I left the house right at 5:50 am and arrived at the race site around 6:15 am. I unloaded my bike and proceeded to the transition area where I realized there was no assigned racks and it was first come first serve so I found a good spot that I felt would be easy to get in an out of and set up my transition area. We were called to the pool area about 10 til 7 am for some last minute race instructions. We then lined up for the swim and like most of everyone else, I was a little surprised by the out-of-pool start.
Swim (400 meters)
I have been swimming 1-2 times per week and getting in solid 1 hour workouts so I wasn't really concerned about the swim but maybe I should of been. The Swim Center pool is kept at very therapeutic 85° and my brother's neighborhood outdoor pool is probably around 86° or warmer so when I dove into the colder water (probably around 78-80° which is usually what they keep it at) of the Middle Tyger Y's pool, it was quite a shock. [Lesson #1...if at all possible jump in the pool before the race!] So for the first 50 meters, I nearly panicked as I tried catching my breath but was able to keep it together to at least do the breast stroke until I got my breathing under control. About 100 meters in, I finally got into a rhythm but the combination of nerves and cold water seemed to took a lot more energy out of me as I had to rest at each wall for about 5-10 secs, something I rarely needed to do in training when I did my 400 and 500 time trials. Still only 1 person passed me so either I didn't do as bad as I thought or everyone else was having trouble too. I glanced at my watch as I exited the pool and it was at 9:56 so a lot slower than the 8:40 I was hoping to achieve.
Transition 1
Went as good as it could of gone. Got my socks and shoes on, sunglasses, helmet, grabbed my bike and jogged (as best as I can in cycling shoes) to the mount line. Got on my bike and got clipped in without any issues and ended up beating 2 others out of T1 that were there before me but they caught up to me and passed me on the bike about 2-3 miles in.
Bike (14 miles)
Got on my bike and immediately realized this is going to be much much harder after swimming then I thought! [Lesson #2 Do more swim/bike bricks!] The first few miles were painful but after I got up the first hill, I was pretty much on cruise control. I did get passed by several guys and 1 women during the bike leg but all gave me words of encouragement as they passed as well as every volunteer and police officer so that felt pretty good. At the 1/2 way point I was right at 28 mins (bike portion only) so I knew if I kept this pace, I would finish the bike in under an hour. Up to 12 miles, I averaged a 14.2 mph pace but then got to that final hill which took everything I had to get up it and where my average pace dropped down to 13.8. I still finished in 1:01:00, just 1 min over my goal so I was pretty happy with the bike portion considering I did only one short swim/bike brick during training.
Transition 2
Got a good dismount and no mishaps unclipping...in fact I never really thought about it as it's now become a natural instinct. It was super awkward to jog to my rack with wobbly legs in cycling shoes but I did the best I could. Took off my helmet and swapped my cycling shoes for my running shoes, grabbed my visor and number belt to put on while I was running and off I went. However, as soon as I started running out of transition, my legs started to feel like lead and was already was in pain. Exited transition at 1:14:00 overall time which means both transitions combined couldn't of been more than 3 mins.Run (5K)
Running is hard enough for me on fresh legs so on fatigued legs...well to be completely honest...it sucks and usually the moment where I ask myself "why am I doing this again?" I've been running 5-10 mins after every bike ride and have done several bricks with up to 1.5 mile runs afterwords but nothing any longer than that. I got off to a good start and was thankful the first 1/2 mile was downhill to allow things to loosen up a bit. I was able to run to the first water station (about 1/2 mile in) where I took my first walk break. I decided then that I was going to run the flats/downhills and walk up the hills. I guess I was averaging a faster pace than I realized because at mile 1, my time was at 1:24:00 and at mile 2, I was at 1:36:00. So the first 2 miles went better than expected and I was hoping for at least another 11-12 min mile but that's when I started to fall apart. [Lesson #3 - Do longer bike/run bricks...as long or longer than the race distance.] My entire lower body felt like it weighed 5 times more than normal and my legs just didn't want to do anymore running. It was all I could do just to walk at that point as my calves and hip flexors are screaming for me to stop but once I saw the mile 3 sign, I just gave it everything I had left to jog the remaining .1 mile to the finish line. Which means the last 1.1 miles was around 20 mins, yikes!Overall Time and Final Thoughts
1:56:14 (57 out of 61) - Okay so I'm not a fast finisher and there was only about half the number of participants than in year's past. I improved 19 mins over the Greenville Triathlon which was the same distances and finished under my goal time of 2 hours so that's what I'm going to celebrate.This was a great event and I loved that it was only 18 mins from my house! The spectators cheered for everyone and not just for those that they knew, and the volunteers and police along the course were great with their words of encouragement.
Swim Time (400 meters) - 10:31
Transition #1 - 1:18
Bike (14 miles) 1:01:13
Transition #2 - 0:53
Run (5K) - 42:20
Total Time - 1:56:14
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