A few weeks ago, I did my second triathlon: Tri for the Cure in Denver. Since this was my second time doing it, I felt much better prepared. The tri is a half mile swim, 11.4 mile bike ride, and a 5k run. Yes, it's hard...and I have no clue how people do the IronMan/Olympic distances. That's just crazy town.
This year, they changed the heats and put fewer people in each heat but started the heats more often. This was such a good change. Last year in the swim, I was dodging people left and right. Surprisingly, I do not enjoy getting kicked in the face! This year was much easier since there weren't as many people in the resevoir. I cut three minutes off of my swim time from last year, and I think the amount of people in the water was a big contributor to that. I have to swim breast stroke because I can't get enough air when I swim freestyle so my time is a little slower. This year I pushed myself a lot more during the entire triathlon but especially during the swim.
The bike ride went well, but I rode slower than I did during my training rides. You don't really think about how layering these activities affects you, but it definitely does. I was tired and out of breath when I got on my bike, so it was slow going for awhile. Plus, the first half of the ride was either uphill or had a strong headwind. I have the clipless pedals on my bike, so this year I tried something new. Since my shoes are attached to my pedals, about a mile before I was done, I took my feet out of my shoes. If you have clipless shoes, you'll know how hard it is to walk/run in them. By taking my feet out of my shoes, when I dismounted, I was able to run back to the transition area much easier and faster.
My transition times were much better than last year, too. I think last year I stood around and wondered what I needed and what was going on a bit. This year I had everything laid out. My clothes were laying on the ground how I wanted to put them on, and everything was grouped together. I could grab things and go.
And the run. Ah, the run. I hate the run. For one, you're out of breath and tired. Two, your legs are crazy sore and feel like jelly after you've pedaled as hard as you could for the last 11.4 miles. Three, it's hot. It was a cooler day, but it was still hot. And the first mile (almost) is all uphill. It's brutal. I forgot to stretch before the race started, so I had to stop and stretch my legs during the run.
Here's the thing that really killed me during the run: chafing. When you get out of the water, you're wet (obviously). Then you throw shorts on over your wet swimsuit and sit on a bike for 45 minutes. Thus, no drying time. Then you hop off your bike and start running, and you're still wet. Apparently my shorts were not long enough because I had severe chafing between my legs. We're talking bleeding and scabbing chafing. Let's just say that I waddled for a week. So between the chafing and the other factors, I walked at least half of the run.
All in all, it was a good race. I love doing Tri for the Cure because it's a really friendly, fun, supportive environment. If you're interested in doing a triathlon, and you have Tri for the Cure in your city, I highly recommend it.
Here are my times. My goal was under 1 hour 50 minutes, and I almost made that. I posted my times from last year in parenthesis, and I'm proud that I beat my time in all categories.
Total time: 1:51:42 (2011 time: 2:05:41)
Swim: 17:59 (2011 time: 21:07)
First transition: 4:17 (2011 time: 7:47)
Bike: 45:33 (2011 time: 47:49)
Second transition: 2:34 (2011 time: 5:03)
Run: 41:18 (2011 time: 43:53)
This year, they changed the heats and put fewer people in each heat but started the heats more often. This was such a good change. Last year in the swim, I was dodging people left and right. Surprisingly, I do not enjoy getting kicked in the face! This year was much easier since there weren't as many people in the resevoir. I cut three minutes off of my swim time from last year, and I think the amount of people in the water was a big contributor to that. I have to swim breast stroke because I can't get enough air when I swim freestyle so my time is a little slower. This year I pushed myself a lot more during the entire triathlon but especially during the swim.
The bike ride went well, but I rode slower than I did during my training rides. You don't really think about how layering these activities affects you, but it definitely does. I was tired and out of breath when I got on my bike, so it was slow going for awhile. Plus, the first half of the ride was either uphill or had a strong headwind. I have the clipless pedals on my bike, so this year I tried something new. Since my shoes are attached to my pedals, about a mile before I was done, I took my feet out of my shoes. If you have clipless shoes, you'll know how hard it is to walk/run in them. By taking my feet out of my shoes, when I dismounted, I was able to run back to the transition area much easier and faster.
My transition times were much better than last year, too. I think last year I stood around and wondered what I needed and what was going on a bit. This year I had everything laid out. My clothes were laying on the ground how I wanted to put them on, and everything was grouped together. I could grab things and go.
And the run. Ah, the run. I hate the run. For one, you're out of breath and tired. Two, your legs are crazy sore and feel like jelly after you've pedaled as hard as you could for the last 11.4 miles. Three, it's hot. It was a cooler day, but it was still hot. And the first mile (almost) is all uphill. It's brutal. I forgot to stretch before the race started, so I had to stop and stretch my legs during the run.
Here's the thing that really killed me during the run: chafing. When you get out of the water, you're wet (obviously). Then you throw shorts on over your wet swimsuit and sit on a bike for 45 minutes. Thus, no drying time. Then you hop off your bike and start running, and you're still wet. Apparently my shorts were not long enough because I had severe chafing between my legs. We're talking bleeding and scabbing chafing. Let's just say that I waddled for a week. So between the chafing and the other factors, I walked at least half of the run.
All in all, it was a good race. I love doing Tri for the Cure because it's a really friendly, fun, supportive environment. If you're interested in doing a triathlon, and you have Tri for the Cure in your city, I highly recommend it.
Here are my times. My goal was under 1 hour 50 minutes, and I almost made that. I posted my times from last year in parenthesis, and I'm proud that I beat my time in all categories.
Total time: 1:51:42 (2011 time: 2:05:41)
Swim: 17:59 (2011 time: 21:07)
First transition: 4:17 (2011 time: 7:47)
Bike: 45:33 (2011 time: 47:49)
Second transition: 2:34 (2011 time: 5:03)
Run: 41:18 (2011 time: 43:53)
