Competed today in the Barron Lake Triathlon and took 3rd Place in my age division (of 7). While better than my 4th place (of 4) in the race four years ago, I missed my goal time... the one respite of the lack of hitting my times was that it appears the swim distance might have been off (longer). Here are the times I got in 2019, my goal times, and what I got today (unofficial still).
2019 Goal 2023 (unofficial)
Swim (500 meters) 12:21 10:00 16:39
Bike (15 miles) 53:32 48:00 54:18
Run (5k) 27:29 26:00 25:40
Total (+ transitions) 1:37:31 1:40:04
I set fairly aggressive goals... Especially on the swim, which actually ended up throwing off my day. I got out of the water and saw it took me 16 minutes and I was feeling really defeated. Most competitors marked it at around 600 not 500... and my times had me at 2:20 per 100... so I should have finished in under 12 (beating my 2019 time). We will see if they adjust what the swim length was, but hey we all swam the same distance.
The bad swim I let get to me at first... it threw me off going into the transition, plus it was sprizting and I struggled to clip into my bike. My goal time there was 48 minutes, with the super slow start, could I make up the 4 minutes that I was off my pace from before? Time would tell that was a no... the first half of the bike ride I was feeling bad for myself a little, really disappointed and my timing computer on my bike didn't reset right so I wasn't able to monitor well how I was doing.
My goal was 25 minutes to the half (and 23 on time back) of the bike ride... well I got there at 31 minutes. Which means a 60+ minute bike time, and I still had to face the biggest hill of the ride. It was there I decided... no its not too late to try and if I could get a respectable second bike ride in I still had the run (my favorite part). I pushed it I pushed it... did the second half of the ride in 23 minutes!
I got off the bike well, the transition time felt good, and I remembered to take my helmet off this time... my previous time was 27, my goal was to shave a little over a minute off. Well I pushed it and shaved nearly two minutes off! I got my goal time by 20 seconds... and I feel like I had some left in the tank, versus in 2019 when I nearly died at the finished line and cramped up.
It was nice, this year Jenn brought the kids to watch... not sure Cruz and Mari "wanted" to come watch, but during the ride home I had a reflective conversation with them. We discussed setting goals, doing hard things, and even when you fall behind to not quit. They know I hate swimming, and they heard me yell about how terrible my swim was, and Cruz saw me struggled to mount my bike and how frustrated I was... but they also got to see me celebrate as I came in for the end of the run knowing I was hitting my goal time and got to see me snag a little third place bling...
They maybe enjoyed the ice cream best after the celebratory lunch in Niles at Jim's Smokin' Cafe (I had a much deserved buffet)... thanks Jenn for getting up early to bring the kids and taking pictures. Thanks for all my friends who encouraged me, gave training tips, and all my friends from spin class, running groups, Jason C. for the continued swimming tips... my swimming technically got worse so I need some coaching again! Still not feeling like an Ironman is in the works... but I didn't say never.
More pictures on my FB and IG pages.