Seven in the morning. Five hours from home. Nestled in a quiet valley amid the green peaks of Oak Mountain State Park. Surrounded by four hundred other eager competitors. The 25th Annual Buster Britton Triathlon. A minimalist transition setup. Just the bare essentials. Trying to keep it simple, quick, and clean.
The swim was great. One of my best performances. Was shooting for ten minutes. Did it in 9:32. Could have done it quicker, but I made the mistake of following somebody who went off course! Wasted a good thirty seconds to get back on track. However, I was really pleased with my performance in the water. Training in the lake at home made a huge difference.
Transitioned to the bike and hoped to do the ride in 42 minutes. Did I mention it was held in Oak MOUNTAIN State Park? MOUNTAINS being the critical part of the name. The hills CLOBBERED me at two points, and my computer showed I was down to 5MPH. Of course on the downhill, I hit 32MPH, which was a new personal record. Eventually, I made the trip in 45:11.
And then, the run. (Did I mention mountains? And do recall that I live in the flatlands of Coastal Mississippi.) My last triathlon run time was 39 minutes. I was only hoping to beat that. But the hills at Buster Britton were brrrrrrutal on me. I pushed through it. And ended up doing the run in 34:05. For me, a great time!
Was shooting for a total race time of 1:30:00. With transitions and all, I made it in 1:35:05. For my division I finished 29th out of 32 men. Meaning the old computer dork beat three old fat guys.
Next time, I'll bring the wife and kids. They'd LOVE the park. And then I'd have somebody ELSE to drive me home. For my 2nd actual event, I think I did pretty well. I finished. And that was enough for me!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
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