Yesterday marked the second of the winter tri series races in Shelbyville. It was a reverse order tri consisting of a 5K run, 12 mile bike, and a 400 yard swim. My prior PR for this specific distance was about 1:18 so I had designs on at least beating that but didn't really think about specific goals for each of the three legs.
The weather was originally forecast to be about 35-40 at race start but was actually a bit cooler, perhaps about 28-30 at the start. So I bundled up with tights, long sleeve under armor, running jacket, gloves, and a beanie. I was also wearing a balaclava around my neck that I planned to use on my head and face for the bike ride.
I knew my run speed had really come along so I decided to push it on the run. My 3 mile splits were 7:44, 8:23, and 8:57. Even though the run course in general goes downhill for the first half and then back up for the second, I need to work on my run pacing. I end up going out way too fast and then almost hanging out for dear life toward the end. I also noticed that with the sun out, the temperature was warming up pretty quickly so toward the end of the run, I peeled off my beanie and balaclava. Pleased with the overall run time of 25:36 which compared to 28:10 last year. Net gain of nearly 3 minutes.
T1 was a little faster than last year. 1:24 vs. 2:03. A net gain of about 40 seconds.
Bike was much more consistent than the run. Dumped the balaclava for fear of over heating and took off. The course has a couple slow grinding grades but then also a couple really nice fast sections. Total was 36:55 this year compared to 41:59 last year, a gain of over 5 minutes. Super pleased about that!
T2 was a little slower this year, losing about 30 seconds. 2:23 vs. 1:52. Not sure why exactly.
Swim was ok. Got caught behind a swim walker guy who in the deep end would doggie paddle then run in the shallow end so it took me a good 75 yards to finally get around him. Total this year was 8:39 compared to 9:06 last year. I know my swim is coming along and this just proves that the lessons are starting to pay off although I'm quite certain my kick was total crap yesterday.
Grand total: 1:15:00 this year compared to 1:23:11 last year.
So a year older and sliced 8 minutes off my time and PR'd by a bit over 3 minutes.
Until next time....
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.
