Before I get on with the podium story, I wanted to update everyone on a couple cool apps I've been using lately. The first is GymPact. You may have read about this app in the news media and I've been using it since mid-January. Essentially, you make a "pact" with yourself to work out a certain number of days per week. A workout could be using the GPS to check in at a gym or pool for at least 30 minutes, using something like RunKeeper to take a 30 minute walk, etc. If you miss a workout, you must pay a fee for each missed workout. I've set myself at five workouts per week with a stake of $5 per missed workout. If you complete your pact, you share in the spoils of all the charges for those who didn't complete their pacts. I think I'm nearing $50 earned. Not going to get rich but it helps pay for training supplies and such. It also integrates, with a little trickery, with my Garmin. If you'd like to give it a try, I can get you a referral code that will get you an extra $5 with your first completed pact.
The other app I've using since about mid-April is My Fitness Pal. I'm going to admit that I found myself, especially during heavy training, falling into a typical trap. Work out hard and you've earned the right to eat what you want. I'm not saying I would binge on fast food every day but I wouldn't really pay very close attention to my diet. Essentially, with MFP, you enter your starting weight, your goal weight and your desired loss per week. It then spits out a calorie guideline. I've set myself to a goal weight of 199, started at 217, and want to lose about 1 pound per week. I'm now down 12 pounds since I started using MFP and can almost taste being under 200 pounds for the first time I was probably 16 years old. My only fault with this app is that if you use the default exercise information, you will severely overestimate calories burned. I've been using the info generated from my Garmin for better estimates and obviously getting pretty good results.
To piggy back on that news, I've also seen amazing overall results over the 3-4 years I've gotten serious about fitness. I started in a XXL shirt, and recently bought medium. I used to wear size 40 pants, but recently purchased size 34. Finally, for suit jackets, I've gone from a 48 to a 42. Amazing!
Now to the real reason for this blog post. USA Triathlon (USAT) has a Clydesdale division for men and an Athena division for women. The men's standard is 200 pounds or more. At 204.5 pounds, when I signed up for the Motor City Olympic Tri in Detroit, I circled the Clydesdale category without really thinking about it.
Last year, I did this race in 2:52, a PR at the distance including a 31 minute swim, about a 1:12 bike, and a 1:07 run. I knew I wanted to beat that time so had set goals of about a 30 minute swim, a 1:10 bike, and a 1 hour run for a total of 2:45 with transitions included. I never even imagined I would compete in my division as I had finished 10th of 11 Clydesdales last year.
The night before, we were all watching the weather radar closely as there were 2 patches of severe storms headed our way and we were expecting lightning at race time and possibly even a delay or cancellation. When we woke up, the skies had cleared but it appeared to be quite windy and as we headed over the bridge one of my friends commented that the river looked quite rough. As we set up our transitions, we indeed noticed small white caps on the river, which turned out to be 1-2 foot waves. It was going to be my first rough-ish open water swim.
I had some trouble sighting the buoys and took on a few mouthfuls of water but otherwise had a great swim, ending with a 29 minute swim, by far a 1500 meter PR for me. I had a total crap T1, but then headed out for a VERY windy bike. Luckily, the headwind was only about 1/4th of a lap (total of 4 laps) so we got to ride with a tailwind a lot of the time. The headwind section did indeed stink but you at least knew you were heading for a nice tailwind in just a short time. I wanted to average 20 mph on the bike but ended at 19.8 or a time of about 1:08. Quite happy with that!
T2 was much better and then it was out for the run. The goal was sub-1 hour or about 9:40/mile. After getting settled on the run, I looked at my Garmin and noticed 8:30-8:35 pace, which was a little quick but I was feeling good. The last couple miles were slow as the fast pace finally caught up with me. The final average was 8:55 or a total of just over 54 minutes. This was also a 10K PR for me and a grand total of 2:37:23 or nearly a 15 minute PR. I couldn't believe how much I had improved, even in the less than optimal conditions!
As we were packing up, the race director was announcing the age group awards and such and then I heard my name. 2nd place in the Clydesdales! I couldn't believe it! I got a nice medal in addition to my finisher's medal and it really made my day. This race is my favorite already and this made it even more special!
