So yesterday was the annual Gaston County YMCA Firecracker Indoor Triathlon, held at the Stowe Family YMCA in Belmont, NC. I was excited to do this event, as it usually draws a decent crowd for an indoor event and my oldest daughter told me about it last year. The race consisted of a 10 minute pool swim, 20 minute spin bike segement, followed by 15 minutes on the treadmill. The way the scoring worked was you went as far as you could in the given time in each sport, and depending on where you finished among the other athletes, you were scored according to your finishing place. Then your ranking for each sport was added together for your overall score. For instance if you were 3rd overall in the swim, 4th on the bike and 2nd in the run, your total score would be 9. The person with the lowest combined score overall wins and so on.
I ended up placing 2nd overall and finished 1st in my age group (it was a large age group, 33-45). The guy that actually ended up winning was a young man that competed for Team USA in the 2009 and 2010 Duathlon World Championships. It was funny, I had read an article a few years back on how he was raising money so that his wife and kids could go with him, so it was coll to meet him. Really nice fellow and really complemented me by saying when he saw me, he could tell I was a power cyclist, LOL. I like to think that I am....wink, wink!
Anyway, I ended up in the last heat which started at 9:30 am along with 2 others (we were the smallest heat, the others had 6 competitors each). Swim went pretty well, we were in a 25 meter pool and I was able to hammer our 24.25 lengths, pretty much right on with my normal pool times. It was awesome that they divided the race into heats so that all athletes could have their own swimming lane. Nothing is worse that sharing lanes with people based on "estimated" 100 meter swim times. One other thing that was really nice about this indoor triathlon was that they brought the bikes out to room right outside of the pool. With only 3 minute transistions, there were no changing clothes or anything so I swam in my tri shorts then I threw on a shirt and shoes, grabbed my iPod and set my spin bike up as best I could.
The spin bikes they used were pretty cool. They had a built in speedometer and power meter very similar to actual bike computers we use on our outdoor bikes, with a lever you used to change resistance levels unlike the turn-style knob I am used to on spin bikes. I didn't catch the brand, but I liked the feel of them a lot (as much as a roadie can like the feel of a spin bike). I was able to jam out to my 80's Bonnie Tyler playlist and managed to cover 12.5 miles in the 20 minutes. I didn't know it at the time, but apparently I should have opted for a little less resistance and a higher turnover to get the most "mileage" out of my effort. It's always a tricky call with spin bikes, which I might add are nothing like a road bike in terms of turnover-to-distance traveled ratio. On the road, I am a big gear kinda guy so I typically am at a disadvantage on the spin bikes. I have been riding a good deal inside this winter and there is a balance of optimal reistance and cadence on the bikes at my gym, yet this did not appear to be the optimal balance on the bikes we used yesterday. Nonetheless, I felt really good on the bike and was satisfied with how I did, even more importantly I felt fine transitioning to the run which has been a major focus of my training this winter....gaining strength and endurance off the bike and into the run.
I was really excited to see how my interval training was going to pay off on the run segment. I blasted out 2.06 miles in the 15 minute time period we were given, which I am really proud of. I am the first to admit I am not a stellar runner. 15 years of smoking really took a toll on my lungs and there are times that my legs say GO and my lungs say NO! Not an awesome place to be. I have put in a lot of miles and this year's focus has been to make each mile count. I have learned a good deal about QUALITY workouts, verses the junk mile routines that I was guilty of following early on in my training. You know, when I think about that, I am pretty certain that this is pretty much the case with all of us. When we first gett into running or triathlon, we really wanna see those mileage numbers increase. I know for me that was my initial motivation. I wanted to see how many miles I could go, to where as we focus on becoming more competitive we realize that everyone that shows up at a race can go the distance, yet only a few can cover the distance in a fast enough time period to have a shot at winning. To get that speed, you gotta train for that speed, and since my 70.3 race last year, that's been my goal!
I absolutely loved doing this race. It was fun, it was competitive, and well organized...all of which are important factors to me. The race shirt they gave out was a really nice wicking material running shirt and they had tons of fresh fruit and water for us afterwards, which always makes me happy! The medals awarded were very nice and they also printed out certificates for everyone which I really feel like is a cool thing to do. Everyone likes something to show for their hard work and there is not a single triathlete out there that hasn't worked their butts off to get from the starting line, let alone the finish line! For the less expensive events, finisher medals aren't an option obviously, so the certificates are a nice thing. What I love most about triathlon is that it doesn't matter if your at the Ironman World Championships or an indoor triathlon in a small town YMCA, it's gonna be full of people from all walks of life that push beyond barriers to go out and do something the rest of the world thinks isn't possible or that we are all crazy for doing it. Never be afraid to go out and do something just because other people don't get it or don't have the commitment to do it themselves! I sometimes feel weird writing race reports or bragging about how I did in events, but you know what? I have earned the right to brag and so have all of us that go out and do what we do! So go out an earn some bragging rights for yourself this year! Who knows, you might just amaze yourself....I certainly never thought that 5 years ago as a 265 pound, chain-smoking, heavy-drinking, depressed, out-of-shape guy that I would be finishing 2nd to a former Duathlon National Champion and world qualifer!
Stay Focused and Happy Training Y'all!!!!!!
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