Great Buckeye Challenge 8/21/11 (Bike and Run)
Aug 29, 02:35 PM
Getting out on the bike I felt the familiar weak-leg feeling that I’m starting to get used to. It’s not that my legs don’t work or anything, they just don’t feel like they have any strength. Part of this is getting the swimming muscles cooled down and the cycling muscles warmed up so that I can take advantage of the one area that I was actually pretty ready for. The bike course was an out-and-back and pretty straightforward. It was gently uphill for the way out and a nice downhill for most of the way back. I started out pretty ok and got into my normal riding cadence. One of these days I’ll get a cadence monitor and actually figure out what my cadence is, but I know it when I feel it.
As I got out on the course and my muscles got warmed up some more, I was able to pick up my speed a bit. I got passed a little, but most of those people were pretty serious cyclists and I knew they were in much better shape than I was. I did end up passing quite a few people on the ride so that made me feel better after getting passed so much in the water.
Overall, the bike wasn’t very eventful. It was a nice ride through farmlands and pretty empty roads. Technically cars could go on the roads too, but only a few actually did so the bikes pretty much took over the entire road going each direction. There were a couple main intersections and police were directing traffic at those as well as at the turnaround point.
Coming back into the transition area I got stuck behind a guy who didn’t seem to understand that the point to get off the bike was still a ways up so he took his sweet time getting there. By the time I realized how slow he was going to go I couldn’t pass him so that cost me at least 10 sec. Not that I’m keeping track or anything.
The transition was fine except someone racked their bike in the wrong spot and I couldn’t find my stuff at first. I had to move that bike and another bike over a little to get to my towel and all. I put on my running shoes and hydration belt and headed out on the run.
Learning from my experience last time, I decided to bring my hydration belt with me on the run. It wasn’t as hot or humid as Giant Eagle was but I didn’t want to take chances. It was overcast the entire time except for a few pockets of sun so I never got overheated. I didn’t finish all the water and gatorade I brought on the bike this time and then when I was running, I decided to get water and drink it during each of the aid stations. I ended up skipping the last one, but that’s because it was only a little ways from the finish line. I actually felt pretty good during the run and, looking back, probably could have pushed the pace some, but in the end it was a strong finish for me. I did the run in under 30min which felt good and I didn’t have to walk at all during the run except for aid stations, and those were only for maybe 20ft each.
Crossing the finish line I felt good that my last race of the season was more along the lines of what I had hoped it would be. My dad was waiting right there and after I got my finishing medal I grabbed some water and started cooling down. As if on cue, Kristy called to see how I was doing so I got to talk to her almost immediately after I finished the race. That was really great since it was the first race she wasn’t able to be at.
After cooling down some more, I went over to the twins and said hi to them. I got my stuff from transition and put it in the car before heading back to the start area to hang around a little and let the kids run around. Not too long after I finished my results were posted on the side of one of the trailers. They have a pretty cool monitor wall where they are able to show windows of the results and I got to see how I did.
My overall time was 1:41:06. Swim: 26:40, Bike: 42:09, Run: 28:16.
It was a fun race and I’m glad I was able to have a race that ended on a more positive note than my previous one. Every race I learn something. Giant Eagle taught me about checking my bike over before a race and staying hydrated when it’s really hot out. This time I was reminded about the importance of a good, strong training regime before a race.
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