On Sunday, August 19 the Bowling Green Sprint Triathlon was held. As its name suggests, this was another sprint triathlon. This time the distances were 400m swim, 14 mile bike and 5K run.
My buddy Andrew Chinn and I drove to BG Saturday evening where we met my son Jason and celebrated his 29th birthday with my granddaughter, Emmy. Before dinner, we found the swim center and drove the bike course just so we would know what we were in for. After dinner, we checked in for the triathlon registration at the hotel and went to have some birthday cake.
We excused ourselves early to get a good night's sleep. Once in the room, Andrew and I were sitting around talking about nothing in particular when SUDDENLY Andrew jumped up and ran over to my bike. My front tire was FLAT and it was after 10 PM. Andrew went on to bed while I jumped in the car to try to find someplace open that might have bike innertubes. Thanks to TOM TOM, I was able to find a Target, but unfortunately Target did not sell tubes that would work for my bike. Next I was able to find a Walmart, which had exactly 2 inner tubes for tires like my bike although neither one was exactly the size listed on my tire. Having no other options, I bought both tires hoping that one would work. I also bought a small tire changing tool kit AND an inner tube repair kit just in case all other options failed.
I got up around 5:30 to see if I could salvage my triathlon. Luckily, one of the inner tubes looked like it would be a close enough fit to save the day, if I could only get the tube changed without damage. All went well, albeit slowly and I was thanking my lucky stars that Andrew had noticed that the previous night rather than this morning which would have ruined my race.
Starting to feel a little time pressure, I took a quick shower to wash off the tire grime. I got dressed. Andrew got dressed. We were again talking about the race and other miscellania when SUDDENLY Andrew jumped up and ran over to his bike. HIS front tire was FLAT. Unbeleivably, the other tube that I happened to grab was exactly the right size to fit his bike! Andrew went about getting his tire changed as well. Crazy luck.
We got to the aquatic center for check-in in plenty of time. Having one triathlon behind me, things were much easier to figure out. We got our bikes and equipment set up in the transition areas and wandered over to the pool to figure out how things were going to work.
There were right around 300 participants and the weather was perfect. Once again we had a 50 m pool. We were dropped in every 10 seconds. I had a better idea of my time this time around and was much closer to where I needed to be in the swim. I still passed several people but did not get bunched up behind others nearly as much as at Tom Sawyer. I was out of the pool in about 9 and a half minutes. Andrew not knowing what his time would be had severely over estimated his time. He had to pass several people and got out of the pool about 9 seconds faster than me.
Onto the bike. This time I opted to bike and run without a shirt, which was really a lot more comfortable. It took a second to find my bike because I didn't have my glasses when I was swimming. Cleats on. Helmet on. Number on. I was off. The course was fairly hilly with one particularly long and steep uphill and also one particularly long and steep downhill. Once again, on the whole I was passing people. Really only one person passed me on the bike. With Andrew being 23 and having a whole lot more bike experience than me, I kind of expected Andrew to catch me here but he did not.
Back for the run and off the bike. At this point, I was a little concerned because I had not had any fluid. I didn't bring any with me (at Tom Sawyer, I had found it was not allowed). So I did not have a water bottle on the bike. To this point there had been no water stops and I really wasn't sure there would be any. Sooooo, (I'm not proud of this) I took a big swig from someone's gatorade bottle that was sitting on the ground near my bike. Then I put on my shoes and started to run.
The transition from bike to run is the hardest part for me. Once again, I felt like I couldn't breathe. It took about a mile again to feel right and I never really got into the rhythm I usually do with my morning runs. Luckily though, there was water on the run section. I was awfully glad to see that although it did make me feel guilty for taking a gulp of my competitor's gatorade.
By and large the run was fairly flat. But the run is where all of my competitors caught up with me. I was running a little slower than my usual pace, at just a little more than 10 minute miles. And here with only about a half mile left to run, Andrew passed me. Actually, he literally and figuratively spanked me, giving me a big slap on the behind as he ran past.
So the final results - overall finish 132 male - swim 9:27; bike 47:37 (18mph); run 31:42 (10:14 min miles); overall time 1:33:48
Andrew's results - overall finish 101 male - swim 9:18; bike 47:08 (18.2mph); run 26:44 (8:38 min miles); overall time 1:27:16
Congrats to Andrew on his first triathlon and for beating me by more than 6 minutes!
In terms of overall performance, I am right in the middle of the pack on the swim and the bike. Maybe even a little ahead of them. In the run, I am in the lower quarter. I have room to improve in all areas but it looks as though the run is really my Achilles heal and I am not really sure that will change.
At this point, I have to stop and assess where to go from here. I haven't really planned any other triathlons for this Fall. I may still get another one or two in but at this point, I am thinking it is time to work on the bigger plan of doing an Ironman next year.
All for now.
Have a great day!
BTW - it has been a while since I mentioned this but please feel free to make any comments. If there are questions, I am happy to respond. If you have an experience you would like to share, I would love to hear it. If you have advice, beleive me, I could use it. The only thing I ask is that comment be appropriate. Thanks.
David (aka lazy triathlete - aka ROGIOP - "ridiculously old guy in obvious pain" - suggested caption of my picture running in the BGST)
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