First off... camping was successful. I assembled a tent all by myself and slept in it for two nights. I consider this an accomplishment.
This is the toughest race that I've ever done. It's a hilly course, particularly the bike. The run is pretty hilly too. Because the bike has been my weakness, I've been training hard for the bike with a long ride on the hilly Pacific Coast Highway on weekends and two spin classes each week. And, while I felt ready for the bike portion of this course, I should have run more hills. I also should have hydrated myself better while on the bike.
The swim went well. My goggles kept fogging up, so I lost a few seconds in the water trying to sight the correct direction to swim in.
Next on to the bike. The first mile and a half of the course is uphill, and it is one heck of a hill! I was absolutely sucking wind getting up that hill. In past races, I've been passed left and right, but this time around that wasn't the case. I was definitely stronger on the bike.
The run did not go well at all. At the beginning of the run, I checked my heart rate -- 180. That's way too high. So I walked. And I could barely get my heart rate under 170. On top of that, the hills were awful. I ended up power walking much of the 10k, with a time of 1 hour 10 minutes, surprisingly faster than what I thought I had done, but definitely slower than what I wanted to do.
Even after the race, my heart rate was still high. I was standing waiting for the shuttle a half hour after finishing, and my heart rate was still 145!!! I sat down, chugged some water, and it came down to 120, and finally when I got back to my car where I had some extra water bottles, I drank more and it came down after about an hour and a half.
It was a challenging race. I'm so glad I did it, and I feel like this race will definitely help me prepare for Vineman 70.3, my half ironman race in July.
5 comments:
Nice work, H! I totally admire you for camping during the race--I love camping and I love triathlons, but I've never combined the two. Impressive :-) Congrats on a great spring race.
Wahoo! Awesome stuff. Cool that you got to camp too (my wife hates camping too, so I never get a chance to do it. Combining with a race sounds totally sweet). Good luck with the Vineman.
P.S. No race pictures?
Yayyy! Great job on the tent assembly, the camping AND the race! I wouldn't worry about the run. It sounds like it was a really tough course!
Congratulations! I just read (or really, glanced at) "Skinny Bitch" in the bookstore last weekend and the horror of factory farming inspired me to go vegan. Anyway, why does chugging water slow your heart?
Congrats! Sounds like you learned alot to help you better prep for the Vineman. And on top of it all, you pitched a tent, too! It's been a long time since I've done that . . . . . .
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