2011 Triathlons

So I posted earlier in the summer about doing the Buster Britton race back in June.  After the race I planned on racing in August up in Guntersville and my training was around preparation for that race, a very flat and fast course.  My swim training consisted of lots of laps in our community pool that is approximately 13 yards in length.. yes… 13 yards.  Bike training consisted of a few rides here and there as did my run training… nothing consistent all summer long.  In addition to training here and there, I also managed to help Team Magic with a few more races.  I worked the Buster Britton race (setup the day before, raced the race, then helped with tearing down everything).  I also worked the Old Hickory Lake race, Mountain Lakes and finally the Cedars of Lebanon race.  Following the Cedars race on Saturday, the team drove down to Huntsville, had a nice dinner and then got a goods nights rest.  Team Magic was kind enough to pay for our entry for the Rocketman Triathlon, an olympic distance race.  Some did the race as individuals while others, including myself, raced as a relay team.  I of course took care of the swim leg (olympic distance is about 3x as long as the races I had trained for this summer and I decided two weeks out to do the swim leg, so lets just say I was not trained up for the swim).  The swim course was supposed to be 1500 meters, but turns out it was closer to 1600-1700 meters.  Part of the swim was upstream, but it wasn’t that challenging.  In fact, the only way I knew I was swimming upstream was because the buoys themselves were not passing by quickly whereas on the back stretch heading into the finish of the swim, the buoys came by much more quickly.  I had a decent swim overall and believe I placed around 45th out of around 500 on the swim leg (not bad given my lack of distance training).  We had a great time that day and headed on home after lunch.

I decided not to race the race in Guntersville, Mountain Lakes, in August. I didn’t feel trained up and certainly did not want to have another miserable race as I had back in June.  Team Magic just had their last triathlon for the season down at Gulf Shores, the Alabama Coastal Triathlon.  I am sure it went well.  Maybe next year I can consider that one.  I hope next summer holds more races, not only for myself, but also my daughter.  I asked her if she would be interested in doing a race with daddy as a relay, letting her do the run, and she responded with yes.  I was very happy and definitely looking forward to next summer and seeing her participate with me in a race… maybe Buster Britton will be her first.  Until then.. be safe out there…

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