Did a fun race this weekend.  It was called "Racin the Station".  It was a perfect race for the Rocket City.  It was a duathlon (run, bike, run).  It was sponsored by Nasa, so it was a little on the geeky side.  But being a geek myself, I could relate.  It was a pretty short race, 2 mile run-14 mile bike-2 mile run.  Actually, being a Nasa race, the runs were PI km (3.14) and the run was e*PI (23) km.  Gotta love it!  The goal of the race was to finish the race before the space station could complete one orbit which takes about 91 minutes.  Which turned out to not be as easy as it sounds.

I was not planning on doing the race, since I had something going on the day of the race.  But on Friday, it turned out that I could make it so I signed up.  I was glad I did.  A lot of friends from past triathlons were there.  We had a blast.  I did pretty good.  I did not beat the station though.  My time was 1:38:49.  I'll beat it next year!  I did manage to average 10:10 for the first two mile run.  That's 1:05 better that my fastest two miles so far.  I am still not endangering the podium, but I am getting better each time.  I am getting a little tired of being almost last in my age group though.  I hope bu next season I can at least make it up into the middle of the pack.

Of course, sticking with custom, the TRI-101 peeps went out to grab a bite to eat and get some "liquid" recovery.  Hey, I'm sure it was five o'clock somewhere.

Monte Sano 10K and 5K

I am taking another Fleet Feet training course for a half marathon.  The Monte Sano road race was one of our training events.  We had to run both races.  I was a little nervous since 7 miles was the longest I had run.

The 10K wasn't too bad.  Actually, the first 5K was a PR for me, 11:02.  The second 5K was a little slower.  My time for the whole thing was 1:15:00.  My goal was 1:10:00.

The second race was awful, 0:45:00!!  My legs hurt so badly.  When I got home I filled up the bath tub with ice and just sat in it for about 30 minutes.  It is now two days later and my ankles are still a little sore.

I obviously have some work to do to get to 13.1 miles.

Rocketman Olympic Triathlon

The Rocketman was my first Olympic distance triathlon. I was singed up for the "aquabike" which is only the swim and bike portions of the race. I thought it was too soon to try the whole thing. I didn't think I was ready for the 10K run.

At the packet pickup I had lunch with Caneilia, Janet, and Rick. They were Tri101 coaches. It was great to see them again. We had a great lunch.

I got my packet, attended the pre-race briefing, and got body marked. This was my first time using the TriTat marking, so I let them put them on for me. Since I was also volunteering after the race, I also picked up my volunteer shirt. And, of course, the only sizes they had was XL. I have lost a lot of weight, but I still can't fit into an XL shirt. I have a closet full for race shirts that don't fit. Maybe some day.

I was a little worried about the swim since I hadn't gone that far in a race. I had swam 1800 yards several times in training, but that was in a pool by myself. I tried not to think about it and just do it. It turned out not to bee too bad. My time was 34 minutes. I am not a fast swimmer. I need to work on that over the winter.

T1 was uneventful, 1:45 or so. The bike was a little tougher than I expected. It was pretty hilly. Every race I have been in so far they say the course is "flat and fast". If that was flat, I would hate to see what they call hilly. I finished the bike in 1:29:00. A little slow.

I think I probably could have done the run before the cutoff time, but it would not have been pretty. My legs were pretty wobbly.

After the race, I hung our by the finish line and cheered on the people coming in. This will probably be the last time I get to do that since I will probably be one of the last ones finishing from now on.

When the awards started I went and helped tear down the bike racks and then headed out.

Huntsville Sprint Triathlon

It has been a while since I have written in this blog so I thought I would catch up.

The Huntsville Sprint Triathlon was our target race for the Fleet Feet Tri101 program.  This was technically my third triathlon.  The Wet Dog was my first and then Tri101 did the whole Huntsville Sprint course as a practice race the weekend before.  So I was pretty ready for it.

I arrived at 5:30 when the transition opened and set up my gear.  There was lots of excitement with all the Tri101 peeps there.  For a large number of them, this was their first.  It was fun to their faces, excited, nervous.  I kind of felt like a veteran since I had done it before.

Before the race started, we all gathered together to stretch and get ready. Then we got lined up.  We were not able to warm up in the pool for some reason, so will all just milled around outside the pool and talked.

The race itself was pretty uneventful.  I did lose my goggles on the first lap which was kind of a bummer.  Apparently the strap came loose.  So I had to swim the remaining 7 laps with my head out of the water.  I think my time was about 14 minutes.  Not what I was hoping, but I made it through it.

The bike and the run went well.  My overall time was 1:16:00.  Which wasn't too bad.  If I hadn't lost my goggles I think I would have been close to my goal of 1:11:00.

After each Tri101'er got done we all went to the Fleet Feet tent and cheered all the others on.  It was so much fun.  I hung around until almost everyone had left.  I didn't want to leave.

The Tri101 program was the best thing I ever did.  All of coaches and participants were such great people.  It really was a great experience.  I am a little sad it is over.  I am taking another Fleet Feet training course, Half Marathon, but it isn't the same.  For some reason, the camaraderie isn't there.  Maybe it's the difference between runners and triathletes.