A big congratulations goes out to the UIC Triathlon Club for a very well run inaugural indoor triathlon. A second big congratulations goes out to the big winner, my brother-in-law Kevin Browning. Kevin blew away the field on this one, and I wasn't too surprised. He is becoming a very good triathlete. In last year's Accenture Triathlon in Chicago, in only his second tri, Kevin finished the international distance tri in 2:26.
The triathlon was done on time, 10 minutes for a swim, 30 on the spin bike, and 20 on the treadmill. They were very generous on the transitions (I think 10 minutes apiece to change), and the whole atmosphere was very laid back. It was in no way too intense, and a very inviting competition.
I am happy to report that I was very pleased with the swim. My reach goal was to swim 500 yards, and that is exactly what I swam. I stayed on pace and kept it constant throughout the 10 minutes. My next step is to master flip turns, and really work on the efficiency of my stroke, but this was HUGE improvement. Thank you Chicago Blue Dolphins.
In the photo above (taken by What's Next Dave Gal), Kevin is on the left and I am on the right. Kevin finished 26 lengths of the pool to my 20.
The bike was interesting. I had actually picked up new STP cleated shoes for this (I had wanted some for my mountain bike and spinning classes). They on measured how many times the bike wheel went around, having no measurement for resistance. Thus, you had the the resistance off and you were spinning as fast as you could. I went 14.3 "miles." Kevin too first in the bike (by a lot) with 24 "miles" in 30 minutes.
By the time I got to the run, I had some serious lactate acid build-up. On my first two steps on the treadmill I felt like I was going to visit puke city. It was at this time I remembered thinking the day before, 10 miles into that run, that I might not feel the best for my tri.
The worse part was, the high for the men's run was only 2.73 miles in 20 minutes, which would be well with in my reach if I had any legs at all under me.
But I just didn't have any fuel left in the tank. So I set the treadmill at 7:41 min/mile, and then moved it around the 8 minute mark, finishing at 2.53 miles.
Kevin did have some gas left. He kicked out 2.93 to secure his title as champion of the UIC Triathlon.
All in all, really fun experience. It was a great check up to see how the swimming is progressing, and a good reminder that I need to dust off my bike now the weather is changing.
Take homes, congrats to UIC Tri Club and Kevin, and we are on track to improve substantially in Des Moines.
3 comments:
That is awesome! And to think you were worried about drowning. If your BIL won any sort of prize I hope he shared it with you ...
nice job! Really impressive race. It is nice to get the first race of the season under your belt. I am super impressed by your swimming....you are going to kick butt in the Des Moines tri this year.
"which would be well within my reach if I had any legs at all under me..."
reminds me of the old climbing joke...
"If we had some ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had some eggs."
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