Tri-ing to stay young!

What a nice day for a race and what a pretty venue! I was especially impressed with the run course. Most runs are out and back so you always know how much faaarrrrtherr you still have to go. The UBC course had us run past where most races would have turn for home so I had no idea how far I had run or much further that I had to go. Turns out that there was a hidden turn and a short run home. What a nice surprise. Psychologically, it left me with fresh legs for the final 100M. Cheryl took what was probably the first good finish picture that I have had! I am always amazed at how much better my posture is than when I was running in running shoes. I’ll state again - “I will never go back to shoes.” I believe that they are scam from which Nike and the boys are making a fortune. Their clever ad campaigns have made most runners (including myself up till last July) believe that those $150.00 or more shoes are needed to improve our races and stop injuries. Trust me on this one!!!! Buy a set of aqua sox - $6.95 at Wal-Mart and go for a run. Shorten your stride, increase your roll over and watch you running game improve!

This was my first race in 50M pool and I have to admit that I was more than a little concerned. Turns out that the 50 M lengths probably worked to my advantage. Since I haven’t mastered flip turns and my normal turn is somewhat less than graceful, fewer turns helped me out. Another plus, I did not suffer from anxiety attacks at the start of the race. My stroke felt good from the first and only got stronger as the swim went on. I was passed twice and passed 4 people so my swim kill count was positive for the very first time!

Wow, do I like my bike. I gave up counting bike kills after a dozen. My time, as it turned out, was not as fast as I was hoping for. I wanted a sub 40-minute bike ride and ended up with a 42 minute and change ride. Part of my problem was stomach. I used to gels during the ride and they disagreed with my tummy. My stomach was sore and bloated for much of the ride and the entire run. I had the bike up to 55KPH on a couple of slight down hill grades and could have crossed 60 if I hadn’t been afraid of burning myself out for the run.
The run went better than expected. I had hoped for a sub 25-minute run and ended up at 27 min and a few secs. I think that my upset tummy probably cost me those 2 minutes. I wore my aqua sox for the whole race. I wanted to finish in bare feet but didn’t have the courage to test the feet at a race. Maybe next time?

MY RACE RATING: Excellent. I will definitely do it again.
The only shortcoming was my watch. Somehow, I managed to stop the timer at 9M53S so I have no idea what my official times are. I understand that times will be posted on Wednesday. I’ll let you know how I did.