I finally went on line and got my race results for the first Olympic Triathlon I participated in. I was surprised at the results. (Actually, I did this and wrote this post a day or so after the race but never got back on blogger to post it until today because I wanted to find and add photos from the race before posting, then forgot about this post. Better late than never, right? :)
The first event was the one I'm most excited about, and that is the swim. My swim time was 29 minutes and 36 seconds, but I waited at least two minutes to enter the water (maybe 4 - yeah, it was an accident brought about by socializing and blond hair! ;o) so my time was actually closer to 27 minutes or less. I am so excited about that! My goal several months ago was to swim the mile in 35 minutes. The last couple days of June I swam a 28 minute mile so I just decided to set the goal to swim a mile in about 25 minutes or less. I am excited to see what I can do and now plan to start training in the water again. I wonder how much faster I can go. I wonder if with some training and practice - I can do the mile in 20-22 minutes. I know, it is a tall order; maybe it is crazy! But I may try. After all, the swim was by far the easiest part of the race for me. I am SHOCKED at how easy it is for me, especially given the fact that I just started learning to swim and training to swim this March - 6 months ago! Maybe this is a talent I didn't know I had. :D
The second part of the race was the bike. This part I LOVED!!!
But the surprising thing is how much faster some of those women are on bike compared to me (on the flats - only on the flats). Nevertheless, I was also surprised at the fact that I was most of the way through the bike portion of the race before a woman passed me on the hill portion of the bike course - and incredibly startled to find myself saying, "What? A woman just passed me on the bike?" I know I sound conceited here. Trust me, I'm not. I was surprised to find myself thinking that because it occurred to me that it was the FIRST time a woman had passed me on the bike. THAT is what surprised me. I was further surprised when we left the hills and finished the course on flats - only to have several women creep up on me. As good as I was on hills - I still seriously need to train on flats! :o I don't know why I am so bad at flats. Maybe I need to gain some muscle in my legs (I haven't weight lifted in years). I may have to do a little strength training to improve my performance on the flats. By the way, it took me an hour and 24 minutes to do the bike course. This was clearly my weakest area. Four of the 6 women in my age group who were faster than me were MUCH faster on the bike, one as fast as one hour and nine minutes (WOW! She had to be a serious racer!!!) I will say though, that I really enjoyed riding the bike - even if I was 18 minutes slower than the first place "wonder woman!" :) And even if deep down inside I'd like to be a "wonder woman" too. :o
By the way - For the last part of the race I rode neck-in-neck with woman who later tracked me down and exchanged phone numbers with me; I pointed out to her while we were riding that we were clearly a good cycling match and could train together if she were a local. It turns out, she does live in the area, and we are going to train together! Yippee! OK, moving on...
I did the 6.2 mile run in 54 minutes and 31 seconds, giving a pace of about 8:46. I know I can do better than that, but it was OK. One of the things I like about the run is that we are all going slow enough to socialize some. :D Yes, I love to socialize, even if just briefly! I love to encourage other runners and then find them again after the race and congratulate each other on a job well done. We both worked hard. We both know it. And we truly are happy for each other! That mutual appreciation and exchange of smiles feels great!
I know I wrote something about the run (after talking about what a "blast" I had swimming and cycling) in another post, but I'll reiterate it here for those who didn't read it, since this is the section about the run, and because I like being a geek now and then. :o LOL - click here to see the other post if interested in the rest of what I had to say...
As it turned out, there were a lot of people there (544), and while I only got 93rd place in my division, I was in 7th place out of 26 women based on age (40-44), and 14th out of 51 for gender (14th out of all women ages 40 and up; one woman was 60 - so WOW to the 7 older women who beat the younger ones... very cool!). I don't think these statistics say anything at all about how I did, however, as they compare me to OTHER women - RATHER THAN TO MYSELF... How did I do? I improved. :) I had fun and worked hard. I did good. :D I even earned myself a massage! (My first professional massage. :D It was great, and now I want to go back for more!). And as long as I keep working hard and being consistent - I'll keep on doing good (and keep treating myself to a massage now and then)! :D
Bellow are my results (bib 410) as found on the following website: http://atltiming.com/results/2012/cda-triathlon.html ...
The first event was the one I'm most excited about, and that is the swim. My swim time was 29 minutes and 36 seconds, but I waited at least two minutes to enter the water (maybe 4 - yeah, it was an accident brought about by socializing and blond hair! ;o) so my time was actually closer to 27 minutes or less. I am so excited about that! My goal several months ago was to swim the mile in 35 minutes. The last couple days of June I swam a 28 minute mile so I just decided to set the goal to swim a mile in about 25 minutes or less. I am excited to see what I can do and now plan to start training in the water again. I wonder how much faster I can go. I wonder if with some training and practice - I can do the mile in 20-22 minutes. I know, it is a tall order; maybe it is crazy! But I may try. After all, the swim was by far the easiest part of the race for me. I am SHOCKED at how easy it is for me, especially given the fact that I just started learning to swim and training to swim this March - 6 months ago! Maybe this is a talent I didn't know I had. :D
The second part of the race was the bike. This part I LOVED!!!
 |
| I'm the biker with the hot pink bike and pink shirt with the camel back. :) |
By the way - For the last part of the race I rode neck-in-neck with woman who later tracked me down and exchanged phone numbers with me; I pointed out to her while we were riding that we were clearly a good cycling match and could train together if she were a local. It turns out, she does live in the area, and we are going to train together! Yippee! OK, moving on...
I did the 6.2 mile run in 54 minutes and 31 seconds, giving a pace of about 8:46. I know I can do better than that, but it was OK. One of the things I like about the run is that we are all going slow enough to socialize some. :D Yes, I love to socialize, even if just briefly! I love to encourage other runners and then find them again after the race and congratulate each other on a job well done. We both worked hard. We both know it. And we truly are happy for each other! That mutual appreciation and exchange of smiles feels great!
I know I wrote something about the run (after talking about what a "blast" I had swimming and cycling) in another post, but I'll reiterate it here for those who didn't read it, since this is the section about the run, and because I like being a geek now and then. :o LOL - click here to see the other post if interested in the rest of what I had to say...
I'm not sure if I can say the run was a "Blast" but I had fun socializing
some more and encouraging people who were struggling. One man told me I
was "way too happy for this!" After we chatted I passed him but later saw him again after turning around at the end of mile 3 and coming back to finish the last 3 miles of the run. He then hollered out to me, "And you're still smiling! ;)" Yeah... I think even the run was a blast! :)
 |
| Coming in at the finish line - "still smiling!" :D |
As it turned out, there were a lot of people there (544), and while I only got 93rd place in my division, I was in 7th place out of 26 women based on age (40-44), and 14th out of 51 for gender (14th out of all women ages 40 and up; one woman was 60 - so WOW to the 7 older women who beat the younger ones... very cool!). I don't think these statistics say anything at all about how I did, however, as they compare me to OTHER women - RATHER THAN TO MYSELF... How did I do? I improved. :) I had fun and worked hard. I did good. :D I even earned myself a massage! (My first professional massage. :D It was great, and now I want to go back for more!). And as long as I keep working hard and being consistent - I'll keep on doing good (and keep treating myself to a massage now and then)! :D
Bellow are my results (bib 410) as found on the following website: http://atltiming.com/results/2012/cda-triathlon.html ...
Triathlon 40+
Race Standings
-
- 270
- 93
- 14
- 7
-
- 410
-
- F
-
- 41
-
- 07:10:00
- 00:29:36 (Note that this time is wrong, since I did not leave the swim for approximately 2-4 minutes after the timer started. You can read about what happened here if you want to know what happened.)
- 00:04:31
- 01:25:02
- 00:01:24
- Run
- 00:54:21
- 02:55:04
: Triathlon 40 +
: F
Yep she seemed to smile the whole way, every time I saw her. And yes even in races she socializes, drives me nuts sometimes as I want her to focus on speed, speed, but you know she would not be happy if she is not making others happy... I need to be more like her. Good job honey for all your dedicated training and being blessed for it. Love your hubby :)
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