By June, I usually have one or two races under my belt. This year was different, I got a puppy and I found every excuse not to work out. Why? Well, because she is a cutie.
Meet Nutella, the hungriest lab you will ever meet.
But as she grew, my pants got tighter so I decided to get back into training to be ready for Ironman Canada 70.3. It had been so long since my last race, so why not a sprint right? Some folks at work were doing this race, so why not? Well…. I had totally forgot how I do not enjoy sprints.
The day of: I woke up and did my dog mama duties. Nutella was happy and tired by the time I hit the road at 5:30am. The drive took a little over a hour to race site. Some coworkers and my masters team members were already there. As soon as I park, it comes to me that I didn’t bring a backpack. That is what happened when you don’t race often, you think training day and forget a way to carry all of your gear. Luckily, I have a small swim bag that I can fit the majority of my things. I got my race packet and went on to transition. I set up my bike and went to the swim start. And patiently waited for my turn to start.
Swim: It is not wet suit legal, and the distance is 600 meters. We start in the water, my group was the one under 39, which included a cute and awesome 9 year old girl! Isn’t that so cool? If I ever have kids, I hope they like swim, bike and run too. Everyone around her was in awe. Anyway, that got me a little sidetracked and I realized way too late that I was in the middle of the pack. As soon as the race started, it hit me that was not well positioned. The swim seemed long, which made me rethink my training….I might have not been that committed. I stepped out of the lake, looked down on my watch, just to be I was certain about my under training. That was a slow 600 meters… Time: 13:14
T1: I figured I had some work to do so I went on to do this quite fast and let me tell ya…it was not too shabby for someone that hasn’t raced in a while. Time: 1:09
Bike: It was 13 miles. I thought to myself, I can make this and make this quick but I had no idea what to expect from the course. That was on me, because I underestimate the race. Sprints… I always do that. Argh! I gave my best on every pedal stroke I took. It turned out that the course was not too bad. Lucky me. My average was over 19mph which it was not that bad considering the amount of training I had done. Time: 46:43
me and “branquinha”.
T2: Again, let’s get this done quickly. Time: 1:05
Run: This is the only piece of triathlon I have been doing “somewhat consistent”. So I decided I was gonna go ALL OUT on this 5k. Since this was a beginner race, I figured the run course couldn’t be bad. Well, the first half mile wasn’t bad. The following 2 miles were just very very very discouraging for any runner. It turns out that the course was around a hilly neighborhood with some not welcoming residents. This older lady came full speed honking at everyone… somewhat dangerous and enough for me to get out of there as quickly as possible. I didn’t know there were those kind of mountains around Lake Lanier. It was a tough course but I kept my ALL OUT focus, pushing it through those hills. Time: 27:40
Always fun seeing friends: Bethany and myself. at the Lake Lanier Olympic Park.
Final time: 1:29:54. It was not that bad and considering all the possibilities, it was good to get out there and race. Now, back to training for real! As I drive back home, I reflect on the race and I suddenly realize that I spent more time in the car than exercising. I come to the conclusion that sprints are too much work. It is hard on your body (ALL OUT is hard!) and it is very time consuming. Moving forward, I might not be doing anything less than an Olympic. I’d rather be sweating for 3 hours (at 80% effort or less) than driving on the AC.
Myself and some of my co-workers: Pascal, Laura and Rebecca.
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