Lake Havasu Triathlon Results - 2011

Yesterday, as planned I competed in the Lake Havasu Triathlon. We start and finish the run race by running over London Bridge pictured above. Lake Havasu is a big spring break destination, but none of these girls were interested in watching us compete.

It was a good first race of the season for me. I got a break on the weather, as it was cloudy and cool so I didn't face as much of a climate-adjustment challenge as I have in some years. I've entered this race for the last four years. The first year I made a mistake on the swim course and had to disqualify myself, the second year I made a wrong turn on the run and ended up running an extra two miles and last year I ran a good race, but my legs started to cramp on the run so I wasn't able to finish strong. Nevertheless I did manage to finish 3rd in the 55-59 age group.


This year I graduated to the 60-64 age group and finished first. Of course my pleasure at being number one is tempered by the knowledge that there were only two entrants. But I did beat the other guy by about forty minutes.  I didn't achieve my goal for this race, but I was very pleased with my swim time. I averaged 1:52 per 100 yards and that's the best swim performance I have had (last year they cut the swim course short by about 200 yards so it took less time to complete the leg but I wasn't as fast).

I've devoted more time to swimming this winter and it is nice to see the results.  I keep hoping that I will be able to post better run times. My biggest opportunity for improvement remains with the bike. This was a challenging bike course with lots of difficult hills. I did well on the uphills but I remain too cautious on the downhills so my overall time suffers. On a flatter course with more training I hope to achieve my goal of 20 mph.

This race qualifies me for the USAT Championship which will be held in Vermont in August. My quest when I started this goal is to finish in the top ten for my age group. It's not an impossible dream, but I need to make some serious improvements in all three categories to have a shot.

Below are my results versus for Lake Havasu versus the goal and last year's results. Because last year's swim course was shorter, I actually think these results are slightly better than a year ago overall.

Year	Total	Swim	/ 100	T1	Bike	MPH	T2	Run	Min/Mile
2010	2:51:46	27:28	n/a	3:30	1:23:41	17.93	2:00	55:07	8:49
GOAL	2:43:30	31:00	1:54	2:00	1:19:00	19:00	2:00	49:07	7:55
2011	2:54:35	30:39	1:52	2:44	1:24:34	17.90	2:32	54:04	8:39