Evergreen Lake Triathlon Results – July 16, 2011

While the water was too warm for wetsuits, we did catch a break on the weather. It was overcast and not blistering hot as had been predicted. I was grateful for the cloud cover on the run.

Despite all of the difficulties on Friday, I slept well and had no problem getting up at 4:45 to have my delicious apple juice and carbo-pro breakfast. Ever since having to endure apple juice smells when the kids were little, it has been my least favorite juice. It didn't help that the hotel had run out of ice.

Swim:  Without the wetsuit buoyancy I knew my swim time would be slower than it had been in Phoenix. I was satisfied with my performance I just wish it was faster. I swam from buoy to buoy, never veering off-course, and I exerted myself (sometimes I have a tendency to sort of cruise on the swim, but this time I pushed it). My time of 35:51 was basically the same as it had been back in 2008 when I wore a wetsuit and two minutes faster than 2009 when I didn't wear a wetsuit – so it seems clear that my swimming has improved. Just not enough.


Bike:  I was hopeful I would exceed 20 mph on this flat course. I got off to a decent start and pushed hard for the entire distance. This segment is about the same length as our Tuesday morning workouts so I knew I had the stamina to push for the entire distance. I finished in 1:10:39, a 21.1 mph pace – five minutes faster than my last race here.


Run:  While my swim and bike times have been improving, my run times have been declining. Some of this is probably due to exerting greater effort on the first two segments. In this race I finished the first mile at 8:36, which is not a great pace, but one I thought I could sustain. But each succeeding mile was slightly slower and the last three took over 9 minutes per mile.

I need to build endurance so I can sustain my pace throughout the run and finish strong instead of weak.

Overall: My time of 2:47:11 was 4 minutes short of my goal (mostly due to the swim portion).

This was my personal best for this distance – two minutes faster than my time at Tempe last year.


Next race:  USAT National Championships – Montpelier, Vermont – August 20, 2011

This is the race I targeted two years ago when I began my blog. My goal at that time was to finish in the top ten and I figured it would take a time of 2:36 to accomplish that goal.

Vermont is a difficult, hilly course and given that I only finished 5^th in this Midwest regional race, it's extremely unlikely that I will be able to finish in 2:36.

But we'll see.

EVERGREEN LAKE International Distance Race Results

Date	Total Time	Swim	Per / 100	T1	Bike	MPH	T2	Run	Min/Mile
7/19/08	2:56:24	35:49	2:11	2:31	1:21:52	18.2	2:41	53:31	8:37
7/18/09	2:52:20	38:04	2:19	1:43	1:15:51	19.7	3:00	53:41	8:39
GOAL	2:43:00	32:00	1:57	2:00	1:12:00	20.8	3:00	54:00	8:41
7/16/11	2:47:11	35:51	2:11	2:20	1:10:39	21.1	2:27	55:54	8:59