Date: June 4th, 2011
Distance: 400 yard swim, 14.5 mile bike ride, 3 mile run
Time: 1 hour 33 minutes
I woke up far too early this morning. Especially considering I was up until 1:00 AM the night before. Still, I felt good for it being 5:00 AM. Plus it was a gorgeous day, finally. I got some breakfast and put my kit on before biking down to the state park.
When I got to the race start, I was in for quite a sight. I didn't realize how many people there were going to be competing. There were a ton of people getting ready. It was quite an array. I saw individuals warming up running biking and even swimming. I was one of the few without a full wet suit. So I stood around waiting for the race to begin and trying to keep my toes warm.
I started in with the third wave. The water wasn't that bad. At a balmy 58 degrees, the temperature was fine. The swimming was much harder than I expected. I used to spend all my summer days swimming in the lake. So I thought that would be one thing I was good at. My training really didn't prepare me for what I was doing. I ended up being passed by the following two swim waves. Still, I made it slow but steady.
From there it was onto the bike portion. That I did much better at. I had tuned my bike up the day before and it was running like a top. I am used to doing a lot of street biking. Stopping every mile or so for a stop light or a car. Because all the streets were closed off, I could just cruise. It felt so good.
Then it was off to running. Not really my favorite activity, and I was pretty tired by this point. I kept at it however. The night before I had been talking with my friend Chris about ski mountaineering. He mentioned that their motto was "Put on foot in front of the other and suffer." For some reason thinking about that really made me feel better. I wasn't worried about breaking any records. I just needed to keep going. I crossed the finish line a bit over an hour and a half from the start.
At the finish I grabbed some food the sponsors had out. I felt pretty good in spite of everything. I also talked with a guy named Roger from NW Epic Series. I guess he puts on long distance mountain bike races. That sounds really fun, so there may be more to come on that later.
From there it was a short bike back home. Then it was nap time.
-Dravis
Distance: 400 yard swim, 14.5 mile bike ride, 3 mile run
Time: 1 hour 33 minutes
I woke up far too early this morning. Especially considering I was up until 1:00 AM the night before. Still, I felt good for it being 5:00 AM. Plus it was a gorgeous day, finally. I got some breakfast and put my kit on before biking down to the state park.
When I got to the race start, I was in for quite a sight. I didn't realize how many people there were going to be competing. There were a ton of people getting ready. It was quite an array. I saw individuals warming up running biking and even swimming. I was one of the few without a full wet suit. So I stood around waiting for the race to begin and trying to keep my toes warm.
I started in with the third wave. The water wasn't that bad. At a balmy 58 degrees, the temperature was fine. The swimming was much harder than I expected. I used to spend all my summer days swimming in the lake. So I thought that would be one thing I was good at. My training really didn't prepare me for what I was doing. I ended up being passed by the following two swim waves. Still, I made it slow but steady.
From there it was onto the bike portion. That I did much better at. I had tuned my bike up the day before and it was running like a top. I am used to doing a lot of street biking. Stopping every mile or so for a stop light or a car. Because all the streets were closed off, I could just cruise. It felt so good.
Then it was off to running. Not really my favorite activity, and I was pretty tired by this point. I kept at it however. The night before I had been talking with my friend Chris about ski mountaineering. He mentioned that their motto was "Put on foot in front of the other and suffer." For some reason thinking about that really made me feel better. I wasn't worried about breaking any records. I just needed to keep going. I crossed the finish line a bit over an hour and a half from the start.
At the finish I grabbed some food the sponsors had out. I felt pretty good in spite of everything. I also talked with a guy named Roger from NW Epic Series. I guess he puts on long distance mountain bike races. That sounds really fun, so there may be more to come on that later.
From there it was a short bike back home. Then it was nap time.
-Dravis
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