1:03

I missed hardware by ONE minute THREE seconds.  This is the kind of thing triathletes obsess about. When I left the race I was happy with my swim, OK with my bike and disappointed in my run. I knew I finished 4^th and I wasn’t incredibly disappointed until I realized I missed 3^rd by 1:03. I woke up Monday morning haunted, it was the first thing that came to my mind and stayed with me all day. I should have found that minute.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Here are my pace numbers for Bridgeland by year:

2009 – Swim 2:47/100, Bike 16.67 mph, Run 14:13 pace

2010 – Swim 2:17/100, Bike 18.26 mph, Run 12:44 pace

2011 – Swim 1:59/100, Bike 18.85 mph, Run 12:38 pace

My goal for the run was to perform during the race the way I do in training. I wanted 11:45 pace. I am slow, that is for sure but I am getting faster, not fast, but faster ever so slowly.  I can swim faster than this, bike faster than this and certainly run faster than this but the key is can I do them as fast as I can all in a row on a specific date and time?

It is nice to be able to look at the same race three years in a row and compare the numbers. It is not exactly apples to apples, the run course has gotten a little longer each year but it is as close as you can get when racing the same race. The weather is always the same HOT and HUMID, the only variable is the wind which we had more of this year. It wasn’t bad but after the second U-turn I definitely felt it.

In other more exciting news I was one of three triathletes profiled in Cy-Fair magazine, pretty darn cool.

Coming Together

I was feelling a bit behind in my training for Bridgeland and after a few crappy runs my confidence was low.

I cannot tell you how much I have learned from Beginner Triathlete, a couple of posts I read last week really turned it around for me. The first was about running easy often and sometimes hard. This was my plan but I wasn't sticking to it. The idea is to run as often as you can but most of them should be easy runs with shorter distance and less intensity. When I do this I don't hate running nearly as much and I feel good about getting out there. Another bonus is it helps stave off injuries which keeps me training. The second post I read that helped me a lot talked about running with a higher cadence and shorter stride. I have super long legs and when my stride widens I get winded easier and it also leaves me more prone to injuries.

I ran six times last week and felt much better about my run in general and the upcoming triathlon. All my runs were short, the longest was 4 miles. The goal is to have a good race at Bridgeland, remain injury free and pick up the distance going into the Houston Olympic in September and the Half Ironman in November.

I rode most of the Bridgeland course three times this past week. Yesterday I rode 24 miles and felt good enough to run after so that gives me confidence knowing the race is only 13.5. There is no doubt the run will be tough, it will be hot and is a mostly sunny course. I am hoping for an overcast morning. The forecast right now is partly sunny and a high of only 97!