Sunday morning was the Planet X Triathlon at the Munroe Falls Metropark. Once again, my goal was to beat my time from last year. Thankfully we had a nice day and an early start time of 7:15 am. All of the women went first in one wave and then the men followed in 3 more waves.
Being more comfortable with my swimming ability, I’ve been starting closer to the front lately. I would guess I came out of the water somewhere in the middle of all of the women. Overall I was 59/149 in the swim. I had a pretty fast transition and got comfortable on the bike right away. Until I began riding up the long gradual incline around the corner from the park, I had forgotten about it from last year. Ugh. That slowed me up, but the flats and downhills allowed me to pick up some speed and time. I had some trouble shifting in a couple of places and I thought I was getting a flat on my front tire for the last few miles. Even with my troubles, I finished the bike course 53 seconds faster than last year. The second transition went well; I even remembered my race belt / number – unlike at Clay’s Park. My run felt slow, and again I was having trouble catching my breath. We ran two laps around the lake, and when I saw a woman with “31” on her leg pass me at the ½ way point, I was determined to not let her beat me. I had been counting the women my age, and I thought by letting her go I would be 4th in my age group. So, I stayed about 10 feet behind her for most of the second lap, and then I went all out for the last 200m. I managed to beat her by 4 seconds, but it turns out that was for 4th place. Well, if she hadn’t been there, I’m sure I would have run even slower, so she really did help me out. I looked up her results from last year and it turns out I beat her by 3 minutes in ’08. She really improved! Anyhow, my overall time was 1:18:12, 1 ½ minutes faster than last year. My run was 18 seconds slower than last year, so I guess my swim and transitions must have been better this year!
STATS:
400 yd swim – 7:48
T1 – 1:40
11 mile bike – 38:27 ~17.2 MPH AVG (my bike computer showed 17.6 AVG?)
T2 - :57
5k run – 29:18
4/8 females 30 – 34 (plus the overall female winner was 30)
84/149 overall for men and women
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Lion's Biathlon - June 14, 2009 and CTC Time Trial - June 16, 2009
The Lion’s Biathlon was held in Willoughby on the Mentor border. The start and finish are at a park right on Lake Erie. Last year Matt and I teamed up for this event, and we decided to do the same this year.
The race begins with a fairly flat 5k run and then ends with a 13.4 mile bike course (with 2 laps.) There is also a duathlon option with one more bike lap for a total of about 20 miles and another 5k run at the end. My brother did the duathlon this year.
Last year I was very pleased with my run time here of 25:58, which was my second fastest 5k ever. Just getting close to that again would have made me happy. Well, I wore my heart rate monitor for the first time running in years. It was a bit distracting, but it was also nice to keep track of where I was. I wasn’t sure if I was running fast or hard enough, because at this race there are no mile markers. So, I just kept going as hard as I could. One girl passed me around the half way point, and I then did my best to keep her from getting away. I like to finish strong, so when I had about a ¼ mile to go, I gave it my all. I passed her and made it to transition in 25:57. Surprised and happy.
At this point Matt took off on his bike to complete our relay for the biathlon. There were two other male / female teams and I knew the one runner had been faster than me. Well, Matt caught the biker on that team and then knew we were in the lead. I ran down to the corner and caught Matt making the turn for his second lap. My brother wasn’t far back and I so I was able to see him make the bike turn, too. After that I made my way back to the park to see Matt finish. Our finish time was about 1:03:54, which is one minute and one second faster than last year. I get credit for the one second and Matt does for the one minute!
Tuesday night, June 16th, Matt and I rode in the 8 mile CTC Time Trial along with 2 other women and about 8 other men. It was an out and back course on a mostly flat but curvy bike path along a canal. I made sure to go last so that no one had to pass me on the skinny bike path. Although Tim, who put the event together, did end up going after me and passed me at the ½ way point.
The race begins with a fairly flat 5k run and then ends with a 13.4 mile bike course (with 2 laps.) There is also a duathlon option with one more bike lap for a total of about 20 miles and another 5k run at the end. My brother did the duathlon this year.
Last year I was very pleased with my run time here of 25:58, which was my second fastest 5k ever. Just getting close to that again would have made me happy. Well, I wore my heart rate monitor for the first time running in years. It was a bit distracting, but it was also nice to keep track of where I was. I wasn’t sure if I was running fast or hard enough, because at this race there are no mile markers. So, I just kept going as hard as I could. One girl passed me around the half way point, and I then did my best to keep her from getting away. I like to finish strong, so when I had about a ¼ mile to go, I gave it my all. I passed her and made it to transition in 25:57. Surprised and happy.
At this point Matt took off on his bike to complete our relay for the biathlon. There were two other male / female teams and I knew the one runner had been faster than me. Well, Matt caught the biker on that team and then knew we were in the lead. I ran down to the corner and caught Matt making the turn for his second lap. My brother wasn’t far back and I so I was able to see him make the bike turn, too. After that I made my way back to the park to see Matt finish. Our finish time was about 1:03:54, which is one minute and one second faster than last year. I get credit for the one second and Matt does for the one minute!
Tuesday night, June 16th, Matt and I rode in the 8 mile CTC Time Trial along with 2 other women and about 8 other men. It was an out and back course on a mostly flat but curvy bike path along a canal. I made sure to go last so that no one had to pass me on the skinny bike path. Although Tim, who put the event together, did end up going after me and passed me at the ½ way point.
My final time was 25:40 which is an average of about 18.9 MPH. I was the 3rd female, but of course there were only 3 of us. J and E are great triathletes, so I was just happy to be within a few minutes of them.
Clay's Park Triathlon - June 7, 2009
I’m a few weeks behind on race reports. After the Clay’s Park Tri I was busy getting ready for our garage sale and then running it for two days. Then Matt and I did the Lion’s Biathlon as a team, followed by a 5 day education class. During that week Matt and I also rode in a CTC Time Trial. This past weekend was the Planet X Triathlon at Munroe Falls Metropark. (formerly the SummiTri.) My sons and I are finally back to a pretty normal week, so I decided it was time to write some recaps. I don’t remember too many details, so this will mostly be the basic facts.
At the Clay’s Park Triathlon my goal was to beat my time from last year. My swim time was fine last year, but I wasn’t very happy with my bike or run average. The bike course is very difficult for me with all of the hills, but I was still determined to do better.
Well, my swim time was almost the same (5 seconds slower), but then T1 was 2 seconds faster. The bike course was still very tough, but I ended up 3 ½ minutes faster. Great! (Although I wasn’t very happy when 2 girls caught me at the top of the last hill.) I was 6 seconds faster in T2, and then began the run around the campground. The course was 2 short laps instead of one long lap like last year, but I still had trouble catching my breath. I ended up running almost 20 seconds slower which is my slowest 5k EVER. Ugh! Thankfully my bike speed allowed me to meet my goal of a faster overall time of about 3 ½ minutes.
STATS:
500m Swim – 10:51
T1 - 2:01
13 mile Bike – 47:33 16.4 MPH AVG
T2 - :55
5k Run – 32:18
The top 3 overall women just happened to be in my age group, so that allowed me to place 3rd in my age group awards. (Which is really 6th, but I’ll take it.)
At the Clay’s Park Triathlon my goal was to beat my time from last year. My swim time was fine last year, but I wasn’t very happy with my bike or run average. The bike course is very difficult for me with all of the hills, but I was still determined to do better.
Well, my swim time was almost the same (5 seconds slower), but then T1 was 2 seconds faster. The bike course was still very tough, but I ended up 3 ½ minutes faster. Great! (Although I wasn’t very happy when 2 girls caught me at the top of the last hill.) I was 6 seconds faster in T2, and then began the run around the campground. The course was 2 short laps instead of one long lap like last year, but I still had trouble catching my breath. I ended up running almost 20 seconds slower which is my slowest 5k EVER. Ugh! Thankfully my bike speed allowed me to meet my goal of a faster overall time of about 3 ½ minutes.
STATS:
500m Swim – 10:51
T1 - 2:01
13 mile Bike – 47:33 16.4 MPH AVG
T2 - :55
5k Run – 32:18
The top 3 overall women just happened to be in my age group, so that allowed me to place 3rd in my age group awards. (Which is really 6th, but I’ll take it.)
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