The Iron Geek

So we had some friends over this weekend and of course the topic of triathlon and racing came up.  I was telling the husband of the couple that was over about my weight loss goals for my upcoming Ironman in November.  I let him know that I still had about 35 pounds to go before I hit what I think my best race weight will be.

He said something like “Yeah, I really need to lose weight too.  I used to be fit and skinny, but now, not so much.”

Long story, short: We now have a bet on who can be the first one to lose 35 pounds.  I wont say how much it is, but I will say that it is a big financial incentive to be the first one to lose the weight.  To sweeten the odds and get him on board, I’ve offered him 3:2 odds on the bet.  Basically, I have to pay him more if he wins.

Ironically, when we weighed in that night, we both weighed the exact same weight, down to the tenth of a pound: 222.2.  (Side note: He is almost 4 inches shorter than me.  It theoretically should be easier for him to lose the weight).

The day before, on Friday, I had been on Active.com looking for a local 10K race on Memorial Day weekend (I figured that would be a fun distraction).  While searching, I discovered that there was a Sprint Triathlon being held less than 5 miles from my house today (Sunday).  It took about 2 minutes to make that decision. (I still havent registered for anything on Memorial Day)

So I had my second, and unexpected, race of the season today.  It was a 400 yard swim, 10 mile bike and 3.1 (5K) run.  So slightly longer than my last outing.

The Swim: It’s funny, but my swim felt really, really good.  Considering I have been stressing about my swim for so long, I think it’s really funny that over the last two races, this has been my best leg.  I managed to keep a smooth and steady stroke and found that if I sighted less (looking up for the bouy) I went a LOT faster.  Just 3 extra strokes before sighting made a huge difference.

The Bike: Was hard!  Just like last time, I had some troubles on the bike.  This course was much different with several LONG hills.  It was an out-and-back course so you hit them both ways.  Nothing like hitting 36 mph flying down the hill knowing you are going to have to muscle your way back up it.  I got a massive, massive headache at about 4 miles into the bike.  I felt horrible.  The hills were pretty tiring, and there were two near the end that I actually considered I might have to walk up.  They were so bad I was up out of my seat, pounding my pedals in the lightest gear and barely moving.  It sucked.

The Run: What I have learned over the last two weeks is that I have to train more about running in high-heart rate zones.  I have really struggled finding a rhythm when running after getting off the bike in these races.  Unlike my brick training where I keep the heart rate in Zone 2, I am in Zone 4 when I get off the bike in a race and just feel exhausted.  On the last 1/2 mile of the race, I finally found my legs and started banging away 8:00 min/miles.  But before that I was shuffling 12:00 min/miles with walks way to often.

I came in 1:27:58 - 10th in the Clydesdale Division and 152 out of 202 overall.  My swim time was excellent, my bike time was weak and my run time was very poor.  I need to build up that stamina.  The best part of the day was my 8th place time during Transition #1.

Even though I had a tough race, with a screaming headache, I felt great on the ride home.  There is just something about going through that before many people have gotten out of bed on a Sunday morning that made me feel good about myself. 

After I write this post, I am going to lock down my training schedule for the week and pack my bag for early in the morning.  

Giddy Up!