Bill Eckert Sprint #1 Race Report
I am really late in posting this. Was not sure I even wanted to but have decided to for the sake of having it on file. I have done another sprint and an intermediate since this one and am doing Augusta in September.
Race: Tri the Parks, John Tanner State Park, Carrollton, GA
Date: April 25, 2015
Time: 1:58:40
First race in 3 years. Have done this one in 2011 and 2012.
It had been raining a lot over the previous weeks and it rained again the morning of the race. Race was delayed for an hour by the rain.
Swim (20:55) is 600m in a small lake in the park. Water temperature was extremely cold this year. They said it was 66 degrees. It is typically upper 70's to low 80's. It made the swim very difficult as I did not have a wet suit.
T1 (3:11)
Bike (54:09) is 13.8 miles. I have done much better before but was really stressed over the cold water. Did not really shake it all off until the last couple miles of the bike.
T2 (2:55)
Run (37:30, 5K) This was a good run for me. I ran the whole way for the first time in this race. There are come pretty crazy hills on the back part of the course. All in all not bad considering I almost quit on the swim and felt horrible on the bike.
I took a lot away from this race.
1. I need to get in some open water swim time. I had only been swimming in the pool. I have had a good bit of open water swimming over the past few years but it had been a little while. I did not think it would bother me but it did.
2. I need to get out and train on a course with some elevation change. I had been running almost exclusively on a local walking track. It does have a little slope to it but not much.
3. I need to get the bike back out on the road and get used to the hills. I had been riding only on the trainer. While it did teach me a lot about cadence and intervals, I just was not ready to apply what I had learned and gained on the trainer to the open road.
4. I need to lose weight. I am overweight and my biggest improvement would come from not having to tote that extra weight all around the course.