Raptor Triathlon

This past weekend, I headed down to Alamogordo to race in the Raptor Triathlon. I've done a lot of the Southwest Challenge Series races this year, was close in the standings, and didn't want to lose out on a spot without giving a little more effort. I booked a hotel room and registered before I learned my Mom would be out here. No worries - she came along for support.

The morning of the race, we headed down to the Air Force base, which we were told would take 1/2hr. It took ten minutes from Alamogordo, so we got there real early. I set up, jogged a bit before the race and lined up. The race was a reverse tri - run, bike, swim.
The run wasn't as fast as normal. I think the fastest 5k time was 19:23. It was a flat 5K on a street and then a running path. I came in around 21 minutes. I took entirely too long in T1 and got on my way.
The bike portion was as flat as any race I've done in NM. I overheard a woman say she thought there was a big hill. There wasn't. There was a little bump that required shifting a single gear. You could stay aero going up it. I was averaging a pretty good time until the last three or so miles. That's when the wind picked up. I could barely keep the speed up around 18/19mph. I really need to work on the bike portion.
The swim was an outdoor, 700m snake style swim. Stupid me, I swam two laps in a single lane, and was on track to swim 800m by the end of the swim. Thank goodness a race volunteer noticed my mistake, and allowed me to skip a lane, thereby keeping my total distance at 700m. I felt ok in the pool, but the arms were really sore. From what, I'm not sure.

I tagged the wall, and called it a day. I finished 1st in my age group! (out of two). My time:
5k run: 21:04 (6:46min/mi)
30k bike: 52:06 (21.47mph)
700m swim: 15:01 (1:57min/100yd)
Total: 1:28:11 (good enough for fourth overall)
The times include transitions.

We ate some good, free food at the base, and then headed to White Sands.
(obligatory medal shot on dunes)

Up next - Duke City Half Marathon. I'm hoping for 1:40, but I have no idea what will happen.

Elephant Man

So, the Elephant Man. A race I've been too scared to do in the past. I'm so glad I did it this year. It's a wonderful race with a tough course and great volunteers. Here's my RR.

I camped the night before with a friend after carpooling with a fellow racer. We woke up and headed down to the race start. After getting set up, I went for a quick warm up swim. The water was a nice 72 degrees and not choppy. I was told it smelled/tasted like fish and/or motor oil. I tasted the motor oil, but not the fish.

I was the second wave to start the triangle swim. It wasn't too rough getting out of the gate and on my way. I think I did a pretty good sighting, but I saw people all over the place. It kept me second guessing my line to the buoy. At one point, a dude swam perpendicular to me and I know I was heading straight to the buoy. He swam over me and grabbed my legs in frustration. I was so confused. I waited to get passed by the torpedo speeding women who took off in the wave after me. Sure enough they did. I tried to draft, but when you swim as slow as me, it doesn't work. I got out of the water in about 32 minutes. Slow, but I haven't been swimming.

T1 involved running up the beach, and then having your feet sprayed to get the sand off (that was nice). I took my sweet time in an attempt to get my heart rate down.

Out onto the bike. The course was pretty challenging but not terrible. Sure, I went slow, but that's my fault, not the course's. There were rollers out to a ridiculous hill. I put it in my granny and laughed my way up it. So silly. Why so steep? After crossing the highway, it flattened and slopped a bit downhill. I buried my head and cranked what I had.

T2 was uneventful. But it was nice to have all the volunteers cheering you on. Got out in a reasonable time.

The run was not good. I started a bit too fast and had to walk up the steep sand hill. I maintained a decent pace to the turn-around, with my plan being to crank it for the last half. When the time came, I declined. I decided to limit my losses and take it easy. It was super cool getting to run on the dam, which I'm told is off-limits due to terrorism threats. I finished the 6mi run in 50minutes. So-so.
Result:

Total: 2:47:54    1mi swim: 32:15   T1: 2:47
26.5mi bike: 1:21:17  T2: 1:00 6mi run:  50:37  

After the race, I ate some great homemade bagels, banana bread, cookies and brownies. So good. All in all, the race was a really good time. I think I'll try and do it again to see what I can do about my time. 2:30 here I come!

I got third place in my age group. Sweet. More mugs for my beer. Exhibit A: