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A few more thoughts June 7, 2005

Posted by vollenda in : Race Report , add a comment

Now that the euphoria is wearing off, I have a few woulda/coulda/shouldas that I want to write down before I forget. And while I am very, very happy with my first tri, I do know there is room for improvement in every area…

Swim – My swim time could definitely be improved: I definitely need more than 2 days a week in the pool. Need to practice open water swims! Need to do more distance swims.

T1 – There is definitely room for improvement there. I need to practice getting out of the wetsuit since that’s what hung me up. Plus, there are a few other things I could try to improve this time.

Bike – I’m happy with the bike. I know I didn’t push the hills because I was babying my left knee. Blue also had trouble shifting and there were times when I was spinning so fast I almost made myself dizzy! I also kept forgetting to drink on the bike nor did I eat.

T2 – Happy with this one, except next time I have to remember to take off my gloves! Also, I did get a little confused and almost put my helmet back on! Thank god I remembered what I was doing! Can you imagine if I’d done the run with my bike helmet on? Can you say newbie? :-O

Run – I am also very happy with my run time since that’s a big improvement from my 5K in December. However, there is plenty of room for improvement. It will be a year in August that I started running and I think now that my knee is better, it’s time to put some speed work and hills into my workouts.

To end on a positive note…the tri made me realize I still have the determination I need to power through an event like this. It’s been 8 years since my last century and I wasn’t sure if I could find that again. But I definitely felt it on the swim and the run. My body was trying to betray me! “Just roll over and backstroke for a while” “Come on everyone else is doing it.” “Let’s just walk this one hill.” “We’re too tired to make it”. But every time I told my body to shut up and JUST DO IT! Just keep swimming! Just keep running! Don’t stop! And it listened to me! Woo Hoo! :-)

I am definitely excited to do another one and I’ve already started looking for my next tri. Right now, I’m thinking the Los Angeles Tri in September. That will give me plenty of time to work on improving my swim and run. So, if I’m hooked, does that make me a fish? If only… :-)