This race course was great, lots of fun on the bike and the run. The bike was fast and flat and the run was in the shade on a green-way. We got there right at 6:30 when we were suppose to be there. Not many people were there which I liked, the set up of the transitions area was not idea, it was small and cramped and to get out you had to do like a zig zag that was really annoying. Sam and I got our packets and started warming up. It was a nice easy run and then we got on our bikes for a quick spin. I debated not doing this but I had to do some urgent bike maintenance early that morning and I wanted to make sure it was good enough for the race. On our way back I had a great surprise though, I saw a Benz S class driving and I knew who it was right away my only reaction was holy crap! Clay came! And that was only the beginning. After finishing the bike we did a quick swim warm up and got ready to race. Having Clay come early was great cause I he's able to give you the last minute encouragement in telling you you can break 2 mins on the swim and give you some pointers on swim too.
Here you can see Clay and I talking about the last minute swim plans...well not really but it sounds official and all professional sounding.
This race was very small which I liked, however not many people were racing in it that I knew except for a handful. I was glad to see Joel was there too. And with all the extra time before the race because of all the mass confusion at the pool you can see the 4 of us just killing time and talking about how these stupid tri tops create a lot of drag.
Another thing to add before I start my race report is that for the first time I was wearing a heart rate monitor. Under the recommendation of Shahin we wanted to see how my body reacted during the race.
Swim:
The swim was pretty good. If you saw me start you would have laughed really hard. I did one of those swim starts like the 10 and unders do in summer leagues. In tri's you're not allowed to dive, but I started to anyways but caught myself in the middle of it so it looked pretty friggin bad lol. I kept a good pace not sure how my splits were, maybe next race I'll get somebody to take splits. I may have finished under 2:00 too the splits haven't come in yet, but I know I was really close to it. If its not under 2 i'll blame the tri top because I could feel the drag from wearing that its not fun.
You know I hadn't looked at this picture closely til now, and I'm not going to lie despite the drag I felt, I'm looking pretty good. I've never really seen myself in photo or video, but I like the form I have. I just need to adapt my stroke for open water swims now.
Transition 1:
My T1 was pretty routine, I didn't run into any problems, I was seeded probably # 6 in the swim so nobody was there to get in my way. I felt exhausted from the swim thought so instead of rushing through the T1 and risk forgetting something I just took a couple extra seconds to make sure I was good to go.
Bike:
My bike was going to be lots of fun I thought. But I was still breathing very heavy from the swim. My first mile in the bike I was in just kind of a panic cause I couldn't get my speed up to 20mph like I wanted. I think when riding on Saturday I didn't factor in the fact I was drafting which means I was much slower on Sunday. I was fortunate on the bike though that there weren't many hills. What sucks about it being a sprint race, is just that its a sprint the whole time, I know I can do the distance, but I just now want to do it fast. I got passed by 3 or 4 people one being Ali, and I had counted that there were only 5 people in front of me at the turn around. So I felt pretty good. Unfortunately around mile 8 I felt that back cramp come back..which now I have to figure it out again. Cause I had a good bike posture this time, at least I thought so. In the picture below you can see that I have the flat back and hips tilted forward. This picture was also a huge point in my race. I turned this corner and was so focused on passing this girl that all I heard was people yelling GO Andy...and it wasnt just clay and my parents. I heard girls too lol, and I was just like wait thats different. Ah man what a great feeling, even in such a short race having supporters was my favorite part of the race.
Here is the bike in up to T2 as I was passing the cheering section.
And here are the great supporters that surprised me with a schweet sign.
As I said I was wearing a HR monitor along with my schweet new watch I got for my birthday. This gives you a good idea of what my speed, route, elevation and HR were like, pretty awesome I might add. Click on the run title too to see what my run data was like.
T2: My T2 was good, it was a quick transition out of my bike shoes to my running shoes. The only problem I had was knowing where to go, I must have not been listening very well pre-race. Luckily people were yelling and asking where to go so I just followed.
Run:
As I said coming into the bike all I heard were people cheering for me "Go Andy" what a great feeling again I might add. So on the run out I got to see who all it was, and read the sign that was specifically for me!
The run was fine up until the half. I had a really good pace going of around 7:40. At the turn around though I was just ready to finish, I was starting to cramp and I didn't know it but my HR was going through the roof. I got through the next mile but the last half mile I got really nauseated and felt like I was going to varmic, that goodness I didn't and I made it to the end of the finish line. You can see where I did get sick though and walked for a couple seconds, but as soon as I stopped I was just like...NO Andy, You have to run this whole thing, you can do it. So I picked up up the pace and ran hard to the finish. At the same time I was looking at my watch and just thinking holy cow I'm going to be sub 1 hr.
I have to say of the few pictures of me running, they're not too bad some people look like they're dying but me, I look like I'm running on air in my Nike's.
Finish: The end of the race was rewarding the first thing I did was smile to Katie, Joel, Jessica, Clay and Kristin cause they were there with another sign! At the same time though I was schweaty and exhausted I cooled down quickly haha, and my mom got this funny picture
From there we waited for some fellow Fleet Feet people to finish and cheer Sam on as he finished his race.
What a finish - I was so impressed, Sam did a great job for his first tri, I'm sure he learned a lot and is still processing it all, cause I know it took me a while to after foothills. Look that picture too, look how jacked he is as bobby said about my picture below "Hey I need to do some laundry, can I use your abdominals?" lol great line The Bobs. Did I mention how surprised I was when he told me he had gotten people to come to the race.
Here is a picture of us all together at the finish :)
Results: Well I don't have the splits in yet, but I got both of my goals! I got 2nd in my age group WAHOO, my prize was a cool backpack, and I got below an hour!!! Quite possible the best birthday gift to myself from myself.
Birthday Gift: The best birthday ever! I think more than anything in that day I realized how loved I am from my community. I didn't tell anybody before, but really the only birthday gift I wanted was support from friends whether it was showing up at the race or getting together for me. I got both I had friends show up and support and I got a dinner at Aubrey's with my best friends. I had picked up on the dinner at Aubrey's cause Wasabi Bobby spilled the beans but it still meant so much. They even gave me the coolest cake ever it had little men on it dong swim:bike:run. I think what made it special is that I celebrated people's birthday throughout the year and was just glad to spend time with them on that day. But when its you're birthday and people gather in celebration for you its just a lot different. You see the love of Christ in that community. Last year, yeah I had some community, but none like I do this year. Like I said in my first post...its been one heck of a year. God has taught me so much, particularly through the community I have at fellowship. Love you all.
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