Saturday, May 05, 2007

3:01:47

Swim 1km (0.6 mile) : 23min 01sec
Bike 42km (25.2 miles) : 1hr 28min 21sec
Run 10km (6 miles): 1hr 10min 27sec (ouch!)

I really wanted to get a sub 3hr, but I was awfully dang close and was experiencing some technical difficulties with the body on the run. Humm...I guess I'm really not a spring chicken anymore. I feel like I am still 25 but my body doesn't always go along with that plan. Oh, well! I really enjoyed the race. I enjoyed the small victories that pop up throughout the 3 hours. I felt good on the swim. Again, I am not the fastest swimmer out there, but I shaved about 1 - 1 1/2 min off my swim time (gotta love those endorphins!) The weather was terrible; windy, rainy, windy, wet.... made the bike more challenging - there was one spill and one flat tire in my group of friends. I had an unexpected surprise at the end: I tied one other girl for the fastest female bike time :)

The run segment was my most disappointing. This was my worst time and mostly because I wasn't truly prepared to feel that physically tired after a 1km swim and a 42km bike (25.6 miles) ride. My "good" knee was hurting and i was having some other technical problems with my stomach. It may have had to do with my eating and power gel schedule, along with pre-race nerves and hydration during the race. If I know you well enough I will tell you a humorous story about my run. If not, suffice to say: I had to make an unplanned pit stop and out of sheer determination finished the 10k run with my dignity intact.

The event ended at approximately 7pm and awards ended around 9pm. I was in bed mostly dead by 10 but awake a few hrs later to eat and try to get back to sleep. I think my body was still to amped up to settle down. This is normally frustrating, but becomes exponentially frustrating with the knowledge that I have to be at work at 5:45 in the morning. I called and told work I would be in at 7am instead.

Getting out of bed the next morning wasn’t too bad but two days later is an entirely different story. Post Race day 3 I felt fine and normal, minimally sore and fairly relaxed an enjoyed a day of reading, sailing and fishing. Post Race day 4 was the day that I realized I couldn't really use the race as an excuse to be lazy and went out for a nice easy 2 mile run. I was feeling a little skittish about my "stomach" but that went well. I felt tired and not particularly strong, but it felt good to move my body again and know I hadn't done any permanent damage. Shortly after returning from my nice easy run, my entire lower back tightened and cramped up. That body forgets we're supposed to function like a 25 year old. Dang her!

I made myself feel better by inviting friends over to make sushi from the yellow fin tuna (Ahi) we caught on our hand-line yesterday. You seriously can not get any fish fresher than that. I will miss that part of Kwajalein.

So as far as weekends go, it was right up there. Work hard, train hard, perform hard, play hard then kick back at home with your good friends, some sushi, and maybe a beer (or sports drink) or two.