Uvas Triathlon 5/21/06

Got 5 hours of sleep then headed down to Uvas resevoir for a triathlon on Sunday at 5:30 in the morning (same day as the Bay to Breakers) for this mini-triathlon. 3/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike, 5 mile run.

It was raining and I was late getting there. I was *totally* not in to it and contemplated just turning around and going back to sleep. But I went through the process. The swim was suprisingly comfortable and I started enjoying it. Got out on the bike and it started feeling much better; was passing others quickly. Unfortunately an elderly person decided to drive her car in the middle of the race which held up a bunch of us riders--then the rain started coming down heavily. Nervous Nelly, I slowed up on the descents and a few of the guys I'd passed went by. Ended up passing them all on the flat sections, averaging 20+_ mph, and went on to run. Wow--only 5 miles; by mile 2 I was feeling pretty psyched---this is a short run! Despite my aching achilles, managed to clip off a respectable 6:46 pace. Ended up finishing 12th-age group and 44th overall.

Finished the race, ate some food, and was home by noon.

These shorter races are actually a lot of fun.

Wildflower 2006 triathlon

Yet another glorious Wildflower Weekend. Because of the new age-rank system, I was able to compete with my long time pals, Derrill (sunday) and Larry (saturday), in the same waves. This meant I was in the 40-45 age group. We haven't competed together since 1992, so it was quite a reunion

Here are the results:
- Linda Gallo was the first woman out of the water with a 24:29 1.2 mile swim. She ended up 7th with a smoking 4:54. Awesome!

- My arch nemisis, Keish Doi, was up only 30 seconds on me after the swim+bike but then he managed to destroy the run with a 1:33 time-7:17 pace, finishing in 4:53.- I was out of running shape and the achilles was really hurting-lost 19 minutes on the run to Keish ending with a personal worst of 5:14. My best time was way back in 1991- 4:47. I haven't gone under 5 hours since 2000.

- Jimmy had a PR of 6:07 with no IV after!

- Larry put in a very respectable time despite not being able to do any training over 2 hours and a serious hamstring/glute injury, finishing in 5:25 (his PR is 4:34)

International course-- Keish talked me in to doing the shorter course on the second day. He ended up putting 1:30 into me, swim+bike

- Was amazed to see Derrill swim past me after the first turn!

- I had a good bike, averaging nearly 20 mph but then had to drop out of the run in the tranistion area. It was (and still is) difficult to walk, let alone run

- Derrill turned in a 2:35 and Gary a 3:30, Keish 2:23 (10th place).

It's incredible how hard it is to stay in shape through the years. During my 20's, I placed top 10. 30's-top 20. Ugh, now it's "top 30". It becomes less about racing and more about just "enjoying the event".

Training for the race, I increased swimming year over year but came up short in running and cycling. The deficit in bike/run definitely was costly.

Results for Long Course:
Swim: 84% more yardage in training. 4% faster swim time
Bike: 5% less mileage in training. 3% slower bike
Run: 21% less mileage in training. 5% slower run
Overall: 3% slower.