Bacon Weekly- Race Report

Mon-Sat- training...blah,blah,blah

Sunday- Bowling Green, KY Sprint Triathlon

Sorry not wasting anytime with prep week training, cause I want to get to the good stuff. My last race of the season was the BG Sprint on Sunday... 400 M pool swim, 23K bike, 5k run. Complete results here:

http://www.besttimescct.com/results/Bowlinggreen09.txt

Swim 9:43 T1: 1:14 Bike 46:48 18.3 mph T2: 0:50 Run 25:39 8:17 avg total 1:24:12

49 of 95 Men, 9 of 16 age group, 11 of 16 in pool, 7 of 16 on bike, and 9 of 16 on run

Could have done better in the swim, but the transistion to get under the lane lines cost me some seconds...I have pre-timed myself in my home pool in the 8:20 range..don't think the cold water helped either though... tranistions were all good in my opinion...the bike was brutal, I feel like I have said that after each race and that may be cause that's where I can improve, but a few hills on this course made it the real deal...at one time pedaling in the 3 mph range for at least 10 minutes then the dredded double devils backbone that switched and back up again...the decent was just a wicked as I started feathering my brakes at 39.5 mph....just didn't feel comfortable hitting that 40 mph mark... "too fast..too fast for love" was my chant to calm myself on the decent....the second portion of the ride and pedaled hard and caught plenty of riders but the early ones that passed me on the hill were no where in sight....next season increasing my average on the bike alone will move me up plenty of spots in the ranking 4 minutes seperate me from 4th place in this race, so just averaging a mere 1.5 more mph hour covers that spread in this race. a much better run than evansville an 8:17 avg was quite good despite the next story.....you see as we started the race at the waterpark I deduced during my run that we would end there too right...well wrong..kinda...you see as I got sight of the park I saw about 8 people that I could hunt down, so whooosh...off flash gordon went and spanked all 8 only to realize I started my grand, last race sprint finish at mile number 2!!!!!!!!! You can imagine my disappointment when no finish line was in sight and 2 runners quickly passed ym whezzing butt, so I'm mad as you can imagine....last race of the year and I blew my wad on mile 2....so I gathered myself and slowly hunted back down the 2 runners I had passed...first a very fit age grouper who I was pleased to pass; however a male in my age group and one I had battled on the bike back and forth was the last in my reach and the last of the 8 I had originally passed...so here I come then with maybe a 1/4 mile left and my breathe close to his back, I saw him reach back and grab a hammy...so like a shark to blood, dead meat and I quickly moved passed him, now I was not glad he was hurt and I would have passed him anyway, but sure made the last 1/4 easier on what I will now call the "Shoot The Wad Sprint Triathlon" I will never forget that moment..

Now, thanks to you guys for all you support this season. You all know I had a rough beginning to my triathlin season, but have quickly moved passed that now and most of that to you guys credit for encouraging me along the way. There is no question that I could not have accomplished this years feats without your guidance and support. In fact, this stuff would likely not interest me unless I had you guys to do it along side. I've also taught myself an even better lesson about hard work and determination that all of us can do whatever we set our goals with the right amount and type of training and practice....remember, just months ago I was in a beginner swim class and had to be sectioned off from the rest of the group because Iwas so fundamentally unsound (and unsafe)...not until about week 6 did they let me off the short bus and join the rest of the class....when I started running, I was running almost 10 minute miles, now I'm running in the 7's in 5ks, on the bike and while I don't know the exact figures, I could only imagine I was riding in the 14 mph avg range; since, I've been in the 20's on longer rides. I wouldn't venture to say that it's been easy, in fact, just the opposite...trust me, I had plenty of mornings I did not want to wake, plenty of road trips where I would have preffered late nights on the town, but hit the sack instead, and plenty of other reasons not to do all this, but I'm in the best shape of my life, feel better physically and mentally, my wife started training for her first 5k, and my daughter at 1st grade asked to be on the XCountry team, and my wife summed it all up when she came in from on of her first training runs and said "wow, this stuff really makes you feel good"...then I knew that all this was worth it, that others (including at work and other places) admire and want to follow what we do...so it's our reposnisbility to share this with others so they can get the good feelings too...thanks for everything guys.... Goals for next year...not sure right now, some depends on how quickly and good I recover from this surgery, but you can bet your money that I'll set the bar high and work hard to get there.....Thanks again.