Finally. Race day. Two months of work comes down to this… And it was a blast. It’s a lot more fun to push yourself when there is someone just ahead of you to catch. And with 338 particpants this year, there was always someone just ahead of you. This year we had 7 people not finish - almost double of last year. Perhaps as the race grows in popularity you get more and more people not realizing what they are getting into. On the flip side there were 3 kids (yes they are kids ) in the 11-12 age group that not only broke the 1 hour mark they were under 50 minutes grabing the 37th, 39th, and 40th spots overall. 40 year olds fine, women ok, but it’s a little disheartening when an 11 year old is leaving you in his dust.

As for my race, I was glad the water was surprisingly warm. We’ve been having a uncommonly mild August and honestly my biggest concern going into the race was that the water would be freezing. Thankfully this fear was misplaced. Going into the swim, I positioned myself at the back of the young-guns wave i was in since I would be doing the breast stroke and didn’t want to get in anyone’s way. The funny part was the fact that while all but one of us started off with the great speed and effort of free style swimming at about the 100M mark about a third of the young guns rolled over to either their back or side to continue. Most would roll over again when i came to pass with my slow and steady approach, but then would soon be back on their side or back as i waved good bye. I ended up passing 13 of the 54 people in my wave (20-29 year old males) of which I am quite proud. I had gone into the swim event with my strongest stroke to avoid fatigue not win any medals, so smoking a few young guns was a nice bonus. Also of note is that 2 of the people in my wave that smoked me on swim speed never finished the race… peak to early guys? :D
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I stepped up to the full distance today — or at least close. I had a little out-of-the-way routing due to the tree that was being cut down and blocking the road on my bike course. Another race is scheduled for Friday and as distances continue to lengthen, it may be redesignated to a Sprint Tri instead of a the Super Sprint it was previously.

.25 Mile Swim Time: 11:00
Transition: 2:45
8.5 Mile Bike Time: 34:33
Transition: 1:50
2 Mile Run Time: 20:30
Total Time: 1:11:20
(Estimated Full Race @ Pace: 1:13:22)

I extended the bike segment today as I build up in the last week of training. (Don’t worry the endless Tri Updates are almost over :D ) Hmm. Comparing the times from yesterday and today, I wonder if we accidently did an extra lap in confusion of the race.

.25 Mile Swim Time: 11:30
Transition: 3:30
7.0 Mile Bike Time: 28:00
Transition: 1:50
1 Mile Run Time: 10:46
Total Time: 55:36
(Estimated Full Race @ Pace: 1:14:22)

The course underwent a few last minute changes and then we were off. While I had the best swim & bike times on the course my longer transition times slowed me to a third place finish. I am at a loss for why my bike and run times were slower than my last time trial, especially since I had two days of rest.

.25 Mile Swim Time: 11:10
Transition: 3:11
5.75 Mile Bike Time: 26:59
Transition: 1:41
1 Mile Run Time: 11:16
Total Time: 54:17
(Estimated Full Race @ Pace: 1:20:48)

Shaved 4 minutes off my time, mostly in the biking leg. I really do need to remember to take my bike off the rack before I go and start swimming.

.25 Mile Swim Time: 10:46
Transition: 5:35
5.75 Mile Bike Time: 23:14
Transition: 2:25
1 Mile Run Time: 10:17
Total Time: 52:17
(Estimated Full Race @ Pace: 1:15:42)

After feedback from the participants and judges from the first Super Sprint Triathlon, the course was made longer, safer, and most importantly: better. The Kuban Super Sprint Triathlon now covers a combined distance of 7 miles. A .25 mile swim followed by a 5.75 mile bike ride followed by a 1 mile run. The next race will be held Saturday Aug. 7th and will be open to all-comers. If we have too many people it will be held in waves, otherwise it will be a pure race to the finish.

These super sprints are the final push in my training for the Sports Barn Sprint Triathlon that is now a mere 12 days away.

UPDATE: I took the new course for a spin today and the following was my time breakdown.

.25 Mile Swim Time: 11:05
Transition: 7:50 (bike troubles)
5.75 Mile Bike Time: 27:49
Transition: 3:50
1 Mile Run Time: 10:04
Total Time: 56:45
(Estimated Full Race @ Pace: 1:22:30)

My brother found the pre-Seal School training regiment online. I went through and create a combined training schedule from it. I like this quote from the Seal site "Getting in shape for the world class Navy SEALs is no walk in the park. However, if you can push yourself to the limit, then the rewards will be great!" Yes like being able to run 4 miles in army boots in under 30 minutes — these aren't your Nike Zoom Maxes or being able swim 2 miles in the ocean in under 75 minutes. My favorite is the 5.5 mile ocean swim to completion (with fins). Great rewards INDEED.

Today, I was back in the saddle of the bike I know and love. It did take a bit of adjustment since my bike is better -er- different than the MT bikes i used in Guatemala. For instance, I almost lost it when i slammed on the brakes and discovered significantly more gripping power than I had become accustomed to during the last week.

My ride was progressing nicely, I was easily staying at 18-19 mph during the straight-a-ways and keeping my average speed above 17 mph which would give me a time of under 32 minutes. Unfortunately, it had rained and cutting a corner to avoid a jogger onto a bridge caused me to invent the wooden slip’n slide. The wreck nicely bruised my right hip and ripped my rear derailer completely off my bike. The fun part was then carrying my bike back the mile and a half to where I had parked. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get my bike fixed.

6 Mile Bike Time - 32:00 pace

UPDATE: The bike shop had to order parts so I won’t get my bike back until Aug 2nd.

I’m back! Trying to take advantage of the “blood-packing” that naturally takes place at higher altitudes, I went for a 2 mile run today. It definitely took longer for my breath to get heavy and I recovered much quicker than previously, but I was hoping for even more progress. Perhaps the long journey back caused some back sliding.

2 Mile Run Time - 18:34

Got internet again. the shift key on this thing sucks so i’ve stopped using it. yesterday we kiyaked or however you spell that. And that was pretty much it so i went for a 25 min run in the afternoon. the villagers got a kick out of the crazy gringo running down the dirt road. today we did a half day hike up “golden hill”. it was steep with really loose dirt so it was interesting. then we hike around the city as a tour — oh yes and we got to ride in the back of a toyota pickup which is apparently a taxi down here.