Triathlon at Retirement

This 2nd of May competition was a qualifier for the draft legal sprint World Championships in Bermuda later this year. Many hopefuls, including myself traveled to Virginia trying to capture one of the coveted Team USA spots, juniors and seniors included. Perfect weather and a fine location with smooth arrangements made this draft legal sprint a great competition.   My race was in the afternoon and wind had picked up quite a bit. I thought I did a good swim, I certainly pushed myself, but it was over a minute slower than the practice swim the previous day! I don't understand why it was slower. Bike course was 4 loops with a hairpin turn-around and a few tight turns. The only long straight stretch had headwind, and the tailwind was on the technical part of the ride so it was not that much of help. I pushed myself too hard on the bike course and got very tired. Starting the run leg, I hit my head on the racking tubing standing up after putting on my shoes, and felt very confused for a

I broke my own advice. I entered a race I was not sure a could complete; Ironman 70.3 in Galveston, Texas. Well, I did complete the race, and in a decent time too! It was a good experience. I signed up last year when so many triathlons were cancelled. It looked like Ironman 70.3 Texas, was going ahead in November 2020, but it was cancelled just a few days before and moved to April 11, 2021. I had paid the hefty entry fee, I live in Texas, it is hard to get a spot at all, I am not getting any younger, so I went for it. But I was worried, so I did not share my race preparations on this blog. I did not change too much anyway; a few longer bike rides (the longest was 50 miles), a few longer swims (up to 1.5 miles) and I ran 6 miles once. ONCE. The run part on Ironman 70.3 is 13.1 miles. I am not a fan of long workouts, I don't believe it helps much, and I think I am vindicated. My total time was 6.51.28 , swim time (1.2 miles) was 46.57, bike (56 miles) 3.21.13 and I ran the half marat