Glutton for punishment or dedicated athlete? I won't know until my sports obituary is written, if it ever is. Anyway I completed my second UMLY Sprint Triathlon last Sunday in 1 hour 35 minutes and 55 seconds -- a four minute improvement over 2012.| 2012 | 2013 | |
| Swim | 13:00 | 13:07 |
| Transition 1 | 5:27 | 5:20 |
| Bike | 44:17 | 41:44 |
| Transition 2 | 2:38 | 2:33 |
| Run | 34:38 | 33:12 |
| Total | 1:40:00 | 1:35:55 |
The best way to contrast this year with last year is what I did not do while training.
| 2012 | 2013 |
| Taught at 2 locations | Taught at 1 location |
| Trained for 4 months* | Trained for 2 months |
| Worked at Vanguard | |
| Argued with my boss** |
*The intense training left me irritable at work.
**My boss was himself an irritation.
I bought a new bike (GT Tachyon 3.0) and while shopping I was amazed by all of the categories of bikes there are (road, fitness, hybrid, mountain, comfort, etc.) let alone the various brands. I bought a fitness bike which has straight handlebars because I hate the curved handlebars that force you to bend over. The new bike worked great as I did not dismount once and pedaled up two very steep hills.
I started the 5 km run same as last year. My legs and buttocks were tied in knots and I had no desire to run. But again I recited the runner's mantra "put left foot in front of right foot, put right foot in front of left foot, repeat" and finished the race.
So in 2013 I improved my time over the previous year by 4%. If I keep this up for the next 25 years I will finish in no time!
Kudos to the Y and all of the volunteers who made this an amazing event. The Y closed the 50 m outdoor pool to get it warmed up (literally) for the race. The signage over the 13 mile course was excellent. And the cheering was motivating.
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