Memphis in May Triathlon: Race Report

Well, I'm back from Memphis! We had a great time, and the triathlon was a lot of fun, and I have a new Oly PR. The downside is that I came down with a some kind of cold and congestion mess on Tuesday before the triathlon on Sunday. I kept thinking that surely it would be better before Sunday, but as I sit here and type today, the following Tuesday, I am no better. Coughing, sneezing, tight chest, sore throat, etc. I have taken Clariton and Mucinex and neither have helped at all. So I am going to finally break down and try to talk to a doctor today. I would prefer to fight this off without an antibiotic, but I think I've tried long enough.

Anyways, Bo is back to playing to T-ball. The pediatric orthopedist said he could play with his cast, so made his comeback Saturday morning. We didn't win, but Bo did great...he can't open the glove to stop a grounder because of the way the cast has his arm turned, so he just gets in front of the ball and traps it underneath the glove - it is so cute! I guess the other team thought he wouldn't be able to do that, so they started out hitting the ball his way every time, and he made 3 straight outs! He made a couple more, but didn't get too many more balls hit his way after that.

So J.T. and I left after Bo's game and headed for Millington, TN. It's a community right outside of Memphis where the triathlon is held. I got checked in, got my packet and we walked around the expo for awhile. I got the custom bike jersey they had made for the race. It's really cool, I like it a lot. We then headed over to the lake and scoped out the swim course. J.T. said "Now how long did you say it would take you to do this?" and I said "30 minutes or less." And I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't so sure about that! And to be honest, I wasn't either - it looked so long!!! As we walked back out, we decided that if I do this one again, we will camp there at the site. There were several tents set up where people were camping, and once we checked into our hotel, we both agreed that we would much rather be staying in a tent (I won't elaborate on that one, but draw your own conclusions). We then drove to Memphis, had some pasta for dinner, then came back to the hotel and got some sleep.

My wake up call came at 5 a.m., and I got up and got showered and ready. I always shower before a race because it wakes me up and makes me feel better. We got everything packed up, went ahead and checked out of the hotel, then made our way to the race site at 6 a.m.. I realized when I got to transition that we were seeded by age group. I felt a little relieved because I knew that if I had given an estimated swim time and ended up with bib# 318, then I had obviously made a mistake(there were almost 1700 participants). "Elvis" sang the national anthem, and we got lined up for the swim start. While waiting on the swim I saw Irene and Kelleah from swim class. I said my last goodbye to J.T., and then took off for the swim. After about 200 yards it got very crowded. I made it to the first turn and thought to myself "Man, I can't wait to get out of here and get on the bike." It was unusually rough for an incremental start - I got kicked in the jaw, elbowed in the face, and someone even grabbed my leg at one point! It really didn't bother me too bad, though, I figure that's all to be expected. I even accidently hit someone in the face, so I can't complain. It probably worked to my advantage, because it when it got very congested I would swim a lot harder to get away from all the people. Before I knew it I had made the last turn and was headed for land. As I exited the lake I glanced at my watch and saw that it had just turned to 27:00. MUCH better than I expected. Official Swim Time: 26:38.

I didn't get in a great hurry in transition. I hadn't planned to, either. My goal for this race was to stay focused the entire time and put together 3 solid events without being overly competitive with those around me. I think that's what you call "running your own race". Offical T-1 time:2:11.

I got on my bike, got out of the park area, we had a few short little climbs, and boy was this a great bike course. Flat and fast is the only way to describe it. There wasn't much of a wind either. I drank my OS endurance and didn't take where a bottle of Gatorade at the bottle drop. I got passed by two people in my age group, who I kept in site most of the way, but I would have had to really hammer in order to stay with them. That would have gone against my strategy for this race, so I calmed "Competitive Lana" down and told her there was a time and place for that, and this wasn't it. Not this time. I felt great the entire ride. I rode hard and solid, but didn't hammer enough to send my heart rate into the clouds. I saw J.T. as I was riding back into the park, and I finished with an average speed of 21.2, which is a PR in itself. Official Bike time: 1:09:29.

I got into T-2 and reached for my running shoe and discovered that I had left my wetsuit on top of it - big mistake - the shoe was soaked. Nothing I could do about it then, though, so I laced it and the other dry one up and took off. I didn't even my Yanks! laces in my running shoes. I had them with me, but never put them in since I wasn't in a big hurry in transition anyways. It was quite a jog to the exit of T-2. Official T-2 time:2:34.

The first mile of the run reminded me that I had a congested chest. My chest seemed tight, and I coughed a lot. I just went by my perceived level of effort for the run, and kept it just under LT. I got passed by several people again in my age group, which really started to bother me. "Competitive Lana" got somewhat upset, but I was doing all I could do. I estimated my splits around 8:20/mile to 8:30 mile, and I had hoped to be closer to 8:00/mile. I decided that I would focus a little more on my running for the next few months. The run was actually fairly hilly. Not anymore so than Mach Tenn, but pretty close to that. I picked up my pace over the last 2.5 miles, and before I knew it the finish line was in site. I passed a couple of people on my way there, and I was about 100 yards from the finish when I felt someone coming up behind me. Competitive Lana or no Competitive Lana, I have a rule that I don't get passed in the last 100 yards. So I kicked it on through the finish line(you can see this in the pic!ha!), and I guess that guy decided not to race me. ~Good call, buddy.~ Did I just say that?! No, it's Competitive Lana again. Bless her heart. Official Run time: 52:41

Final Race Time: 2:33:31

I am happy with that. It was 30th in my age group out of 79, which doesn't sound so hot, but I am still happy with it. Given this, I think I can also improve my time at the Chattanooga Waterfront Tri from last year.

After the race I ate BBQ and some other stuff, took in the atmosphere for a while, and then J.T. and I head to Tunica, MS. Since we couldn't check into our room for 2 more hours, we entered a poker tournament in which I placed 2nd out of 44 people, and won $1182. Nice. Wanna guess what I'm going to do with the money?