Tri for Sight Race Report

Today was my final race of the year. It was the Tri for Sight Triathlon/Duathlon in Lexington, KY. The race started at 7 am and check-in was at 5:30. We drove over from Louisville on Saturday and stayed in a hotel. The boys had fun swimming in the indoor pool and it was nice getting out of town for the day.

We still had to get up early and I didn't sleep well the night before. I was very congested and paranoid that I wouldn't wake up at 4:45. I set the alarm clock and had a wake up call just in case. We managed to get out of the hotel at 5:45 and drove over to the University of Kentucky's campus.

The swim was 800M in a 50M pool. I estimated my swim time at 20 minutes, so I had to wait about 50 minutes before starting. The swim went well. I did my normal slow consistent pace, which is all I can ask for. I have reached a point in my swimming that I can swim for a long time at a slow pace. When I try and swim faster, I end up expending more energy without a lot of time savings.

There was a distance of .25 miles from the pool to the transition area. I set a pair of sandals outside the pool because I didn't feel like running that far bare footed. I may have lost 15 seconds for doing that, but it was worth it to me. Once I finally got to the transition area, I suited up for the bike and headed out.

The bike ride was 18 miles of rolling hills. The support on the bike course was great. The police had all of the major intersections blocked and the volunteers were very encouraging. The course was 9 miles out and 9 miles back. I had never ridden it before and don't have a bike computer, so I was curious when I would hit the turnaround. I felt strong during the entire ride maintaining my heart rate around the 80% range (except on some of the bigger hills).

The run was 4 miles around the University of Kentucky football stadium and through the nature Arboretum. I averaged 9 minutes miles throughout the run which is better than I estimated.

All in all the race was good. I had a strong performance and will definitely do this race again. My final times were;

Swim - 19:04
T1 - 4:39
Bike - 1:02:48
T2 - 1:14
Run - 36:19
Total - 2:04:03

This officially makes me a middle of the packer, which I am completely fine with.