Sunday, July 22, 2007

Huntington Sprint Triathlon

This short and fast race was not my A race but I did manage to push myself enough to win my age group division and place 15th overall.

At the start of the swim I spotted my age group competitor and tried to stick with him for the swim but that only lasted about 20 yards. It was kind of hard to concentrate on my swim while trying to follow another swimmer. I decided to just do my swim and to give it my best effort. When I finally could touch the bottom of the lake with my hand, I stood up and began to run out of the lake and found that, "my friend" was right in front of me about 10 yards. I followed him into transition and together we were out on our bikes but he took advantage of the early down hill and put a good lead on me. I was able to keep him in view for about 3 to 4 miles but he kept putting distance on me. He made it back a little over 1 minute into transition. But then came the run...

I don't think he knew I was stalking him the whole race but I wasn't about to let him get away from me on the run. I was a man on a mission. I think I caught up to him about a mile into the run. I told him he was doing great and I ran past him. He didn't put up a fight.

At the finish area I made it a point to introduce myself to "my friend" and to congratulate him on a well run race. Nice to meet you, John. I'm sure we'll have more fun out there on another race course.

Follow this link to see the exciting finish between my 15th place and my friends' close 16th place race results.

For the cool down I ran the 3 mile course at an easy pace. I had fun chatting and encouraging the other runners to finish strong.

I have 2 weeks left of speed and focused quality workouts, and then it's 2 weeks of tapering for my first half ironman race. That'll be my A race.

8 comments:

Brian said...

Way to go Lou! Keep 'em in sight through the bike and you'll no doubt fly by them on the run! That's my motto anyway!

Kim said...

1st place in your age group for 'not' your A race is pretty cool!!! Congratulations!!

Neese said...

excellent pace on your run!
you know Lou, when I read that you run 3 miles for a cool down, it really puts things in perspective for me LOL, i'm sitting her huffing and puffing from running 3 and all i can think is i want to order a pizza, not run 3 more hahah. great job.

we may be coming to ohio august 10-11 weekend, know any good 5k's?

Eric said...

Great job Lou....you managed to beat both Zangmeisters.

Great job hunting him down. He saw the CTC top and knew it was over.

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

Great job, Papa Louie! Gotta love that 1st place!

Deb said...

You are awesome! Congrats!!!! How exciting with Ironman coming up. Good luck!!

Anonymous said...

PL - You are such an inspiration! Congrats on the placing! You rock!

Anonymous said...

People should read this.