Cartoon run.

On January 9, 2009 I got up at 5:15 AM to run a 5K. There must be a support group for that somewhere...

On Friday morning, before the Disney half marathon and full marathon, there's a 5K. This year it was a 'fun run' through the Animal Kingdom theme park. The theme was the Lion King Circle of Life. Not really a race, no chip times and kind of a family party atmosphere.

I had tweaked my right ankle the Monday before the half and was nursing it with rest, ibuprofen and good thoughts all week. On Tuesday I didn't think I'd be healed in time for the half on Saturday. I was feeling pretty good by Thursday night so I decided to see how I felt Friday morning. If I felt OK, I'd take it easy on the 5K and see how that went.

I caught the shuttle at 5:45AM and got to the Animal Kingdom park at about 6:00AM. It was probably in the low to mid forties. Not exactly balmy. I was slightly cold in shorts, a long-sleeve dri-fit and a sweatshirt. I ended up checking the sweatshirt before the race start and I was fine.

The 5K start is sort of a mini-half/full marathon start- Loud music, cast members in costume who are way too awake and cheerful for that time of the morning and fireworks at the starting gun. At the start gun, (Still dark out...) they played "I just Can't Wait to be King" from the Lion King soundtrack. Loud. It's Elton John and it's a decent running tune so I started out a little faster than I wanted to. I dialed it back a little bit and my ankle felt pretty good. I had thought that the course would be pancake flat. Nope. There were some ups and downs and a reasonably long descent just prior to the finish. It was pretty cool running through this park. I didn't see too many animals but they sure sounded ticked off that we were waking them up.

Finish time was 00:34:46 by my watch. I was kind of surprised in that I had been aiming for about 36 minutes to go easy on my ankle.

A fun race. I'd do it again- even getting up before dawn! The only downer was that I waited for about 50 minutes after the race for a shuttle bus. Normally, I wouldn't care as much about that except that I had to shower and change before the TNT coaches and staff meeting.

The bib is one of the coolest I've had. I just had to scan it!


You even get a dorky little rubber medal!!...

Tri.

So I've had my triathlon number on my computer desk for months to remind me to write about it. I'm sick of looking at it.

I think when you sign up for a triathlon, you're supposed to train for a triathlon. Maybe next time.

The 2008 Timberman Triathlon weekend was August 16 and 17. So on Sunday August 10, I went to Walden Pond with Anna, Jill and Don for a 'mock tri.' I think it means that people mock you while you try to swim, bike and run. I signed up for the 'sprint' triathlon. At Timberman, that's a 1/3 mile swim, a 15 mile bike and a 5K (3.1 mile) run. So on the 10th, I swam although I don't know how far (And it certainly wasn't pretty.) then rode about 25+ miles with Jill (Don and Anna went for a longer ride... Fools.) then ran around Walden Pond. (Maybe 2 miles.) Not too bad really. Of course before this 'training', I worked from 3PM on Saturday until 7AM on Sunday. Hallucinations are cool! The first 15 miles of the bike ride, I pushed pretty hard and kept up about my best pace ever- about 16 mph average for the 15 miles. Naturally, I paid dearly for that on the rest of the ride. The run after that? Pathetic. Rocks, roots and tourists! And of course by now I'm completely whipped. I know we went to eat afterward. And I know there was ice cream in a thunderstorm. Other than that, I'm a little fuzzy on the rest of the day...

The preceding paragraph describes my entire triathlon training program...

So for race weekend we rented a 'condo' in Laconia. Let's just say I've stayed in worse places. Friday night was Anna, Jill, Jill's dad Dave and me. Don showed up on Saturday. Of course overachievers Jill and Anna were there to do the half-iron distance (70.3 miles) on Sunday.

Saturday morning I got up absurdly early and went to Ellacoya State Park. I had racked my bike the night before so all I had to bring to the transition area was my personal gear- Helmet, gloves, cycle shoes, running shoes, socks, coffee maker, biscotti, microwave oven...

I went back to my truck and had frosted flakes for breakfast. They're GRRRRREEEEAT.

We lined up for the swim start. 97% of the other athletes were wearing wetsuits. I'm wondering what the deal is- The water isn't cold. Come to find out it's about flotation and speed. Well who knew?

I'm a terrible swimmer. Not to say that I'm uncomfortable in water- I love the water. That love however does not automatically make one efficient or fast when trying to move through it. It is enough to simply report that I made it from point 'A' to point 'B' before nightfall. Actually, my time for the 1/3 mile swim was 00:16:15. Not the slowest time but darn close to it!

Between each sport, there is the art of transition. I say art because my first transition from swim to bike took 00:04:29. Long enough to make coffee, eat a biscotti and reheat the leftover coffee in the microwave. Slow. That's me. Anyway, I got my cycle gear on, with my helmet on correctly and headed out of transition for the bike portion.

New Hampshire has hills- Oh yes it does. The bike race took me 01:02:37. I wasn't disappointed with that since I'm a 'rider' not a 'racer.' I noticed that even though I was getting dropped like a bad poker hand going uphill, I was screaming past real triathletes on triathlon-specific bikes going down the hills. I think triathletes like and train for flat roads- They just didn't seem all that comfy going fast downhill. I actually enjoyed the bike race quite a bit- It felt like it went by very quickly.

Back into transition for a quick costume change. This transition took only 00:02:50- Barely time for an espresso or two. Then out onto the run course.

The run. Did I mention I hate running? My legs did not want to move. My quads felt like they would be in full blown cramps any second. After probably a quarter mile I started to feel better. I did a run/walk interval and actually did better than I thought- 00:35:13 for the run. The run is basically up hill on the way out and downhill on the way back- I have a feeling that it's better this way but I didn't like it much at the time. I saw Jill, Anna and Dave on my way out of the transition area- I think they may have been surprised to see me- I had been figuring around two and a half hours for the tri.

Final time: 02:01:21. I could have cut down on that quite a bit by skipping the trips to the deli while in transition. In retrospect, I'm glad I took some extra time. The extra time kept me from making mistakes. On Sunday while watching the half-iron distance event, I saw a pro come out of the swim-bike transition wearing an aero helmet backwards. Do you know what a triathlete wearing a full aero helmet backwards looks like? Correct- He looks like Toucan Sam of Froot Loops fame.

I really enjoyed the tri. I can see how people get hooked on it. I joined USA Triathlon. I'm planning a bunch more for Summer 2009. I'm nuts.

I have a few more races to post up. I'll get 'round to that soon.