Official Time

Oh my goodness, I had no idea how much fun you can have with all this information!  None of my prior races involved timing chips so this is a whole new world of details.

Official Time:  01:39:57.2
Overall place:  254/ (out of) 285
Women's Overall:  132/158
Age Group (f40-44) placement:  22/27

Pace on bike:  5mph (ugh!)
Pace on run:  12.43mm (cool!), 4.7mph.  This is my favorite part!

T1:  4:07 (boo!)  132/285
T2:  2:07 (better)  84/285

So, what does this all mean?  It's means I can get better!  I have a lot of room to grow and I am looking forward to that.  While the placement stuff is interesting it's not the most meaningful part.  First most important is finishing.  Second most important is feeling good and having fun.  Maybe that should be first, but if I don't finish I'd be pretty upset so I guess it makes sense that it's second.  Third is doing the best I can, pushing myself to live up to my potential.  I think I did that yesterday.  My average heart rate was 159, which confirms my feeling that I was working hard the whole time.  My max heart rate was 168 and I'm sure that was on the bike!  

What's so exciting about this race for me was the run!  I loved the run.  I. loved. the. run.  That is a small miracle.  I used to be all about "I hate the run" and "I'm not a runner".  In 2008 I wrote a post about positive thinking and said this about running:

My big thing [that I struggle with and tend to be negative about] is running, what's yours? I used to say, "I hate the run" or "I'm not a good runner". Now I say, "The run is challenging for me but I'm working on it and getting better". It may sound kooky but it works! I'm getting better at running and I no longer hate it. "Historically the run has been my most difficult sport but I'm training and getting to be a better and better runner." Sounds funny? Wait until it starts working! "I am a good runner....Running feels good....I am going to make huge gains in my running....I enjoy running." At minimum I believe that by stopping the absolute negative statements we open ourselves up to the possibility that things can change and improve.

And boy have they!  I wish I could tell you the blogging about this race is done but I still have to upload my Garmin info.  I want to see that bike route profile!

On to other things...food.  It's been crazy this weekend.  Big breakfast after tri, out to dinner that night, weird meals of leftovers and catch-as-catch-can food.  I'm looking forward to the work-week and some "regular" eating again.  I don't know if I'll scrape together a loss this week but we'll see.

And my body feels pretty good.  I'm looking forward to heading back into the gym tomorrow.  Since I took today off I have to get exercise in 5 out of the next 6 days.  I'm going to need that boot camp.  Here's my plan:

Monday - gym
Tuesday - gym
Wednesday - boot camp
Thursday - off
Friday - gym
Saturday - gym

Whew!  I hate when I miss Sundays.  Throws the whole week off.  Looking at my week, if I end up missing the gym on Saturday that's ok.  At least I'll be able to start the following week normally on Sunday.

That's it from me.  I'm tired, off to bed. Have a great Monday everyone!!