Branson 70.3-Part Two, Being the Second Part

Yesterday I detailed my triathlon up to the bike leg. Today I'll bring it home.

Bike 56 Miles

Let's get it out of the way. I finished the bike in 4 hours and 5 minutes. They tell me that's 13.67 miles per hour. I would have loved 20 MPH, but realistically I was looking for 17 MPH. The Hills kicked mine arse and so 13.67 is what I'm left with.  By comparison, the winner, Ben Hoffman, a pro, did the bike in 2 hours and 24 minutes. That's 23.33 MPH. Another pro, Matt Lieto, also did the bike in 2:24. Mr. Lieto also participated in the 70.3 World Championship race just a week before where he rode the bike in 2:18. Not a big difference, so that blows my theory  that the bike course was especially hard. Dang it!

I'm not going to make any excuses. I didn't train hard enough. More about that tomorrow, maybe. But I am going to re-gear my bike. I already have it taken apart. There were plenty of fellows spinning past me up the inclines while I'm bearing down on the pedals like some kind of skinny bike riding circus bear.

You can't wear headphones during the race, and so you are left with nothing but your thoughts over the entire course, which can be distracting. You have plenty of time to think about how tired your legs are, and oh, BTW, you have a half marathon coming up.

I have a lot of observations, but I'll spare you the details and tell you about one semi-humorous thing I saw. The bike course is primarily on a four lane highway. At one point I'm cranking up one side when I heard someone yelling from across the median. I look over and there is some girl heading down the hill, all alone but yelling something like, "Going down the hill! Mah mah mah wah wah waaaahhhh!" She was having fun.

With about ten miles or so left on the bike, just as I'm leaving the Ozark Mountain Highroad to begin my descent into Branson, the sky began to empty and I got dumped on. It rained hard. A thorough soaking. Not only that, lightening flashed directly overhead and thunderstruck at less than a second later. Oh yeah!

I thought for sure they were going to call the race, but they kept us going. By the time I got to T2 I was shivering and had a little trouble getting my shoes on. Once I started running, however, I was fine.

Here I am at the bike dismount. I asked my wife for the time. She said "12:25. Did you have a flat?" Thank you, babe. I love you, too.

Run 13.1 Miles

I started running in the rain. The course takes you through the shopping area at the Landing, into a residential neighborhood along Lake Taneycomo, and then back along the walk down by the lake and through a park. We had to do four loops. I started out OK (for me) with about an 8 minute pace, but ended up with a 9:38 pace for the entire run. Total time was 2:06.

We ran in the rain for a while, through ankle deep run off and puddles. After my first loop, however, the rain slacked off quite a bit, and by the time I finished the rain stopped. I ought to be given credit for running with soggy shoes.

When it was done I was done. It's been a week and I just today did a work out. I felt sore until Thursday and felt fatigued until Friday.

Oh, and on Wednesday I turned 40! Maybe that's why I was so tired.

Random pics:

My cheering section!

When my five year old saw my finisher medal her eyes got real big and she said, "Daddy, you won!" A little later she told me, "I'm glad you won Daddy." I still haven't told her any different.