Salida Tenderfoot Tri

Tenderfoot Du-Triathlon, Salida, CO Sat. Sept. 1st. Well, it was another hot one. My swim heat #6 didn't start until 9:45, which meant I was out on the run until almost 1PM. My lap counter put the "last lap kickboard" in too late so I did an extra half lap! My swim time was still 17:30 for 1000M, which I was happy with. Even did decent flip turns, Chris. The bike was nice, not really any ind to speak of. My bike time was 1 hr. 30 min., for 26 miles, which was a little slower than 2005. I was surprised, because I thought I would have been faster this year, but I think I wasn't rested enough. As evidenced by my 1 hr. 2 min. run time! AAARRRGGH. Well, I started out with 8:30 mile pace and did great until I hit the "S" hill by the water tower and then bascially walked up the dirt hill, which killed my time. Then on the way back it was up hill with a head wind and 80 degree temps. My HR was 170 for the last mile and I was only at a 10 min. mile pace, because of the hill, wind and heat! My overall time 2 hrs. 55 minutes was 12 minutes slower than 2005. Hard lesson learned for racing on non-rested legs. Plus, I have decided that I really don't like starting so late and may reconsider doing this race in future years. Plus, they are lumping the age groups together in 10 year increments now, so I don't stand much of a chance placing anymore until I am over 40! Ok, now that I have that out of my system...

Erin and I actually had a really fun weekend in Salida. We went to Buena Vista on the way on Friday and went to St. Elmo and the Flourrisant Fossil Beds on the way back. We also ran into a friend of hers from NJ who is an Army Captain stationed at Ft. Carson. He just got into Triathlons this summer and wants to do an ironman next year. He has a new baby boy but has to go back to Iraq in Dec. :( We had dinner with him Friday night and Erin had lunch with him after the race. He was in one of the first swim heats and was finished an hour and half ahead of me, when it was still cool and there was no wind!