I did the New Town Triathlon for the third year in a row this past weekend. My parents were in town so I got a larger than normal cheering section. It also happened to be the hottest weekend of the summer, which didn’t make the run portion very bearable. But, I PR’d and landed myself in 6th place for my age group!
Like last year, the age groupers lined up according to swimming ability—fast in the front, slow in the back. I thought I had put myself in the middle, but turns out I had put myself near the front of the age groupers. It didn’t bother me much though because I’m comfortable with this swim. Being in open water with more room also helps. I finished the swim in about the same time as last year. Where we entered the lake was quite rocky, so you had to sit on the ledge and then basically flop into the water to get going. Pretty hilarious to watch.
While I was waiting to enter the water, the first elite racer came out of the water—a female!
I ended up with a sweet bike rack spot in the transition area—literally right where I came out of the water. I cut my T1 time down by 30 seconds from last year!
I cut a couple minutes off my bike from last year, though I would have liked to even more so. Biking isn’t my strong point and I started to hit a wall towards the end. Thankfully the course is flat, so I powered through. Getting my feet out of my shoes and dismounting from my bike went quite smoothly, too.
I was able to shave a few seconds off my T2 from last year, but my run was one minute slower. It really bummed me out, even though my pace was still decent. I’m so weird…I’m not happy about having an 8:45/mile pace during a triathlon, but I was happy with that pace during my last half marathon.
Did I mention how hot it was? It was over 80 degrees by 8AM. I actually didn’t feel the best during part of the run because of the heat. New Town residents will hang out in their front lawns and offer to spray you down with sprinklers. It’s pretty awesome.
The running portion and heat aside, it was a good race. I was happy I improved my transitions and bike times. Our friend Matt did this triathlon for the first time this year and he also rocked it. It’s always nice when you have a friend doing the same race as you. My next year’s goal is to do better than this year, naturally. Have to keep working at it! I literally have to because I have another triathlon in six weeks!
—m.