Tri 4 Real race report

I made a last minute decision to do the TBF Tri 4 Real olympic distance race yesterday.
Earlier this year, at their June race, I cut over 10 minutes off my previous time on that course, so I was curious to see how I would do after Vineman.

I had a decent day... the swim was about the same as my previous times in Rancho Seco. I felt fairly good and was thinking I might actually beat my previous time, but I came in within like 10 secs of my previous time. I guess I'll have to spend some time working on my swimming this off-season.

Came out of the water and run up to transition. As is normal, I had a little trouble getting my wetsuit off, but nothing big. Got my socks and shoes on, race belt, and helmet, and was on my way.

The bike course is an out and back with no real hills, only some rollers to keep you honest. I felt pretty good on the ride out to the turnaround and was only passed by one guy in my age group. Got to the turnaround in ~32 minutes, so I thought I was doing OK. Then after the turnaround I realized I had been wind-aided all the way out and now had to fight the same wind on the way back. I was definitely going slower than last time, but I didn't know how much it was going to be. Came in at 1:08 or so, which was about 2 minutes slower than last time. Approaching the bike-to-run transition, I tried something new (yes, boneheaded mistake), and took my foot out of my shoe as I approached the dismount. Well, I had never tried this before and quickly learned that it was not easy. My pedal flipped over and my shoe was hitting the ground on every downstroke. It finally popped off. I slowed down to go get it, but a nice spectator saw it and told me to keep going; that they would follow me in. Got my running shoes and hat on and headed out on the run.

The legs felt fairly good early in the run and I reeled off the first 2 miles in about 14 minutes. I was hoping to hold a ~7 minute pace and see if I could break 44 minutes for the 10K. At this point I realized that my friend (who started in the wave behind me) was probably already out ahead of me on the run. Little did I know he had passed me in the water!!! I finally saw him as I approached the turnaround.... he was having a great race!! Anyway, I kept chugging in the hopes I might at least catch him on the run and cut his lead back under the 5 minutes from the wave start. Then around 4.5 miles I started slowing a bit and was quite tired. I just didn't have that extra gear. I came in at about 44:45 and around 2:25 overall. Slower than last time by 2 minutes, but considering I wasn't as motivated as last time, not bad. My friend beat me by 7 minutes, but that will at least give me motivation for next time! It was good enough for 5th out of 17 in my age group, but I still need work.