Tupelo King of the Hill Triathlon
Swim 800m - Lake
Bike 20 miles
Run 5k
2:17:00
Awesome experience today! Up at 5:30 am to eat and prep. Only about 150 competitors at the race.
Swim was long and I had some trouble at the start. Just didn't feel comfortable after about 75m in. Lats got tight really quick and I didn't trust my freestyle. Took forever with a combo of freestyle and sidestroke.
Took my time from the swim to the bike. Bike was way easier than I anticipated. Could have pushed much harder. Took a little over an hour. Fun. Mostly shaded and pretty hilly.
About a 90 second transition from bike to run. Took my time again and stretched out. Legs felt fine. A little goofy at first but fine. Very hilly run course. Burned quite a bit. 8 min/miles.
Overall I had a great time. Learned a lot. I am blown away with how good my body felt. I just kept waiting for the cramps to set in. Not even close. I now know how much more I can push on the long enduring events. Everything was great. Thank you Karen for loaning me a bike. I would have died on my mountain bike.
It was really cool to meet some new people from a different fitness community. Triathlete community is quite similar to the CrossFit community. Everyone is open and welcoming and very helpful. When swimming at the YMCA last week, I met a husband and wife who were in the pool training for a TRI. The husband, Jeff, was wearing an Ironman swimming cap. We talked for a few minutes about races and sport. I told him I was doing the Tri this coming weekend in Tupelo. He said that he might try to come out and race in it.
A few minutes before the race started I bumped into him lining up for the swim. I was the final entry of the race and enlisted that morning. He said he found some time to come out.
While standing inline, waiting for my turn to hop in the lake, two guys in front of me said, "Did you see
who that was? That's Jeff Fejfar. Yeah, he'll win this race." And he did. Little did I know he's an elite level triathlete and I believe a national champion. I wish I could have had the chance to watch some and I might have as I was probably finishing up my swim when he was 10 miles in on his bike or so. I spoke with Jeff after the race and we exchanged information. Kind of interesting. He runs an online exclusive coaching business for endurance athletes called Mid South Multi Sport Endurance. He lives nearby so I extended the invite for him to come train sometime at the garage. Maybe we could learn from each other. Probably me more than him.
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